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kendrid · Jan 17, 2017

DJ_Lae said:
The thing I still don't understand about the Ecobee sensors is how they help the house as a whole. Sure, putting a sensor in a room that doesn't heat up as quickly or bleeds heat will result in the system staying on until you reach temperature there...but you're still only controlling one furnace. So while it's blasting heat to warm that cold room, there's still hot air going everywhere else and when your cold room isn't cold any more, it'll be unpleasantly warm in the other rooms (and you'll have burned a bunch of extra natural gas).

I would think it would be more efficient to pair any smart thermostat with some manual tweaks to vents to help distribute heat more evenly around the house. I mean, I've bumped up our Nest by an extra degree to help account for the two colder rooms at the back of the house, but the side effect of this is that the front rooms get too warm, and no amount of extra sensors is going to fix that.

The sensors work when you are going to be in one part of the house for a long time and you don't care about the other zones.
For example our bedroom is hotter in the summer and cooler in the winter. At 9pm every night the Ecobee switches to just using our bedroom sensor so the bedroom is at the temperature we want. That might make the family room hotter/cooler than we would normally want but since we aren't there we don't care.

To help keep air temps somewhat consistent in the house I have it set so the furnace fan run at least 20 minutes an hour.

A few companies are starting to make smart vents that can open and close. From what I have read on HVAC sites they can cause issues if they close off too many vents and don't let enough airflow through.

One huge advantage of either thermostat is you are on a real time pricing program for electricity. We are on ComEd's Real Time Pricing Program and we pay the rate of electricity based on the hourly price. Yesterday was a 'bad' day for us on the program but over the course of the past year we have saved $260 vs being on the standard pricing plan.
Where a smart thermostat can help on this plan is in the summer. We typically have our AC set at 77 degrees in the summer. On the real time program, ComEd recommends getting your home to five degrees cooler than your normal temperature by 10 am. At 10 am is when electricity prices start to rise. With the Ecobee it learns when it needs to turn on to get our house to 72 by 10 am. Then from 10 am until usually 5 pm the AC never runs again. I do have the fan set to run 20 minutes an hour to help circulation. Our home is able to retain the temperature fairy well. On the hottest days the AC would turn on around 3.

Copy pasted from my ComEd dashboard:

Total Bills to Date 15
Dollars Saved $277.16
Percentage Saved 23.0%

TheCochese · Jan 17, 2017

DJ_Lae said:
The thing I still don't understand about the Ecobee sensors is how they help the house as a whole. Sure, putting a sensor in a room that doesn't heat up as quickly or bleeds heat will result in the system staying on until you reach temperature there...but you're still only controlling one furnace. So while it's blasting heat to warm that cold room, there's still hot air going everywhere else and when your cold room isn't cold any more, it'll be unpleasantly warm in the other rooms (and you'll have burned a bunch of extra natural gas).

I would think it would be more efficient to pair any smart thermostat with some manual tweaks to vents to help distribute heat more evenly around the house. I mean, I've bumped up our Nest by an extra degree to help account for the two colder rooms at the back of the house, but the side effect of this is that the front rooms get too warm, and no amount of extra sensors is going to fix that.

It averages the sensors, if my experience is true. It takes the guesswork out. It also shows you definitively which rooms are which temperature, so you can experiment with changes and see exactly what the results are.

AstroNut325 said:
Yes. Basically set the thermostat to a state where it isn't hearing or cooling.

I believe you can set a comfort profile to turn the heat on at 45, and air on at 92, so it won't run at all, then use IFTTT with Alexa/Ecobee to set that profile up until either you change it yourself, or your next scheduled event, or any time period up to 24 hours. Via voice that is. Otherwise, you can set that via the Ecobee or the app.

Ace Harding said:
I am thinking about getting the Ecobee. I'm getting fed up with constantly trying to adjust the thermostat (which is downstairs) to maintain the correct temperature in my baby's room (which is upstairs). The temp difference between those two areas can be +5, 0, or -5 depending on the weather outside. I'd probably get three sensors - one for the downstairs, one for the baby's room and one for our room. I'm probably a prime candidate - I don't know why I haven't pulled the trigger yet.

