I think I understand 101s question, we moved into a new house many years ago and it took a while to figure out that the thermostat was trying to bring the house to the set temp by 7AM, as that it what I told it, but I wanted it to start heating at 7AM, as i despise sleeping whilst breathing hot air. I just had to understand the way it thinks and think that way, a wee jump, but once accomplished, well worth it.
Regarding the nest, how might it work in a VRBO/ABB house? I love the idea of it sensing when people are out and adjusting the temperature and I also am interested in the feature that allows you to lock out certain maximum and minimum temps. For example, when it is 105F outside, please don’t set the thermostat to 60F, you’ll freeze up the condenser and have no AC, it needs a bit of down time. I like the idea of the limiters.
If I understand, though, JYM, the sensing feature only works in that it senses people who are logged into it? Makes sense, but won’t help in my situation.
Ugh, Nest-hater here too My husband sets the temp then leaves, and I’m here all day with the temp at whatever he felt the whim for. Same thing at night, he’ll set it for what he’s comfortable, then goes to sleep.
Ours is doing something weird with the a/c, it turns off, then pops right back on. Does anyone else have this happen? It only comes on again briefly, I don’t know if it’s turning on the fan instead of a/c, but it doesn’t seem like it would be good for the motor.
@somemom - You should be able to set the thermostat and control it remotely, as well as set it to the high and low temps that you want it to range between. But aside form posting a note by the thermostat, I don’t know that you can prevent someone in the house from changing the temperature setting. Of course, you can look at your app on your phone and keep an eye on it and reset it if they mess with it, but I don’t think you can prevent them from manually adjusting the temperature. Really don’t know. The good thing it can do is tell you the humidity (if that is an issue) so you can have the a/c or heat come on/off to prevent any mildew. And while it will know that the owner’s phone isn’t there, if no one walks by the thermostat in a certain period of time, it goes into “eco” mode as it assumes no one is home. I assume that still works, as mine still lights up when I walk by it (it has motion sensors in it).
Ironic (in the “small world” category), I happened to have to call a dear friend and her son today , as my friend’s husband (he was a friend of mine from grad school), just had a very major health crisis. Anyway, I had a long chat with their son, who went to grammar school with the co-founder of nest. Small world.
movemetoo, we had that happen and the heating/ac guy had to come over (we thought his work caused it)
but–even though the Nest was 6 months old and had worked just fine–it suddenly was shorting which caused the a.c. to turn off and on and needed an additional wire hooked up.I had figured this out by doing a search and watching some U tubes. He just hooked a wire that was there and then told me how much he dislikes the Nest. I am sure this is as clear as mud to you :-*
H could have done this repair himself.
So the conclusion is that I am asking the nest to be non programable. No program at all ever unless we set that for
when we travel. And the bottom line is that it cannot do that. Either you set a schedule and when you want to
change (and you can) it will revert to that the next week unless you remember to unchanged it. Or use the App.
I want an old fashioned one like grandpa had and I grew up with… and that is what H is going to put in…
(he is not crazy about the Nest either).
@movemetoo - you just triggered a memory. I recall when I set it up (wrong person to do this), that it asked about the length of time I wanted the fan to run. I seem to recall thinking more than once that there was something off about the fan. I really should take @jym626’s advice and call them, but I hate call and on line chats even more than I hate gadgets.
OP, I have to ask - why did you buy a Nest if you don’t want energy savings, won’t use an app, and won’t let it schedule for you? If a you want to do is press a button to move the temp up and you could have done that with a $20 thermostat.
I agree with other posters - your HVAC needs to be looked at by a pro.
You want the house cold when you get home. Either get a $20 thermostat and leave the house at your desired temp 24x7 and pay the costs or let the Nest turn the A/C down when you are gone. On your way home just set the Nest to “Home”. You walk in the door and the house is at the temp you want.
You can either pay $$$ each month or you can use the Nest and interact with it a bit. There is really not a middle ground.
Yep, got it Iron Maiden. Did not completely realize how worked.
Again, HVAC is not only fine but the best it has ever been as some builder mistakes have been corrected.
But I get this is on me. I suffer terribly from being hot and I just do not like the delay the Nest creates.
So for this phase of my life I will pay the extra $$$.
But this thread has helped both H and I understand the Nest in a way we hadn’t --so thanks to everyone
for that. It also might work fine (in fact no doubt will) for heat this winter as that is not a biggy for me.
The point of the nest is that it learns your habits, your can tell it from anywhere what you want it to do and when, and it will cut your utility bills significantly. That was the point- to be eco-friendly. If you want an old style thermostat that stays on forever until you change the temp, then fine. But you can also set the nest to come on an hour before you think you will be home, if you want it to be super cold when you get in. And set it for every day. It will come on, freeze down your house, and do exactly what you want it to do and when.
