WiFi connected thermostats

[Michael in California]

Need learned opinions on options.

The leader, of course, is Nest. Gen 3 is out for $250, Gen 2 now is $200. Gen 3 has far-field occupancy capability which would be better in my great room.

Next would be Ecobee3. Includes a remote sensor to sense occupancy in a second room as well as balance temperature readings in those two rooms. $250 but the reviews seem to indicate more problems than with nest. Also, have no idea if the technology for occupancy is better/worst than nest.

Next is the plethora of generic dumber wifi connected t-stats that just let you manage the programming on wifi. About the same money, so why get them.

Usage: I need a t-stat that, as a minimum, has a fan timer to circulate air without heating due to a badly configured HVAC system that will not be changing in this two story house without about $10k of effort. Constant fan costs too much, so a fan timer is required. Simple T-stat with a fan timer function cost almost as much as WiFi enabled, so why not?

Furnace is a simple single stage gas fired high efficiency unit, probably oversized, but works.

[707electrician]

Tagged, I need a good t-stat too

[SkyHawk]

Consider something that has IFTTT integration. It vastly expands the possibilities to be useful. I would not buy one that did not have IFTTT, unless it was a sub $100 wifi t-stat.

[wpage]

Do a google search get one that works off multi platform access.

[hk91666]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HONEYWELL-RTH8580WF-Thermostat-7-Day-Programmable-WIFI-NEW-/201462366081?hash=item2ee817bf81:g:K08AAOSwhcJWN~8b

I bought this one on ebay. its not a color screen, or has fan timer but it works. I paid $65.00 for mine.
It connects to web site w/ login and password you connect via a smart phone app. Only challenges was wiring but plenty of help on line.

[Brutmor]

I own an ecobee si (not a touch screen). The configuration it allows is very exhaustive.

https://www.ecobee.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/ecobee3_UserGuide1.pdf

[Michael in California]

Consider something that has IFTTT integration. It vastly expands the possibilities to be useful. I would not buy one that did not have IFTTT, unless it was a sub $100 wifi t-stat.

Explain IFTTT and how I benefit from it?

[supergimp]

I have a Honeywell. Sorry, don't remember what model, but it was around $100. I have it integrated with my Wink home automation hub and was just recently involved in the beta test to include IFTTT support (the beta from Honeywell ended, and I don't know the release date, but they seem on the ball). IFTTT worked great and with it (for example) I could tell Automatic (the OBD-II plug in my car) to activate a temperature change when I left the proximity of work. Worked fine.

I had NEST but got rid of it. In my opinion, what I really wanted to do was schedule my thermostat easily, change that schedule easily, and automate the change. NEST is way too smart for it's own good. I live alone in a 3 bedroom house and the thermostat is in the living room. Since NEST uses motion detection to try to predict usage, if I spent too much time in the bedroom or office, NEST would think I was away. I felt like I was always fighting it's logic.

I just don't think a thermostat needs to be that smart. It's fun at first, but after the novelty wears off it is generally doing the same thing every day unless you (or some other input like IFTTT) ask it to do something different on occasion.

The Honeywells do that fine in my opinion.

Some things to consider about internet connected thermos (these taken specifically from my experience with Honeywell and NEST):

1. My house is a 3-wire system (I live in Los Angeles, not far from the ocean and only have heat). If I want independent fan control, I need a 4th wire. It's not a big deal for me as the fan still works in AUTO but if you want separate fan control I recommend downloading the manual for the thermo in question and verify you can get what you want.

2. The thermo gets power from the furnace controller. Again, make sure you check the install manual (and I used YouTube as well) to make sure you can make the proper hookup. I misread the manual and had to replace a fuse on my furnace controller. I wish I would have done a YouTube search BEFORE my first install attempt.

3. If you have a home automation hub (Wink, SmartThings, etc) check for compatibility with the thermo in question. My Honeywell acts as a temperature sensor input to my Wink hub. Although I don't have AC, I do have ceiling fans around the house and I've experimented with putting them on wall connected wall switches. When the temp hits a given point, the hub can turn on the fans. It's cool, but again, I find after the novelty wears off, it's a feature that gets little use.