Is installation super easy or do I need to call someone? I have replaced light fixtures and outlets so while I'm no expert I'm comfortable with very basic wiring.

Installation was fairly easy for me, even with no C-wire and an old furnace. Used the adapter that comes in the box, eventually found where a C-wire hookup on the furnace was, and easy-peasy. If you can secure wiring competently, you got this.

If your thermostat now has a C-wire, it couldn't be simpler. You should be able to pull your thermostat you have now and check. Might have to cut the power if you have a very old one, but I installed my last one about a decade ago, and it was a touchscreen with batteries. Just counted the wires I had and the labels.

kendrid · Jan 17, 2017

TheCochese said:
It averages the sensors, if my experience is true. It takes the guesswork out. It also shows you definitively which rooms are which temperature, so you can experiment with changes and see exactly what the results are.

It can average or use just one sensor. You set it per heating/cooling program.

DJ_Lae · Jan 17, 2017

Ace Harding said:
Read my scenario above. If I want my baby's room to be 68 degrees at the coldest point, I usually need to set my thermostat to 71 downstairs. This means that during the day the baby's room is probably 70-71, gradually getting colder to hit 68 in the middle of the night. Because I want that room to get no colder than 68, I set it to 71. I'm setting the thermostat for an entire house to make sure the temperature in one very important room doesn't go below a certain threshold.

kendrid said:
The sensors work when you are going to be in one part of the house for a long time and you don't care about the other zones.
For example our bedroom is hotter in the summer and cooler in the winter. At 9pm every night the Ecobee switches to just using our bedroom sensor so the bedroom is at the temperature we want. That might make the family room hotter/cooler than we would normally want but since we aren't there we don't care.

TheCochese said:
It averages the sensors, if my experience is true. It takes the guesswork out. It also shows you definitively which rooms are which temperature, so you can experiment with changes and see exactly what the results are.

Okay, I guess I can see a small advantage in prioritizing certain areas, although in our situation there is almost always someone in a room with the opposite heating problem as another room, so you'd just be trading comfort with someone else.

To me the biggest advantages are the thermostat knowing how long it will take to heat your house and the more efficient use of stage 1/2 heating in those cases, plus the location features and being able to control remotely.

I've never gotten to try it out as my wife and kids are always home by the time I'm heading back from work, but apparently my phone will automatically signal the Nest when I'm on my way and key my arrival time with getting the heat up to where I like it. In many ways that's superfluous and silly, but I enjoy it.

kendrid · Jan 17, 2017

DJ_Lae said:
I've never gotten to try it out as my wife and kids are always home by the time I'm heading back from work, but apparently my phone will automatically signal the Nest when I'm on my way and key my arrival time with getting the heat up to where I like it. In many ways that's superfluous and silly, but I enjoy it.

That is a cool feature. I never looked into if the Ecobee could do it. I work from home almost every day so there is almost always someone here.

Driving home on Christmas day when we got home the house was 64 because we had been gone all day and it knew we weren't home. That is a time when geofencing would have been nice.

DJ_Lae · Jan 17, 2017

kendrid said:
That is a cool feature. I never looked into if the Ecobee could do it. I work from home almost every day so there is almost always someone here.

Driving home on Christmas day when we got home the house was 64 because we had been gone all day and it knew we weren't home. That is a time when geofencing would have been nice.

I think it might support that, it's a Google Now feature as opposed to something directly Nest related.

Ixian · Jan 18, 2017

For anyone who's sad they missed out on the ecobee sale, you can find one for $200 new on eBay. Decided I didn't want to wait anymore since I'm sure it'll save me $200 over the course of the year as things start to heat up again where I live.

borghe · Jan 18, 2017

Ace Harding said:
Is installation super easy or do I need to call someone? I have replaced light fixtures and outlets so while I'm no expert I'm comfortable with very basic wiring.

it is pretty basic. you will have two scenarios.. one you have a c-wire going to the thermostat, the other you don't. if you don't have a c-wire you have two options

a) run a new thermostat cable
b) use the included power injector module

if you can easily run a new cable, I would do that.. figure out what length you need, how many conductors you need, go to the hardware store and buy it, tie one end to the existing cable, pull it through the wall/house and hook it up to your furnace. then you just wire it up to the thermostat.

if you can't easily do that, you'll have to run the cables on the PIM to the furnace motherboard, then run the thermostat cables (that are currently connected to the motherboard) to the PIM.

