Extending Tesla lifestyle with Nest?

[reddy]

I'll add to the chorus here. I have a 4 in my home, and 1 in my daughters condo in Austin. Austin Electric gives us a credit for participating in their 'Rush Hour' program. Essentially it cools the condo down an extra 2 - 3 degrees an hour before an anticipated energy spike. It then is able to turn down our AC for a couple hours. Essentially they manage their energy peaks via all the Nest users. It's smart since they avoid paying huge fees to purchase electricity on the expensive 'spot' market, and they share the savings with Nest users.

There has been more than 1 time we went outof town and only in retrospect did we realize we didn't set the AC down. With the Nest iPhone or iPad app I can control the 4 thermostats at once.

Having previously used Honeywell programmable thermostats, the Nest was much easier to install (even with a dual fuel heat pump) and far easier to program. I'd give it my top recommendation.

 

[mknox]

I've been discussing the merits of Nest for our utility DR program with the Manager responsible who reports to me. She's big on Nest for the "sexy" factor and thinks we'll get a lot more enrollments if we offer it. Based on this thread, I think she's right!

 

[sp4rk]

I received one of the first 100 shipped. But the software is updated, as needed.

Next new toy I'm waiting on ... Lockitron. I helped fund through kickstarter - my product ships next week. Woooooot!

I cannot decide which one to go with. The Lockitron or the Goji. The latter is aesthetically compatible with Nest.
My front door interior is a lock, not thumbturn. What if the power goes out?

 

[GeekGirls]

We installed two Nests iimmediately after moving last fall into a house that had relics for thermostats, and we absolutely love them. They're simple, clean, and well designed. I like being able to see their history as much as I like the remote app. If we hadn't updated the thermostat in our other home shortly before the Nest became available we'd have already installed one there, too.

 

[Gee-Man]

I have two Nests in my house, one upstairs and one downstairs. They're great. I had installed a less-expensive WiFi programmable thermostat in my previous home (this after installing a non-WiFi programmable model and not being happy with that), and my family complained about it endlessly, because it was too complicated to override the programming and just set the darn temperature to the way they wanted it. I was pretty much the only one who could program it. The Nest is great because it's dead-simple (the basic user interface is just a dial), it connects to Wi-Fi much easier/reliably than the cheaper one did, and it can be programmed directly from the web or from the smartphone app if I don't like the auto-learning modes. I highly recommend them - having experienced both the cheap programmable models and the Nest I can honestly say that the feature list on the box doesn't always tell the whole story.

 

[pete8314]

What if the power goes out?

For the Goji at least, the lock isn't dependent on a full time wifi link, so as long as the batteries in the unit are good, you can open it via Bluetooth from your phone.

 

[woof]

Love my Nest.

Several utilities will give a rebate of $100 per Nest. If you buy from the Nest web site it's immediately applied...if you buy else where you can print out the rebate form and snail mail it. Check if your utility is participating, as $100 is a good chunk of change off the (admittedly high) price of the Nest.

 

[cinergi]

Rebates available in some places, too ... Find rebates for Nest thermostats | Nest Community

 

[djp]

I installed a Nest about a month ago to replace an older programmable thermostat (standard Wake/Leave/Return/Sleep types). Initially I didn't think I was going to save anything over the old thermostat since it would land on the same schedule, but the remote access over iPhone was cool and I liked the design of it.

At TESLIVE mknox gave me a demo of The Energy Detective (TED) which monitors the current and voltage of your mains or any branch circuit and creates detailed charts and graphs of your real-time power use. TED also ties into your wi-fi router and has third party apps that let you monitor your home's energy use from your smartphone. Very cool - if you don't have one get one! With TED I started profiling my household loads to reconcile them with my utility bill, mostly interested in the car and A/C, but I quickly realised my furnace fan (which I had running 24/7) was my dominant kWh use and more than double the Tesla!

The Nest lets you program the fan to run during certain times of day and for a set number of minutes per hour (which I couldn't do with my old thermostat). I've now changed it to run for 15 min per hour only when I'm home and I figure I can save more on the fan than I spend on my car!

It's ironic that I'm now spending less on my electricity bill than before I bought the Roadster - thanks to TED, Nest and a conversation with mknox at TESLIVE.

