Wifi Thermostats

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Hello, board goers. I'm looking into updating to a wifi thermostat. The main reason is to be able to get alerts if the tempetature drops while not at home.

My job has me away for extended periods and was looking into the Honeywell T6 or T9.

Any opinions regarding brand or model?
 
I have the Nest thermostat. I've Never set an alert of low temp, I guess it can be done. They are great for controlling temps remotely and monitoring consumption.

Only issue is when internet goes down then you cannot monitor remotely.

Does the Honeywell have the features you want? What are the reviews like?
 
I've had a couple Honeywell WiFi thermostats and have been happy with them. My use is high and low temp alerts and managing heating/cooling costs with both time of day and being able to lower/raise the temp and remotely change to a more comfortable temp before I get home. I can show about a 50% savings by now heating/cooling an unoccupied house and using power during low price times of day (we have hourly pricing).
 
I have two of the Honeywell RTH6500 WiFi thermostats and like them a lot. I am able to do seven day programming like a normal programmable thermostat and use WiFi to over ride that programming. The cell phone app is easy to use. Plus, when my second floor furnace wasn't operating properly when I was away in winter, I got warning notices through my phone every time the temperature dropped a degree. Gave us a chance to get home and fix the furnace before the house froze up.

I love being able to set back the temperature for long periods of time when we are away and still come home to a warm/cool house.
 
The reviews of the Honeywell T6 or T9 look favorable and they are more economically priced compared to some others. The remote monitoring of temp and also adjust is the main feature I'm looking for. Ive also owned other Honeywells over the years with no complaints.
 
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Originally Posted by JC1
I have the Nest thermostat. I've Never set an alert of low temp, I guess it can be done. They are great for controlling temps remotely and monitoring consumption.


No notification on Nest - just the "safety" temps where regardless of setting the heat or air will kick on to stay in your set "safe" zone for things like to prevent frozen pipes or freezing out/overheating your pets.

I have never tried any other smart thermostat but I absolutely love my 3rd generation Nest. Simple installation, very intuitive and easy to use and the consumption monitoring noted above. It's almost 4 years old now and never any hiccups and I just cannot imagine NOT having a smart thermostat. Best $$$ I ever spent - with the energy savings I think it paid itself off after just about 1 year.

Also OP check with your power company to see about getting rebates or discounts if you buy through them. Southern Company (owner of Georgia Power, Alabama Power, Mississippi Power and some others) gives instant rebates on the smart thermostats if you buy through their online store. For example with Georgia Power the Honeywell thermostats after rebate run from $49-125 vs the normal price of $99-199.
 
Originally Posted by pezzy669
Originally Posted by JC1
I have the Nest thermostat. I've Never set an alert of low temp, I guess it can be done. They are great for controlling temps remotely and monitoring consumption.


No notification on Nest - just the "safety" temps where regardless of setting the heat or air will kick on to stay in your set "safe" zone for things like to prevent frozen pipes or freezing out/overheating your pets.

I have never tried any other smart thermostat but I absolutely love my 3rd generation Nest. Simple installation, very intuitive and easy to use and the consumption monitoring noted above. It's almost 4 years old now and never any hiccups and I just cannot imagine NOT having a smart thermostat. Best $$$ I ever spent - with the energy savings I think it paid itself off after just about 1 year.

Also OP check with your power company to see about getting rebates or discounts if you buy through them. Southern Company (owner of Georgia Power, Alabama Power, Mississippi Power and some others) gives instant rebates on the smart thermostats if you buy through their online store. For example with Georgia Power the Honeywell thermostats after rebate run from $49-125 vs the normal price of $99-199.



I agree with you. I got my Nest Third Gen from an Auction site for less than half the price they sell for at Best Buy. Next purchase is a Nest doorbell.
 
[Linked Image]
 
1984's Big Brother and Brave New Worlds Global Govt of A+ Clones never had it so good as citizens gladly paying oodles of money to install monitoring hardware in their own homes. Normally the state at least has to threaten or drug the populace first.
 
I have an ecobee 3 and have alerts set for temperature, humidity and several other functions I no longer remember when I set it up. Might be if a sensor detects movement when no one is supposed to be home. Only when I actually get alerts for is humidity being too low as other have not broken the threshold.
 
We have the Ecobee and you can set it up for several alerts, high/low temps, high humidity and I believe there are more.

You can either get them by email or you will get notifications on the phone app also.
 
Originally Posted by pezzy669
Also OP check with your power company to see about getting rebates or discounts if you buy through them.

I've looked at smart t-stats in the past and always said "no way" because of their price ($150+) but then my electric company has been sending emails promoting them along with rebates. They've made arrangements with the local gas supplier as well and will stack rebates instantly (no mail-in rebate garbage or hassle) so I got an ecobee 3 for $69.

So yeah, check with your utility company.

A Honeywell T9 through my utility companies ends up $99 after 2 x $50 rebates. I'd definitely go with an ecobee or Nest before I'd get that one for that price.
 
