Fancy new thermostat - Page 2

Pete Zicato · 10-26-2011, 04:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt

It is interesting. If this thermostat can save 5% off your heating/cooling bill, it will pay for itself in a few years. And it probably can do that. (YMMV and all that) It depends on what you have now, how you live now, and what you are paying for heating and cooling.

I bought a smart thermostat for ~ $20 a while ago. It's got settings for wakeup/leave/return/sleep and those are different for weekdays and weekends. It's also got a lock mode for when someone's home on a weekday.

What's this got that will save 5% for me?

HungLikeJesus · 10-26-2011, 07:05 PM

Our house has eight or nine thermostats - that could get expensive!

I wonder if they would all talk to each other.

tw · 10-26-2011, 07:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HungLikeJesus

I wonder if they would all talk to each other.

What about? The weather?

HungLikeJesus · 10-26-2011, 07:37 PM

If they're internet-enabled they could talk about all kinds of interesting things. Maybe they could even post on the Cellar.

Pete Zicato · 10-27-2011, 12:02 PM

They have parts from Skynet. They'll be talking about taking over.

SirFatty · 10-28-2011, 10:11 AM

I'm in IT. Tech is my life. But I just don't want my home's infrastructure accessible via the web. I don't want my fridge to be smart. I certainly don't want a smart meter for power usage either. Sometimes more is not better....

Lamplighter · 10-28-2011, 10:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirFatty

I'm in IT. Tech is my life. But I just don't want my home's infrastructure accessible via the web. I don't want my fridge to be smart. I certainly don't want a smart meter for power usage either. Sometimes more is not better....

I agree with the thought.
We have the saying: "Just because you can doesn't mean you have to"

tw · 10-28-2011, 10:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SirFatty

I certainly don't want a smart meter for power usage either. Sometimes more is not better....

Meanwhile, while you did not notice, it was already implemented. Many electric companies no longer have meter readers. Smart meters have long since eliminated that need.

The thermostat is a classic example of a solution looking for a problem to solve. All innovations occur either because a solution is looking for a problem, or a problem is looking for a solution.

classicman · 10-28-2011, 11:17 AM

... and the meter readers are out of work.

SirFatty · 10-30-2011, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tw

Meanwhile, while you did not notice, it was already implemented. Many electric companies no longer have meter readers. Smart meters have long since eliminated that need.

This is an interesting article I read last month... tinfoil hats anyone?

richlevy · 10-30-2011, 09:30 AM

When they make one that can hack into the NYSE and grab the money to pay my heating bills, call me.

BigV · 11-01-2011, 06:38 PM

glatt, that's not a hockey puck. that's a shuffleboard puck. yeah.. tha's been botherin me since your OP. other than that, kewl.

classicman · 11-01-2011, 06:56 PM

Here's a video of it.

Lamplighter · 12-01-2011, 09:23 PM

This thermostat has made it into it's own article in the NY Times:

NY Times
By DAVID POGUE
Published: November 30, 2011
A Thermostat That’s Clever, Not Clunky
.

glatt · 07-11-2012, 08:53 AM

Oh, hey. I should have updated this thread.

I got a Nest thermostat as a present for my birthday back in April, and installed it just as the heating season was ending, and the open window season was beginning. But now it's AC season.

I don't know if you noticed, but it's been pretty damn hot lately. This week is a bit better, but last week was insane. Anyway, we were on vacation at a lake in Pennsylvania. We had set the Nest to "away" mode, which for us and the way we programmed the Nest meant that it wasn't going to cool the house at all.

It was Saturday up in Pennsylvania, and we saw on the news that it was 106 in Arlington. So my wife pulled out her Android phone, connected with the Nest, and turned on our AC from 3 states away. The AC worked all night on an empty house, slowly getting the temperature lowered, and when we walked in the front door in the early afternoon on Sunday, the house was cool.

Without the Nest, we either would have left the AC running the entire time we were away on vacation, which is stupid, or we would have come home to a sweltering house and would have been very uncomfortable for a full day or so as the AC slowly brought the temperature down over the course of a 24 hour period. (Our central AC was retrofitted into our old house and isn't really sized properly. It just takes forever to cool the place down.)