Installing it took me like 30 minutes (including running a new cable). I am very handy, but in no way an HVAC or electrical worker.

Stinkles · Feb 12, 2017

Installed a Nest this morning in about (literally) two minutes. Felt like MacGyver. But then I spent all morning troubleshooting Alexa/Echo only to discover that it wasn't working because "Nest, Thermostat, Temperature, Home etc" were all meaningless - Alexa wanted "Dining Room" as the correct device name because that's how it's identified in the (invisible) system.

Now it works great but that's kinda dumb.

Also it's drawing attention to how underpowered and inefficient my AC/Heating is. Our main floor is perfect, but basement and upstairs get pretty anemic response from the forced air.

Luschient · Jul 20, 2017

Looks like Microsoft is throwing its hat in the ring

Microsoft's Unveils GLAS, a Stylish Cortana-Powered Thermostat

giga · Jul 22, 2017

Replaced my nest (2nd gen) with an ecobee 3. Easy setup, but hate how the LCD is only a rectangular middle strip. And definitely prefer the Nest app too. We'll see how this goes once I set up HomeKit (main reason for buying it). I have a 3rd gen nest in my closet if I don't like it.

Luschient said:
Looks like Microsoft is throwing its hat in the ring

Microsoft's Unveils GLAS, a Stylish Cortana-Powered Thermostat

Translucent? I'd assume most homes have white walls so I don't see any utility in that design.

giga · Aug 6, 2017

Two weeks of using an ecobee and I'm back to the nest. Their mobile app, thermostat UI, and industrial design just doesn't compare. Installed the 3rd gen nest and I'm happy again.

diablos991 · Aug 6, 2017

giga said:
Replaced my nest (2nd gen) with an ecobee 3. Easy setup, but hate how the LCD is only a rectangular middle strip. And definitely prefer the Nest app too. We'll see how this goes once I set up HomeKit (main reason for buying it). I have a 3rd gen nest in my closet if I don't like it.

Translucent? I'd assume most homes have white walls so I don't see any utility in that design.

Change the text to black?

I've been using a Nest for about 2 years and it's been fantastic. Looks nice on the wall too.

giga · Aug 6, 2017

diablos991 said:
Change the text to black?

I've been using a Nest for about 2 years and it's been fantastic. Looks nice on the wall too.

In the dark?

Marty Chinn · Aug 6, 2017

giga said:
Two weeks of using an ecobee and I'm back to the nest. Their mobile app, thermostat UI, and industrial design just doesn't compare. Installed the 3rd gen nest and I'm happy again.

Could you elaborate on the Ecobee's shortcomings? Every now and then I entertain the notion of switching because of the way you can add sensors to the Ecobee but I always fear not liking it.

ced · Aug 6, 2017

I didn't want the smart features like learning etc so got the Honeywell Wifi thermostat for $70, it's perfect for me.

Easy to change with phone but my schedules on it are pretty perfect.

AngmarsKing701 · Aug 6, 2017

SpecX said:
I bought the Honeywell smart thermostat last year and it's been great so far. Has voice controls and works with Alexa, though I have yet to use those features. I really like the customizable screen and setup the colors and font to match the holiday/season and the decor as we changed things in the house.

The mobile app is simple to use and the website allows easy setup as well so you aren't forced to the small screen. Was looking at a Nest, but didn't really like the circle design, plus was able to get this on sale for $170.

This. Have had Honeywells (one upstairs, one downstairs) for a couple of years now and love them. Went on vacation recently and on the way home, just popped open the app and bumped the temps in the house back to where we like them so when we got home it wasn't too hot. Voice integration with Alexa is a cool concept, and we have it setup, but given I've got the units programmed for heat/cold, I never really have to change things via Alexa.

Still, great product. Chose these over Nest because we'd see varying reviews on Nest, especially when we made this decision, and I can't remember why Honeywell edged Ecobee for us.

lord pie · Aug 6, 2017

Walter White Walker said:
... I have zero need or desire to access my thermostat via a phone app.

