Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Our furnace is probably 20 years old and I can't afford a new one quite yet. It's doing all right for now.
In the mean time, I've got my sights set on a new smart-home thermostat, the Ecobee3 lite and a set of smart room sensors.
Since I know very little about household DIY, can you tell me if I could install these things by simply removing the old thermostat off the wall? Would this Ecobee3 be compatible with the current wiring in the wall that will be there when I remove the old thermostat? And would the Ecobee3 be compatible with the old furnace?
MrRational & Brian_M, It's fantastic that the technology is now affordably in our hands to control the thermostat via smartphone from wherever we may be in the world...and especially fantastic that the thermostat would be able to adjust itself based on our preferences, which room we're in, etc.
C'mon, I'm not asking for your personal opinions, "Do you think this is a wise purchase?"
I'm asking, "Can this be installed with my current setup?"
Update: YES! It's compatible with my current wiring. So I bought it. Couldn't resist.
Have been wanting to morph everything into smarthome tech, and now my friends, the technology is becoming affordable for all us commoners!!
P.P.S. Woah, I ordered the Ecobee4 instead of the 3...because it has the most features...and it's coming to me in 2 or 3 days. Now I just checked again and they're already backordered! Sweet. This is the first time I've been among the first to grab new tech! And I'm not boasting, please forgive me if I'm being annoying...I'm genuinely excited AND THIS IS SO AFFORDABLE!
How about $25 every year, just for letting utility set your thermostat 3F higher at peak times?
Quote:
Originally Posted by MrRational
Stick with the thermostat you have... and even when you replace the furnace
Why would I do that? Automatic setback saves me real money and my thermostat was free after a state rebate (many states offer a rebate if you upgrade to a 7-day programmable thermostat). You don't have to get a networked thermostat to get the rebate and to save money on heating and cooling.
If you have a manual or an ancient programmable thermostat, definitely consider upgrading to something made this century.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Brian_M
Woohoo, now you are opening your house up to the lowest level of hackers, so they can turn your devices into botnets and mess with your t-stat.
Really? "the lowest level of hackers"? Smells like FUD to me.
I am not a fan of Nest, but there are other "smart" thermostats on the market, including ones with less security and privacy implications of Nest. The $170 "Ecobee3" is not trivially hackable, the weak points might be the WiFi and the reliance on the cloud servers; there are competing (more expensive) thermostats which do not have those two weaknesses.
Have you looked at your current wiring in the wall? Is it a 2-wire setup? (rH and W) Do you have a C wire? A photo here would be useful.
The new crop of wifi thermostats generally require a C wire to charge the internal batteries. Older furnance setups may not have this wire and may be simple 2-wire setups. So you need to see what your wiring is and see if it will work.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
How about $25 every year, just for letting utility set your thermostat 3F higher at peak times?
