[na] WiFi Home Thermostats [na]

FastEddieB

FastEddieB

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Lenoir City, TN/Mineral Bluff, GA
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Fast Eddie B
We have a home in N GA where we rent out the downstairs, and a single thermostat controls the (unzoned) air conditioner/heat pump. I installed a Nest thermostat so the renters could control the unit with their phones since they don’t have physical access to the upstairs thermostat. Worked perfectly, until…

We had a freak occurrence with dire results which led us to mistrust the Nest thermostat. The A/C repairman said they had lots and lots of call with malfunctioning Nests, about 10/1 compared to other brands. He recommended Honeywell WiFi thermostats as the way to go. Our renters have used a similar Edison to good effect.

Any thoughts comparing the two? Both right around $100 more or less, so cost doesn’t seem to be a factor.

Thanks in advance…
 
I've heard the same thing about Nest thermostats. I have a Honewell in my vacation / (future) retirement home and it's worked perfectly. (Note that I think Honeywell changed the name of the app to "Residio.")
 
We use strictly the Honeywell's. We have 7 of them. The app is free and great; simple controls, full controls, can view all your devices in one location...
Honeywell RTH9580WF

We've had 1 go bad in the years of using these. We've had one, ah unfamiliar, guest set the cool lower than the heat setting resulting in big electric bills until we figured it out. That may be prevented with either lockouts or turning off the auto switchover option in favor of the either heat or cool option.
No experience with the nest devices.
 
We’ve been using an Ecobee with zero issues for several years now. I would not recommend a new one now, though, simply because like a lot of things they’re building eavesdropping Alexa into them. Sure, you can disable it… maybe… if you don’t mind a big red warning light being in all the time.
 
exact same experience; no more Nests, 3 Honeywells

BE SURE TO GET AUTOCHANGEOVER
 
If there is a disconnect or other failure can you set them to default to a certain temp? I want one but I'm afraid my pipes will freeze if I have a power outage.
 
Thanks for the feedback so far. The lightning strike or voltage surge put the Nest into Maximum E-Heat and raised the inside temperature to 114° for a couple days. It was inaccessible from the app and we live about 100 miles away. Like I said, dire consequences and I reported the incident to the Consumer Products Safety Commission so they’re aware.
 
My gripe with Nest is that they eat batteries even with a C wire connected. I replaced mine with Honeywell and they’ve been perfect in the 2 years since. I use the wifi for the hangar more than anything. It’s nice to monitor the temps from afar when it’s below zero for weeks at a time.
 
another alternative nod for Ecobee. I've got three on a three zone system. The ONLY issue I've had is they need a fairly strong wifi signal. I've got one in a weak signal area that drops connections sometimes. Mine don't have the amazon echo built in.
 
FastEddieB said:
Thanks for the feedback so far. The lightning strike or voltage surge put the Nest into Maximum E-Heat and raised the inside temperature to 114° for a couple days. It was inaccessible from the app and we live about 100 miles away. Like I said, dire consequences and I reported the incident to the Consumer Products Safety Commission so they’re aware.
Click to expand...
How often do you get a significant voltage surge on a thermostat with a low voltage HVAC supply? Interesting failure mode though.
 
Nest for three years in our main home, NG heat only. No issues, yet to change batteries. Lightning strikes not a big concern.

Carrier Cor thermostat just decommissioned after two years in a part time apartment we rented, a few app related issues, but not bad.
 
FastEddieB said:
We have a home in N GA where we rent out the downstairs, and a single thermostat controls the (unzoned) air conditioner/heat pump. I installed a Nest thermostat so the renters could control the unit with their phones since they don’t have physical access to the upstairs thermostat. Worked perfectly, until……
Click to expand...

Thermostat upstairs controls temps downstairs???
 
SoonerAviator said:
How often do you get a significant voltage surge on a thermostat with a low voltage HVAC supply? Interesting failure mode though.
Click to expand...
Yeah, was wondering how a lighting strike would make it to the thermostat without frying the furnace controls. But 114*? That's a great furnace!
 
Another “yes” vote for the Honeywells. I have six of them, very satisfied.
 
Lindberg said:
Yeah, was wondering how a lighting strike would make it to the thermostat without frying the furnace controls. But 114*? That's a great furnace!
Click to expand...

No furnace. Just the “E-Heat” which uses resistive coils to provide the heat, or heat pump in normal operation. The repairman showed me voltage from the Nest to that circuit. But it sure did feel like walking into a furnace.
 
FORANE said:
We use strictly the Honeywell's. We have 7 of them. The app is free and great; simple controls, full controls, can view all your devices in one location...
Honeywell RTH9580WF
Click to expand...

At first glance, searching Amazon doesn’t come up with that exact model.

Close enough?

52513852177_f055ff513a.jpg
 
FastEddieB said:
No furnace. Just the “E-Heat” which uses resistive coils to provide the heat, or heat pump in normal operation. The repairman showed me voltage from the Nest to that circuit. But it sure did feel like walking into a furnace.
Click to expand...
Is that different from an electric furnace? The main point was that the thermostat is connected only to the HVAC appliance it is controlling. There's no way for the energy of a lightning strike to make it to the thermostat without going through the electronics on that appliance.
 
Brad W said:
another alternative nod for Ecobee. I've got three on a three zone system. The ONLY issue I've had is they need a fairly strong wifi signal. I've got one in a weak signal area that drops connections sometimes. Mine don't have the amazon echo built in.
Click to expand...

