(or go Zwave... or whatever... I make no claim for the above, other than it works for me.... on my mac mini).
This is _the_ thing. Home automation is not having a whole bunch things that turn on/off automatically.
Nest opened up 'learning your activity' and curve fitting to that pattern. But when you want to control lights, heat, air, shades, windows, doors, and in your case setting up zones... you need a bit more. This is more.
So, basically, when you're having dinner at the neighbours your house will remain warm. All evening long. Ok, got it.
Constantly adjusting the temperature costs money. The fluctuations can't be too great. If you live in a cold climate this certainly applies. You can only do so much with a thermostat - insulation is more important. What I like about the Honeywell is that it can adjust according to the kind of het / cold (humid / dry). If it works it would be awesome.
Or even better I go out for the evening and the kids can really CHILL out with no heating.
It links to multiple devices and can also be controlled manually. I see another tie in though. Honeywell makes alarms too, so if there is motion and no doors open, or the alarm is in stay mode, iOS 8 could potentially override the changes. Even alerting the owner it's doing so.
So, basically, when you're having dinner at the neighbours your house will remain warm. All evening long. Ok, got it.
Constantly adjusting the temperature costs money. The fluctuations can't be too great. If you live in a cold climate this certainly applies. You can only do so much with a thermostat - insulation is more important. What I like about the Honeywell is that it can adjust according to the kind of het / cold (humid / dry). If it works it would be awesome.
wouldn't be surprised to see this selling for $225 by mid 2015.
wish hvac systems would have per room electric dampers so it could just cool the rooms i'm in rather than my whole zone.
You hit on a keep point, a well built house has these or zone heating for hot water heating. But the large majority of homes in the world do not they have a basic heat the entire house at the same time. The expense of putting in Damper per room is very high and not easily done on most homes. Unless you can zone your HVAC system your wasting energy conditioning spacing in your home which do not need it.
You do not need a $200+ thermostat to cut your heating and cooling cost, you can get a $30 programmable one which will do the exact same thing as the Nest without the fancy web-base interface.
I like how these companies say that the thermostat will learn what you like, true if you are the only one in your home, put 4 people into the equation coming and going on different schedules and all have their own opinion on what is consider comfortable and these things fail. In my home no on touches the thermostat, only me since I pay the bill and it is not a democracy, there it no voting, it is the only way to stop the fighting about who turn it up or down and who is hot or cold. Simple solution wear more or less cloths and deal with it.
I have tracked my energy cost and it not easy since there are too many factors which you have to take into consideration when your costs are going up or down, the biggest one is weather itself and how it changes day to day and year to year. You can not just look at outside temps, you have to look at how much snow you have on the ground and roof of your house, verse the air temp since snow can be a good insulator. Also wind plays a large factor as well. Also was it over cast or very sunny. It can be an 80F day with little sun and your roof is not hot, or an 80F day and lots of sun and you fry and egg on your roof.
These company make you think you will same energy cost by putting these products in, but consumer have not way of measuring whether they are saving money. Also playing with your thermostat via an app will wear off with time and you will not go in and turn down or up your HVAC system and it will become like any other simple programmable thermostat.
I can tell the big cost saving i saw was just replacing incandescent lights with LED.
I like how these companies say that the thermostat will learn what you like, true if you are the only one in your home, put 4 people into the equation coming and going on different schedules and all have their own opinion on what is consider comfortable and these things fail.
These types of devices can tell who's home by looking at SSIDs of detected devices with a strong enough signal (e.g. not neighbors), then associating that with requested temperatures through the thermostat.
These types of devices can tell who's home by looking at SSIDs of detected devices with a strong enough signal (e.g. not neighbors), then associating that with requested temperatures through the thermostat.
which means each person has control over the thermostat. Yeah you do not live in a house where everyone has an opinion on what the perfect temperature is. Also you do not have teenage who are looking for any reason to get on a sibling nerves.
Why do you think all public places which happen to have a manual thermostat put them behind a lock box.
Lastly if you talk to anyone in the environmental controls industry they will tell you its better not to keep changing the temp in your home you save more by setting and leaving it alone for a period of time.
These types of devices can tell who's home by looking at SSIDs of detected devices with a strong enough signal (e.g. not neighbors), then associating that with requested temperatures through the thermostat.
Better not leave any of those gadgets at home then.
Yeah you do not live in a house where everyone has an opinion on what the perfect temperature its. Also you do not have teenage who are looking for any reason to get on a sibling nerves.
Yes, I do. We are considerate of each other. Most of the time. If someone is too cold to drop the temp, I can sit under a ceiling fan, etc. We don't need a dictatorship to get along in our house, but good luck.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Maestro64
Lastly if you talk to anyone in the environmental controls industry they will tell you its better not to keep changing the temp in your home you save more by setting and leaving it alone for a period of time.
Are you under the impression that HVAC was designed to save money? HVAC is designed for comfort. The less comfort they provide, surely the less energy they will use. This is not a surprise.
Surely you can see the efficiency advantages to a system holding a more neutral temp than a more comfortable temp if it notices that nobody has come home according to the usual schedule (due to an event or emergency).
So much for the lame argument that Apple should have bought Nest. Remember the snarking and guffaws that Google had done something great while Apple missed the boat?
wouldn't be surprised to see this selling for $225 by mid 2015.
wish hvac systems would have per room electric dampers so it could just cool the rooms i'm in rather than my whole zone.
You can do that easily. It just a matter money. There are also ductless systems (Mitsubishi comes to mind) that are installed with separate thermostats for each zone.
