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I picked up the nest for basically $80 after a sale and a gift card. I have a second home not lived in full time but will have a full time apartment tenant. The house is one zone and the thermostat is not in the apartment. So if the tenant has an issue with the temperature I can change things remotely.
Yes, I have a heat pump with the emergency heat (electric) option. Looking at the air handler would mean nothing to me so that wouldn't provide me any clue - I'm clueless about this stuff. LOL.
I saw that video and while it's helpful it doesn't tell me what I need to know. Neither does the Nest compatibility tool (I think that's what it's called).
The bottom line is I need to know what to do with both wires attached to the AUX/E connector.
I guess I'll try Nest support again. If that fails I'll have to give up some of the money I saved buying the thing and get someone to install it, which really goes against my grain since it >should< be a relatively easy task.
We had nests in the house we bought. Within the first month our upstairs unit blew a motor. Ok, fluke new house. Husband installed new motor. A few months later the downstairs motor burned out..ok coincidence? Replaced. A few months later it got really cold so we turned on the heat but woke to the house freezing. Nest tells us it is 95 degrees which it definitely was not and again motor blown. Luckily where we bought the motors gave the third one to us under warranty. Tore out the nests and replaced with regular Honeywell’s. Haven’t had any issues since in over 2 years. These I believe were 2nd generations and definitely not 3rd as they were installed before 3rd came out. Yes, they were cool but not at $400 a motor. We will stick with old reliable Honeywell.
Last edited by NorthofHere; 07-17-2019 at 12:58 PM..
I picked up the nest for basically $80 after a sale and a gift card. I have a second home not lived in full time but will have a full time apartment tenant. The house is one zone and the thermostat is not in the apartment. So if the tenant has an issue with the temperature I can change things remotely.
Yes, I have a heat pump with the emergency heat (electric) option. Looking at the air handler would mean nothing to me so that wouldn't provide me any clue - I'm clueless about this stuff. LOL.
As long as it maintains the temperature you set it at (summer is a great time to find out how well your system performs) you should be good.
I'm talking about setting it to 70 and it not getting any lower than 76 LOL
We had nests in the house we bought. Within the first month our upstairs unit blew a motor. Ok, fluke new house. Husband installed new motor. A few months later the downstairs motor burned put..ok coincidence? Replaced. A few months later it got really cold so we turned on the heat but woke to the house freezing. Nest tells us it is 95 degrees which it definitely was not and again motor blown. Luckily where we bought the motors gave the third one to us under warranty. Tore out the nests and replaced with regular Honeywell’s. Haven’t had any issues since in over 2 years. These I believe were 2nd generations and definitely not 3rd as they were installed before 3rd came out. Yes, they were cool but not at $400 a motor. We will stick with old reliable Honeywell.
I always say: You get exactly one coincidence that wins the benefit of the doubt. Each successive, repeatable instance reduces the chance of it being an unrelated event, exponentially.
I picked up the nest for basically $80 after a sale and a gift card. I have a second home not lived in full time but will have a full time apartment tenant. The house is one zone and the thermostat is not in the apartment. So if the tenant has an issue with the temperature I can change things remotely.
Yes, I have a heat pump with the emergency heat (electric) option. Looking at the air handler would mean nothing to me so that wouldn't provide me any clue - I'm clueless about this stuff. LOL.
When you are responding if you scroll down to "additional options" and click on manage attachments you should be able to upload jpeg pics of both your current t stat wiring and the air handler.
When I installed an ecobee for my CAIR I had to jump through a couple extra hoops as my 18/3 wiring did not have a common wire to power the unit.
As long as it maintains the temperature you set it at (summer is a great time to find out how well your system performs) you should be good.
I'm talking about setting it to 70 and it not getting any lower than 76 LOL
I won't get into the details, but it does depend on the time of year. You noted before about running 24 hours and still not getting below 76. Without other information, no, that hypothetical unit is probably not performing adequately.
However, if you set a thermostat to 70 on a design day, there is no guarantee it will ever get to 70, even running 24 hours. So, slight changes in the information make a big difference. It depends on where you are in the country. If, on a peak summer day in your region, you set the thermostat to 70F and it gets there no problem, your unit is almost definitely over-sized, which creates a whole different set of problems.
I won't get into the details, but it does depend on the time of year. You noted before about running 24 hours and still not getting below 76. Without other information, no, that hypothetical unit is probably not performing adequately.
