Is it easy to operate for folks with average technical abilities?
Is there a paper manual or a downloadable manual with clear instructions?
Is it easy to install (by a pro, not by me)?
Does it automatically change settings if there is no movement as with the Nest?
Is it easy to operate for folks with average technical abilities?
Is there a paper manual or a downloadable manual with clear instructions?
Is it easy to install (by a pro, not by me)?
Does it automatically change settings if there is no movement as with the Nest?
Does your furnace have a C wire? The only time a smart thermostat install becomes a bit more challenging is when a C wire isn't available. If you don't have a C wire the Ecobee 3 Lite comes with a power extender kit that you have to install at the furnace. If you follow the directions it isn't that hard.
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Is it easy to operate for folks with average technical abilities?
Is there a paper manual or a downloadable manual with clear instructions?
Is it easy to install (by a pro, not by me)?
Does it automatically change settings if there is no movement as with the Nest?
Try turning off learning mode on the nest first. But to answer your questions based on what I know from my brother (he has ecobee I have nests)...
1. No worse than the Nest. Lots of video tutorials on how to use if needed.
2. Probably. But video tutorials would be far clearer.
3. If you have a common wire, yes, super easy. If no or you don't know what that is... hire a pro.
4. No. I don't think ecobee has a learning mode is on by default, but I think it does have one which I think no one uses. Why nest just doesn't kill learning mode is beyond me. The concept is fine, the implementation is idiotic.
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Is it easy to operate for folks with average technical abilities?
Is there a paper manual or a downloadable manual with clear instructions?
Is it easy to install (by a pro, not by me)?
Does it automatically change settings if there is no movement as with the Nest?
Yes, the only kind of 'advanced' settings I changed was the temp differential to 1.5deg. The default is lower and I felt that it was cycling too often.
I think so.
Install is pretty much the same as the Nest but, the Ecobee comes with a Power Extender Kit for installs that dont have a C-wire. If you have a Nest, you probably have one already. It may have changed since I installed a gen 2 Nest but you couldn't use a Nest without a C-wire.
If you get an Ecobee with sensors, you can place them in rooms that you are more frequently in. If you have a thermostat set at 20 and a sensor in the family room and bedroom, the temperature is averaged across the rroms that are occupied.
For instance, our upstairs has the thermostat in the Master, one sensor in the family room, one in my son's room.
Our upstairs is set for 21 deg, the master is south facing and may be 22deg, Family room is north facing so say it's 18deg, sons room is in the middle of the house and say it's 19 deg. If all rooms are occupied the Ecobee would report a temperature of 20. The average of all three.
If only the family room at 17 and the master at 22 is occupied the average would be 19.5 and the heat would kick on to bring that average temperature of the 2 occupied rooms up to 21.
Nest has sensors too and they try to balance in a similar way but they are only temperature sensors. They can't inform the system that you're are still home and have been watching TV in the family room for 2 hours.
I haven't looked at Nest in awhile but it looks like they have geofencing now available in the app called Home / Away Assist. It looks like you can associate multiple accounts and it switches modes when the first phone arrives home or the last one leaves.
Before you invest in new hardware, might be worth checking out.
If you have a live c-wire into the nest, it's easy as hell. No need for a pro. Just don't forget to take a picture of the wires before doing it. Worst case scenario, with the pic you reverse what you did, and call a pro at your leisure (rather than in a panic).
Quote:
Originally Posted by Barnes
Yes, the only kind of 'advanced' settings I changed was the temp differential to 1.5deg. The default is lower and I felt that it was cycling too often.
I think so.
Install is pretty much the same as the Nest but, the Ecobee comes with a Power Extender Kit for installs that dont have a C-wire. If you have a Nest, you probably have one already. It may have changed since I installed a gen 2 Nest but you couldn't use a Nest without a C-wire.
If you get an Ecobee with sensors, you can place them in rooms that you are more frequently in. If you have a thermostat set at 20 and a sensor in the family room and bedroom, the temperature is averaged across the rroms that are occupied.
For instance, our upstairs has the thermostat in the Master, one sensor in the family room, one in my son's room.
Our upstairs is set for 21 deg, the master is south facing and may be 22deg, Family room is north facing so say it's 18deg, sons room is in the middle of the house and say it's 19 deg. If all rooms are occupied the Ecobee would report a temperature of 20. The average of all three.
If only the family room at 17 and the master at 22 is occupied the average would be 19.5 and the heat would kick on to bring that average temperature of the 2 occupied rooms up to 21.
Nest has sensors too and they try to balance in a similar way but they are only temperature sensors. They can't inform the system that you're are still home and have been watching TV in the family room for 2 hours.