If you get the nest protect (the smoke detector) and you happen to have a CO leak, the smoke detector will tell the thermostat to turn off the furnace. How cool is that? And, the smoke detector is a nightlight, that will come on as you walk under it, just like the thermostat glows when you walk by it. What’s not to like??
BTW, @oregon101 - re: your post # 7- do you have your nest set to respond to both heat and a/c? If so, you will see 2 numbers on the face on your app- the temp you want the heat to come on at and the temp you want the house to be cooled down to. If you only have the A/C set, then if the house was 69 and you want it to be 71, you have to tell it to turn on the heat. Otherwise it will simply keep the a/c off until the house temp gets up to 71, and then it will turn on the a/c again. Make sense? You have 3 options in setting the thermostat- to just heat, to just cool, or to heat/cool (which makes the most sense). So you tell it at what temp you want the heat to come on, and at what temp you want the a/c to come on. Check your settings.
Oh stop complaining about your Nest. Come try living my my house. My husband has automated EVERYTHING. Every light switch and more (music, speakers, air conditioners, garage doors). I swear the computer knows when he goes away on business because that’s when it all breaks down. And should I complain, he takes it very personally! But some aspects of it I like.
(We actually do have a Nest for heat only – no central air. You don’t need to use the app to change the temperature. Just walk up to it and rotate the silver dial. There is also a way to lock it at one temperature. Push on the face of it and find the right menu to do this.)
@LBowie we have the same husband? We have one son who loves the automated everything and one who refuses to use it and still uses the switches which messes everything up. It is very handy when my hands are full and I need a light on but sometimes it seems harder to say the words than flip a switch.
A “problem” we have with our nest is that when we both leave but a child is at home. They tend to stay in the basement playing games/watching tv etc the entire time and their phones aren’t synched to the nest so it believes no one is at home. It isn’t a big deal but is very telling to know they spent the last 4 hours in the basement.
@oregon101 - not meaning to beat this to death, but what “delay” are you experiencing? If my thermostat or app says its, say, 77 degrees, and I want it to be 76 degrees, I just turn it down a degree til the app turns blue, showing its cooling, and it comes right on. But if it says 76 degrees and I want it to be 77 degrees, I have to either turn on the heat side or reset the cooling temp to 77 and wait until the temperature rises naturally. Otherwise it will cool down again if the temp rises above the temp selected.
Just adding a “thanks” for this thread, and a special thanks to jym626. We’ve hated our Nest too…which was installed as part of a package (we didn’t really choose or request it, the guy just put it in).
But reading this thread, I see now we just never bothered to understand it. Never even activated the app! I have now set it up and see the benefits.
Thank you @prospect1 for your kind words. Was concerned that my “persistence” was unhelpful.I remember that when I got my first iphone, my kids said it did many more things than I’d ever use it for, and while they were probably right, none-the-less, once I got familiar with many of the things it did and how to find those things, I got pretty comfortable with the phone and its use, and its a part of my everyday life. I think the nest thermostats (and other smart home devices) are pretty similar. Once you get familiar with what it does and how it works, it really is pretty user friendly, and if something doesn’t make sense, you just contact customer service either by chat, facebook, twitter or phone. Or, search on line. Lots of useful info out there.
I like that it tells me the weather when I walk by it. It just told me what the temp will be at 7pm, 11pm tonight and 7am tomorrow. BTW, @oregon101 and @somemom, there is an option called “thermostat lock” under “settings”. Turn the screen to the gear symbol (that is the settings option) and scroll through to the “lock” option. That might achieve what you are looking for. I’ll look further and see what I can find.
Another Nest hater. I investigate it and the Honeywell we got. We’re retired and at home. Do minimalist cell phone service since we’re home most of the time and gone erratically. Did not want the thermostat trying to second guess us. Avoided a feature that learned from when you passed it- what if we don’t??? I dislike the display- with ours we can see all the data without touching it. It changes from heat to A/C without us needing to do so and we can hit the temp button to raise/lower the temp until the next schedule time block. So easy. My biggest problem is H turning up the temp when I go out so I come home and need to lower it to tolerable temps (Florida- set at 78 but he ups it to 79).
Thermostats should not require a lot of learning and use of a smart phone. Sure, they can, but to NEED to is terrible. Plus, info should be displayed and not require hands on scrolling (I typically scroll past and have to go through the whole cycle again with things- eg car display).
Reviews I read were also a reason I chose not to get the Nest.
My husband sets the temp then leaves, and I’m here all day with the temp at whatever he felt the whim for. Same thing at night, he’ll set it for what he’s comfortable, then goes to sleep.