Bump for longer-term experiences - Nest users, are you still in like with your device?

Can you quantify the money savings?

We pay about $1500/yr for heating (which is gas), with a third of that in Dec+Jan. a third in Feb+Mar+Oct+Nov, and the remaining third in the spring-summer.

We also pay about $1850/yr for electricity, but only a small amount that is cooling (a/c) as our electricity bill in the hottest months is only about $10/mo higher than in the shoulder months (but every time wife runs her pottery kiln, it is $10).

Currently we have a standard programmable thermostat. Set on the weekdays to 68 F from 4 am to 9 am, 65 F from 9 am to 4 pm, 67 F from 4 pm to 9 pm, 60 F from 9 pm to 4 am. I forget what the weekend programming is.

Nest thermostat, anyone using one?
 

In my case, yes and no. But mostly yes :-) By and large the learning feature doesn't work for me, and you could argue that's 50% of its value ? I guess we are unpredictable :-) I ended up setting it up like you would a regular and cheaper thermostat.

On the other hand, it still looks cool and it's still saving us about $30 a month on average, probably with its coolwave feature ? Not sure but I've compared the bills - mostly AC for me.

All in all, I'd buy another, mostly because I'm a sucker for cool designs and it's not THAT expensive and works well. Occasionally I've used its remote features, but other cheaper brands do that too.

Now Google bought them, dunno what to make of that. All things considered I like it and at $250 I don't lose sleep over its cost vs a cheapie thermostat.

John,

I've been using programmable thermostats since the 1990's. They are cheap and not too tough to set.

The NEST would be great for older people who can't figure out how to program the thermostat. The controller is like the old round ones, but then it self programs. If that is ALL it did, I'd be fine with it. I am becoming more and more resistant to Wi-Fi enabled home appliances.

I was going to buy one of these after seeing one installed on Ask This Old House. But when I read the reviews it seemed everyone was complaining that the previous version worked well but not so much the latest version....

How are the programmable features, as distinguished from the learning features? For example, at night I want the heating all but turned off (I set the current thermostat at 60 F from 9 pm to 4 am). Can I tell Nest about that and similar other preferences?

Seems to me they also should enable remote temp and occupancy sensing, for those of us who have the thermostat in a room other than where we usually hang out.

Anyone using the Nest smoke detector? I want to install a smoke detector in the garage where the pottery kiln is located, so that any fire there (god forbid) sends an alert that I will hear in the main house and/or to me/wife when we are out and about. The kiln has to run for 16 hours unattended.

Also thinking about installing timer switches in the rooms where people tend to leave the lights on - the kids' rooms, basement, etc. Like LTB02-1LZ > Preset Timer Switches > Electronic Timer Switches > Lighting Controls > Products from Leviton Electrical and Electronic Products

Our main energy saving measure has been widespread use of CFL lights, and that has been helpful. But after a bout of SAD a year ago, I've switched some lights back to 100 watt full spectrum halogens like http://www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-63009-Energy-Efficient-replacement/dp/B0057EZHRU/ref=dp_ob_title_hi#productDetails which put out more light than the biggest CFLs that my fixtures will accomodate (the size of the base is a problem), and I've been leaving the main floor lights on to keep the house brightly lit.

I have a nest and I think its awesome. Non-owners in this thread keep fixating on "whats the big deal about controlling it from your phone?". That is not the big deal. Its just one of the features, and it is nice to have. I have gas and electric bills that run on the low side of $90/mo and on the high side of $275/mo. Our bill has a nice comparison of gas and electric use from the previous year, inc average outside temperature. The Nest is definitly saving me money. The auto-away setting is saving me a bunch.

I just hope the new Google purchase of Nest doesnt ruin it.

Did you see that some "Smart" LG TVs were phoning home and sending the filenames on local shares back to LG?

If the wifi feature can be used locally, then go that route and add a firewall rule that disallows the devices from phoning home.

Okay, just ordered a Nest.

My goal is to take 20% off the annual gas & electric spend. Via the Nest, timer switches, LED bulbs, and more sweaters.

Seeing as I started this thread...

I didn't get a nest, my wife is one of those durn northerners... she saves money by TURNING THE THERMOSTAT OFF!!! The house gets down into the 60's for cheese steaks... IT IS MADNESS I TELL YOU!!!!

Our place doesn't have central A/C so we just tough it out on warm days (have a small portable A/C in the living room).

I did notice they now have WIFI "smart" thermostats for about half the price of the Nest.

It's been covered before... Timers and LED won't make a huge difference. The money items are old fridges, Old AC units, and shockingly things like UPS for your computers. Light bulbs aren't gonna make as big a dent :-) I also saved a little going gas on the water heater... Biggest thing was a new AC though. And the nest controlling it !

What I am hoping is that Nest develops into a broader home automation system. For example, it seems to me they could have remote temp/motion sensors to put in other rooms, home security/monitoring features, the remote smoke detectors they already have, etc. I'm betting Google didn't pay $3.2BN for a thermostat.

When my fridge crapped out I bought a commercial refrigerator with a 1 HP compressor. Not the greatest idea, perhaps.