Imagine; is 2am, you're struggling to sleep as it's a bit too hot. In a couple of seconds you can drop the temp a few degrees, without getting out of bed or even turning in a light. You can possibly do it just with voice too.

It's great, really, really great.

Dhx · Aug 6, 2017

lord pie said:
Imagine; is 2am, you're struggling to sleep as it's a bit too hot. In a couple of seconds you can drop the temp a few degrees, without getting out of bed or even turning in a light. You can possibly do it just with voice too.

It's great, really, really great.

This is me with my ecobee and an echo dot in the bedroom. It's first world amazing.

"Alexa, set the thermnostat to X." or "Alexa, turn the thermostat down one degree."

To be able to do that while half asleep and barely cognitive is a game changer.

m_shortpants · Aug 6, 2017

I have a nest.

It's great. Never have to worry about forgetting to turn it off because I can do it from anywhere, and it knows when I'm not home anyway.

And the Google Home integration is great too. If I'm feeling hot/cold and I'm watching TV I can just say "hey Google set the thermostat to X or Y or off" and it does it.

giga · Aug 6, 2017

Marty Chinn said:
Could you elaborate on the Ecobee's shortcomings? Every now and then I entertain the notion of switching because of the way you can add sensors to the Ecobee but I always fear not liking it.

Sure.

Thermostat UI / Mobile app:
- The "slider" interface to change the temp is super sensitive and isn't as precise and simple as the up/down arrows in the Nest app or physically rotating the Nest.
- Both the Nest and Ecobee app have to "connect" to your thermostat when you launch it, but the Ecobee takes much longer. It got frustrating and I hated seeing that bee animation saying it was "connecting to your thermostat."
- This is very particular, but I just didn't like the animations at all. It felt like a Flash app from 2004. They were slow and janky, in both the app and device.
- It was hard to tell when the Thermostat was actually cooling. Know how the Nest turns blue when cooling, orange when heating, and black when it's steady? There's nothing like that in the Ecobee as far as I could tell.
- No farsight. I love having the weather displayed on my Nest and seeing it from afar.
- There was no "time to temp" feature as far as I could see.

Industrial design
- The ecobee is all plastic. The nest actually feels like a $200+ product with its glass and metal. The ecobee doesn't.
- The screen is actually just a small rectangular part of the front. Don't believe PR shots. This is what it really looks like: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CkhGj8e0nJg/maxresdefault.jpg
- This isn't ID, but the Nest supports 5ghz wifi which is huge for me living in a condo complex. 2.4ghz is crowded and sometimes drops because of interference.
- Lower display PPI. It was noticeable. 229 vs 165.

AstroNut325 · Aug 6, 2017

I didn't expect to see my thread bumped!

I ended up with the EcoBee. I like it overall. But I have the issues/complaints that Giga outlined as well. It works well enough, but I will likely switch once my EcoBee stops working or in 5 years or so. Don't feel like spending another $200 on a thermostat. Oh and Nest needs to get on the multi-room sensor train.

Dali · Aug 6, 2017

I don't own a smart thermostat but I'll add that a lot of power companies will subsidize the purchase so you may be able to get one free or a rebate on a portion of the price. Ask your power company about their energy efficiency programs (I believe it is a federal mandate to have them).

TheCochese · Aug 7, 2017

I have zero issues with my Ecobee. I love the apps, particularly the iPad app and desktop browser view. It's a tool for me, and IMO looks great. I love telling Alexa to adjust a degree or two if needed, but one of the points of thermostats like these is getting rid of the need to hit it up or down a degree or two, particularly when it learns how fast your building adjusts and you see your energy usage and weather impact.

I'd buy it again in a heartbeat, and will: this one is staying with this house.

TFGB · Aug 7, 2017

We use a 3rd gen Nest and a few Protect 2nd gens.

Geeky, but I think it's so clever when I receive a text message telling me that the Protect has just performed a test. Gotta love technology.

winterymint · Aug 7, 2017

I have an Ecobee and enjoy how I can set the temp from my smart phone. Also can do vacation temp

giga · Aug 8, 2017

Dali said:
I don't own a smart thermostat but I'll add that a lot of power companies will subsidize the purchase so you may be able to get one free or a rebate on a portion of the price. Ask your power company about their energy efficiency programs (I believe it is a federal mandate to have them).

