User Panel
Posted: 8/16/2017 9:28:34 PM EDT
Thinking About Nest ThermoStat - Will It Really Save Me Money???
I know there are reviews out there but would rather trust my fellow GD also- what about the alternatives like the EcoBEE? Update - Installed Ecobee3 with 1 sensor on 8/21 and 2 other sensors around 8/25 My electric reading from 8/22 to 7/24 resulted in a bill of $156.94 Previous month was 207.75 |
|
Love my nest. And yes it does save money. Before I got it during the summers my electric bill was $300+ while my mom's with swimming pool was only $450 and my house is less than a third the size of their house. And water is on the same bill as electric here. Fucking city monopoly for electric here. That and my house has 12 big ass windows, within 15 or so feet between them, with half that face west and are old so do not do good stopping the heat coming in. With the NEST it turns on the AC an hour before I come home so it isn't running all day and is at minimal when I am at work.
|
|
|
Quoted:
Love my nest. And yes it does save money. Before I got it during the summers my electric bill was $300+ while my mom's with swimming pool was only $450 and my house is less than a third the size of their house. And water is on the same bill as electric here. Fucking city monopoly for electric here. That and my house has 12 big ass windows, within 15 or so feet between them, with half that face west and are old so do not do good stopping the heat coming in. With the NEST it turns on the AC an hour before I come home so it isn't running all day and is at minimal when I am at work. View Quote |
|
|
I installed this one December '16.
Honeywell via Amazon Low cost, remote access via iPhone app, email alert when connectivity is lost. Lost connectivity can mean power outage or loss of communication with your wifi modem/router. Install was easy, programming was easy, interaction is easy. You will need to power the t-stat, preferably with a fifth wire from the furnace controller. There are several YouTube vids that will step you through the whole process end to end. ETA: We bought one because we travel a lot. We set the house at 50° when we left in January. Checked it daily via the app. When we were returning and about 4 hours drive time from home, the wife connected and turned the heat up. Nice & warm when we got home. On another trip, a friend needed a place to stay overnight while her husband was hospitalized. Wife remotely turned the heat up for her stay & lowered the temp after she went home. |
|
I don't know if I have saved much money, but with as many incentives as the state and utility provides, it doesn't have to. It's a blast to play with and has been very reliable. I don't trust the industry people who crap on it because it isn't from a traditional HVAC manufacturer. It's like hearing Chevy mechanics warn you off a Tesla. The NEST made smart thermostats mainstream and has the most gadgets to pair with like Dropcam and Protect. The only irritation is the lack of Apple Home compatibility, but I mostly blame Apple for that because they don't play well with any of my smart home products.
|
|
Nest blew up one of my team members board on his A/C unit a month after install. At least, that's what the company said and wouldn't warranty it. I bet he installed it wrong.
He's $1500 down on saving money on electricity now. |
|
Just I installed an ecobee 4 when the old programable died. I love it for the extra sensors, for once I don't wake up roasting from the a/c cycling on and off. I have it programmed to use the sensor in the bedroom at night to control the temperature so I sleep like a baby. But during the "home" time it uses the sensors in only the rooms I am in. I absolutely love it.
ETA: I almost forgot, you can also program just the blower to run without the compressor for however many minutes per hour (instead of just "on" like my old thermostat). Really helps to keep the air from getting too stale during the times when the compressor is not needed, without the blower running constantly. |
|
Quoted:
Just I installed an ecobee 4 when the old programable died. I love it for the extra sensors, for once I don't wake up roasting from the a/c cycling on and off. I have it programmed to use the sensor in the bedroom at night to control the temperature so I sleep like a baby. But during the "home" time it uses the sensors in only the rooms I am in. I absolutely love it. View Quote I have the ecobee3. Unless you have a smaller or 1-level house get something with remote temperature sensors. |
|
|
Quoted:
I don't know if I have saved much money, but with as many incentives as the state and utility provides, it doesn't have to. It's a blast to play with and has been very reliable. I don't trust the industry people who crap on it because it isn't from a traditional HVAC manufacturer. It's like hearing Chevy mechanics warn you off a Tesla. The NEST made smart thermostats mainstream and has the most gadgets to pair with like Dropcam and Protect. The only irritation is the lack of Apple Home compatibility, but I mostly blame Apple for that because they don't play well with any of my smart home products. View Quote The problem with Nest is they didn't have anyone from the industry help them with HOW to control an HVAC system. You lose out on the ability to control the blower, any IAQ devices, multi-stage equipment, etc, etc. The first generation wouldn't run a heat pump system, either. They have also had several very well know QC issues over the years. Apple doesn't play with Nest because they teamed up with Honeywell with the Lyric. Which does everything the Nest does, and everything it doesn't do, too. |
|
Quoted:
aha - I like the remote temp sensor feature. Nest does not have this? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes |
|
Quoted:
What are your before / after bills? What size home? View Quote |
|
Strangely not one person has demonstrated how much they've saved
|
|
A decent 5/2 programmable thermostat is like 35 dollars from HD.
