Nest vs Ecobee 3 vs all others

[destrekor]

smart vents, brah. https://keenhome.io/smart-vent

works with nest.

Oh yeah I've read up on those. I have also heard a lot of critical arguments that they are not a good idea, introducing pressure variables the HVAC system was not designed to handle. I don't know.

Regardless, they are expensive as hell. Ideally you'd really only replace a couple, maybe one or two in the most-used rooms to help out a little bit?

 

[destrekor]

ha i have an Automatic too. It's a neat device. I don't nerd out over it as much as I used to but I still like it. That functionality should just be built right into a car though. No need for a third party product in 5 years or less.

It's happening, for sure. Alexa and Cortana-toting cars are coming.

And yeah, my Automatic Pro arrived today. Can't wait to get it plugged in! I'm hoping my car's fuel levels and MPG estimates are available over the OBD. That type of info is on the CAN bus and was available to view on a small screen above the head unit, but it relies on the stock headunit to interact with that portion of the display so that info is unavailable to me as of now. (the other half serves up the climate control info)

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Man all this talk makes me want my Nest already. Needs to drop back down to $200 and I'm all over it.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I got mine for $150 each (after $100 rebate thru my energy company). if you're in MA, check www.masssave.com

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Oh yeah I've read up on those. I have also heard a lot of critical arguments that they are not a good idea, introducing pressure variables the HVAC system was not designed to handle. I don't know.

Regardless, they are expensive as hell. Ideally you'd really only replace a couple, maybe one or two in the most-used rooms to help out a little bit?

Yeah, they're too expensive. There are some cool SmartThings apps which tie the Keen Vents, the ecobee, and various temp sensors together as a whole-house climate control system, but I just can't justify the cost of the Keen stuff.

EDIT: Apparently ecobee announced direct compatibility with Keen a couple of weeks ago. Interesting.

 

[Cal166]

Picked up the Ecobee3 over the weekend and installed it, took about 45mins because someone was lazy to run the C-wire so I had to go down to my furance and installed the extension kit/wiring that came with it.

I chose eco3 because of the sensors, our bedroom tends to get hot fast so, during sleeping time, I can shut off all the sensors except our bedroom.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

So been reading up and people have been saying that if you have the Nest Protects, they can act as sensors for the Nest Thermostats. That's perfect for me since I have one downstairs and one upstairs.

 

[evident]

Very happy with our Ecobee3.

 

[destrekor]

So been reading up and people have been saying that if you have the Nest Protects, they can act as sensors for the Nest Thermostats. That's perfect for me since I have one downstairs and one upstairs.

I don't know though, I think what I've read is that they only act as motion/presence sensors. So, you do get some benefit, though it would be missing the remote temperature sensor capability. Again, I've only read that, at least I think I have at least. lol

 

[AznAnarchy99]

I don't know though, I think what I've read is that they only act as motion/presence sensors. So, you do get some benefit, though it would be missing the remote temperature sensor capability. Again, I've only read that, at least I think I have at least. lol

I think you're right about that. I was mostly worried cause my thermostat position is upstairs and we're mostly downstairs so the protect would solve that issue but yea, no extra thermal properties.

 

[paperfist]

I think you're right about that. I was mostly worried cause my thermostat position is upstairs and we're mostly downstairs so the protect would solve that issue but yea, no extra thermal properties.

I don't know though, I think what I've read is that they only act as motion/presence sensors. So, you do get some benefit, though it would be missing the remote temperature sensor capability. Again, I've only read that, at least I think I have at least. lol

Yes, they'll just detect movement and tell the thermostat that you're not away.

https://nest.com/support/article/Learn-how-Nest-products-work-together

Your Nest products can work together to help Home/Away Assist know when you’ve left home and when you’ve come back. This can make each product better at doing the right thing at the right time, like switching your Nest Thermostat to Eco Temperatures when you leave and back to normal temperatures when you come home. You can use the Nest app to choose which of your Nest products will help Home/Away Assist know when you’re home.