Yes. I got mine for like $100 from them.

toneroni · Aug 8, 2017

Been working on adding smart home stuff and settled on integrating with Alexa and home kit. Use hue, ring, some smart switches, ir blasters, and getting a schlage sense.

I bought both the ecobee 3 and nest to try for now but having trouble finding the wiring. Saw a few random cables tucked in the wall but can't seem to find the corresponding cables on the boiler. I have only heat to control as I have mini split ACs.
Does anyone use these to control them? Seems like you'll need the flair.co or something to integrate. I currently have cheap broadlink ir blasters to set temps using my phone.

Still not sure which to go with. Anyone have a similar setup?
Don't want to run new wires so hoping I can figure it out.

Jag · Aug 8, 2017

toneroni said:
Been working on adding smart home stuff and settled on integrating with Alexa and home kit. Use hue, ring, some smart switches, ir blasters, and getting a schlage sense.

I bought both the ecobee 3 and nest to try for now but having trouble finding the wiring. Saw a few random cables tucked in the wall but can't seem to find the corresponding cables on the boiler. I have only heat to control as I have mini split ACs.
Does anyone use these to control them? Seems like you'll need the flair.co or something to integrate. I currently have cheap broadlink ir blasters to set temps using my phone.

Still not sure which to go with. Anyone have a similar setup?
Don't want to run new wires so hoping I can figure it out.

I completely screwed up my wiring at the air handler and i spent some time online trying to figure it out. This was the AC for the bedrooms and it was getting really hot and late (Florida).

On a whim I called Ecobee support and they were incredible. I sent cellphone pics of my wiring and the rep talked me through everything. So that's definitely a good option for tougher wiring jobs.

Ecto311 · Oct 7, 2017

Jag said:
I completely screwed up my wiring at the air handler and i spent some time online trying to figure it out. This was the AC for the bedrooms and it was getting really hot and late (Florida).

On a whim I called Ecobee support and they were incredible. I sent cellphone pics of my wiring and the rep talked me through everything. So that's definitely a good option for tougher wiring jobs.

Wow I wish I got that, I just installed an ecobee 3 and the phone support was complete shit. They wanted me to wire it to the relay and not the transformer so it was making my furnace go apeshit. I figured it out and hung up on the guy.

Anyone get the ecobee3 to play nice with home kit on the iphone? Google shows some people have a ton of problems and some not a problem at all. I get it to work like 2 times talking to siri and then it just stops responding even though the app for ecobee works fine and works off my network on cell service. Real close to returning it but don't want a nest because the good one is almost $100 more than this and the new nest is junk looking to me. Plus none of the nests work with siri or home kit.

Also anyone try the ecobee4 with alexa? It looks really interesting and it would be the first alexa in our home. Some reviews have said it was ok but cheaper and more useful to get a separate echo dot or similar setup.

fatigues_gasolini · Oct 7, 2017

Ecto311 said:
Also anyone try the ecobee4 with alexa? It looks really interesting and it would be the first alexa in our home. Some reviews have said it was ok but cheaper and more useful to get a separate echo dot or similar setup.

Just got one brand new off Facebook marketplace for 150 and installed yesterday

The Alexa in it works well, even comical hearing music come out of it. Unfortunately i have an open floor plan so anytime I speak to it, another echo hears it. Also, you can't group it as a music player if you want sound out of multiple devices. Other than that i think it works fine. I had a nest at my old house and wanted to try something different and couldn't beat the price.

UntoldDreams · Oct 7, 2017

Ecobee will be much better overall due to remote sensors even though there is a single furnace/air conditioner.

If you place the remote sensors in various places in your house, it can let you adjust your air vents to choke or open air flow. This allows you to "even out" the temperature of the entire house by simply partly closing air vents.

Example:
Master Bedroom gets freezing at night but Kid's room is too hot. The Ecobee remote sensors let you see the temperature in both rooms simultaneously.

Then you simply manually close the air vent in the kids room 80% shut. What you will find is that eventually you can even out the temperature so its evenly distributed in the home so no room is too far out of range.

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