Nest
 

I installed a Nest in our house about 8 months ago and it has already paid for itself. Dropped the electrical bill by at least 25% during the summer and using Airwave has more effectively kept the house cool. Setting the fan to cycle when we use the wood burning stove and the fireplace has dropped both the propane and electric bills this winter. Not sure that I like the Google takeover, though. YMMV

You can make a nest like thermostat for about $70

Nest like thermostat

Oh that is funny.... It's almost the same... almost.. except it looks like crap ;-)
(sorry, not directed against you TimT, I'm just laughing my ass off at the description on the site... the odds of nest buyers making this thing are about as good as porsche 911 customer buying a Huyndai SUV )

With daily life as complicated as it is, why make it more so?

Big Data: What Google can really do with Nest, or really, Nest
'Another big market Google can wedge itself into that takes even better advantage of Nest’s place in the home is with insurance companies. Nest device information, while redundant with some of Google’s info, is unique in some ways.'

Viruses in the home: Is your refrigerator really part of a massive spam-sending botnet? | Ars Technica
'The 100,000 hacked consumer gadgets were then corralled into a botnet that also included infected PCs, and they were then used in a global campaign involving more than 750,000 spam and phishing messages.'

Viruses in the car: Tampering with a car
'Among the attacks: suddenly engaging the brakes of the Prius, yanking its steering wheel, or causing it to accelerate. On the Escape, they can disable the brakes when the SUV is driving slowly.'

Private data and/or surveillance can unknowingly be sent from inside your home: Broadband Internet through the electrical network

The Nest may now be a convenience for some, but just understand the future risks when this 'Smart Home' thing become prevalent.

Just installed my Nest.

Question: I have only one furnace and one thermostat, the latter is located in the living room downstairs. At night, we only care about temps upstairs in the bedroom. If I install a second Nest upstairs, will it measure the temp upstairs and send that info to the Nest downstairs that is actually wired to the furnace?

Report after almost two weeks with my Nest: I think I am reducing my gas usage, I know my family hates me - ha ha ha ha.

I've had to adjust my nighttime settings, upwards, by two degrees. Wife was getting upset...

This is the first winter Ive had the Nest. My gas and electric bill shows the average temp this last billing period, and what it was this time last year, as well as KW/day and cubic ft gas/day.

Average temp was 30 last month and 37 last year. Gas and electricity both down 20%, even though it was colder this year. Im sold. No other changes to the house or temp- I stay warm. I think it is due to the auto away settings and the schedule. I used to set the temp manually all the time.

Nest (is now) = Evil

I must say mine's still working well and did not download horns since the google acquisition :-)

My Nest thermostats have suddenly gone freaky on me.

I have had them at a weekend vacation house for years. I normally have things set to "Away" and a relatively low set temp is maintained. When I am heading out to the house, I remotely switch to "Home" and then the 'stats follow my normal temperature programming schedule (and the house is warm when I arrive...nice!).

In the last two weeks, the thermostats ignore the fact that they are set to "Away" and decide to start following the "Home" schedule and set temps.

Anyone else seeing this behavior from their Nest 'stats?

I read somewhere the the Nest servers were down a few times in the past few months. I wonder if losing connectivity to the mothership and reconnecting affected the programming?

The schedule programming definitely is acting strangely within the Nest Iphone App. However, the schedule programming is supposed to be ignored when the ‘stat is set to “away.” Somehow they have boogered it up completely and I’ve unnecessarily burned heating oil as a result.

Disclaimer, I don't have a nest thermostat, I'm just floating some ideas based on what I have learned regarding my smart home system and thermostat operation, and the way I have is set up..

My system is geo-fenced, I get home from work and certain lights turn on and off on schedule, the thermostat sets to a certain temp.. After power outages and servers being down, I have had to reset the whole system to get things back to the normal i set up..

I also have it set so I get alerts sent to my phone when the temperature changes by X degrees, or when the heating system turns on...

I also can remotely check the flood sensor (I live 100' from a canal, and 400 ' from a lake)

I'm surprised the Nest app does not have a feature to configure and push notifications. If not why not just open the app and check?

I did the Honeywell Lyric which I got a Lowe’s for $80. Does everything you need in a programable thermostat. The app is really easy to use and I love the vacation option. The cost of the Nest didn’t make sense.

Part of the reason I installed the Nest 'stats in my 2nd home is so that I could monitor proper function of the heating system as the last thing I want is for the place to freeze up in the winter. Therefore I do open up the app and check regularly (especially when we have a deep cold snap). Checking the app is how I spotted the latest bizarre behavior of ignoring the "away" feature. My solution for the moment is to remove the schedule entirely, leave the 'stats set to "home" and then just manually adjust the temp to my preferred "vacant" or "occupied" setting.

I have Honeywell wifi enabled 'stats in my primary home and while they aren't as slick in design as the Nest, they function perfectly and are cheaper. The Nest 'stat wouldn't work in my primary home because it couldn't seem to deal with separate A/C and heating (I have hydronic heat with boiler + cast iron baseboards, and separate central air conditioning).

I think there was probably a software update push that has "broken" the home/away function on the Nest. Same crap as how the latest IOS or MS Windows updates nearly always come with bugs. This seems to be norm with modern tech.

While modern tech can be wonderful, it can also be annoyingly stupid which makes me grumpy and appreciate simpler times of analog life. I suppose that's why I like to burn wood for heat and listen to vinyl records when at my vacation house.