Nest thermostats

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For those with extended absences from home and have a home security system with camera, you can always put a thermometer on the opposite wall to let you know if something is wrong with your furnace.

If your son insists on giving you a gift, tactfully drop hints and steer him to something else that you would find useful, like maybe a home security camera.
 
I'm on both sides of the fence. My house has dual-zone hot water heat, so two thermostats. The main zone is just a plane jane non-programmable 'stat, because in the winter (the only time it's used, no central AC) the radiators do such a good job of keeping the house comfortable that there's really no need to "drop" the temp during the day. I can leave it set at 69* with very little waste.

I got a smoking deal on an Ecobee 3 Lite through my electric company, so I went ahead and installed it for zone 2, which controls my kitchen and master bedroom. The master is on the second floor, the kitchen directly below on the main floor. The PO of my house already had a 3 conductor wire run to the existing thermostat which only used two, so I just joined the extra wire to the transformer at the boiler and connected to the Ecobee. Boom, done.

I don't use any of the fancy room sensors, learning functions, etc. Honestly, here's my two favorite things about it: the current and future weather display at a glance, and the WiFi ability. Sometimes, at night, I get either too hot or two cold. I like being able to wake up, grab my phone, drop the temp a degree or two, and go back to sleep. I also like the ability to keep an eye on the house temp remotely. Other than those somewhat gimmicky features, I could do without it.

If I didn't get a big discount on it, I wouldn't have bought one. You say you can get it for free? What's the harm... that's just my .02
 
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.
 
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.
 
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I have to admit that I've looked at them a couple of times, and there are things about them that are appealing to me.

I'm a bit weird in that I tend to leave the thermostat set very low-around 60º-all winter(I'm going to have to adjust that when I get married later this year, and actually do have to turn it up quite a bit when my fiancée is over to keep her from freezing).

The other side of that, though, is that I tend to turn the thermostat down fairly low at least at night in the summer-sometimes as low as 65º or so. The other side of that, though, is that I turn it up to 80º or higher during the day to make up for that. My house(condo) is well insulated enough that on all but the very hottest days, my A/C doesn't run or just barely runs during the day(I can indirectly monitor it by the smart meter that the electric company installed, which reads at 15 minute intervals, and can tell by electric usage when the A/C is running). I generally use the programmable function in the summer to start lowering the temperature about an hour before I get home so I've at least taken the edge off the high temperatures. At the same time, though, I'd like to be able to do this a bit more "dynamically" based on both my workday, which can be a bit inconsistent, and also the prevailing weather conditions.

I also travel/am out of town a decent amount and in the spring and fall my area can see wild temperature fluctuations even within a week. That's the time when I think I would see the biggest benefit from a smart thermostat vs. a standard programmable.
 
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