Nest thermostat.....

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My 1959 home has an old York round style thermostat and I am looking to upgrade. Do any of you have a Nest unit, how do you like it?
 
I have a Nest and an Ecobee (one at work, one at home). They are both excellent. What specific features are drawing you to the Nest?
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
I have a Nest and an Ecobee (one at work, one at home). They are both excellent. What specific features are drawing you to the Nest?


The possible energy savings as well as remote accessibility. I have ZERO electrical / HVAC background. Are they easy to install?
 
Originally Posted By: gregk24
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
I have a Nest and an Ecobee (one at work, one at home). They are both excellent. What specific features are drawing you to the Nest?


The possible energy savings as well as remote accessibility. I have ZERO electrical / HVAC background. Are they easy to install?


VERY easy. I have the Ecobee at my house because it is ancient and the remote sensors helps keep it more balanced.
 
I thought about getting a Nest last year but decided on a basic programmable thermostat for like $40. I set it once and don't touch it.
 
I have a Nest. Works great. SCE (utility company) gave a $75 rebate this Spring even though I have had the unit for almost a year...plus the Nest when you sign up for a special program with SCE saves you money during a limited number of high electrical usage times. Nest when notified by SCE sets the temp for your house usually from 2-7 PM in a 5 degree range. It starts at 80 degrees then the A/C stays off until the inside temperature reaches 85 degrees... then the A/C runs until the house is back to 80 degrees..repeats until the alert is over. You save $ everyday this happens. So far this summer it might have been 8 or 10 days. You can override it at any time..you just don't get the discount for that day.

Being able to adjust the temp from your cell phone is a nice feature. If you are away and the temp setting is on Eco (min or max temp setting when house is unoccupied), you can turn the heat or cool on right before you get home making the temp just right when you walk in the door...without wasting energy . Also you can adjust it from bed without having to get up. LOL I know..a bit lazy but at my age.... I think it is neat and cost effective as well

It also compares your usage with your Nest neighbors. Again I know...Big Brother but they already know everything anyway You can also opt out at any time.

Highly recommended
 
IMO, but a fancy thermostat would be the last thing on my list to save on energy costs, especially since a cheap, programmable thermostat can achieve pretty much the same, minus the remote access.

The best bang for the buck is to make sure the existing system is in good shape, the evaporator coil and the condenser are both clean and the condenser is not blocked by plants and bushes, impeding air flow.

Them I would move on to check the house for drafty windows, attic insulation, etc. You can also get the 3M window film for the windows that are directly exposed to sun. Not only do they reduce the radiant heat form sun rays, but they also block UV light, so the furniture inside doesn't get damaged.
 
I doubt a Nest will save much over a decent programmable one.

The Nest requires 24v at the thermostat. The programmable ones do not. If you only have 2 wires to the thermostat you may not be able to provide 24v. If you have 4 wires with 2 unused, then you can.

If you have a boiler then converting to a new propane or natural gas will be a big bang for the buck.

Lastly, if you have a boiler then installing an outside temp sensor will save $$.
 
Originally Posted By: Nick1994
I thought about getting a Nest last year but decided on a basic programmable thermostat for like $40. I set it once and don't touch it.


Same here. Bumps the AC up in the morning 15 minutes before I leave and bumps it down 15 minutes before I usually get home. Easy to change. My electric billed showed once and for all not to leave it on one setting.
 
My Carrier 58PAV furnace apparently doesn't play well with the Nest, so my HVAC guy installed a Bryant wifi thermostat. He had to run another wire to power the thermostat. My only issue is that it's smaller than the analog programmable one that was on the wall, so I had a hole to patch and of course no more paint for that wall, which led to painting my foyer and upstairs hallway ceiling, walls and trim.

I've only had it for 2 weeks, so far so good. Does it save energy, who knows? It's a fun little gadget either way.
 
Make sure your house wiring is fully compatible w/ the Nest; as mentioned you have the dedicated 24v power feed. Our was not and the Nest went into a cycling mode, where it would run the A/C for 5 mins then shut off, then repeat. The solution would have been to use the power feed for the fan to power the Nest, but we would lose the ability to have just the fan on for circulation which we like. I sold the Nests, put the basic programmable back in, and will install the somewhat equivalent Honeywell unit at some point.

If they work for you, then they are great. We loved the remote monitoring and control feature.
 
I have a Lux Geo Thermostat.
Cheaper than the Nest, most of the features. Also comes in black or white (I think the Nest is black only?).

Very easy to program, and has a geo-fence feature that I really like (I work an odd schedule, so can't program for it perfectly, plus the wife and kids come and go etc).
When all our phones are out of a specific range (can be set per phone) it will turn on "away" mode, which will adjust the temperature to your selected preset level to save energy when not home. When you come back within the range, it will kick back to your set temp.

The phone/tablet interface is simple to use, and you can control multiple thermostats (Lux brand only) from the same interface, so if you have 2 units in the house (or 2 homes), you can control it from the same screen.
I just got my brother in law to get one for his lake house (he uses his neighbors wifi (with permission) to connect since he does not have internet there). Makes it so much easier to set the temp to cool off before getting there, and make sure it was set back to correct temp when guests leave if he is not there.
You can also lock the wall control so you can only adjust it from the app, as well as it having an "auto" mode that will change from heat to cool based on temperatures you select.

The only con is power (as is most wifi thermostats). If you do not have a c-wire for power, you can use batteries or USB plug. I was using batteries to power mine, but it was going through even good batteries at 2 per month. I ended up running a USB plug to it and it works great and does not look that bad.



For ~$100, I am very satisfied. I have been using programmable thermostats for 10+ years, but this gives me much more flexibility and does save me money in the long run.
 
Honeywell makes a basic WiFi model that looks about the same as the regular programmable ones. I paid like $110 for mine, so about half the cost of the really fancy ones. I had it at my old house and it was great. Best feature was being able to adjust the HVAC without getting out of bed. It doesn't do Z-wave or any of the fancy home automation features but if you want a thermostat that is accessible anytime from your phone, it's probably the cheapest way to do it.
 
Originally Posted By: CincyDavid
78 degrees?!? I'd burst into flame. We used to cool the house to 70-71 degrees, but my wife is starting to have "power surges" and keeps it around 68 now.

It is set at 80°F now. When it is 100° outside, 80° is comfortable, and with ceiling fans, even more so. If my wife complains about being warm, I tell her to go outside for 10 minutes.
Sure I would like to keep it at 72° (is set to 75° at night), but that costs too much money.
Even at 80°, my A/C runs 12 hrs a day (11 hrs 57 minutes yesterday to be exact per my Lux app).
 
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