Comments
wouldn't be surprised to see this selling for $225 by mid 2015.
wish hvac systems would have per room electric dampers so it could just cool the rooms i'm in rather than my whole zone.
http://www.smarthome.com/3086/12-Inch-Diameter-Normally-Closed-Electronic-HVAC-Air-Duct-Damper-001-00020-12RDNC/p.aspx
add insteon ... add this-> http://www.indigodomo.com/
(or go Zwave... or whatever... I make no claim for the above, other than it works for me.... on my mac mini).
This is _the_ thing. Home automation is not having a whole bunch things that turn on/off automatically.
Nest opened up 'learning your activity' and curve fitting to that pattern. But when you want to control lights, heat, air, shades, windows, doors, and in your case setting up zones... you need a bit more. This is more.
So, basically, when you're having dinner at the neighbours your house will remain warm. All evening long. Ok, got it.
Constantly adjusting the temperature costs money. The fluctuations can't be too great. If you live in a cold climate this certainly applies. You can only do so much with a thermostat - insulation is more important. What I like about the Honeywell is that it can adjust according to the kind of het / cold (humid / dry). If it works it would be awesome.
That is actually a good point. Tnx
wouldn't be surprised to see this selling for $225 by mid 2015.
wish hvac systems would have per room electric dampers so it could just cool the rooms i'm in rather than my whole zone.
You hit on a keep point, a well built house has these or zone heating for hot water heating. But the large majority of homes in the world do not they have a basic heat the entire house at the same time. The expense of putting in Damper per room is very high and not easily done on most homes. Unless you can zone your HVAC system your wasting energy conditioning spacing in your home which do not need it.
You do not need a $200+ thermostat to cut your heating and cooling cost, you can get a $30 programmable one which will do the exact same thing as the Nest without the fancy web-base interface.
I like how these companies say that the thermostat will learn what you like, true if you are the only one in your home, put 4 people into the equation coming and going on different schedules and all have their own opinion on what is consider comfortable and these things fail. In my home no on touches the thermostat, only me since I pay the bill and it is not a democracy, there it no voting, it is the only way to stop the fighting about who turn it up or down and who is hot or cold. Simple solution wear more or less cloths and deal with it.
I have tracked my energy cost and it not easy since there are too many factors which you have to take into consideration when your costs are going up or down, the biggest one is weather itself and how it changes day to day and year to year. You can not just look at outside temps, you have to look at how much snow you have on the ground and roof of your house, verse the air temp since snow can be a good insulator. Also wind plays a large factor as well. Also was it over cast or very sunny. It can be an 80F day with little sun and your roof is not hot, or an 80F day and lots of sun and you fry and egg on your roof.
These company make you think you will same energy cost by putting these products in, but consumer have not way of measuring whether they are saving money. Also playing with your thermostat via an app will wear off with time and you will not go in and turn down or up your HVAC system and it will become like any other simple programmable thermostat.
I can tell the big cost saving i saw was just replacing incandescent lights with LED.
I like how these companies say that the thermostat will learn what you like, true if you are the only one in your home, put 4 people into the equation coming and going on different schedules and all have their own opinion on what is consider comfortable and these things fail.
These types of devices can tell who's home by looking at SSIDs of detected devices with a strong enough signal (e.g. not neighbors), then associating that with requested temperatures through the thermostat.
These types of devices can tell who's home by looking at SSIDs of detected devices with a strong enough signal (e.g. not neighbors), then associating that with requested temperatures through the thermostat.
which means each person has control over the thermostat. Yeah you do not live in a house where everyone has an opinion on what the perfect temperature is. Also you do not have teenage who are looking for any reason to get on a sibling nerves.
Why do you think all public places which happen to have a manual thermostat put them behind a lock box.
Lastly if you talk to anyone in the environmental controls industry they will tell you its better not to keep changing the temp in your home you save more by setting and leaving it alone for a period of time.
Capt. Picard: "Computer, seal off all ventilation shafts on decks 10 through 12."
Better not leave any of those gadgets at home then.
“SHUT DOWN ALL THE GARBAGE MASHERS ON THE DETENTION LEVEL, WILL YOU?!”
“WHERE, ARE WE?! 3263827!”
Yeah you do not live in a house where everyone has an opinion on what the perfect temperature its. Also you do not have teenage who are looking for any reason to get on a sibling nerves.
Yes, I do. We are considerate of each other. Most of the time. If someone is too cold to drop the temp, I can sit under a ceiling fan, etc. We don't need a dictatorship to get along in our house, but good luck.
Quote:
Lastly if you talk to anyone in the environmental controls industry they will tell you its better not to keep changing the temp in your home you save more by setting and leaving it alone for a period of time.
Are you under the impression that HVAC was designed to save money? HVAC is designed for comfort. The less comfort they provide, surely the less energy they will use. This is not a surprise.
Surely you can see the efficiency advantages to a system holding a more neutral temp than a more comfortable temp if it notices that nobody has come home according to the usual schedule (due to an event or emergency).
HAL: I'm afraid I can't do that.
I know right!
So much for the lame argument that Apple should have bought Nest. Remember the snarking and guffaws that Google had done something great while Apple missed the boat?
wouldn't be surprised to see this selling for $225 by mid 2015.
wish hvac systems would have per room electric dampers so it could just cool the rooms i'm in rather than my whole zone.
You can do that easily. It just a matter money. There are also ductless systems (Mitsubishi comes to mind) that are installed with separate thermostats for each zone.