hi there;
I installed 2 today for our two story house after getting them at a discount price provided by our local electric company; It is very first day for use so I cannot say much about them except for its looks; Also, we have Nest Google Hello doorbell camera along with it and they work seemesly on the app.
So I was wondering does anyone have one at your residence here and what is your take on it
Nest thermostat
- Thread starter miden851
- Start date
Turn the heat on! Brrrr!
I have a Trane thermostat for the upstairs and another for the downstairs. They are WIFI and programmable. But do not sense people in a room or whatever else the fancy thermostats do.
But they each tell me about usage for the day for last 7 days of heat/cool, backup heat, indoor and outdoor temp. And a log of each event the system sees for many days (change in temp or RH, fan on, heat or cooling on, etc). And a bunch of service info for the HVAC guys.
Can the Nest do all that?
Originally Posted by Donald
I have a Trane thermostat for the upstairs and another for the downstairs. They are WIFI and programmable. But do not sense people in a room or whatever else the fancy thermostats do.
But they each tell me about usage for the day for last 7 days of heat/cool, backup heat, indoor and outdoor temp. And a log of each event the system sees for many days (change in temp or RH, fan on, heat or cooling on, etc). And a bunch of service info for the HVAC guys.
Can the Nest do all that?
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Originally Posted by GumbyJarvis
Originally Posted by Donald
I have a Trane thermostat for the upstairs and another for the downstairs. They are WIFI and programmable. But do not sense people in a room or whatever else the fancy thermostats do.
But they each tell me about usage for the day for last 7 days of heat/cool, backup heat, indoor and outdoor temp. And a log of each event the system sees for many days (change in temp or RH, fan on, heat or cooling on, etc). And a bunch of service info for the HVAC guys.
Can the Nest do all that?
Have fun manually adjusting humidity.
I got an ecobee for this single function
Originally Posted by Donald
How does it save money over a thermostat programmed for my daily routine?
We had early nests, ~2 years ago, that I had to remove as they were incompatible with our central heat and ac wiring; they needed a dedicated hot lead. For whatever reason, they would not charge when they were on cool, instead they would cycle every few minutes and not cool the house. Tech help recommended using the hot lead for the fans which would have eliminated the ability to turn on just the fans without heat/cooling, which we like in the Spring and Fall. I would up removing them and putting in standard programmable thermostats. I am looking at the Honeywell systems.
I think the latest generation Nest is better...I did like them though.
Just installed an ecobee a week ago so other than being able to control it without walking up to it (can adjust it from work, from the bedroom, while sitting on the couch, etc) I can't say much yet. Downside currently in our house is everyone's schedule. I work M-F, 8-5 generally. My wife works 3 x 12s on varying days per week. Our son works 3rd shift so he's home during the day when we'd otherwise turn the heat down, for example. Makes setting up programming almost impossible. It does have 'home' and 'away' settings that I presume are for times when the scheduling should be (can be) overridden. Will have to look into it more. I just don't want anyone that's home to override the temperature too much.
One thing our son mentioned since installing it is this thermostat seems to cycle the furnace more often than the previous thermostat (a non-smart, but programmable unit). His room is near the furnace so he hears it cycling. I don't know if it does it this way for energy efficiency or what (?).
In some thermostats if you get into the advance functions you can actually set the number of cycles. See how many times it runs on 1 hour period,
ideally is 3 or 4 times.
I have had an Ecobee 3 for about 1.5 years now and it is great. Can turn furnace off when away in winter but if it is getting too cold kick it on from phone. It does have Home and Away setting and after a set amount of time which is predetermined at 2 hours I think but you can change it with no motion it will automatically go into the energy saving Away mode. You set it for whatever you like when home or away. I also kick furnace up a bit about 30 minutes before I wake up for work. If you are not tech savvy at all it has many prebuilt features so you don't have to do anything and it will function with economy and or comfort in mind.
Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by GumbyJarvis
Originally Posted by Donald
I have a Trane thermostat for the upstairs and another for the downstairs. They are WIFI and programmable. But do not sense people in a room or whatever else the fancy thermostats do.
But they each tell me about usage for the day for last 7 days of heat/cool, backup heat, indoor and outdoor temp. And a log of each event the system sees for many days (change in temp or RH, fan on, heat or cooling on, etc). And a bunch of service info for the HVAC guys.
Can the Nest do all that?
So newest versions of the Nest, Ecobee or Honeywell look like the options for somebody looking into this (all WiFi, programmable, etc.).
My system (2,400 sq ft):
I have two zones (upstairs and downstairs) with a single system (built house in 2017). My Amana system (SEER 16) is a dual-fuel system with two stage gas, two stage heat-pump and a variable speed central fan.
Currently have non-programmable, simple Honeywell thermostats hooked up to the Honeywell TrueZONE controller box mounted to the HVAC (has exterior temp sensor wired to it since it is a dual-fuel system).
Suggestions for a compatible and full featured programmable thermostats (must be WiFi enabled and have an Android phone app) for a system like mine?
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Nest thermostats are the first thing your hvac guy will check if you have a problem with your system. They fail regularly.
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Originally Posted by PowerSurge
Nest thermostats are the first thing your hvac guy will check if you have a problem with your system. They fail regularly.
I'm going on almost 4 years with my 3rd gen Nest and have not had any problems (knock on wood).
I absolutely love it! The energy savings coming from a non-programmable thermostat paid it off in just ~1 year as I was not the type to fiddle with the thermostat before I left for the day so the first apartment I had it installed in would be heating or cooling unnecessarily for 45-50 hours a week while I was at work or commuting. It was the best $179 (instant rebate from Georgia Power) I ever spent, I don't know if I could ever go back to a basic thermostat.
Only downside I have found is that with my other half having a constantly changing and erratic work schedule I had to turn the auto schedule off. But this would be an issue with any programmable. The home/away assist fixes that issue with the home away assist tagged to our phone geolocation, we still try to actively put it into eco when we leave as the home/away assist can take some time once we leave to go into eco.
Saving $$$ on air filters now too - during heavy cooling season its about 4-5 months between filter changes. Winter when heat does not run as much as AC during summer its the remainder. Typically only changing filters ~2x per year and even then they are not loaded by any means. This alone is a savings of about $24-28/year.
Originally Posted by Donald
Originally Posted by GumbyJarvis
Originally Posted by Donald
I have a Trane thermostat for the upstairs and another for the downstairs. They are WIFI and programmable. But do not sense people in a room or whatever else the fancy thermostats do.
But they each tell me about usage for the day for last 7 days of heat/cool, backup heat, indoor and outdoor temp. And a log of each event the system sees for many days (change in temp or RH, fan on, heat or cooling on, etc). And a bunch of service info for the HVAC guys.
Can the Nest do all that?
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