So for this feature alone, I LOVE the Nest.

10-26-2011, 07:05 PM	#17
HungLikeJesus Only looks like a disaster tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: above 7,000 feet Posts: 7,208	Our house has eight or nine thermostats - that could get expensive! I wonder if they would all talk to each other. __________________ Keep Your Bodies Off My Lawn SteveDallas's Random Thread Picker.

10-26-2011, 07:37 PM	#19
HungLikeJesus Only looks like a disaster tourist Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: above 7,000 feet Posts: 7,208	If they're internet-enabled they could talk about all kinds of interesting things. Maybe they could even post on the Cellar. __________________ Keep Your Bodies Off My Lawn SteveDallas's Random Thread Picker.

10-27-2011, 12:02 PM	#20
Pete Zicato Turns out my CRS is a symptom of TMB. Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Chicago suburbs Posts: 2,916	They have parts from Skynet. They'll be talking about taking over. __________________ Talk nerdy to me.

10-28-2011, 11:17 AM	#24
classicman barely disguised asshole, keeper of all that is holy. Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 23,401	... and the meter readers are out of work. __________________ "like strapping a pillow on a bull in a china shop" Bullitt

10-30-2011, 09:30 AM	#26
richlevy King Of Wishful Thinking Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Philadelphia Suburbs Posts: 6,669	When they make one that can hack into the NYSE and grab the money to pay my heating bills, call me. __________________ Exercise your rights and remember your obligations - VOTE! I have always believed that hope is that stubborn thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us so long as we have the courage to keep reaching, to keep working, to keep fighting. -- Barack Hussein Obama

10-28-2011, 10:11 AM	#21
SirFatty Jotter of Notes Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Northwest burbs of Chicago Posts: 11	I'm in IT. Tech is my life. But I just don't want my home's infrastructure accessible via the web. I don't want my fridge to be smart. I certainly don't want a smart meter for power usage either. Sometimes more is not better....

11-01-2011, 06:38 PM	#27
BigV Goon Squad Leader Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Seattle Posts: 27,063	glatt, that's not a hockey puck. that's a shuffleboard puck. yeah.. tha's been botherin me since your OP. other than that, kewl. __________________ Be Just and Fear Not.

11-01-2011, 06:56 PM	#28
classicman barely disguised asshole, keeper of all that is holy. Join Date: Nov 2007 Posts: 23,401	Here's a video of it. __________________ "like strapping a pillow on a bull in a china shop" Bullitt

12-01-2011, 09:23 PM	#29
Lamplighter Person who doesn't update the user title Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Bottom lands of the Missoula floods Posts: 6,402	This thermostat has made it into it's own article in the NY Times: NY Times By DAVID POGUE Published: November 30, 2011 A Thermostat That’s Clever, Not Clunky .

07-11-2012, 08:53 AM	#30
glatt ™ Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Arlington, VA Posts: 27,717	Oh, hey. I should have updated this thread. I got a Nest thermostat as a present for my birthday back in April, and installed it just as the heating season was ending, and the open window season was beginning. But now it's AC season. I don't know if you noticed, but it's been pretty damn hot lately. This week is a bit better, but last week was insane. Anyway, we were on vacation at a lake in Pennsylvania. We had set the Nest to "away" mode, which for us and the way we programmed the Nest meant that it wasn't going to cool the house at all. It was Saturday up in Pennsylvania, and we saw on the news that it was 106 in Arlington. So my wife pulled out her Android phone, connected with the Nest, and turned on our AC from 3 states away. The AC worked all night on an empty house, slowly getting the temperature lowered, and when we walked in the front door in the early afternoon on Sunday, the house was cool. Without the Nest, we either would have left the AC running the entire time we were away on vacation, which is stupid, or we would have come home to a sweltering house and would have been very uncomfortable for a full day or so as the AC slowly brought the temperature down over the course of a 24 hour period. (Our central AC was retrofitted into our old house and isn't really sized properly. It just takes forever to cool the place down.) So for this feature alone, I LOVE the Nest.

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