I was wondering, do any of you have smart thermostats?

We have the Honeywell Color Smart Thermostats (RTH9585WF1004), and we love them. In addition to being able to control them from our phones away from home, the color screen is a nice touch. We made two of ours pink and one blue.

1337Delta764 wrote:

I was wondering, do any of you have smart thermostats?

We have the Honeywell Color Smart Thermostats (RTH9585WF1004), and we love them. In addition to being able to control them from our phones away from home, the color screen is a nice touch. We made two of ours pink and one blue.

I've had that one and currently have a Nest. I like the Honeywell better. But, the Nest has many more products that you can add to the their app.

bpatus297 wrote:

1337Delta764 wrote:

I was wondering, do any of you have smart thermostats?

We have the Honeywell Color Smart Thermostats (RTH9585WF1004), and we love them. In addition to being able to control them from our phones away from home, the color screen is a nice touch. We made two of ours pink and one blue.

I've had that one and currently have a Nest. I like the Honeywell better. But, the Nest has many more products that you can add to the their app.

Honeywell also has the T9 which has the remote temperature sensors. However, the Color Smart Thermostat seems to have better overall reviews from what I have seen, which is why I went with it and plus it is cheaper.

My power company keeps sending me stuff about getting one, I wonder if they realize I don't have a thermostat in my apartment lol.

I have Nest, which is great to incorporate into other products like smart light switches.

T18 wrote:

My power company keeps sending me stuff about getting one, I wonder if they realize I don't have a thermostat in my apartment lol.

Just a catch about getting a smart thermostat from your utility, you agree that they can adjust it during peak demand periods. We bought two of ours from Amazon and one from Newegg.

No. I see no need to manage my heat or any other household item remotely. If I get home and its cold, I'll turn the heat on when I get home.

Power company sent one for free (nest), so it was installed. I like it, but I would not have paid the hundreds of dollars it costed at the time.

I'm interested in some smart weather station that would automatically upload local weather data to weather service server for improved analysis, but cannot find a good place to install them with my residence being an apartment

ACDC8 wrote:

No. I see no need to manage my heat or any other household item remotely. If I get home and its cold, I'll turn the heat on when I get home.

Note that many smart thermostats are more than just being able to remotely control it. Many have learning capabilities to know your heating and cooling patterns based on your home, resulting in energy savings.

I have the Nest E and have been using it everywhere I can. Don't necessarily care for the savings it can provide, but it IS nice for the system to shut down when there's no one home but turn on in preparation for my arrival. And of course, integrating it with Google Home for nighttime comfort is icing on the cake.

einsteinboricua wrote:

I have the Nest E and have been using it everywhere I can. Don't necessarily care for the savings it can provide, but it IS nice for the system to shut down when there's no one home but turn on in preparation for my arrival. And of course, integrating it with Google Home for nighttime comfort is icing on the cake.

While my Honeywell Color Smart thermostats don't have geofencing built-in, you can add this feature via IFTTT. While the Honeywell T-series Smart Thermostats have this built-in, the reviews on them don't seem to be as good. I personally like the changeable color screens on ours. We made two of ours pink and one blue.

I still have old thermostats.

Do you actually see any verifiable cost savings with these smart Thermostats?
Do the people sensors take into account pets?

Do the weather features actually recognize day/night/weather events to keep from overpowering the units?

I had an ecobee (actually I installed it) on a previous house, that was typical gas forced air heating with AC. My current house is geothermal and it does not have a smart thermostat, and I've been thinking of doing one, but reading online people seem to have had issues with this particular brand of HVAC and smart thermostats working together well.

casinterest wrote:

I still have old thermostats.

Do you actually see any verifiable cost savings with these smart Thermostats?
Do the people sensors take into account pets?

Do the weather features actually recognize day/night/weather events to keep from overpowering the units?

I don't have the exact amounts, but yes I see cost savings. Granted, I think most of the savings is in how easy it is to create a schedule for your heating/cooling. A lot of folks don't use the scheduler on older thermostats since they are a pain, you are also limited on the amount of temperature changes per day. The smart ones have apps that make it very easy to do. I also like to be able to "see" my thermostat when I'm away. Plus, you can get good ones at a decent price. The Honeywell one that can change screen colors looks nice, works well, and is only about $125.

Last summer our electric bills and usage were lower than summer 2020, although I can't say for sure that it was due to our thermostats. However, I expect we will see a higher gas bill this winter since we had a guest over the holidays who was always cold and liked the heat at 73 degrees in the morning.

Note that not all zoning panels are compatible with smart thermostats. One type that is particularly problematic are the older master/slave type. I heard many people who had master/slave systems changed out their zoning panels to newer independent zoning panels just to install smart thermostats.

I have and Ecobee since 2020. It is pretty comfortable to use. As far as cost savings are concerned, I wouldn't know. We are using a high efficiency furnace and a programmable thermostat since we live in this house, so I didn't expect a smart thermostat to bring any visible savings.

My old battery operated Honeywell thermostat broke last week, and I switched to a smart Honeywell thermostat for one simple reason: Smart thermostats are becoming the industry standard, and I think within five to ten years home buyers will expect them. Rather than get another battery operated thermostat, which I'd probably have to replace with a smart thermostat before I sell my house, I decided to upgrade to a smart thermostat now.

