Which Smart Thermostat would you choose?

[labjr]

This is the smartest one I've found that works for me.

[edy]

UPDATE:

They came and installed the Ecobee 3 Lite. I did end up buying a "cheap" thermostat as I know they were going to confiscate the one already in my house (although not "so" cheap, it was brand new!). I should have scoured more garbage bins for old discarded thermostats or got one off eBay but I didn't think I would have the time.    My stupidity.... the cheap new one I bought so they would confiscate it cost me $30, so that they could install an Ecobee 3 Lite worth about $220 here in Canada, and this way I kept my original $100 thermostat.   So in my mind I paid $30 for an Ecobee, and I kept my old one in case the wife wants to kill me and I have to quickly switch it back. 

Anyways, it turns out they installed the "PEK" module (Power Extender Kit) since I only had the 4 wire cable in my wall. They also used a huge round wide wall-plate behind the Ecobee which hides the previous hole and any traces of the old thermostat. I'm still getting the hang of using it, I have NOT programmed it yet either.

One question I have which the installer said NOT to ever do....  SET IT TO AUTO and set a RANGE of high/low. Why?

He said to either keep it in heat mode, or cool mode and switch accordingly, but never auto. Let's say I like my temperature between 20 and 23. So I figure in the winter when it is cold outside, even if in AUTO the natural tendency will be for the house to cool down... so as soon as it dips below 20, the heat turns on and bumps it back up above 20. I doubt it will ever reach 23, so the air conditioner will never activate. Same goes for summer... the natural tendency may be for the place to heat up and always be over 23, so the air-conditioning will kick in. Again, I doubt it will go below 20. So why not auto? That helps during the spring/autumn when days are cold in the night and hot in the day, with wild swings. Wouldn't it be better to have it on auto so we don't constantly play with the thermostat figuring out what to do all the time?

[james_s]

You should have just removed the old thermostat entirely and put it away. "Oh that broke years ago so we've just been touching those two wires together when we need heat!"

[Red Squirrel]

I'd be curious to see some actual data on the energy consumption between one of these fancy cloud enabled thermostats and a plain old fashioned programmable thermostat. I mean there's no magic, it still takes the same amount of energy to heat the house to the same temperature. As much as I love technology, I'm not a fan of technology just for the sake of technology.

I think the idea is that you can program it to heat the house less when you're not home, or sleeping and have it heat when you are home.  I have mine set to let the temp drop between 11 and 13 degrees if I'm at work or sleeping, but it will start the furnace a few hours ahead so when I get  home or wake up it's warmer.  When I'm on night shifts my time spent at home and conscious is only a few hours so I only really need a bit of heat  for when I have to get up. 

With a non programmable you'd be more likely to set it it to one temp and not touch it as much so it's constantly trying to keep the house at a comfortable temp.   Part of it is also convenience of being able to set temp from anywhere.

[james_s]

I'd be curious to see some actual data on the energy consumption between one of these fancy cloud enabled thermostats and a plain old fashioned programmable thermostat. I mean there's no magic, it still takes the same amount of energy to heat the house to the same temperature. As much as I love technology, I'm not a fan of technology just for the sake of technology.

I think the idea is that you can program it to heat the house less when you're not home, or sleeping and have it heat when you are home.  I have mine set to let the temp drop between 11 and 13 degrees if I'm at work or sleeping, but it will start the furnace a few hours ahead so when I get  home or wake up it's warmer.  When I'm on night shifts my time spent at home and conscious is only a few hours so I only really need a bit of heat  for when I have to get up. 

With a non programmable you'd be more likely to set it it to one temp and not touch it as much so it's constantly trying to keep the house at a comfortable temp.   Part of it is also convenience of being able to set temp from anywhere.

I was comparing against conventional programmable thermostats which are nothing new, my parents got an early one more than 30 years ago and I've always had one in my place. As far as I know they're pretty much standard now, it's very rare that I see a completely manual thermostat anywhere. Doesn't rely on any cloud services or web connectivity, you just set it up, program the settings and it goes.

[Red Squirrel]

I'd be curious to see some actual data on the energy consumption between one of these fancy cloud enabled thermostats and a plain old fashioned programmable thermostat. I mean there's no magic, it still takes the same amount of energy to heat the house to the same temperature. As much as I love technology, I'm not a fan of technology just for the sake of technology.

I think the idea is that you can program it to heat the house less when you're not home, or sleeping and have it heat when you are home.  I have mine set to let the temp drop between 11 and 13 degrees if I'm at work or sleeping, but it will start the furnace a few hours ahead so when I get  home or wake up it's warmer.  When I'm on night shifts my time spent at home and conscious is only a few hours so I only really need a bit of heat  for when I have to get up. 

With a non programmable you'd be more likely to set it it to one temp and not touch it as much so it's constantly trying to keep the house at a comfortable temp.   Part of it is also convenience of being able to set temp from anywhere.

I was comparing against conventional programmable thermostats which are nothing new, my parents got an early one more than 30 years ago and I've always had one in my place. As far as I know they're pretty much standard now, it's very rare that I see a completely manual thermostat anywhere. Doesn't rely on any cloud services or web connectivity, you just set it up, program the settings and it goes.

Oh yeah, I find the conventional ones are ok, but if you work shift work then you can't really make it work that well.  But yeah if you have a standard M-F job you probably don't need anything better than a standard programmable one.

[labjr]

I've set up programmable thermostats for people. Most people just turn them up and down manually. IMO, too many simple tasks are being replaced with  unnecessary technology. It becomes overwhelming when everything has to be controlled by an app. I want my flip phone back. 

[rbm]

Maybe I'm a dissenting voice but I have an original Nest from 8 years ago and I really like it.  I rarely interact with it like programming it, but I use the networking capabilities.  For example, say we're going away for a vacation in the winter for a couple days, I'll adjust the setpoint to minimum. Then before starting the drive back home when it's time to come back, I'll login and return the setpoint to normal.  By the time we're home, the house is comfortable.  Or another use case is the wife complains at bedtime that the house is too "this" or "that", so without getting out of bed, I can readjust the thermostat.  Lazy yes, but convenient.

[james_s]

Oh I'm sure they have advantages in the way of convenience, I'm just skeptical of any real savings in terms of energy consumption vs an ordinary standalone programmable thermostat. Obviously user behavior is important, I suspect someone in the habit of putting their thermostat in hold mode and manually adjusting it up and down is likely to continue doing the same thing with a fancy web connected one. I also shudder to think what someone like my mom would do, she's very intelligent but doesn't seem to "get" technology. I've struggled for years to teach her very basic troubleshooting for her computer, like check if the printer is plugged in, check that WiFi is enabled, maybe reboot it since it's been up for 6 months with a dozen browser windows and 30 copies of Solitaire running since she often minimizes programs and then just launches a new copy rather than finding where they went. I've had almost zero luck, she still finds ways to just work around whatever malfunction is there for weeks before calling me when it becomes an emergency because a newsletter is due the next day. If the app stopped talking to the thermostat she'd probably bundle up or build a fire in the wood stove instead of trying to make it work.