That’s the thing. We keep the house at 72 no matter what so the only time we really need to jack with it is when it gets hot/cold outside.
But 35 bucks. That would be worth it to me even if it’s not going to save me any money.
I adjust the temp when we leave, as well as when we arrive. I also adjust it based on the time of day. Last, and this has been clutch, I drop it in the summer time based on humidity levels in the house. If the humidity rises then I drop the temp to pull out moisture and keep the environment in the comfort zone. The house is always perfectly comfortable now. It’s amazing.
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IMO, the only way you’re going to save money is if you can let some part of your house drift significantly away from a comfortable temperature for a significant period of time.
For example, you have a separate zone or floor that is unoccupied for a large part of the day, or the entire house is empty for several hours.
Other than that, smart thermostats are all about convenient control and remote monitoring and access.
That’s what I thought. It’s going to depend on how cheap I can get the function on if it’s worth it. What are my cheapest decent options?
I’m in a new house, completed June 2018. We’ve got a single heat pump unit with three zones.
The HVAC installer would not put in Ecobee or Nest, said they weren’t compatible and would void the system warranty.
So I ended up with Honeywell Vision 8000 WiFi thermostats. Not sure they qualify as smart, no motion sensing or anything. But they have a decent app of their own (Honeywell Total Connect Comfort) and a cloud-to-cloud integration with SmartThings.
I have elected not to automate them beyond their standard programming capability. I do like the ability to check the temps and settings whether I’m at home in a comfy chair or hundreds of miles away.
Yeah I don’t need every bell and whistle so long as I can control remotely and set up rules etc. But I’m in a rental but we don’t have any zones to worry about.
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Keep in mind that Google has broken all ability to use Nest products with any third party system including SmartThings. They have ended the Works With Nest program without providing a replacement.
Check out the CT-30 and you can use them with various SmartApps to manage your schedule.
It’s a very basic thermostat but enough to get your job done.
Oh yeah very cool. Thanks!
Never had to replace one myself but I did research it at a previous home.
IIRC, the wires were clearly labeled at the heating/airco end. And there is usually paperwork stored there from the installer.
This might help
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If you don’t have a c wire you can use this Venstar device to create a c wire from your existing wiring.
Also you can look at the CT-50 or CT-100 models which have a battery option in addition to the C-Wire
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@RBoy can you not tell if it includes the C wire based on my pic? I know the thermostat we currently have does have 2aa batteries in it.
Usually it’s black so I can’t tell from the pic. However you appear to have 6 wires so it’s quite likely that you have a C-Wire in there (usually there are 3-5 wires) but you’ll have to trace them back to your HVAC control board.
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TY sir…
As I was turning on my heating from my couch, I realized that I forgot to add that one little perk. My wife loves being able to adjust hearing and cooling without getting out of bed.
It could also be blue, and it looks like his blue wire is connected to the black slot.
I got lucky with my house. There was an extra C cable, but it wasn’t connected to the AC unit. Once I did that, my Honeywell worked perfectly.
@chowder007, if you can look up the model of your AC unit, you can hopefully get installation directions for it on the internet, which should tell you where a C would be connected. I’m guessing you’ll find the blue wire there, but you should check regardless. A misplaced C wire can fry your thermostat.
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If it has a Cwire it must be used correct?
Yes, it provides constant power to the thermostat, kinda like a smart switch needs a neutral. If either device is completely powered down, then the radio can’t send or receive information.
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FWIW the Zen thermostats do not require a c-wire. I have a few on battery and it seems like I’ll get about a year out of four AA’s.
Looking at your picture, your Blue is the C wire, I zoomed in and sure enough you have all the wires you need.
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