best smart thermostat ?

[zero-degrees]

...the problem for many thermostat is that they are server dipendent... what happen if the company fail/default? Can the product without server work?

The majority of the smart thermostats will continue to function without a problem (I find it hard to believe companies like Nest or Ecobee will fail thus shutting down server access). What the internet connection provides is Remote access via smart device when away as well as reporting and analytics. The day to day functions/programming/basic working functions do not change with no website support/internet connection. However, if that is a concern then you should just get a basic $30 replacement thermostat.

 

[zero-degrees]

Right now I'm in the living room, and the sensor says unoccupied...

You may want to check and assure you have sensors that were not effected by the recall. I got an email a few months back that mine were and it was a quick simple fix.
Sensor Fix


I will also say if you simply walk in and out of a room it doesn't pick it up, but if Im in the room more than a minute or so it goes to occupied.

 

[nayr]

I had a simple 2 wire Honeywell mercury thermostat when I replaced mine years ago, had to remove the old wire and yank a new 7 wire thermostat cable for my Z-Wave stat.

which proved to be a wise choice, because I made a 2 Stage Evap Cooler box the thermostat could control.. and then my furnace took a shit and I replaced it with a 2 Stage one so now all 7 wires have been used.

With my split level house a few lil tweaks made all the difference in even heating/cooling.. didnt require a big multi-room thermostat system.. all I had to do was enable the fan cycle feature that turns the fan on for 10mins every half hour to circulate air, then take all my bedroom doors off and cut the bottom 3/4in off em.. so even w/door closed air still circulates properly.

The 2 Stage Furnace helped with automation; my old 1 stage took forever to warm the house back up in the morning.. but now I have a 2nd stage that produces 2x the BTU and when I go to warm the house up before my wife goes to work I can now get the temp back to normal within 15-20mins instead of 45-60mins

 

[wantafastz28]

You may want to check and assure you have sensors that were not effected by the recall. I got an email a few months back that mine were and it was a quick simple fix.
Sensor Fix


I will also say if you simply walk in and out of a room it doesn't pick it up, but if Im in the room more than a minute or so it goes to occupied.

Well look at that, i had no idea....

Just checked, they are both fine... :/

 

[randytsuch]

The majority of the smart thermostats will continue to function without a problem (I find it hard to believe Nest or Ecobee will fail). What the internet connection provides is Remote access via smart device when away as well as reporting and analytics. The day to day functions/programming/basic working functions do not change with no website support/internet connection. However, if that is a concern then you should just get a basic $30 replacement thermostat.

My sister has a nest in her cabin, and they were having wifi problems when I was there for a week. (I fixed them for her).

So for a while, the nest was not connected (she couldn't access it from her house), and it acted like a normal, programmable thermostat.

I'm sure any other smart thermostat would do the same if it loses connection to its server, will still be a programmable thermostat. You just won't have remote access to it.

 

[zero-degrees]

ll I had to do was enable the fan cycle feature that turns the fan on for 10mins every half hour to circulate air

One of, if not the most important feature to enable any time you put in a new thermostat. Some pro's will tell you to just leave the fan running 24/7 as it acts like a ceiling fan for the entire house and only increases your monthly cost a few dollars in fan/blower energy, however saves your $10's of dollars in reduced cooling/heating.

Our's cycles 10 min. every hour, in the spring and fall where outside temps are in the 50's 60's the heat/air may only run 10 min. the entire day, but the entire house maintains with the blower cycling every hour.

 

[Jack B Nimble]

Best tip I ever got from a furnace guy was to always leave fan on 365 days. Better heat and coozing is spread throughout the house. That was on my old furnace which ran for some 35 years. Now I have a 98% efficient one that is two stage and the first stage blower I have set to run 365. No cold spots in house and pulls cool air from basement and visa versa.

 

[tangent]

Well look at that, i had no idea....

Do they register occupancy when you walk right in front of them?