|
|
No thermostat will "save" you money. Any programmable thermostat can do what a nest can do. I manually adjust my thermostats before I leave and when I get home around 5 degrees. The problem with any programmable thermostat, which have been around for years, is the program. If your life never changes then they work great. If sometimes you get home at 4PM and sometimes 7PM, the programmable thermostat is costing you money. The programmable thermostat can either work great/ your life never changes, they cost you money/ I came home later than normal, or I came home early/had to manually set temp, which is actually the most efficient.
IMO, most people's time at home changes from day to day, especially on their off days. If you want the most efficient, just adjust your temp before you leave and when you get home. |
|
It cut my electric bills in half. Of course, I'm single with two dogs, so any programmable would have likely done that. Best thing is accessing it remotely. When I leave town I turn it off, when I land, it turn it on and come home to a perfectly temperaturized home
Nest also uses the fan after the compressor turns off to milk all possible ac from your system. Looks cool too. |
|
|
Quoted:
No thermostat will "save" you money. Any programmable thermostat can do what a nest can do. I manually adjust my thermostats before I leave and when I get home around 5 degrees. The problem with any programmable thermostat, which have been around for years, is the program. If your life never changes then they work great. If sometimes you get home at 4PM and sometimes 7PM, the programmable thermostat is costing you money. The programmable thermostat can either work great/ your life never changes, they cost you money/ I came home later than normal, or I came home early/had to manually set temp, which is actually the most efficient. IMO, most people's time at home changes from day to day, especially on their off days. If you want the most efficient, just adjust your temp before you leave and when you get home. View Quote |
|
Quoted:
No thermostat will "save" you money. Any programmable thermostat can do what a nest can do. I manually adjust my thermostats before I leave and when I get home around 5 degrees. The problem with any programmable thermostat, which have been around for years, is the program. If your life never changes then they work great. If sometimes you get home at 4PM and sometimes 7PM, the programmable thermostat is costing you money. The programmable thermostat can either work great/ your life never changes, they cost you money/ I came home later than normal, or I came home early/had to manually set temp, which is actually the most efficient. IMO, most people's time at home changes from day to day, especially on their off days. If you want the most efficient, just adjust your temp before you leave and when you get home. View Quote ETA: beat |
|
Quoted:
The ecobee3 remote sensors also do occupancy detection. It figures out that everyone has left the house and can automatically switch over to the "away" temperature setting. Your typical 5/2 programmable tstat can't do that as tankless points out. I think the Nest tries to do it, but without the remote sensors it has to be more conservative in making the "away" call. ecobee3 (and probably Nest) also have remote apps where you can adjust your settings if you know you're going to be home/away early/late from work or vacation. ETA: beat View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
No thermostat will "save" you money. Any programmable thermostat can do what a nest can do. I manually adjust my thermostats before I leave and when I get home around 5 degrees. The problem with any programmable thermostat, which have been around for years, is the program. If your life never changes then they work great. If sometimes you get home at 4PM and sometimes 7PM, the programmable thermostat is costing you money. The programmable thermostat can either work great/ your life never changes, they cost you money/ I came home later than normal, or I came home early/had to manually set temp, which is actually the most efficient. IMO, most people's time at home changes from day to day, especially on their off days. If you want the most efficient, just adjust your temp before you leave and when you get home. ETA: beat Your unit ran for 2 hours that it shouldn't which cost you money. So you had only one option for this not to happen, which is for you to remember before 4PM to manually adjust your thermostat from work with the app. I don't know about you but that would not happen with most people. Also if your going to have to change it remotely, wouldn't it be easier to change when you get home on a regular thermostat? |