When I'm out of town in the winter, I'll typically lower my house's temperature several degrees to minimize my heating bills while I'm away. It's not fun to come home to a cold house, and it will be VERY nice to have my smart thermostat start warming my house back up as soon as my flight lands, so it will be warm by the time Uber drops me off.

casinterest wrote:

Do you actually see any verifiable cost savings with these smart Thermostats?

You'd have to have old data with your old thermostat and new data with a new one. Each household is different: space, temperature preferences, region of the country, whether someone is stingy or liberal with power...so it's kinda hard to compare with other users (and odds are many of us have been using our thermostats for a long time).

At the time, my house had a Honeywell thermostat that didn't have dual operations (you had to manually set the heat or cool) and the schedule was a bit of a pain to set. Being "dumber", it wasn't able to tell if I was in the house or not so I'd have to program it to drop to "eco" temperatures during the day when I'd be at work, but if I was home, then I had to walk down to adjust it. Transition months were a pain because you could be in the 70s one day and drop to the 40s the next.

When I moved to the states for the first time, my apartment at the time had an old-style thermostat (the slider one) so getting a programmable thermostat was a huge upgrade and the savings were evident, but from a programmable to a smart one, there may be some savings but, as I said, each case is unique.

Some power companies offer rebates that make the thermostat almost (if not) free so it's worth trying out.

casinterest wrote:

Do the people sensors take into account pets?

Some can detect motion, but they know you're home by your phone. Because you have to use the app to set it (not necessarily, but what's the point if you're not using the app?), the app can detect if you're away or home; the Nest allows "Away" temperatures, depending on the mode of operation. My "Away" temperatures for heat are 65F and 75F for cool. Once the thermostat gets word that I'm close by, it kicks back to "Home" temperatures. I've since disabled this since there are times the app doesn't sync with the thermostat and I get home to find "Away" temperatures; I just program it to heat/cool at around 4-5pm such that once I'm back from the gym, I find a cozy apartment.

My cat is in my place but he can't trigger the thermostat and 65F is an OK temperature for him (he'll be sleeping through the day anyway).

casinterest wrote:

Do the weather features actually recognize day/night/weather events to keep from overpowering the units?

There may be more advanced thermostats that respond to weather. My Nest does allow dual mode: you set a minimum temperature for heat (the lowest you're willing to let the unit drop before heat kicks in) and a maximum for cool (the warmest you'll let the house get before AC starts). If your house temperature is in between, the unit stays off and just ventilates.

This could be useful for such events (say the day starts in the 70s but drops to the 50s after a cold front blows through and the evening drops to 30).

According to some studies, savings are generally greater with cooling than with heating.

Also, if you have a zoned system, I wouldn't recommend putting your thermostats in auto-changeover, since there is a chance the two thermostats may call for opposite modes.

No. And I don't want one. I have enough electronics and gadgets in my house. I see no need in having another thing I can control from the palm of my hand.

luckyone wrote:

No. And I don't want one. I have enough electronics and gadgets in my house. I see no need in having another thing I can control from the palm of my hand.

Plus, it might alter your vote at election time.

I don’t have a smart thermostat, but I do have a Temp Stick to send me alerts if the headquarters becomes too hot or cold. (No subscription required). This adds peace of mind on vacation. Great product.

I have used several types of smart thermostats over the years. Mainly Honeywell and EcoBee. I've been pleased with both. My main reasons for liking them are;

1) Their ability to learn conditions of a particular house. This allows them to not START a temperature change at a particular time, but to "know" now long it takes to get there, and start at a time suitable to line up with that set time.

2) "Away" settings. I was traveling before the Covid nonsense, and would set the thermostat for a range suited to my absence regardless of season. Then, when, say, I landed at the airport, or reached a certain point on the road if driving, I could return to a regular schedule via a smart phone app, and have a comfortable house when I got home.

3) I like to experiment with gadgets. :-{)}}}

Both brands have been satisfactory. I had an EcoBee fail about six months back. I had no HVAC, and had no idea why. I called my repairman; he had a devil of a time finding out what was going on, but in the end, it was the 'stat causing the issues. He had a Honeywell on the truck, and I looked it over. It would suit my needs fine, so, I had him put it in. I paid more than I would had I done the work myself, but, it is done, and it is running fine. It looks a bit "industrial" compared to the EcoBee, but, hey. I'm a bachelor, so, no nagging wife about it not "looking nice".

We got a Nest when our HVAC went out and the thermostat had to be replaced with it. I don't use any of the phone related functions, but we do have it set to a defined eco mode, which is good for 99% of San Diego weather.

I just installed the Nest in my parents home, they have a two level house with dual zone heat and AC. Their bedroom and most of the areas they use are on the first floor, they only occasionally go up stairs where the second thermostat is located. I got them the Nest so they could check the temp up stairs and make adjustments from their phones while sitting in the kitchen downstairs. I also linked both Nest thermostats to their phones so that when they go out it adjusts the heat down or AC up and then either cools down or warms up the house as they head back home.

It also helps when they go on vacation they can check to make sure it not's heating, or cooling, the house too much while they're away.

Not interested any any of that. We have one central T-stat, battery powered and programmable. Its programmed to our at home not at home schedule since we both work the same hours. I think it is a good idea for some that have ever changing schedules though

1337Delta764 wrote:

We made two of ours pink

Of course you did!

I have this device hanging on the wall in the living room that I can turn to the desired temperature by hand.
Works great!

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