quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
Jesse, no heat pump. Winter gets too cold at night to be useful. Gas furnace and AC unit.

With you R-value, solar, plus gas, I would assume you can max out benefit of using a smart t-stat. Vs someone with heat pump and crappy insulation plus wide away vs home temps.

Advertisers will try to sell you on their products, when only a HVAC guy and/or Energy Audit guy can really tell you based on your house plus usage.

2x6 walls. Light foam coat with fiberglass. 1.5”polystyrene and stucco.
Roof is concrete tile. Inside roof is foamed the depth of the trusses. 18” of blown in insulation.

Long story short, solar makes a $200+ bill less than $40 in the summer. Winter, solar credits enough that it’ll pay for the natural gas bill.
House is a “Zero Energy” home. Meaning some shit like what I spend in gas/electric, equals $0, or $$$ in my bank account.

I’ll tell you how accurate this is after a full year here.

We have an older Honeywell model, still has Wi-Fi and I control it with an app. One of our rental houses has a Nest, I decided I like the Honeywell better, don't like the Nest thinking for me. Programming the Honeywell is easier.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
If you want something that’s higher quality than Nest or Ecobee: https://www.amazon.com/Honeywe...i%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-6

Fair warning: If you have a problem with your HVAC system, your HVAC man is going to look at your Nest or Ecobee first.

That Honeywell stat is not better than the Ecobee, its just different. If you like it better than the Ecobee, more power to you, but don't downgrade the Ecobee I personally chose for my house over the Honeywell.

I judge based on quality since this is what I do for a living. Don’t take it personal.

Oh boy, you just stepped in it now.

Too many variables to give a blanket answer.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
It is many years old, probably discontinued at this point but it's a 8320 model.

That's a damn good discontinued stat.

Recently picked up an Ecobee4 at Costco, $170 on sale. Gas company kicked in a $75 rebate as well.

Installed it myself after connecting a “C” wire (constant power I believe)at the furnace. Original thermostat was a 5/2 programmable that ran on batteries. Funny thing is, it could have been powered by the C wire as well if the original installer had bothered to connect it. Laziness as far as I’m concerned, hell they used an 8 conductor network type cable, all the had to do was strip and screw two more connections, one at each end.

I don’t know if it will save any money, but definitely is more convenient. We are on slab construction and all the ducts run through the attic and walls. Upstairs is always warmer and thermostat, downstairs in a hallway, had to be set to “guess” temp to be comfortable upstairs.

Ecobee came with a remote sensor, placed it upstairs and it either averages between two or goes with the area that is occupied. No more guessing and constant fiddling.


Love the interface and info, and being able to keep my fat ass on the couch and turn heat up or down from my phone or iPad is a plus!

The answer is yes, programmable and smart Tstats save money. As others have mentioned, they need to be set up correctly. I'd rate Ecobee the highest, then the Nest, then everything else.

Good info from folks so far. Know the conditions of your home. Don't set wild temp swings or too many set points.

For heat pumps, and mini split type installations, it is best to stay at a near constant temp. In these cases a smart internet accessible tstat is worth it for the access, not the scheduling.

If you're unsure about your heating/cooling and the conditions of your home, you can get help any number of ways. Between your utility, hvac guy, and any number of energy audit sources. It is possible to set up a bad schedule, and this is where people get the idea that these tstats don't save money.

I was an early Nest adopter, still have them. Do mostly Ecobees for clients, it is a more versatile system. If I find a bunch of extra cash I'll go ecobee myself.

Personally, I like it for the flexibility and remote control options. If you travel a fair bit you will too I'd guess.

Honestly never really tried to save money with it, but do have it on a different schedule when it's just me in town. Normally the wife is home all day so not an option.

Our nest has save us about $20 a month on our electric bill. We also got our nest for free through our power company. And they gave us a $50 credit for setting it up myself.

quote:

Originally posted by walker77:
Our nest has save us about $20 a month on our electric bill. We also got our nest for free through our power company. And they gave us a $50 credit for setting it up myself.

