Nest thermostat, anyone using one?
 

+$200 for a thermostat? Is it really that good?

My inner gadget boy says "cool doode you can control the thermostat with your smart phone"

My inner cheapskate says "do you really need to micro manage your thermostat? And $200 will buy a lot of beer".

I currently have a programmable thermostat that has four setting per day, evening temp., sleeping temp., wake up temp., day temp.

What say ye?

I have just a plain Jane programmable thermostat which suits my needs just fine. My wife and I both work full time so setting it to our schedule is easy

I personally dont understand this "adjust it with your smart phone" hey it sounds cool but I would NEVER use that feature

As far as price goes $100-$200 is pretty much going rate for a decent thermostat

Nest thermostat, anyone using one?
 

100+.

I came the the same conclusion. I can't see the need to monitor my thermostat. The presets do just fine. On the days I and off schedule I can change the thermostat with my analog finger in seconds. That is a cool toy however.

Yeah but turning down the thermostat when your wife left it up high when she went to work and you're in Istanbul is cool.

I should get that. My wife and kids always adjust it way high or low, then leave. :rolleyes:

The Nest is pretty cool, and expensive.. I like that it has a motion sensor and will lower the temp when no motion is sensed.. Apparently it has algorithms and scripts built in that it learns the heating needs of the house..

I however live in a house with one pipe low pressure steam system...And my inner geek commanded me to put together a system similar to what this guy built

A Steam Enthusiast's Outdoor Reset Boiler Control

I have a web portal where I can view the status of the system, and make adjustments, and can receive alerts on my droid if the boiler shuts down on low water etc.. Will be adding methods to control my sump pumps..

Waste of $ IMHO. I don't even have a programmable T-stat. It isn't hard to set the thing when you come / are home and when you leave the house. It may be different in an extremely hot or cold place, but you are in San Pedro, you probably don't need any heat or A/C for 10 mos out of the year!

Of course if you HAVE to fiddle with your handheld all the time, knock yourself out. I have better things to spend $200 on.

G

I think the most efficient way of adjusting the thermostat is once at night to lower it, and once in the morning (assuming someone will be there all day) to raise it back to a comfortable level.

This full adjustability doesn't make sense to me, because the only reason to drop the temp is to save $$, but by doing it multiple times, you lose all efficiency unless it's electric heat.

I just need one that circulates air every x minutes just to make sure air gets filtered without relying on teh fan to kick in for heating or cooling.

I have a NEST and absolutely love it. There is more to it than just remote control from your smart phone. It does pay for itself.

if you walk past your thermostat alot, then good. but i don't. i come into the house via garage, the thermostat is in the living/dining room. mostly we hang out in kitchen, family room, bedrooms.

i got a $100 wifi enabled thermostat at home depot. programmable, i can turn up the heat/fan remotely. good enough for me.

How crazy do you want to go? My house is all in zones controlled by my central Crestron processor. The "smartphone" piece is actually the "dumb" side of the system.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1362585470.jpg

Has anyone noticed a change in control schemes in all these new thermostats including just the setback thermostats?

Old method:

Hysteretic control - you would set the thermostat at 70 and the furnace would turn on when the temperature dropped 69 and turn of when it got to 71.

New method:

Pulse Width Modulation - when you set the thermostat to 70, 6 - 10 times an hour the thermostat checks the temperature and runs until it reaches the set point.

In my house with low heat loss sometimes the gas furnace will only run for 60 seconds. That can’t be efficient. Is this a conspiracy to sell more igniters with the service calls?

LOL, I just called Nest tech support yesterday. I told them I wanted to turn off all the smart features and just make it a dumb thermostat. I was tired of the thing arguing with me. Now, I set it in the morning, and turn it off at night. Simple as that. I still do like it, because it shows me energy usage during the month, and I can phone it from an hour away and make the house cozy :)

Love love love my nest !!!!

We have geothermal and don't use a programmable thermostat. We were told that setting it and leaving the unit was most efficient so we do.

I think the reason for that is emergency heat (electricity) kicks on if the set point is more than 3 degrees different from interior temperature. I doubt that argument works in the summer.

The tech boy clients who want it all and control the temp of their bathroom when they are out on vacation in France I usually have my HVAC man install the latest and the greatest and have them pay for it. Now, for my own house, I installed a brand new dual level system and have two simple programmable controls that isn't programmed. If I need it , I will flip the switch to heat and leave it at 71 degree. Same for the summer. Scott, for those guys who live in sub zero temp places, I see the reason for it to save a bit of energy, for us who live in paradise, do you really need to control your AC in the summer where you are?

Nest is overpriced, sure, so are most new Porsches. I'd still get one (of each) because I like the design, features, and it's a clever little device.

It's done well for me, as far as savings, using "airwave" etc...and occasionally (rarely) I've enjoyed changing temps from the iphone while away from home. Mostly, if I'm honest, I like it because it's cool looking, and we're not talking $1000 here. That being said it is expensive enough that I did not yet buy a second one for downstairs ;-)

If you are questioning the price, it's probably not for you (nothing wrong with that), you are clearly paying $$$ for a cool design. If you buy one, you will probably love it.

Aww man, you've completely crushed my dreams of spending $$$ to be able to fiddle with room temps on my iPhone while I'm sitting on the patio looking at the mountains, canyons and that tiny slice of ocean view. :D:D:D