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Smart thermostats

Raz0rEdge

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So how many people here have thermostats like the Nest in their homes and have you actually seen a considerable difference in heating/cooling bills attributable to just that change?

The news today that Google is buying Nest Labs for $3.2b got me thinking about possible price drops for the current generation model..Google can afford that..:)
 

chscag

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My thermostat is smarter than me but of course that's not saying much.... :) We had one of those put in when we redid out cooling and heating system at the same time last Summer. It does make a difference although most of the time someone is at home and we just have it set on "hold".

By the way, I wonder if my thermostat is smart enough to tell me who is going to win that Patriot - Broncos game next Sunday? ;P
 
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Raz0rEdge

Raz0rEdge

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I'm having a hard time convincing myself and my wife that it's worth the $500 that I'd have to spend on two units for my house..

And the way the Patriots (and especially Blount) have been playing, you don't need anything more than a simple $2 thermostat that this is our year (again!) to go all the way..:)
 

chscag

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I'm having a hard time convincing myself and my wife that it's worth the $500 that I'd have to spend on two units for my house..

I hear you. It would take quite a while of savings to make up for the $500.
 
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Raz0rEdge

Raz0rEdge

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Yeah, if I was getting a new system put in, I would make this part of the overall cost and be done with it. But as a standalone expense, it's a little steep..
 

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I'm having a hard time convincing myself and my wife that it's worth the $500 that I'd have to spend on two units for my house..

It's like solar power, wind power, etc. If you stay on the house long enough...it may pay out (depending on the savings/month/year).

Unfortunately (as I'm sure you know)...the device has to be purchased & installed to get an idea of the savings to do the calculations.

I'm not 100% sure of everything that $500 thermostat can do (or what you want it to do)...but aren't there MUCH less expensive programmable thermostats out there?

I'm thinking/guessing that you mostly want the thermostat to:

- reduce the temp slightly in the heating season
- increase the temp slightly in the cooling season

...automatically when no one is home.

- Nick
 
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I swapped electrical utilities and as part of the deal I got a Nest thermostat and now I am spoiled its nice having the ability to change temps from the MBP,iPad and iPhone since I live where its warm in the day and cold at night for the most part.
I bought the Nest Protect since it communicates with the thermostat and it also impressed me with providing a night light with sensors for activity,smoke,fire and CO and it also communicates with Apple gear.
 

pigoo3

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I swapped electrical utilities and as part of the deal I got a Nest thermostat and now I am spoiled its nice having the ability to change temps from the MBP,iPad and iPhone since I live where its warm in the day and cold at night for the most part.

Ahh...that is a nice feature...and very nice that you got the thermostat (I'm assuming free) with the utility change!:)

- Nick
 
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it was free with an 18 month contract but with reduced KWH and free weekends kinda sounds like the mobile providers lol.
I only have one gripe no hold feature since someone is always home but a simple schedule change can fix that by setting the desired temp for each time period then select copy.
 

pigoo3

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We have Nests. Not sure the convenience of being able to manage them on my iPhone and iMac is worth the cost (I doubt we will see savings over the $30 programmables we had before) and their firmware update end of November caused lots of grief with wifi "offline" disconnects which in our case was resolved finally with another update. Some users seem to have discovered the need to fish a C or common wire to power the Nest's batteries, but so far we haven't. But because I was checking the new toys a couple of times daily online I quickly detected what turned out to be a frozen heating pipe in a little used area of the house after a house guest left a window open. We could easily have missed that for days with the old thermostats. So ponder the decision carefully. It is promising but new technology.
 
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chas_m

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While I'm not a Google hater per se (still use in a limited capacity some of their services), I am not a fan of their income model. I was considering a Nest but won't now -- for a start there are cheaper competitors in that space (EverSense), secondly Google is being flatly irresponsible spending that kind of money on a company that is worth *maybe* as much as 1/50th that much, and finally I don't need advertising on my thermostat (or in my web browser based on how often I need heat or cooling), thanks anyway.

As others have said, Google's modus operandi of late has been to buy a company, stick Google+ on the acquisition and kill the whole thing off in a year or two when that fails to make Google+ work. I fear something like that is going to be the ultimate fate of Nest. Whatever you may think of Google, their motives in buying this are fairly obvious and unsavoury.
 
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Raz0rEdge

Raz0rEdge

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While I'm not a Google hater per se (still use in a limited capacity some of their services), I am not a fan of their income model. I was considering a Nest but won't now -- for a start there are cheaper competitors in that space (EverSense), secondly Google is being flatly irresponsible spending that kind of money on a company that is worth *maybe* as much as 1/50th that much, and finally I don't need advertising on my thermostat (or in my web browser based on how often I need heat or cooling), thanks anyway.

As others have said, Google's modus operandi of late has been to buy a company, stick Google+ on the acquisition and kill the whole thing off in a year or two when that fails to make Google+ work. I fear something like that is going to be the ultimate fate of Nest. Whatever you may think of Google, their motives in buying this are fairly obvious and unsavoury.

Chas, thanks for pointing out EverSense, however at $399, it's about $150 more expensive than Nest unless there was a previous model that was cheaper..

Nest raised $150 million recently and had a market valuation of about $2b, while the $3.2b price is quite a nice premium over it's valuation, that's likely Google's way of making an offer that cannot/will not be refused.

I have no opinion on Google's motives..
 
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I will wait and see what happens in the next year with the Google acquisition. I'm also skeptical of what will come from that. But I do see myself integrating more "connected" devices/appliances in my home over the next decade.
 
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I think that this acquisition by Google is a trojan horse to your utility accounts via the smart meter.
 

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I have a Honeywell programmable thermostat attached to my gas furnace and central air. It was less than $100, has a touchscreen and can be programmed for 4 different time ranges, 7 days per week. It does not have WiFi or a high-res color display on it - but it does the job. It's supposed to have "smart response" technology, where it learns how long it takes to recover a temp - but I find that to be less than effective and often find it "in recovery" after a programmed temp change.

In the winter time, it definitely helps reduce my gas bill as the gas heat can warm the house several degrees in less than a half hour. In the summertime, it's not worth it - it takes way too long for the AC to cool down the house on a really hot day and I'm not convinced that allowing the temp to vary so widely really saves energy. I used to let it warm up to 80ºF and during the times I did, it wouldn't get back down to 73 or so until the sun went down and the outside temps dropped - usually hours later. And during that time, the A/C was running constantly. I just leave it 'on hold' at 73ºF and honestly, have not seen much variation on my electric bill.

I looked at the Nest at one point and it really seems like overkill for a thermostat - and of course, it isn't cheap. At less than $100, a Honeywell thermostat offers ¾ of the functionality for ¼ the price. And now you needn't worry about Google glass spying on you ;)
 
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I think that this acquisition by Google is a trojan horse to your utility accounts via the smart meter.

I agree. Google doesn't need to know when I wake up, when I go on vacation, when I go to bed and wake up, how many hours I'm at work each day, etc... Heck, they probably know all those things anyhow. They already have a photo of my house posted online. What will be scary is when they start buying insurance companies and banks. In 50 years Google and/or their successors will be indistinguishable from "God".
 
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So is Google an alias for Skynet lol.
 
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"The Skynet Funding Bill is passed. The system goes on-line August 4th, 1997. Human decisions are removed from strategic defense. Skynet begins to learn at a geometric rate. It becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th..."

Google's domain name was registered in September 1997. Coincidence? I don't think so! LOL
 
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NEST CEO says they won't change privacy policy.

VIDEO
 

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