 

[tangent]

Is it possible to get one of these that will just plug in where the current thermostat goes? I noticed I can just pop mine off the wall, I'm not sure if it's like a standard socket or what.

Sent from my Nexus 6P using Tapatalk

Nothing standardized. Each thermostat typically has it's own style of wall plate and a terminal block you attach wires to. Smart thermostats pretty much require a "C" wire or common wire to the transformer for reliable operation. This can mean using an add-a-wire device or pulling new wire. If there isn't a "C" wire present you have to make some changes at the furnace too.

 

[wantafastz28]

Do they register occupancy when you walk right in front of them?

Upstairs yes it does, havent checked down stairs in a while. But also upstairs registers occupancy at the thermostat there and there wasnt any motion in the hall way for at least 5 minutes... not sure how long the idle time is on it before rechecking...

 

[hmjgriffon]

Upstairs yes it does, havent checked down stairs in a while. But also upstairs registers occupancy at the thermostat there and there wasnt any motion in the hall way for at least 5 minutes... not sure how long the idle time is on it before rechecking...

is it using its own PIR sensors or what? Could I just use it with existing PIR or can you use the ones it has with the rest of your security system?

 

[tangent]

is it using its own PIR sensors or what? Could I just use it with existing PIR or can you use the ones it has with the rest of your security system?

The thermostat and remote sensors for the ecobee have a pir built in. There's no local API everything has to go the the cloud, but you can probably use things like ifttt to achieve some communication between your home automation gear and the thermostat. It's easier if you've got a lot of HA sensors to just get a zwave thermostat.

 

[hmjgriffon]

The thermostat and remote sensors for the ecobee have a pir built in. There's no local API everything has to go the the cloud, but you can probably use things like ifttt to achieve some communication between your home automation gear and the thermostat. It's easier if you've got a lot of HA sensors to just get a zwave thermostat.

Send my home automation stuff into the cloud? Nope, that's not happening.

 

[wantafastz28]

is it using its own PIR sensors or what? Could I just use it with existing PIR or can you use the ones it has with the rest of your security system?

I just use it to control the temp... haven't dabbled in it's potential.

 

[code2]

Went with the nest only because the electric company gave a 200 dollar rebate for using it not to mention i use the nest smoke detectors so having one less app and knowing everything just works with out the headache of trying to addd it etc etc sold me.

 

[aristobrat]

Do they register occupancy when you walk right in front of them?

Upstairs yes it does, havent checked down stairs in a while. But also upstairs registers occupancy at the thermostat there and there wasnt any motion in the hall way for at least 5 minutes... not sure how long the idle time is on it before rechecking...

I'm curious about the idle time too, but not enough to sit there and watch it (yet).

One thing that makes it a little easier to know when they sense motion (if you have an iOS device)... Now that HomeKit sees the sensors as Motion Detectors, you can use built-in Home app, press and hold on a sensor, go into Details, go down to Status and Notifications, and turn Notifications on.

Then, every time that sensor registers Motion, it will send a notification to your iOS device.

I've got that setup on a sensor in a exercise room that only gets used once a day. As soon as I walk in, I get a notification on my iPhone that motion was detected. Would like to figure out the idle time, though, as I can walk out of the room for a good 5-10 minutes and then nothing happens when I walk back in. Since those sensor batteries are so tiny, I'd imagine it does sampling like every 15 minutes or so?

 

[nuckinfutz]

I had an Ecobee 3 but decided to leave it when the wife and I sold the Condo. I learned a bit about Smart Thermostats and that is that I didn't tweak it as much as I thought I would so this go round in the new home I went with the Honeywell Lyric T5 which is fine. At this point our most pressing need is replacing a decade old water heater with something more efficient with more capacity. I'm thinking Rheem Hybrid there.

I heard that Apple outed the Ecobee 4 on their updated HomeKit page. I hope it's announced soon I want to see where they are going for the next generation.