Originally Posted by Ws6
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.
I have a friend with one. I dont have one. I dont really see the appeal.
Yes, the OP already has his answer, he has no interest.
Someone else who is retired pointed out that they find it convenient to be able to leave the house and return with the thermostat automatically adjusting itself for those times and that is fine too but he may be spending more money for electric allowing that to happen. (depending on how your electric company bills you)
More or less, dont buy a Nest to save money because you may be costing yourself way more money in electric, if your buying it for other reasons that is 100% fine, we all buy things in life for what brings us some fun.
Example- If your electric company has "peak usage hours" your nest might be costing you a fortune, for a retired couple who has no set schedule and lets the Nest adjust the thermostat (lets say summer time in a southern state) and that couple goes out at 12:00 noon to shop, the Nest automatically adjusts the temperature higher when they leave to save cost of air conditioning and then when they return home at 3:00pm, the nest then turns the house cooler again. Well guess what?
The Nest allowed the house to get hot starting at 12 noon when electric cost was .06 cents per KWH but when they returned home at 3:00 the AC kicks on again, only now, with peak usage in effect, that cost of electric is $12.00 a KWH. So you go from saving 6 cents a kilowatt hour to spending twelve DOLLARS a kilowatt hour to cool down your house when you return.
Again, no one size fits all, but these are things to consider IF and only IF you are looking to save money, if looking to save, you will not do it with a Nest, if looking for fun and comfort then that is another story.
I do like the post about the Ecobee, very cool noticing that his system was low on freon, that for sure was a good catch, I also like and have read many reviews on the Ecobee and would be my choice, we do know for the general population though, most get tired or never learn to use the apps and the features. I know, I have installed thousands of security system apps on customers phones, they pay for the service and after a few weeks, most BUT by no means all people just pay and pay but dont use its potential.
I do keep a tab on my 2 AC systems, one simple (homeowner) way to check freon while the system is running, the low pressure return pipe (the thicker one) should be super cold, if its warm and not wet, you should have your system checked because it is low on freon and your system is running and running trying to cool the house.
My electric company also provides me with full daily access to my usage and I can compare any year, day, time, week, month and temperature range. So what I am saying is there are other ways to check things without an "app" but for sure, if used properly and properly programed taking into all I have typed, I definitely see the potential.
With that said, I will NEVER, ever put a GOOGLE device such as Nest in my home. Im very anti google anything. I use them, I dont let them use me.