I don’t really care for the temp sensors in other rooms. I have a central heating system and it cannot provide heat to one or another room alone, it just blows hot air when temp drops below set one.
For the purposes of the ST integration, which one do you like better - Ecobee3 or Zen?
Ecobee3 can still help if you get uneven temp in different rooms.
example, I living in a townhouse and my thermostat is in the living room which is always warmer than the rest of the house.
The best use case I can give for Ecobee3 sensors is a room with alternate (additional) heating and/or cooling.
I have gas logs in my downstairs fireplace which resides in the living room on that level. My home is a split level and is not multi-zoned. The bottom level is 3/4 below ground. My windows are ground level.
Previously I had a traditional thermostat that I would have to over compensate for the upstairs temp in order to heat the downstairs to a comfortable level. The Ecobee3 improved that greatly by using average temps from external sensors.
Where the big plus came from was gas log use. With the traditional thermostat (which was in the upstairs hallway) the heat from the gas logs would not be factored into the household temp readings. Downstairs would go from freezing cold to unbearably hot as both the gas logs and heat would be on at the same time due to the upstairs temp reading.
During the summer my downstairs is heavenly…upstairs not so much! With sensors knowing where I am there’s no need to turn on the a/c if I’m hanging out downstairs…which is almost always when home. Still yet it averages out the temperature of the house so upstairs isn’t a barn burner.
With the remote sensors Ecobee knows where I am and the temperature; therefore, can adjust as necessary. When I go to bed it knows that I’m not downstairs anymore and to concentrate on upstairs temp.
You say you don’t care for the remote sensors…I’m here to tell you that you will sing a different tune if you give them a try.
Aside from my Schlage locks it’s my favorite thing about home automation and has saved me $188 in less than a year (Excluding Cost Of Unit Which Should Pay For Itself In A Year)
Depending on the style of your air vents, you might also be able to install smart vents. Used in combination with additional temperature/presence sensors, you could create heating zones that focus on the rooms you care about most.
I’ve noticed the ecobee3 tends to get a little warm with heavy heat/Ac use. Forums say something about a relay heating up.
With that in mind. I only use the remote sensors for temp now.
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I ended up going with Zen, for the simple reason of it providing White unit and Ecobee only has black ones.
Black would be too much of an eye draw on a light color wall. For the simple reason of color the Zen unit won.