OT: Anyone use wifi thermostat at home?

DaveRichardson

I know that we all are really a bunch of geeks that love our toys! I'm looking to add a wifi thermostat to my house. Something like a Nest..... Any of you all have these??? How about you heating and air people?????

NervousDad

I have a Nest and I LOVE it. So simple to setup and works perfectly.

DaveRichardson

@NervousDad - how long have you had yours?  1st or 2nd generation?  How's your energy savings been?

hapster

I've had the Nest since May... Has made a big difference in managing our system. I know we've saved some $$ so far...

NervousDad

DaveRichardson said:

@NervousDad - how long have you had yours?  1st or 2nd generation?  How's your energy savings been?

I bought mine when I moved into my home, 3 months ago, so I can't speak to the savings. Check your local energy company many of them will subsidize them. One huge benefit is that it runs your fan without running the compressor and uses residual cooling which works really well. 

In my old house (1800 sqft) I was paying around $300 a month in cooling in the peak of the summer with a new 16 seer AC unit. In my new house( 3200 sqft) I'm only paying $150 with a 15 year old unit. We have higher ceilings here which could help so I can't say that's all due to the nest.

grege345

I'm also curious. I was looking at the nest today

DaveRichardson

I like those numbers @NervousDad‌ ...... 25 yr old house with original central heat and forced air. Will be looking at combo deal with replacing both as well as nest thermo.

NPHuskerFL

Yes, mine is Wi-Fi connected and connects thru Nexia Home Intelligence app so, I can access it anywhere & anytime. I've had mine 3 yrs or so now.

Proser

I have had a Nest for about 18 months, love the simplicity and ability to control if we are out of town and forgot to turn the temp up or down, I did have the Nest cause a capacitor to go bad on my outside unit. Nest sent me a new base part and paid my $187 repair bill Can't complain about the service

Aviator

If you upgrade your Heat/cooling system, The Carrier models have their Wifi connected thermostats that talk via home wifi to each other and an app, which you can schedule, program and even control from your hotel room in Mexico while away.

Have it and pretty cool.

Angus1978

Love our NEST (Gen 2).  Got it in June this year and I know it's knocked quite a bit off our bill...not sure how much though..haven't done that math.

Raymont

OK. I'll bite... Why would you see Energy savings over a programmable thermostat?

NervousDad

The Nest learns your system. Once your compressor turns off it's still cold. The Nest will learn when to turn the compressor off early and continue to run the fan to cool your house. It also knows when you're not home and turns your AC off.

NDG

We bought our house last year and NEST was installed.  Its very nice (and cool looking) but honestly I havent really dug too deep into all the options . . probably because I didnt make the investment myself!  Anyone, the NEST is nice.

caliking

I have a Honeywell "smart" wifi thermostat downstairs and a Honeywell wifi thermostat upstairs. They upstairs one has a monochrome display, but otherwise features are almost identical to the one downstairs. I picked these as the price was about $100 less than getting two Nests and also the thermostats I was replacing were rectangular.

Both thermostats can run schedules which can be programmed form my phone or from their website. They have worked well so far and I'm glad I installed them.

DaveRichardson

I've seen those, @caliking‌..... I'm going to move my thermo from its bad location to a better one, so footprint isn't an issue. I did like the Honeywells, but the Nest seemed like an easier system.

Scott805

+1 on Honeywell (Model 6580).

Ragtop99

I was looking at the description of the nest.  

How does it know you are at home?  Motion sensor? Your cell phone is shown as nearby?

I'd like a programmable where I could fill in temps in 30 minute intervals like the way a calendar app shows when you open it to a specific day. I could use more than the standard 4 periods a day to adjust the temp.  Any of them do that?

BREWnQ

Ive been curious about these for a while now to.  I'm not sure anything could 'learn' me and know whats comfortable.  

For example during summer we keep the house about 76-77 but now that its cooler out and we're already dressed for cool weather 70-71 seems to be the norm.  If the Nest though I liked the house at 77 and was keeping it there I imagine we'd think its too hot.  The same could be said when summer rolls around again.

