OT: smart thermostats
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I love it... It learns patterns and predicts when you will be home. I'm on Florida now so I can monitor the house temperature while I'm away. Fortunately I don't need to worry about the pipes freezing this Summer
Only have experience with the nest... Thinking about adding the smoke detectors as well
I've heard mixed reviews on the Nest, especially for the price.
I just bought a model from 2Gig for $35. Z-wave capable so I can control and program it through my SmartThings hub and app on my phone. Also have a bunch of other smart devices around the house.
I just bought a model from 2Gig for $35. Z-wave capable so I can control and program it through my SmartThings hub and app on my phone. Also have a bunch of other smart devices around the house.
I have a friend with one, and they ran into some sort of problem. I don't remember the details, but it had something to do with being unable to operate the thermostat if wifi (or internet access) went out. Backup operation may be something you want to look into if you are thinking of getting one.
$35 ??? Seems very cheap no offense. I'm always skeptical of things.... there of course is a fine line, but generally speaking you get what you pay for.
I hear you. It's got good reviews on Amazon and I think it's a model that's been replaced with a newer one which is the reason for the price.
Do you guys all have "smart meters" on your houses? Didn't know if the electric company had introduced dynamic pricing in NJ (assume they have) where they charge more for peak consumption?
I have both the nest and ecobee3 and there are pros and cons to both but ultimately I like the ecobee more because:
1. The nest doesn't allow you to hold a temperature, which is ridiculous and a common complaint
2. The ecobee has sensors that you can put in other rooms and you can set it to average the temperatures if you want which is great for evening out the temp in your home. Also, you can set it so that if it detects motion or doesn't detect motion in a room or at the main therm it'll override the schedule. The sensors are a huge plus IMO.
One thing the nest does better, assuming you have more than one thermostat, is to set it to away. Once you do that it will do it for all thermostats in your house. In contrast, ecobbe3 needs to do it on a per thermostat basis unless you set a "vacation". When you do that it puts all thermostats in the same vacation mode. However, if you only have one thermostat, this is all irrelevant.
1. The nest doesn't allow you to hold a temperature, which is ridiculous and a common complaint
2. The ecobee has sensors that you can put in other rooms and you can set it to average the temperatures if you want which is great for evening out the temp in your home. Also, you can set it so that if it detects motion or doesn't detect motion in a room or at the main therm it'll override the schedule. The sensors are a huge plus IMO.
One thing the nest does better, assuming you have more than one thermostat, is to set it to away. Once you do that it will do it for all thermostats in your house. In contrast, ecobbe3 needs to do it on a per thermostat basis unless you set a "vacation". When you do that it puts all thermostats in the same vacation mode. However, if you only have one thermostat, this is all irrelevant.
I believe that smart metering has not yet become even close to universal. Bear in mind that NJ has three or four different electric utilities serving the state.
As I understand it, the chief problem with the meters is that they show electrical usage to be at levels far higher than detected by conventional meters, and thus prices go up.
Definitely not true, we were switched to new meters by PECO and our usage stayed exactly the same(on average).
very interesting -- it's said to be a problem in California. Maybe it's a fixable issue. It would be good if it were.
This one was highly recommended by a HVAC pro that my son knows. I also asked my HVAC guy and first he said Honeywell then when I told him about this he said it was better than Honeywell. Both of them did not recommend Next.
http://www.amazon.com/Sensi-Wi-Fi-Programmable-Thermostat-1F86U-42WF/dp/B00HHE60CE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451625959&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=Sensi+Wi-Fi+Programmable+Thermostat,+1F86U-42WF+for+Smart+Home&psc=1
http://www.amazon.com/Sensi-Wi-Fi-Programmable-Thermostat-1F86U-42WF/dp/B00HHE60CE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451625959&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=Sensi+Wi-Fi+Programmable+Thermostat,+1F86U-42WF+for+Smart+Home&psc=1
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Once the Russians start hacking your thermostat, then you'll be sorry.
Also works great with Alexa. You don't need a neutral wire either, which lead me to this model.
Check out the eccobee3. It has a major advantage over the Nest with remote sensors. So you can have the thermostat doesn't just have to read the temperature where it located. You can also program it to use different locations at different times. So you can set it to maintain a particular temperature in your bedroom at night.
I installed an ecobee3 2 weeks ago and it is perfect for my 1 zone townhouse multifloor use. Heat was way too hot upstairs with my only thermostat being downstairs. The sensors allowed me to have an additional "thermostat" reading for my system to use at nighttime. Although it was expensive, it will pay for itself easily in the long run.
I have heard nest is good too but ecobee3 can do almost everything nest can. It can't learn like nest, but i dont care it isnt hard to program ecobee3 at all. It has a nice app that goes with it too.
It also works with Amazon Alexa and whatever apple uses... I am not an apple guy.
A lot of states give you a rebate for getting a smart thermostat... of course NJ isnt one of them :angry:
I have heard nest is good too but ecobee3 can do almost everything nest can. It can't learn like nest, but i dont care it isnt hard to program ecobee3 at all. It has a nice app that goes with it too.
It also works with Amazon Alexa and whatever apple uses... I am not an apple guy.
A lot of states give you a rebate for getting a smart thermostat... of course NJ isnt one of them :angry:
I have a nest and like it. One thing to note is that if your house doesn't have a third white wire (power which goes to terminal C on the furnace and on the Nest you should install one. The nest will work with just the two wires but won't work properly. Mine would start heating and turn of and turn on and turn off. Basically lots of short cycling. That was because the Nest and i'm sure these other smart thermostats need constant power from that third wire. Once I installed that which was easy and I'm not handy at all the thing works perfectly.
I don't use the learning function in it. I used to but now I just set it to a schedule and turn it to "Eco" when we are away which turns the thermostat down to that set temperature.
I don't use the learning function in it. I used to but now I just set it to a schedule and turn it to "Eco" when we are away which turns the thermostat down to that set temperature.
I'm running Wink and Lutron Casettas to run my contollable lights. I just got an Amazon Echo to talk to that and a Logitech A/V controller. My plans are too Add an Ecobee 3 in a bit to control Temp. I also have a August Smartlock but I am not integrating that to anything but our phones via BT. (Don't want my house unlocked from the internet)