However, if you set a thermostat to 70 on a design day, there is no guarantee it will ever get to 70, even running 24 hours. So, slight changes in the information make a big difference. It depends on where you are in the country. If, on a peak summer day in your region, you set the thermostat to 70F and it gets there no problem, your unit is almost definitely over-sized, which creates a whole different set of problems.
I realize that 70 F is probably lower than many people keep their homes in summer. Maybe some people won't ever need that.
I can only give you my info for an example. I'm completely satisfied with this setup. Background: 1100 SF single story, built 1988. SE US (not Florida or gulf state). Basic R19 batts in the crawlspace. 6" of loose fill in the attic. Original, double-pane, wood-frame windows. Anyways.
Had a week of straight high 90's here, my 2-ton, entry-level Trane XR14 had no issue keeping it at 70 degrees. My Nest shows run times between 8 and 11 hours per day. For some people with new construction, that might seem like a lot, but energy is cheap, and the power bill has never been over $130 over 2 years' time. Humidity indoors ranges from 43 (during a cycle) and 50 (between cycles).
Not sure they make a smaller unit. Would someone actually deem this unit oversized?
I don't know since I don't know the orientation, shading, amount of glass etc. Doing stuff off ft2/ton etc. isn't really the appropriate way to do it so it's hard for me to provide meaningful input.
They do make a 1.5 ton unit, though your ft2/ton for that part of the country is not particularly low, nor is your run time (though I cannot tell your cycle times, just your aggregate run time, though you certainly are not having issues with RH which is good). Typical design day sizing is done at 75F/50% RH inside the house for most Manual J calcs. Meaning, on a design day for your location, the unit should be able to achieve 75F in your house.
As long as you are comfortable, that is really what matters. We generally keep our house at 78 when we are home (though it varies if I'm working out or we are sleeping or something) so everyone is going to be different
Try not to answer with quotes from the marketing materials.
As someone who has had all kinds of T-stats, I can say these are my personal advantages of a smart T-sate (for this purpose, the Ecobee which may have more than other smart T-Stats)
1 - The occupancy sensor knows when I'm home and when I'm not. So if for some reason my schedule that day doesn't match the "program", it will save energy when I'm gone and give me more comfort when I am back in the house.
2 - Even more advanced, I can use geofencing with something else (like my phone) that says when I leave the office and it is after 4:00 PM, start setting to the temperature I like, so when I'm home it is already there.
3 - Despite having 3 units and T-stats in the house, I still don't get even temperature throughout. The corner room with South and West facing windows gets very warm in the afternoon. The basement is always cooler than the main level, etc. The room sensors sense what rooms are occupied and manage the temperature based on those rooms, not where the T-stat is. So if everyone is in the basement (at the wet bar for those from that thread ) it will run so that the basement is the desired temperature regardless of the temperature at the T-Stat on the main floor. Similar when we are in the "Warm" room, it will sense that and adjust so that room is comfortable. (note it can't invent zones, it simply sets a single temp based upon the occupied rooms)
4 - Energy Reporting and comparisons. While this in theory shouldn't change much, knowing when the unit is doing when compared to the temperature outside and compared to others in my area helps me understand the efficiency of the system and comparison to others. A little motivation to save energy seeing where you are never hurt. Also helped me realize there was a problem when I had a small leak, seeing the unit was running a little more for the same given outdoor temperature as the previous month.
5 - Advanced controls - The unit can start the recovery window from a setback based upon the outside temperature, knowing it will take shorter or longer to recover to the set temperature. Additionally, the integrated humidity controls also controls the whole-home humidifier and will over-cool if needed to reduce humiditiy if the humidity is still high after reaching the set temperature.
6 - Setting vacation schedules - set once for multiple T-stats and have the house back to temperature before our arrival. Previously, my regular programmables only had a number of days (one had a time - up to 7 days in advance) not an exact schedule, and you could only schedule it on the way out the door.
7- I can (i don't actually normally do this, but at some point I might) integrate with my smart routines and voice assistant. For example, if I say "goodnight" to the voice assistant, I can shut off the lights, make sure the garage door is closed, set the temperature in all zones to the night-time settings, etc....
The money savings with a smart t-stat when used properly is real (unless you literally adjust your regular one every time you leave the house or return) and the comfort improvements with going "off program", room sensors, integrated humidity, can't be matched with a regular T-Stat.
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