Does it factor in outside temps? How well is its ability to learn whats confortable to you?

NervousDad

Ragtop99 said:

I was looking at the description of the nest.  

How does it know you are at home?  Motion sensor? Your cell phone is shown as nearby?

I'd like a programmable where I could fill in temps in 30 minute intervals like the way a calendar app shows when you open it to a specific day. I could use more than the standard 4 periods a day to adjust the temp.  Any of them do that?

It has a motion sensor, so you have to have the Nest in a frequently used room.

BREWnQ said:

Ive been curious about these for a while now to.  I'm not sure anything could 'learn' me and know whats comfortable.  

For example during summer we keep the house about 76-77 but now that its cooler out and we're already dressed for cool weather 70-71 seems to be the norm.  If the Nest though I liked the house at 77 and was keeping it there I imagine we'd think its too hot.  The same could be said when summer rolls around again.

Does it factor in outside temps? How well is its ability to learn whats confortable to you?

It factors the outside temp and humidity. You basically change the temp to what you like throughout the day, then over a few weeks months it will start adjusting to what you like. It will give you a graph that you can adjust.

DaveRichardson

@NervousDad‌ , my current thermo is in the hallway that only leads back to the kids rooms; therefore it's a rarely used space. I might need to move the nest into the living room if the sensor is the main AWAY status activator.

Zmokin

Call me old fashion, but if you can access your house with wireless, then someone can hack into it.  The system that really scares me is these ads I've seen for "Smart House" where you can lock your house remotely.  Well, if you can lock it remotely, then someone else can unlock it remotely.
That's why I lock my cars inside my garage.  I do enjoy the remote control to open the garage door, which makes that door not so secure, so the cars are locked and alarmed while sitting in the garage.

BREWnQ

@DaveRichardson.  You're post got me looking around more and the Ecobee3 has a remote sensor so you wouldn't have to do any relocating of your main thermostat.

@Zmokin.  You're old fashion.  My biggest worry about getting robbed is that the careless thieves will leave one of the doors open and my cats will get out.  

DaveRichardson

But @Zmokin‌, that's not where I'm going.... Someone turning on or off my air conditioner isn't as disturbing as unlocking my doors or opening the garage.

And I have the garage door powered by a switchable outlet. When the cars are in for the night, I can shut off power to the opener. Doors will remain keyed. I just want a better thermo for the house....

Elmer Fudd

I've had the Nest for maybe a couple of years now. I do like it however when my air conditioning or heater is really working hard, I get an error message indicating the nest is not connected to thh heating or cooling system (not a wifi issue). It always takes care of itself but is a little worrisome especially living in MN. uncertain where to place blame.

grege345

@Zmokin‌ I would say I'm completely opposite lol. Keys are in it just be careful. Haha

theyolksonyou

grege345 said:

@Zmokin‌ I would say I'm completely opposite lol. Keys are in it just be careful. Haha

Me too. Hell, the keys are in the one in the driveway too. Use the opener so you don't eff up my doors.

Jeremiah

I'd like to hear more about the Honeywell wifi if anyone has good thoughts on it. I really like the idea of being able to control it while away. The nest frankly scares me. I don't want anything in my house that's thinks. Myself included.

Spaightlabs

Open the pod bay doors, Hal. Stuff that thinks for you is good. Until it isn't.

DaveRichardson

I've also looked at a newer Honeywell product that looks like a Nest. Call it the Lyric. It does use geofencing technology to set Away status. It's plastic unlike the Nest that has a stainless steel "ring".

4Runner

Jeremiah said:

I'd like to hear more about the Honeywell wifi if anyone has good thoughts on it. I really like the idea of being able to control it while away. The nest frankly scares me. I don't want anything in my house that's thinks. Myself included.

You can turn off the auto scheduling feature...you can turn off the auto away as well...but then you are missing out on the value proposition. I have had my Nests for over 3 years now and have really enjoyed them. Very nice software updates as well adding additional features for free. Highly recommend the Nest.