Many utility companies are giving them away in honor of earth day. My utility was running an instant $100 rebate on them. I had to pay sales tax, though. They even threw in free shipping. Two Nest cost me $13. Easy to program, control remotely via wifi, or keep as backups should your existing thermostat break.
Free Nest Thermostats
- Thread starter Leo99
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They're convenient little buggers. I have the nest e
We use the "eco" setting all the time and can fire the house up on the way home.
What's cool is that it reads in black & white when things are stabilized. It goes orange when the furnace is kicked on and blue if it's hooked up to an air conditioning system....which ours is not.
Downloading the Nest app was a breeze.
What's cool is that it reads in black & white when things are stabilized. It goes orange when the furnace is kicked on and blue if it's hooked up to an air conditioning system....which ours is not.
Downloading the Nest app was a breeze.
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Geo fencing is interesting I have it turned off. But played with it a few times. Fires up the heat or ac when you're approaching home using location for comfort
I love mine, but lately both the Nest and Google Home app have been saying it’s offline randomly, but if I check through the thermostat itself it says it’s connected. A reboot seems to help for a bit, but I’m about to replace it with a Honeywell or something.
Owen Lucas
$100 Site Donor 2023
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Be careful of signing up for eco plans or these thermostat specials with utilities. The fine print is usually the utility can control your AC unit if it is on a separate connection to the meter and synced with the thermostat. They will turn the AC down when you aren’t home, which nest already does but this will be under the control of the utility which many people wouldn’t like especially if they work from home. I’m sure there is a way to override this but I don’t like the idea of a utility deciding my AC temps.
Hopefully you have a common wire to your thermostat because without out them they get temperamental at times.
Yes, I had another thread about that here. My old thermostat didn't use the C wire so it was just tucked behind the other wires and it wasn't connected on the furnace end, either. Once I connected it to the C connector on my furnace and to the thermostat, it worked fine.
I've been enrolled in the plan from my utility for 3 years now.
At the time they gave $150 in bill credits if you enroll a wifi thermostat in their plan, plus $40 per year you keep it active.
I purchased a Honeywell wifi thermostat, and linked it to them.
It all works fine, but the honeywell wifi thermostat goes offline if you give it anything but google DNS.
The utility controls my AC about 3-4 times a year, and only for a few minutes each time.
Typically when i'm at work they bump it up 4-5 degrees during the summer.
I've never noticed it happening when i'm at home.
At the time they gave $150 in bill credits if you enroll a wifi thermostat in their plan, plus $40 per year you keep it active.
I purchased a Honeywell wifi thermostat, and linked it to them.
It all works fine, but the honeywell wifi thermostat goes offline if you give it anything but google DNS.
The utility controls my AC about 3-4 times a year, and only for a few minutes each time.
Typically when i'm at work they bump it up 4-5 degrees during the summer.
I've never noticed it happening when i'm at home.
Got one from South Jersey Gas as a backup for our beach house.
$12.00 delivered. Currently have the basic Honeywell Wi-Fi which is excellent but it's the second one I've installed. First one started acting up and I couldn't reconnect to my network. The wall trim plate for the Nest cost $2 more than the Nest.
$12.00 delivered. Currently have the basic Honeywell Wi-Fi which is excellent but it's the second one I've installed. First one started acting up and I couldn't reconnect to my network. The wall trim plate for the Nest cost $2 more than the Nest.
My utility company is an electric cooperative and they don't give out free thermostats.
However, they do install load management switches on water heaters and air conditioners.
What you get in return for having a load management switch installed:
For water heaters, if it's not working, they'll send a contractor out to replace fuses, thermostats and heating elements for free.
For air conditioners, if it's not working, they'll send a contractor out to diagnose the unit for free.
So in theory you could keep it powered up on a spare transformer and not connect the output to your furnace?
Welp… the Nest refused to work properly again even after a restart. It would show up in both the Nest and Google Home app, I could make an adjustment, and that command would sometimes make it to the thermostat, most of the time it wouldn’t. Nothing has changed in terms of my router or network settings and everything else works just fine.
Meet the Honeywell T9.
Meet the Honeywell T9.
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Nice looking, I favor the nest e because it has that traditional yo-yo style.
You could, but it would be pretty easy to detect that the thermostat isn't controlling anything. It has a temp sensor in it. If it's calling for heat or cool and the measured temp isn't increasing or decreasing accordingly, it's not connected.
I believe that it's reasonable enough to assume that they aren't checking.
I saw that one of the smart thermostats is supposed to be able to notify you if your system isn't working correctly. If it can notify you, it can notify the electric company that paid for it.
How is it going to know if it's not working correctly?
Because it won't sense a temperature increase when it turns on the heat, or a temperature decrease when it turns on the cool, because it's not connected to anything. That's how smart thermostats can tell you that your equipment isn't working.
I suppose you could just leave it turned off. But wait, smart thermostats also record how many hours your system has run. And presumably the electric company can see that info, too.
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