DaleB said:
We’ve been using an Ecobee with zero issues for several years now. I would not recommend a new one now, though, simply because like a lot of things they’re building eavesdropping Alexa into them. Sure, you can disable it… maybe… if you don’t mind a big red warning light being in all the time.
Click to expand...

Sad to hear they're pushing Alexa. Might have to make the switch to Honeywell if the current ones bite the dust in the future. I was actually going to post about suggesting Ecobee (they work well today), but may switch to Honeywell in the future if the two we have running our up/downstairs dual zone system bite the dust.
 
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FastEddieB said:
At first glance, searching Amazon doesn’t come up with that exact model.

Close enough?

52513852177_f055ff513a.jpg
Click to expand...

Don't get that model. We had those and didn't like them. I don't remember why.
You didn't find my model because it's discontinued. Look up RTH9585.
 
I have 8 ecobees. 5 in the main house, 1 in my daughters and 2 at the office

I figure they save me a couple grand a year. Yeah, a few bugs here and there. But overall happy with them
 
FORANE said:
Don't get that model. We had those and didn't like them. I don't remember why.
You didn't find my model because it's discontinued. Look up RTH9585.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

A little confused about the need for a “C” wire. I’m not at the GA house now, but when I looked last time there was a wire running to the “C” terminal of the existing “dumb” thermostat. Can I assume that means I have a “C” wire? This install dates to about 2005, so it’s not ancient.

Also not sure what “Not Compatible with Line Volt Heating” means in the description.
 
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I did just run across the technician's notes on the invoice:

"Basement renter lives down there after storm over weekend unit quit working. (Nest thermostat says it is not communicating) Nest thermostat had heat strips on 118 degrees in house when technician arrived. Found bad defrost board (Ordered and will put on when customer is able to be back up. Will need before heat season) Hung old thermostat for customer."

So, it was even a little hotter than I remembered.
 
Another Ecobee user. I have two and they have been great. I also have additional sensors in various rooms and it try’s to keep the temperature balanced everywhere. Plus it’s Apple HomeKit compatible.
 
I like Ecobee too, the only thing I dislike about it is occasionally it updates and goes back into the try to save me alot of money mode. I don't notice it until the house is cold. Not damagingly cold, but cold enough for the wife to start complaining. Easy to fix though and it works well. I purposefully bought the one without Alexa. Screw her.
 
Mine is a honeywell, love it. Works great. Maybe I'm an idiot but when we stay somewhere with a nest I can't figure the damn thing out.

Sometimes I miss this from my parent's house. Not EVERYTHING needs 24/7 connectivity

upload_2022-11-21_12-6-19.png

It's simple and it works.
 
Tantalum said:
Mine is a honeywell, love it. Works great. Maybe I'm an idiot but when we stay somewhere with a nest I can't figure the damn thing out.

Sometimes I miss this from my parent's house. Not EVERYTHING needs 24/7 connectivity

View attachment 112496

It's simple and it works.
Click to expand...

No, but it's nice to be able to adjust it from your phone, especially if you're away from the house. They work great for 2nd homes where you can check the temp to make sure you aren't going to have busted pipes while you're away. Or leave it at 85F during the week, and then kick on the A/C when you're getting ready to make the 2-hr drive up and the house will be cooled off.
 
FastEddieB said:
Thanks.

A little confused about the need for a “C” wire. I’m not at the GA house now, but when I looked last time there was a wire running to the “C” terminal of the existing “dumb” thermostat. Can I assume that means I have a “C” wire? This install dates to about 2005, so it’s not ancient.

Also not sure what “Not Compatible with Line Volt Heating” means in the description.
Click to expand...

C wire powers the thermostat.
Thermostat has no battery.
Not sure about line volt heating.
 
Caution about Honeywells. I alluded to this in another thread, but they (at least the ones I am familiar with) have a fixed and unadjustable temperature delta of under one degree, vs. a standard two degree offset. This results in more equipment cycling than one would ideally like. That aside, I have no other issues with the thermostat.

Oh yeah, the wireless feature. Why. To set it up, you have to give Honeywell access to your internal home network (WTF???) um, no, but thanks for asking, and I'll suffer the red warning light.
 
Mine have a 2 degree spread.
 
They are nice to have, but all electronics are prone to messing up. I had issues a couple years ago and again recently with nest, basically needs to be refreshed and then good to go. If it isn’t the nest, it could be your internet, your router or your electricity.
 
PaulS said:
I purposefully bought the one without Alexa. Screw her.
Click to expand...

While doing our company's annual e-security training last week, they had a section that mentioned disabling or unplugging Alexa/Echo type devices when on a company related call. That's the first time I've seen that called out specifically.
 
FastEddieB said:
not sure what “Not Compatible with Line Volt Heating” means in the description.
Click to expand...
line voltage heating is typically 120 volt or 240 volt electric baseboard heat. Those thermostats need to be able to switch the 120 or 240 directly. Most thermostats are designed for 24 volts AC, provided by a control transformer inside the furnace or AC unit. The 24 volts AC then operates a relay or contactor to switch the higher voltage.

If you want a smart thermostat with a line voltage heating situation, you could add a control transformer and contactor. But most people don't have the skills to do that easily.

Paul
 
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