|
Quoted:
The ecobee sensors will turn it up and down for you. They sense occupancy as well as temperature so they switch to "away" when they sense no one home and likewise for the opposite "home" time. Sorry, I know i'm overly enthusiastic about this thing View Quote |
|
Quoted:
So let's look at a scenario. Your Nest thinks you will be at home at 5PM and starts your heat or a/c at 4PM to have the house ready for you. Well you have to work late. So sometime after 5PM, say 6PM, the Nest decides your not home and cuts the unit off. Then you get home at 8PM, so the unit comes on until it's to the set temp, which means it was not at the temp you like. So what was the result? Your unit ran for 2 hours that it shouldn't which cost you money. So you had only one option for this not to happen, which is for you to remember before 4PM to manually adjust your thermostat from work with the app. I don't know about you but that would not happen with most people. Also if your going to have to change it remotely, wouldn't it be easier to change when you get home on a regular thermostat? View Quote In the scenario you describe I would expect my thermostat to start the heat around 4:45, warm the house up a bit, and at 5 PM decide to stay in "away" mode until it detects someone come home. Yes, it might "waste" a bit of energy pre-heating the house at 4:45, but you're coming home to a cold house every day. I can pull out my phone at 7:30 PM when I decide to go home and make sure it's warm when I get there. Smart thermostats are trying to balance comfort and energy savings. The ecobee also logs all of its temperature readings and furnace/AC usage so you can see what it's been doing and why over time. |
|
I'm a baller, so I choose to have my home heated to 70 degrees full time. Doesn't matter if I'm home or not, if it's day or night, or anything like that. I want 70 degrees. A nest doesn't help me with that.
|
|
|
Quoted:
I don't have a Nest so I don't really know or care what it does. In the scenario you describe I would expect my thermostat to start the heat around 4:45, warm the house up a bit, and at 5 PM decide to stay in "away" mode until it detects someone come home. Yes, it might "waste" a bit of energy pre-heating the house at 4:45, but you're coming home to a cold house every day. I can pull out my phone at 7:30 PM when I decide to go home and make sure it's warm when I get there. Smart thermostats are trying to balance comfort and energy savings. The ecobee also logs all of its temperature readings and furnace/AC usage so you can see what it's been doing and why over time. View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
So let's look at a scenario. Your Nest thinks you will be at home at 5PM and starts your heat or a/c at 4PM to have the house ready for you. Well you have to work late. So sometime after 5PM, say 6PM, the Nest decides your not home and cuts the unit off. Then you get home at 8PM, so the unit comes on until it's to the set temp, which means it was not at the temp you like. So what was the result? Your unit ran for 2 hours that it shouldn't which cost you money. So you had only one option for this not to happen, which is for you to remember before 4PM to manually adjust your thermostat from work with the app. I don't know about you but that would not happen with most people. Also if your going to have to change it remotely, wouldn't it be easier to change when you get home on a regular thermostat? In the scenario you describe I would expect my thermostat to start the heat around 4:45, warm the house up a bit, and at 5 PM decide to stay in "away" mode until it detects someone come home. Yes, it might "waste" a bit of energy pre-heating the house at 4:45, but you're coming home to a cold house every day. I can pull out my phone at 7:30 PM when I decide to go home and make sure it's warm when I get there. Smart thermostats are trying to balance comfort and energy savings. The ecobee also logs all of its temperature readings and furnace/AC usage so you can see what it's been doing and why over time. And what do you do with all of the temp readings and usage? The last thing I'm going to do is sort through a bunch of data logs for some issue that I can't really do anything about. I'm just saying if the OP wants to maximize his savings, manual adjustments will do that. For me, any programmable thermostat would cost me money, I'll stick to adjusting it as needed. YMMV |
|
I got a free one thrown in with my solar panels. Dunno bout saving money but it sure is nice turning down the AC from my iPad in my recliner.