Gen 2 nests and later can operate without a c-wire via power steal. I know this because I've done this. It isn't necessarily the best route though as the power draw isn't necessarily high enough to ensure your thermostat doesn't die at the most inopportune time.
I had c-wires installed at a later date for the gen 2 and I'll get someone to do the same for the gen 3 I currently use at a later date, but I know for sure they definitely can operate without the c-wire.
Yes, the only kind of 'advanced' settings I changed was the temp differential to 1.5deg. The default is lower and I felt that it was cycling too often.
.
By this do you mean the differential what the setting is and what temperature will actually trigger a call for heat/cool? If so that might actually be too much. High efficiency/multi stage furnaces are designed to run almost constantly at a low speed to keep temperatures even. Having them run for short periods at high intensity is not what they were designed for. Older furnaces ran this way - full blast, then off, then full blast. Now they run lower and steady and only ramp up if the call for heat is drastic.
I didn't have a live C wire when I went to hook up my Nest, but there were a couple of extra wires not hooked up to anything behind the old thermostat. It was pretty easy to open up the furnace and hook one of those up to the 24V slot, which then made the Nest install dead easy. Definitely not worth spending bucks on a tech, if your current thermostat doesn't have any wires labelled C just check the bundle behind it to see if there's an unused wire that you can convert
Ecobee should come out with a white version. Don’t really want a black block on my white walls. I went with the Honeywell Lyric cause it was small, round and white but the app had many issues so I rolled back to the old programable.
By this do you mean the differential what the setting is and what temperature will actually trigger a call for heat/cool? If so that might actually be too much. High efficiency/multi stage furnaces are designed to run almost constantly at a low speed to keep temperatures even. Having them run for short periods at high intensity is not what they were designed for. Older furnaces ran this way - full blast, then off, then full blast. Now they run lower and steady and only ramp up if the call for heat is drastic.
Yes, that’s the setting. I actually checked and I have it set at 0.8deg. The default was 0.3 and it’s set to not run less than 5 mins and disapate heat for a number of minutes once temperature is reached to avoid short cycling. I only have a single stage furnace with 2 zones so it’s full blast or nothing. A .8 differential is what now gets set when setting up the ECO+ comfort/savings to balanced.
It was quite a while ago, but my recollection of the EcoBee install is that the app guides you through the whole process really well.
It even stops and prompts you to take photos of the wiring of your existing thermostat for you to reference later in the install.
They did a really, really good job of making it easy. I'd say it's worth a crack, then if things get uncomfortable halfway through, you have your photo of your old setup to get things back and wait for a pro.
I will also add that I've owned a Nest and an EcoBee, and like the EcoBee better out of the two, overall.
It was quite a while ago, but my recollection of the EcoBee install is that the app guides you through the whole process really well.
It even stops and prompts you to take photos of the wiring of your existing thermostat for you to reference later in the install.
They did a really, really good job of making it easy. I'd say it's worth a crack, then if things get uncomfortable halfway through, you have your photo of your old setup to get things back and wait for a pro.
I will also add that I've owned a Nest and an EcoBee, and like the EcoBee better out of the two, overall.
I’m curious...did you get rid of the Nest out of frustration? Or did you have to replace it for some other reason?
I’m curious...did you get rid of the Nest out of frustration? Or did you have to replace it for some other reason?
The main driver was that the fan wire didn't work (I got mine second hand) and we have very uneven temperatures in our house, so the EcoBee with a room sensor seemed perfect.
If I had a perfectly working Nest on the wall, and the ability to program for upstairs or downstairs (I think they have that now?) I don't think I'd bother replacing it.
The Nest learning mode is awful, just to pile on.
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Can anyone opine on whether it’s worth spending the extra ~$100 for the voice controlled Ecobee?
I’m done with our programmable (well really they’ve reached the end of their lifespan I think). I had put a Nest in my old house and frankly didn’t like it. I’m not sure I saved any money, and just spent a crazy amount for a thermostat. After reading this thread though, it could have been more due to the Nest itself. And I need a new thermostat, so here we are.
Can anyone opine on whether it’s worth spending the extra ~$100 for the voice controlled Ecobee?
I’m done with our programmable (well really they’ve reached the end of their lifespan I think). I had put a Nest in my old house and frankly didn’t like it. I’m not sure I saved any money, and just spent a crazy amount for a thermostat. After reading this thread though, it could have been more due to the Nest itself. And I need a new thermostat, so here we are.
How often are you close enough to your thermostat you need to yell at it to control the temperature, and how often is that more convenient than opening an app on your phone?
