Nest thermostat what else can it do ?

[motion]

Originally Posted by Paul T

I had a nest for awhile at a 2nd home, mainly because I wanted to be able to check temp remotely to be sure power wasn't out, etc. Long story short, I hated it and took it off (free to anyone who wants it btw).

Maybe I didn't have it configured properly, but the damn thing would just move the temp all over the place for no apparent reason. We'd come back from being out for a couple hours and it'd be 78 degrees in the house! No matter what i did, I could not turn off the "learning" modes and have it function like a standard thermostat.

Anyway, maybe I just had a bad experience or was not doing something correctly, but it was not for me. Seems like another thing that is "reinvented" with added tech, but needlessly so. I know I'm in the minority, but I try to stay away from connected gadgets as much as possible. My toaster doesn't need to be internet enabled and the whole voice controlled everything just seems like peak laziness to me. And that's not even getting into the whole data thing...ok, maybe I need more coffee this am. Ranting over...

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!!

I did the same thing... didn't want all the learning features. Called tech support and they walked me thru how to disable that feature. Now, I just turn it up/down as needed. Great, but not too intelligent. At least I can monitor and control with my iPhone app.

[jyl]

I have a early Nest. I just use it as a thermostat. I schedule the temp, rather than use the learning features. I like being able to know how much energy in using, adjust temp from away, not heat the house when no one is home or we are on a trip, etc. The only real issue is that the thermostat is downstairs so it will think no-one is home but actually we're just upstairs, or it thinks the house is 68F but actually the upstairs is significantly colder or hotter..

I never got into to the other Nest stuff. The smoke detectors seem useful enough but AFAIK they can't feed temperature and motion detection data to the thermostat which seems like a missed opportunity; see my one issue above. Maybe they've fixed that by now; I lost interest and stopped following the product.

Dropcam was the first really cool security cam but too expensive. I found the Blink system instead.

All in all, I think Nest really slowed down after Google bought it. Not sure if that is due to Google or to Nest's founder. But for about a year there, the connected home ring was theirs to grab.

[Paul T]

Originally Posted by motion

I did the same thing... didn't want all the learning features. Called tech support and they walked me thru how to disable that feature. Now, I just turn it up/down as needed. Great, but not too intelligent. At least I can monitor and control with my iPhone app.

Good to know...maybe I'll give it another shot. Thx

[stevej37]

^^^ Their support line is good. I've used it a few times for my Nest Cams. They will stay with you until the problem is solved.

[fintstone]

I am going to get one for my vacation house since it is compatible with WEMO and I want to be able to adjust my heat/air when i am away. I use WEMO accessories to turn the light and other things off and on via my Iphone (like my hot water heater, pump and a pump to recirculate hotter so the pipes don't freeze in winter). I use blink cameras as my alarm...as they have motion sensors and temp sensors (based on recommendations here).

Might want to try the nest smoke alarms/detectors...anyone use those?

[Hugh R]

My Nest is on the second floor, I can tell the Echo in my first floor bedroom to adjust the temperature.

I have four nest protects (smoke, CO) what I like is they talk to each other, so if one goes off in the garage my bedroom protect alerts me.

[rfuerst911sc]

I think for now we'll just continue to use it as a thermostat . May do some adjusting via our phones but for the most part will just walk over and change if/when it is needed . Thanks for all the feedback .

[TechDad]

We have the nest too and couldn't be happier about it. The app is user-friendly, same with the installation. I read here some of its features, might be a good read, when you're in the bathroom, lol. But it cannot be used as a garage door opener. haha! We use the chamberlain for our garage door though. It works great but I can't recommend it to those aren't very techy, especially it's very network dependent. If you lose your internet connection, it's good as useless.

[jwasbury]

I too use a Nest thermostat for a second home. All the automatic/learning BS is disabled. While its nice to be able to pre-warm the place when we're heading out there during heating season, my main reason for having the internet enabled t-stat is so I can monitor the temp and insure my heating system is functioning during cold snaps. When the temps drop well below freezing I am in the habit of checking on the Nest app and making sure my set temp is being maintained. Last thing I want is the house to freeze up and the Nest has been worth the price for the peace of mind.

In my primary home we could not get the Nest t-stats to work correctly with a separate heating system (hydronic with boiler) and cooling system (central A/C). The Nest is supposed to be able to handle this, but failed miserably. Myself and my contractor gave up and installed Honeywell's touch screen internet enabled t-stats and they work perfectly. Not as slick design as Nest, none of the learning features (which I don't use anyway), and I think the schedule programming interface is actually superior to Nest.

[GH85Carrera]

I have a 20 year old programmable thermostat. It is not connected to anything but the HIVAC system. My wife is retired, and I work from home. There is someone home most of the time. I have it set to turn the temp up at our bed time (10:30) to 82 degrees and we have a ceiling fan so we don't get hot. It only goes down to 78 shortly before I get up at 7:00 to feed the dogs, eat my breakfast and make the long arduous 14 step trek down the hall to my office after I kiss my wife goodby. She is usually in bed until 8:30.

[red-beard]

Originally Posted by jwasbury

I too use a Nest thermostat for a second home. All the automatic/learning BS is disabled. While its nice to be able to pre-warm the place when we're heading out there during heating season, my main reason for having the internet enabled t-stat is so I can monitor the temp and insure my heating system is functioning during cold snaps. When the temps drop well below freezing I am in the habit of checking on the Nest app and making sure my set temp is being maintained. Last thing I want is the house to freeze up and the Nest has been worth the price for the peace of mind.

In my primary home we could not get the Nest t-stats to work correctly with a separate heating system (hydronic with boiler) and cooling system (central A/C). The Nest is supposed to be able to handle this, but failed miserably. Myself and my contractor gave up and installed Honeywell's touch screen internet enabled t-stats and they work perfectly. Not as slick design as Nest, none of the learning features (which I don't use anyway), and I think the schedule programming interface is actually superior to Nest.

This sounds like a decent reason for a remote control T-stat. The rest just sound lazy.

I dont understand people changing the t-stat setting all the time. Program it and be done!

[porsche4life]

I really want the eco bee with the remote sensors. The thermostat placement in our house kind of sucks, and the sensors help to balance the room temps better from what I’ve heard.


But I’d need two of them, and I’m not keen on dropping $600 on thermostats.

[legion]

Originally Posted by red-beard

You are now setup so Google knows exactly what temperature you keep your house and when.

And when you are home, when you are away, when you sleep, when you leave for work, and when you get home from work. And because Google knows it, so does the NSA.