 

[Denarius]

I have had 2 Nest units in my house, preordered as others. I had detailed schedules set and my nests saved me $800 in utilities last year. The savings mostly came from airwave and auto away. As a matter of fact, my nest thermostats have completely offset my Model S charging.

 

[Schmo]

I have two Nests and also get the Austin Energy rebate.

Did you know the Nest website works well on the Tesla web browser and streams temperature and HVAC status to your car automatically?

nest.com/account


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2

 

[Soflason]

I love our Nest, bought it after moving into a new home to replace the old unit. My wife and I each have the Nest app on our iPhone to control the temperature and we even put the app on the iPad too for quick, easy temperature control. The reports I get via email have shown the substantial savings and given us great tips, but, to really save energy - they make it easy by trying to get as many "green leaf" icons as possible. Very cool device - you can tell that folks from the original iPod design team were responsible for rethinking such an ordinary household device, and, improving it's UI, looks, and functionality. Highly recommended.

 

[TampaLiam]

I love the technology and aesthetics of the NEST. Unfortunately, I have had to disable the smart learning as my schedule is irregular and because of another factor... the learning and auto-away return are against the odds in my home due to the location of the t-stat... It is in a guest bedroom hallway, far from the main entrance, TV area, kitchen, master bedroom, etc. Unless you make regular passes to the area I never go to, it doesn't know that you are there.

Additionally, my house is quite flawed from an airflow perspective. The master bedroom is the furthest run from the heating/cooling equipment. It is always the hottest room in the summer and coldest room in the winter. Grrrrr...


As for those mentioning home security and such - while this may not be a total solution, I really like this and wish it were out already:

Canary: The first smart home security device for everyone | Indiegogo

 

[bollar]

It is in a guest bedroom hallway, far from the main entrance, TV area, kitchen, master bedroom, etc. Unless you make regular passes to the area I never go to, it doesn't know that you are there.

Additionally, my house is quite flawed from an airflow perspective. The master bedroom is the furthest run from the heating/cooling equipment. It is always the hottest room in the summer and coldest room in the winter. Grrrrr...

It would be a PITA, but have you considered moving the thermostat to the part of the house that you live in? It seems like having it in a living area would help you be more comfortable and would pay for itself through reduced HVAC expense.

 

[TampaLiam]

It would be a PITA, but have you considered moving the thermostat to the part of the house that you live in? It seems like having it in a living area would help you be more comfortable and would pay for itself through reduced HVAC expense.

Yes, this is on my mind. This will probably get done.

Now if only I could solve the bedroom temp issue... (larger supply/return ducts? separate zone would be very pricey - I'm a 1 heat/AC unit house)

 

[Mikey]

Installed my two nests approximately 2 years ago. Pleased with it.

 

[GlennAlanBerry]

The NEST thermostat is really nice. I had a Gen 1 when it first came out over a year ago, and I recently upgraded to the Gen 2 model (because I got a new high-end Amana furnace that has a variable speed fan). I also gave NEST thermostats to several family members, and they really like them. Having iPhone/Android apps plus web access to them is very useful.

 

[bollar]

Now if only I could solve the bedroom temp issue... (larger supply/return ducts? separate zone would be very pricey - I'm a 1 heat/AC unit house)

I would consider installing a variable damper system like this: http://www.zonexsystems.com/acontract.htm

Effectively that would allow you to use one system to heat and cool the house independently. You'd want an installer that is well versed in this, as there are static pressure and return issues created by it.

 

[pete8314]

...As for those mentioning home security and such - while this may not be a total solution, I really like this and wish it were out already:

Canary: The first smart home security device for everyone | Indiegogo

Great tip, I'm giving it serious consideration. I'd rather have something that can hook into my existing wiring, but when I build my next house, at least pre-wiring for an alarm system would be one less thing to worry about.

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It would be a PITA, but have you considered moving the thermostat to the part of the house that you live in? It seems like having it in a living area would help you be more comfortable and would pay for itself through reduced HVAC expense.

I had to move my upstairs stat location, which for some reason the builder decided to put in the media room (daft location - it's always the coldest room (no windows), and the least frequented). Anyway, since it was upstairs, it was very easy to just drop a new cable to a location that people walk by.