quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:
I should probably put this in the rant section, but I hate the damn things. I want the old school bell housing with the clear plastic cover that you turn. My house is 3300 square feet, 108 years old, and heated by a hot water boiler. Any and all monetary gains from lowering the temp are lost when you try to bring it back up. I have no idea why something as simple as a thermostat has to be so damn complicated.

When and how would I ever need to connect to it thru weefee?

I am a plumbing and heating contractor (hot water boiler heat) and I agree with you. No need for these except if you want to know what is going on while you are away for any period of time. Day to day regulation of hydronic systems is worthless.

I have two gen 2 Nest's, one on each floor. Love them. Would never go back.

Gen 3 is the current version.

I like the look and the thought of adjusting while traveling, but other than that what's so great about them? I need some good excuses for $250 when the old one still works.

I have this one and I like it a lot.

https://www.amazon.com/Honeywe...Amazon/dp/B00FLZEQH2

As you mentioned, being able to adjust/monitor it while traveling is nice. It's also good if you forget to change the thermostat after leaving the house or if you want to adjust it before getting home.

Another first world problem perk is if you want to adjust it without getting up.

We have the Nest and it is awesome.

Greatest asset; being able to crank the A/C down from bed with my iPhone when the wife has her menopausal hot flashes.
No need to get out of bed to adjust the thermostat.

Winning....

so someone hacks your wifi

they now can control the climate in your house...

like turn off the heat in the middle of winter and cause your pipes to burst

is it really that hard to just get up and turn the dial...

^ okay that's dramatic. If they "hacked" my wifi they'd also have to "hack" my Nest login credentials too in order to control it. And if they're that bored, more power to them.

I love my 3rd gen Nest. Had a 2nd gen at my last home. They're great to have and make things so easy.

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
so someone hacks your wifi

they now can control the climate in your house...

like turn off the heat in the middle of winter and cause your pipes to burst

is it really that hard to just get up and turn the dial...

I'm gonna buy stock in Alcoa because of people like you.



No one gives a fuck about my wifi thermostat...

And yes. it is easier to pick up my phone than get out of bed, or even on the couch watching TV with a loved one.
It isn't laziness, it is convenient...

It is also cooling/heating the house before I get home.
It is also knowing the house temp when I'm gone and the dogs are locked in their kennels.
It is also knowing in bad weather if my power went out when I'm gone.
If I can't connect, chances are the power is out at home.
I can call someone and make arrangements to check on the house and the dogs..

Why is there so much love for these silly nest things? As far as I understand, they aren't programmable, the just self adjust based how how you set it, is that correct? I've had Honeywell programmable ones for years then five years ago when mine crapped out I got the same programmable with Wi-Fi. I love it. Works just like my old one but with added benefit of being able to change it while traveling or being to lazy to get out of bed. No learning my habits or schedule, which frankly would not work for me, as both our schedules vary widely. I'm pretty sure I don't need artificial intelligence in my t-stat.

Emerson Sensi here and very happy

It's really no different than when they invented the remote control for the TV. I'm betting there were people back then who said "whats the matter, are you too lazy to get up and turn the knob yourself?

quote:

Originally posted by vandrv:

quote:

Originally posted by jcat:
Make sure your thermostat wire is a 5 conductor and has a 'common' wire before you purchase anything.

Mine is really old and has no common so no constant voltage. As a result I had to get two Emerson Sensi thermostats that run on AA batteries instead.


Similar functionality, with a little less intelligence, but cost about $100 less each than the nest.

I had the same problem, having no ac and a two wire setup. I solved the problem by buying a 24 volt transformer from Amazon, and wiring it into the thermostat.

What was connections on the therm that you used? Sounds like I would like to duplicate your setup.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Why is there so much love for these silly nest things? As far as I understand, they aren't programmable, the just self adjust based how how you set it, is that correct? I've had Honeywell programmable ones for years then five years ago when mine crapped out I got the same programmable with Wi-Fi. I love it. Works just like my old one but with added benefit of being able to change it while traveling or being to lazy to get out of bed. No learning my habits or schedule, which frankly would not work for me, as both our schedules vary widely. I'm pretty sure I don't need artificial intelligence in my t-stat.

