Does anyone own a NEST thermostat?

[Agschmid]

Nest website: https://nest.com/thermostat/life-with-nest-thermostat/

I am considering getting it for my mom for Christmas... thoughts?

[unblock]

1. bookmarking. they look like fun but i'm curious to read reviews.

in particular, i'm wondering how much energy you can really save relative to other options.

we have a programmable thermostat with 4 segments per day, 7 days individually programmable.

but it certainly would be fun, in the winter, to be able to turn heat way down as you leave, knowing you can turn it back on from your smart phone so it returns to a comfortable temperature just as you arrive home!

[FreakinDJ]

2. I read it as NIST thermostat

And was thinking "I have a NIST certified temp calibrator"

[Agschmid]

4. Too funny. Lol.

[discopants]

3. Check the specs

Nest requires specific wiring that is found in modern homes for heating & AC, older homes may require some additional electrical upgrades.

[Agschmid]

5. Yeah the house is pretty recent (late 80's?)...

Forced hot air heat and cooling.

Can't quite figure out the wiring but I think it would work.

[rufus dog]

6. Neighbor put one in

He loves it. Obviously it looks cool too.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. Yes. My wife would blame me if the heat would come on in the middle of the night

and wake her up... Man, no one needs that shit. This is after I've already resigned myself to sleeping in 3 layers under 5 blankets because I get ass cold at night.. I'm like "I haven't touched the thermostat in 4 days".

So I buckled down and invested in this thing. It's GREAT. Absolutely awesome. My initial reaction was, like, how much money for a thermostat?

But you will be amazed at how quickly you get used to the idea of being able to turn the heat on from your phone. The thing has totally saved us energy. I can't recommend it enough.

Also, I can't speak to super-old houses, but I think if you've got fairly standard wiring from the past 30 years or so, setup is a breeze. I did it myself in about a half an hour.

Only other caveat I would add is check the list of wireless routers it has known issues with. I did have to tweak our wireless setup a bit to get it to work.

[Xithras]

8. The energy savings may be overstated if you already have a programmable thermostat.

Most of the cost savings numbers floating around actually compare the Nest to old fashioned thermostats that sit at a constant temperature all day. If your home already has a programmable thermostat, the real energy savings are pretty small. I got mine two years ago, and I don't think I've broken even yet.

If money savings aren't your concern, then it's a great device. It learns your preferred temperature ranges without having to constantly reprogram it as the seasons change, so your house is always comfortable. The phone app is pretty groovy too. I'm getting off work a bit early today, so I just opened the app a few minutes ago to turn up my house thermostat and get the house ready for my arrival. It's also REALLY nice on hot summer days when I've been working outside, because I can pop the app up and pre-chill the house before I get there

If you're thinking of getting it for your mom, I have to recommend it even more. It's very easy to use, and doesn't require any learning. If you can twist the ring, you can set your house temperature (great for older or arthritic hands). The colorized display and large clear text also makes it very easy to read for people with poor eyesight.

Any specific questions?

[Agschmid]

10. I'd like to know more about the "learning" system...

From the marketing it appears that if you set it to the same range of setting over a few days it will "learn" from those setting and create it's own program?

The thermostat is located in the formal living room (often unused) does the NEST use a motion detector to decide when to switch to "away" mode, and if so if the thermostat is in a low trafficked room would this be an issue?

You might not have these answers but I'd love advice!

[Xithras]

11. Yeah, a slightly smarter version of that.

In a nutshell, if you start setting your thermostat to 72 degrees every morning at 6AM, it will figure that out. But instead of turning it up at 6AM, it works out all of the algorithms to determine exactly how fast your house heats up, so the heater will actually kick on at 5:38AM, so that the house will already be at a "perfect" 72 degrees when you get up at 6. It actually goes even further than that and monitors the local weather, and factors in things like weather related temperature losses to accurately determine when an how things should be turned on or off. It's incredibly accurate, and could be a huge boon if you live in an old or drafty house. Mine even figured out that my kids come home from school at around 3:30 every day and have a tendency to keep the doors open too long. In response, the Nest bumps the temperature a degree right around that time each day to compensate. We didn't have to set that...it just figured out that the temperature drops a bit quicker during that period, and adjusted itself to compensate.

The away mode thing is a bit trickier to answer. There IS a motion sensor inside, but Auto Away isn't just based on the motion sensor. The Nest actually monitors a number of different things to determine what "normal" is inside of your house. If it's normal for you to only enter a room once every three hours, it might not activate Auto-Away until it hasn't seen you for four or five hours. If you're Nest is located in a busy hallway like mine, where there is someone walking by once every 10-15 minutes at a minimum, it might put the house into Auto-Away in a much shorter period of time. The Auto Away functionality is entirely dependent on your homes version of "normal". If it does become an issue though, you can turn Auto Away completely off and it will stop trying to guess

[Agschmid]

12. Thanks!

She'd likely turn off auto away... we never use that room except on holidays. Odd spot for a thermostat in reality.

[wandy]

9. I am using two (zoned) older Honeywell programables..........

How old? They don't even look like this thing.



http://www.theacoutlet.com/TH6220D1028-Honeywell-Visionpro-6000-Programmable-Thermostat-2H-2C.htm?gclid=CNmilof78boCFbE-MgodXSsA_Q

Then and again, that says something.
Their is a Honeywell look alike to the Nest...
http://reviews.cnet.com/smart-home/honeywell-wi-fi-smart/4505-9788_7-35663091.html

Artical goes into some of the 'trials and tribulations' that may be incurred when upgrading to a Nest type device.
You wouldn't know until you tried to make it work.
Could be easy.
Could get ugly.

[Agschmid]

13. Thanks for the link to the Honeywell one!