|
|
|
Just got two Schneider electric WiserAir thermostats for $50/each from a buddy who works for them. They've only been installed for a few weeks now, but I know they're saving me at least a bit of cash. I also have an app for my electric company that graphs daily electricity usage along with outside temps. Looks like I'm saving about 12.5-15 kw-hrs/day since using these thermostats, based on electricity usage on comparable days with the old t-stats. Granted, I probably could've done the same thing with my existing programmable honeywells by taking the time to set them up (my builder actually used pretty damn nice touchscreen versions), but the wireless monitoring/remote adjustment capability is pretty nice to have. Would I have done it if I had to pay the full $175 each? Probably not. But at $50 each I think it was well worth it.
|
|
|
I saved 30-40 bucks a month during peak use just by changing the range from 68-72 to 72-76
I don't have a fancy stat, just a programmable one. I change the temp myself when I walk by it in the morning and at night when I go to bed. I just hit either the up button or the down button four times. |
|
|
I could've demonstrated savings, but those bills are long gone.
Of course, I got rid of the Nest when I upgraded systems because the Nest was compatible with a then 12 year old system but not a new Trane. And tech support basically said, "Sucks to be you." I'm going to get an ecobee just for the remote sensors. We have issues on our second floor with temps in bedrooms being way higher than the thermostat in the hall can read. |
|
Quoted:
I could've demonstrated savings, but those bills are long gone. Of course, I got rid of the Nest when I upgraded systems because the Nest was compatible with a then 12 year old system but not a new Trane. And tech support basically said, "Sucks to be you." I'm going to get an ecobee just for the remote sensors. We have issues on our second floor with temps in bedrooms being way higher than the thermostat in the hall can read. View Quote I have a similar situation and I got a quote to move the thermostat that's higher than buying the ecobee I like the idea of the multiple remote sensors |
|
No nest, but I do have an LCD programmable one. It doesn't connect to wifi either, but so far my power bill has gone down. I have it set for when I leave the house, and an hour before I get home. That works pretty well, and it wasn't expensive.
|
|
|
Quoted:
The ecobee sensors will turn it up and down for you. They sense occupancy as well as temperature so they switch to "away" when they sense no one home and likewise for the opposite "home" time. Sorry, I know i'm overly enthusiastic about this thing View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
Quoted:
No thermostat will "save" you money. Any programmable thermostat can do what a nest can do. I manually adjust my thermostats before I leave and when I get home around 5 degrees. The problem with any programmable thermostat, which have been around for years, is the program. If your life never changes then they work great. If sometimes you get home at 4PM and sometimes 7PM, the programmable thermostat is costing you money. The programmable thermostat can either work great/ your life never changes, they cost you money/ I came home later than normal, or I came home early/had to manually set temp, which is actually the most efficient. IMO, most people's time at home changes from day to day, especially on their off days. If you want the most efficient, just adjust your temp before you leave and when you get home. |
|
The house we are buying has a NEST. Obviously its the summer so the inspector wanted to make sure the gas furnace worked. Had to call the home owners to turn it on through their phone. Heat worked well, but then the AC kicked on at the same time or something?? Can't I just program the NEST to turn the AC off in the winter and the heat off in the summer?
Replace nest thermostat to avoid AC turning on to cool off home after heating, wasting energy, and
potentially damaging condensor if turned on when tempature is less than 65F View Quote |
|
They Honeywell lyric isn't the best alternative. I would suggest the Honeywell RTH9580. It's a little more programmable than the lyric.
|
|
Quoted:
The house we are buying has a NEST. Obviously its the summer so the inspector wanted to make sure the gas furnace worked. Had to call the home owners to turn it on through their phone. Heat worked well, but then the AC kicked on at the same time or something?? Can't I just program the NEST to turn the AC off in the winter and the heat off in the summer? Anyone? View Quote View All Quotes View All Quotes Quoted:
The house we are buying has a NEST. Obviously its the summer so the inspector wanted to make sure the gas furnace worked. Had to call the home owners to turn it on through their phone. Heat worked well, but then the AC kicked on at the same time or something?? Can't I just program the NEST to turn the AC off in the winter and the heat off in the summer? Replace nest thermostat to avoid AC turning on to cool off home after heating, wasting energy, and
potentially damaging condensor if turned on when tempature is less than 65F Then you'll want to get it set up with your own network and Nest account, so you can set it how you want. I don't own a Nest, but it looks like there are Heat, Cool, and Auto modes just like any normal T-stat if you want to ensure it won't heat during the summer. |
|
I have a friend who installed Ecobees and likes them. Fuck Google, I will never pay money for their spy gear.
|
|
Quoted:
Strangely not one person has demonstrated how much they've saved View Quote I love the auto programming and the analytics it has. Also love the smart features like airwave. I absolutely love the nest. We have 2 installed in our house. |
|
I have a cool Honeywell cheapo lcd programmable thermostat. Wife and i have stable schedules so its pretty great, saves a bunch of money in our hot state.
