Originally Posted by Aredeeem
My son is anxious to install a nest tstat in my home as a gift. My wife and I are both retired. There is always someone home. We're not leaving the house at 6am and getting home at 6pm. Our schedules IMO are not compatible with a nest trying to "learn " our habits. We have none. Our house is 1600 square feet on one floor. I am against handing the operation of my hvac system over to Google. I'm a boomer with no axe to grind when it comes to technology but I think I'll take a pass on this one.
Yup ^^^
I am willing to bet many people do not save as much money using a Nest vs using a static programmable thermostat.
We have two HVAC systems in our home with programable thermostats, one on each floor, they are not WIF, not self learning.
We set them on a schedule and we live by the schedule, this stops the temptation of everyone in the house adjusting the temperature to their liking.
In addition standard programable thermostats are programmed around the peak usage electric cost times for the best savings and are the most reliable. It would take YEARS for a Nest thermostat to make up for its cost, assuming the thing doesnt malfunction and need to be replaced before you see any savings.
Standard programable thermostats does what it needs to do when we wake up in the morning, then during the afternoon, then evening, then sleeping, no messing around with it all at. They cost (and more reliable) way less then a Nest. Add to that the privacy thing regarding google or any wifi device, well known in this forum by my posts.
I can only see a couple benefits of Wifi thermostats and that is in vacation homes that are not occupied or some less common issues where you need to be alerted right away should the system malfunction.