 

[Mzaur]

I used Ecobee3 for a few weeks and had a good experience except for buggy smart home (ultimately had a very bad experience with their customer service, simply awful as they did not want to replace my device and kept blaming me). For a quick comparison and why I think Ecobee is a better device overall:

Ecobee has more functionality, like you can schedule vacations in advance, scheduling is easier, setting comfort profiles (home, away, sleep) instead of temperatures which makes scheduling a lot easier. Learning is kind of nice with Nest but does not seem very useful unless you have a set schedule that you follow every week. I like how on Ecobee the screen stays on all the time so you can always see temp without having to get within line of sight of it like Nest. Also Nest seems to overshoot heating the house, like I’ll set it to 70 and it’ll heat until 72-73. I spoke with Nest support and they said this was normal.. ok… Ecobee didn’t do that. Nest does look better for sure. Ecobee is plastic while Nest is stainless steel, but besides that I can’t think of anything Nest does better. I also kind of miss the remote sensors because our upstairs does get more warm than the downstairs, which is where the Nest is, and with Ecobee i had sensors upstairs and it factored those in (or just used bedroom sensor during sleep mode). Lastly, kind of unsure about the future of Nest, seems uncertain, whereas Ecobee is coming out with a new device soon. But really my customer service experience was so bad with Ecobee that I don’t know what to do lol. I’m edging toward trying again with Ecobee though once their new device comes out. Nest really seems dated.

 

[Linflas]

Picked up the Ecobee3 over the weekend and installed it, took about 45mins because someone was lazy to run the C-wire so I had to go down to my furance and installed the extension kit/wiring that came with it.

I chose eco3 because of the sensors, our bedroom tends to get hot fast so, during sleeping time, I can shut off all the sensors except our bedroom.

I was lucky that they used standard solid copper phone wire between the furnace and thermostat so all I had to do was connect one of the unused wires to the C terminal in the furnace and solder a small extension at the thermostat end to enable the C feed.

 

[ch33zw1z]

What problems did you have with the nest? I have two, so far the only issue I've had was the unclear requirements for the C-wire.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

What problems did you have with the nest? I have two, so far the only issue I've had was the unclear requirements for the C-wire.

agreed, only problems I have had are just silly things like the app tends to forget my password and stuff.
I recently added two nest smokes, the cool thing about them is if CO gets too high and nobody responds to it the nest shuts off the furnace but keeps its safe temp (I have my safe temp set to 45 degrees). Cool feature for someone with pets.
This isn't saying I think ecobee sucks, I'm just interested.

 

[bigi]

I am looking for a new Tstat now. Might go with EcoBee3 as I do have humidifier with 2 extra wires to be connected. So far, it looks like EcoBee3 can accommodate this easily as those two connect to acc+ and acc- designated spots.

It does not look so straightforward with the Nest.

Anyone has humidifier connected to Nest???

 

[Red Squirrel]

Most of this stuff is fairly easy to do with arduino or similar and you don't have to worry about proprietary stuff or cloud services as some of these things rely on cloud to work. I have a premade temp sensor board and relay board from before I even knew about Arduino so I just parse out the serial I/O to talk to it but it would basically be the same idea with Arduino. Uses DS18B20 sensors and general purpose relays to switch the furnace's 24v ones. Ties in like a regular thermostat.

As for smart vents, you want to ensure you have a bypass damper at the return if you will do any of this. For each vent that is closed, you want the bypass damper to open a bit more. This would require a bit of tweaking to get right. This will let air from the supply go directly into the return, basically balancing the pressure. Of course the air will also be much hotter (or colder for A/C) so you probably also want return/supply sensors to monitor this as well.

 

[paperfist]

Anyone have National Grid?

I was just checking their website and there's a $75 rebate for wi-fi enabled thermostats.

 

[Fanatical Meat]

Anyone have National Grid?

I was just checking their website and there's a $75 rebate for wi-fi enabled thermostats.

That's where I got F'd, 3 years ago it was valid for National Grid Gas only. Electric did not count.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Anyone have National Grid?

I was just checking their website and there's a $75 rebate for wi-fi enabled thermostats.

I have Nat Grid. They gave me two $100 rebates in 2015 for Nest 3's.

I took a picture of my receipt from Home Depot using my smartphone, and submitted it following the steps on their site. Turn around time was about a month each.

 

[paperfist]

That's where I got F'd, 3 years ago it was valid for National Grid Gas only. Electric did not count.

lol that's lame of them. WTF is the difference if the thermostat is running gas, oil, electric, etc?

I have Nat Grid. They gave me two $100 rebates in 2015 for Nest 3's.

I took a picture of my receipt from Home Depot using my smartphone, and submitted it following the steps on their site. Turn around time was about a month each.

That's good to know. I'm installing a new boiler and stand to get back close to $600.