Originally Posted by FA_WRX
The reviews of the Honeywell T6 or T9 look favorable and they are more economically priced compared to some others. The remote monitoring of temp and also adjust is the main feature I'm looking for. Ive also owned other Honeywells over the years with no complaints.


^^ and you have your answer ^^
Good choice!
 
We have the Honeywell Prestige IAQ wifi thermostat on a 96% AFE two stage gas furnace and two stage 16 SEER air conditioning unit. It works well. The thermostat came with a device marketed as their Redlink accessory which wires to your Wifi router with a LAN cable. The Redlink box is what enables using Honeywell's TCC (Total Comfort Control) app on your Android or iPhone to operate the thermostat from your phone anywhere in the world you are with cellular data coverage.

I was going to take a screen capture of the TCC app's screen on my phone but it must somehow block it. I get a notification that the screenshot failed due to low storage space, which is a lie because the phone currently has 3.4 gigabyte of free space. To make sure, I exited the TCC app and tried screen shot captures of other displayed content and it worked fine. That's sort of weird.

The furnace has a smart box on it as well that communicates with the thermostat. When the service tech comes he has a bluetooth device that reads the smart box on the furnace for error codes and scans operating parameters while the hvac system is running. Hopefully all the smart tech attached to the system will last the same time as the core parts of the furnace and a/c, although there's a 10 yr warranty in force. Amana equipment.
 
I just completed my own upgrade using a Sensi Touch WiFi thermostat. I had a Honeywell programable thermostat previously and actually purchased a Honeywell T9 and the Sensi because I didn't know which would work better in my application. A couple of considerations: The Honeywell T9 allows additional sensors to give you temperature in any location within 200' of the thermostat. Additional sensors cost around $39 each, and what that gives you is control over that sensor location temperature. The downside is if that room is cool or hot compared to the main thermostat, that sensor will cause excessive heat or cooling for the remaining rooms. The sensors can be "averaged" to give you balanced control, or can be set to detect people to control whatever room you're in.

I tried the Honeywell T9 for about 2 days and didn't like it. It caused the furnace to come on when I went into a room for a short period of time (Because of the room sensor) and it really ended up running the furnace more than I wanted it to. The second consideration for me was the narrow set points for temperature range. In other words, the thermostat would call for heat, but would only heat until the temperature went bak to the set point. A 70 degree setting had the furnace start at 69 degrees and would shut down when it hit at 70 degrees exactly. There was no control on the range of temperature swing. Bottom line was I didn't care for the sensors, and the narrow range of temperature swings when calling for heat or cooling. Because of this, I switched to the Sensi WiFi Touch by Emerson. The Sensi has several selections for temperature swing, AC protection modes for short cycling, and a great app that lets you see what's going on with the furnace no matter where you are in the world.

The Sensi thermostat worked extremely well and was very easy to install. Total install time was about :15 minutes and the app you install will guide you through the process. You will need a C (common) wire for continuous power to the thermostat which is required for the WiFi connection. The thermostat has what's called Geofence which will sense your location (through the app) and turn down the heat (or raise the temp for AC) when you are outside of a 3 mile diameter from the thermostat. It will when heat up the house to the programmed temp when you return within the 3 mile diameter. I also have Amazon Alexa and you have the ability to say "Alexa, turn the heat to 68 degrees" and that will automatically be set on the thermostat. You can also control settings through your app on your phone. The app also has a neat feature telling you the furnace run time for each time and what mode. My thermostat indicated my furnace ran in the heat mode for 1 hr. 38 minutes yesterday, giving me a good idea on my home efficiency. The Sensi also has a circulation mode that will run your blower to circulate air for what ever time period you select. The lowest circulation available is 6 minutes per hour up to 100%. You can also turn that feature off if you prefer.

Both thermostats will give you local weather on the display. The Honeywell T9 is mounted vertically which left some exposed screw holes from the previous horizontally mounted thermostat. The Sensi mounting plate has built-in LED backlighting and a built in level for accurate wall placement. One final consideration: Your wireless modern has to work on 2.4G for the thermostat to work. A 5.0G modem frequency will not work with either thermostat. I've been a Honeywell customer for most of my life and I really wanted it to work well in my application. I just couldn't get past the temperature swing issue. It seems to me having the furnace cycle frequently would put more wear and tear on the furnace. I did call customer service on both thermostats, and after waiting on hold for :20 minutes, it seemed like the Honeywell representative didn't understand anything I was asking her. She just read responses from a script and was really no help at all. The Sensi help line was fantastic and the representative seemed very knowledgeable about anything I asked, with a minimal wait time when calling the help line. (Both were called mid-week at around 2:00 pm if that matters.)

Both are fine thermostats, but I wanted more control on temperature swings, and I like having the circulation mode, so the Sensi is a better fit for me. The Sensi touch Wi-Fi comes in either white or black. The Sensi Wifi app also seems to be a bit more refined, with simple and easy display with all the information in one place. Look on YouTube for some good reviews on both thermostats. Good Luck!
 
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