4. I have grown very fond of Amazon Echo. It allows me to control all of the lights in my house and yard by voice. In my opinion, Echo has the best voice recognition I have ever used (I also have Siri, Google Now, Cortana, etc). I wish I could control the temp on the Honeywell. Hopefully it will be integrated soon now that Amazon has opened up the Echo (Alexa) API. Something to consider in choosing a thermo.

At the end of the day, I decided that the right choice for me was a modestly priced programmable thermo with connectivity to my Hub and phone. It does almost everything I could want and nothing I don't (like NEST).

YMMV.

[s2gots]

Tagged...I'm interested also

[SkyHawk]

Amazon Echo has IFTTT integration to allow temperature changes to presets.

https://ifttt.com/recipes/297582-change-temperature-on-your-ecobee-thermostat-with-amazon-echo

https://ifttt.com/connect/amazon_alexa/nest_thermostat

This guy cobbled together a link from Echo to Honeywell t-stat http://www.theghostbit.com/2015/06/c...hermostat.html

[Michael in California]

I still don't know what IFTTT is or how it benefits me but apparently it requires more hardware.

[baggss]

I had new HVAC and Heating put in about 3 months ago. My unit came with this:

http://venstar.com/thermostats/colortouch/

Does pretty good, lets me control it remotely etc. Donm't need much more than this IMO.

FYI, if you system is jacked, look into a CA program called HERO. Good financing options and nothing up front.

https://www.heroprogram.com/

I did my HVAC and my new Windows through the program . Very little hassle and you can pay off short term, or 5-20 years depending on how you ant to do it. Good tax breaks make up for the interest, you end up paying only the principle in the end.

[Rivers]

Just bought a house with a 2 and a 4-ton unit. We planned to replace them next year. Then we got a single month utility bill of nearly $1,500! HVAC upgrade the next week, to a 3 & 5-ton setup. Two separate systems thanks to s large house with two distinct wings. Ecobee for each unit, connected wirelessly to our router. Each uses a sensor placed in semi-active rooms. Next bill was about $800. (Mid-1980's house with poor insulation anyway, a planned upgrade as well.) Ecobees have performed very well and convenient to control with my iPhone or iPad. No complaints at all. Btw, for reviews, also check out those on the Apple.com store. Apple dropped Nest after Google bought it, replacing Nest with Ecobee. Many happy ex-Nesters.

[Marauder2003]

I still don't know what IFTTT is or how it benefits me but apparently it requires more hardware.

https://ifttt.com

[Cokebottle]

Happy with our Nest, bearing in mind that with my wife on disability, we do not use the "auto-away" feature and just manually kick it to "away" when we go on vacation, and turn it back on when we are on our last leg home.

We've got the 2.0 and the Nest Protect 1.0... Bought the Nest in 2012 when the 2.x was released (1.x was still in many stores).
We added the Protect units a year later when they released.

Nest has the ability to run the fan for 15, 30, 45, or 60 minutes every hour from xx:xx to xx:xx every day.
The fan schedule is not flexible like the temp schedule. We have ours set for 6:00 to noon to circulate the warmer/humid air upstairs in the mornings, as our place can get pretty uncomfortable when the sun starts heating the southeast wall.

Temp schedule has unlimited flexibility. You can program one setting for cool and one for heat for the entire day, or you can change it every 15 minutes... unlike traditional programmable thermostats that give you only 4-5 "Sleep, Wake, Away, Home, Sleep" options.

We also have the auto-learn for temp turned off. It works, but it tends to un-do our new settings when we make seasonal changes because it's using historical data to assume our preferences... This is the IE and yesterday when it was 65 outside I'm not going to want the same settings as today when it's going to be 85.

Smartphone and web interface are available anywhere you have a connection or PC. The thermostat logs into the Nest server through your Wifi connection (I've had no issues with the router needing a port opened) and you connect to the server, not directly to the thermostat. Of course, that means that if your internet is down, you have no comm.

We also have two of the Nest Protect units.
They are nice. Running a test on one automatically tests the other.
Smoke or CO detected on one produces an announcement and alarm from the other. It also triggers a push alert on your smartphone app so if you are away from home you know the Protect has triggered.

It will give a "heads up" warning if it detects smoke but not enough to trigger a full alarm, and it notifies when it begins clearing.