It is 100% programmable. It not only learns your habits (if you make adjustments to the schedule consistently) but it also learns the system. So if it takes 1 hour to cool your house 2 degrees, it also learns to shut down the compressor early so it uses the residual cooling to finish the cycle so you don't have your thermostat set for 72 and the house gets down to 70 for example. Saving power.

Not to mention fan control, humidity control, home/away management, and a few other nice to haves.

quote:

Originally posted by 1lowlife:

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
so someone hacks your wifi

they now can control the climate in your house...

like turn off the heat in the middle of winter and cause your pipes to burst
...

I'm gonna buy stock in Alcoa because of people like you.

[tin foil hat image removed for space and bandwidth savings...]

No one gives a fuck about my wifi thermostat...

Except someone might give a frack about your WiFi thermostat.

Just in case you haven't been paying attention: Bad guys from all over the world have been hacking into IoT (Internet of Things) devices of all flavours, recently. Sometimes they do it to recruit those things to achieve unrelated ends. (An IoT 'bot was used to conduct a DDoS [Distributed Denial of Service] flood, just a few months ago.) Sometimes they do it simply to wreak mischief or havoc. (E.g.: Turning off somebody's heat in the dead of winter while they're away on vacation.) Sometimes they do it just because they can. Sometimes, in that last case, any resulting damage was unintended. That's cold comfort to their victims.

So don't be rollin' yer eyes at people and talkin' of tin foil hats. The risk is anything but unfounded paranoia. Paranoia it may be, but, it's well-founded paranoia.

OTOH: No denying the attraction to such things. I gave one a try, myself, one time. Didn't like the way it worked. Didn't feel the risk, no matter how small, was worth the benefit, so I removed it and replaced it with a stand-alone programmable. It serves our needs, and it really isn't all that hard to haul my dead backside out of my comfy easy chair, wander into the hallway, and bump the thermostat, if desired

As with anything: You have to balance the (perceived) risk(s) against the (perceived) benefit(s). In my case the perceived benefit was it would've been trick, mainly. I felt that insufficient benefit for the potential risk. YMMV.

We have a nest. It has made a noticeable difference on our bills. Paid for itself years ago.

my point is (and its NOT tinfoil)

just because you can control something over wifi, the more important question is should you

I have wifi at my house and I have a laptop connected to it

thats it, and when I'm not using it, the laptop is off

I don't need my garage door, thermostats, desk lamp in the library, door locks and all that other crap connected to my phone just for shits and grins

every connection is a point of weakness

I have an EcoBee3 and it has been great, chose it over the Nest for a few reasons. A big one being that you can set the temperature thresholds in the Ecobee in terms of when to activate/deactivate the HVAC system. I've got mine set to 1.0 deg F and it seems just right. You can also disable all of the "learning" in the Ecobee and just have it run your program which I really like.

My old programmable non-Wifi Honeywell was a pain in the butt. Not easy to update the program at all, seemed like it was always too hot or always too cold, and it cycled my HVAC system on/off way too rapidly. I started taking some measurements and it would allow some very big temperature swings before it would activate/deactivate the HVAC system in the winter.

The Ecobee has been 100X better. More controllable, easier to program, easier to change for trips, easier to ensure temps are where they should be, more comfortable with the multiple room sensors, and it has already saved me money on my utility bills.

I have the nest in my office, NO IDEA how to use it, it's easy to adjust the temperature though haha

lol, same here, only mine's an ecobee 4. I have no idea about the installation. I'm just glad it works with Alexa. It's pricey though.

quote:

Originally posted by Shaql:

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
Why is there so much love for these silly nest things? As far as I understand, they aren't programmable, the just self adjust based how how you set it, is that correct? I've had Honeywell programmable ones for years then five years ago when mine crapped out I got the same programmable with Wi-Fi. I love it. Works just like my old one but with added benefit of being able to change it while traveling or being to lazy to get out of bed. No learning my habits or schedule, which frankly would not work for me, as both our schedules vary widely. I'm pretty sure I don't need artificial intelligence in my t-stat.

It is 100% programmable. It not only learns your habits (if you make adjustments to the schedule consistently) but it also learns the system. So if it takes 1 hour to cool your house 2 degrees, it also learns to shut down the compressor early so it uses the residual cooling to finish the cycle so you don't have your thermostat set for 72 and the house gets down to 70 for example. Saving power.

Not to mention fan control, humidity control, home/away management, and a few other nice to haves.

Honeywell's been this way for years (actually decades).