Yeah, that's the part that baked my cookies when I bought ad installed my Ecobee. Our local power company, who is always sending me suggestions for saving power, offered no cash or service incentives for installing a programmable t-stat. Apparently you can get a rebate or incentive virtually everywhere but where I live.

We had a programmable thermostat installed 20 yrs ago with the HVAC system. It's never been set up. SWMBO follows the Meramec Caverns formula of constant temps...68* +/- 1* year round. Period. No one touches the buttons. Ever.

For what it's worth, the Ecobee, Nest and Honeywell are are highly rated, though the latest generation of the Ecobee seems to take the top spot most frequently in comparison testing. I'm most intrigued by the remote temp/motion sensors for the most frequently used rooms, and I can see how being WiFi enabled could be convenient, though I could probably live without the creepy invasive Alexa capability.

Dominion Energy is offering a $50 rebate on programmable/smart stats. I'm assuming a subsidy from the power company is an indication they conserve power, at least potentially. Any other reason they would offer a rebate?

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by bigdeal:

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
If you want something that’s higher quality than Nest or Ecobee: https://www.amazon.com/Honeywe...i%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-6

Fair warning: If you have a problem with your HVAC system, your HVAC man is going to look at your Nest or Ecobee first.

That Honeywell stat is not better than the Ecobee, its just different. If you like it better than the Ecobee, more power to you, but don't downgrade the Ecobee I personally chose for my house over the Honeywell.

Mine is Honeywell.....I will take what R.E. Michels sells over what Home Depot sells, every day and twice on Sunday.

Exactly. I’ve changed out literally dozens of Nests and Ecobees, many under warranty. Very rarely do I see Honeywells fail. Usually they are changed out because the owner just wants a new thermostat or for a decor change.

My HVAC guy recommends NEST. He said he has in in his house and at his kids houses.

I have a question about geofencing, sounds great but can it be programed for multiple people? Say two people have different schedules, can it be set to react only if both are gone or can it only track one person.

Think about the placement of the thermostat. A smart thermostat like the Nest learns your patterns. It requires your motion to learn. Our thermostat is in the dining room. I walk in that room maybe once a week. It would not learn any of our patters.

I have a Sensi thermostat and wanted the ability to control it from my phone. Its much easier to set the schedule from the app.

quote:

Originally posted by gpbst3:
Think about the placement of the thermostat. A smart thermostat like the Nest learns your patterns. It requires your motion to learn. Our thermostat is in the dining room. I walk in that room maybe once a week. It would not learn any of our patters.

I have a Sensi thermostat and wanted the ability to control it from my phone. Its much easier to set the schedule from the app.

This is true of my older Honeywell unit as well. App interface way easier than programing via t-stat.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Exactly. I’ve changed out literally dozens of Nests and Ecobees, many under warranty. Very rarely do I see Honeywells fail. Usually they are changed out because the owner just wants a new thermostat or for a decor change.

Honeywell has been doing this for a very, very long time.

It's not a "smart" thermostat, but our Honeywell programmable has been working flawlessly since the day I installed it... four or five years ago? Same with the Honeywell automatic humidistat that went in a two-three years ago.

I tried a Honeywell WiFi-connected thermostat a few years ago. It was horrible. Turned out it was made by a company called "Radio Thermostat," rebranded Honeywell. It went back to the store w/in hours of purchase. Since then I decided we really didn't need access to our HVAC system from our mobile devices, so WiFi connectivity was needless complication.

If we get too warm or cold while we're home we simply walk to the hallway and manually push the temp up or down, as required. Later on we'll turn it back or, if we don't, it'll change itself when the next schedule change hits.

We've a fair amount of network-connected automation in the home. I just haven't seen the need for this application.

I like my Nest T-Stat, but just use it like any other programable T-Stat. This winter I am away from my home in Michigan, and just set it to maintain 60 degrees all the time, I can monitor the temp from phone while I am down here in Florida, and know that my furnace is running. If it fails to maintain that temperature I can call my good neighbor who has my key, and he can get my furnace repaired.

I do it for comfort. I prefer it cooler at night.