2 months ago had the ac on 74 constantly. Bill was 249! Last month I adjusted the schedule (82 while at work/78 when home/76 sleepy time) Bill dropped to 203. I was running some electronics 24/7 last month which i now stopped and the bill shouldbe even lower this month A cheapo programmable tstat can help |
|
I have the Ecobee and like it because it has room sensors for areas that are not covered by a single central point. I also have the ability to control on a humidity setpoint (important for me since I don't have a whole house dehumidifier). So I can set a RH% and overcool up to 2 degrees on the temperature setpoint.
|
|
Lol, lots of hate for Nest. Not sure if the haters actually researched.
Nest does have remote sensors but they're not Nest branded. The advantage goes to Ecobee for including a free sensor with each stat. Nest has heat and cool temperature safeties. Yes, you can turn both heat and cool modes on at the same time. As well as set heat only, cool only, and off. Nest saves money over the traditional programmable stats because the eco mode uses sensors to actually detect people at home before kicking off a schedule. Instead of just blindly running because the schedule says so, you have to be present (either through motion sensor or cell phone tracking - both of which can be disabled). Nest is owned by evil Goolag. Advantage goes to Ecobee. Ecobee 4 acts as an Alexa. For privacy, this might be a wash. Maybe Ecobee 3 is better since it doesn't have Alexa although you can connect an Echo to it. I have two Nest stats. Probably would go with Ecobee if I had a do over. Nothing wrong with traditional non-smart programmables - keeps Skynet from being born. |
|
Quoted:
They Honeywell lyric isn't the best alternative. I would suggest the Honeywell RTH9580. It's a little more programmable than the lyric. View Quote Nowhere nearly as good as their contractor grade thx9421. The residential series relies on the web for outdoor temperature. When the wifi fails it's as useless as a Nest. The professional series with no "R" at the beginning of the model is self sufficient with its own outdoor sensor as well as supply and return air sensors which allow it to figure out if there is a lack of cooling or heating. It can also control other items such as a humidifier, air exchanger etc. The red link router allows remote connectivity but if connectivity is lost the thermostat is self sufficient and doesn't need outside inputs to function. It also does a kick ass job of controlling heat pumps with selectable changeover temperatures and advanced features. |
|
OK - follow up
I got the Ecobee 3 with 1 extra sensor. Ordered two other sensors which have not arrived yet Had to call for special info as my wires were not immediately cleared for compatibility Very impressed that they answered the phone and provided great customer support on a Sunday! Call center is in Toronto Canada? Possibly Toronto CALI but probably not as I made some celsius jokes which they got. The system is up and running now. We'll see how this goes. I am very happy to have remote sensors that will follow and cool according to location activity. This was one of the main selling features that tipped me in favor of this system well over the others as it resolves an issue of poor placement of the main tstat being 3 feet above a main intake/return and 3 feet away from a heavy traffic bathroom door. Will report back if any energy savings result. |
|
Sign up for the ARFCOM weekly newsletter and be entered to win a free ARFCOM membership. One new winner* is announced every week!
You will receive an email every Friday morning featuring the latest chatter from the hottest topics, breaking news surrounding legislation, as well as exclusive deals only available to ARFCOM email subscribers.
AR15.COM is the world's largest firearm community and is a gathering place for firearm enthusiasts of all types.
From hunters and military members, to competition shooters and general firearm enthusiasts, we welcome anyone who values and respects the way of the firearm.
Subscribe to our monthly Newsletter to receive firearm news, product discounts from your favorite Industry Partners, and more.
Copyright © 1996-2024 AR15.COM LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.
AR15.Com reserves the right to overwrite or replace any affiliate, commercial, or monetizable links, posted by users, with our own.