Comments on: Nest Thermostat Review, Update #1

By: Paul Barham

Paul Barham — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:26:39 +0000

I have undefloor radiant heating and installed two Nest thermostats a couple of weeks ago hoping that the combination of learning and ‘time to temperature’ features meant that I would be able to say “Please ensure the house is at 70F by 6am each morning” rather than “Please turn on the heat at 6am and wait 5-6 hours to get back up to temperature”

I’m agree completely that Nest dropped the ball on this. The thermostat already knows the outdoor temp, has learned how quickly my room heats up and knows what temperature I usually *want* it to be when I wake up.

WHY IS IT TOO HARD TO JUST TURN THE HEAT ON AT THE RIGHT TIME??

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By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 02:03:09 +0000

In reply to GregN. Whoops -- by vacation I meant "vacation day." I believe our previous wifi thermostat had the concept of a holiday/vacation day, where you were home and outside of a normal routine, so maybe on a weekday, you wanted the heat to be set higher for example, without futzing over using "hold" or some other similar feature.

By: GregN

GregN — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 23:29:04 +0000

Actually, there is a vacation mode called “Away”. See the support article called “I’m going on vacation”. Overrides the auto-away function, and will ignore a house cleaner or neighbor watering the plants.
Good luck.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:45:49 +0000

In reply to GregN.

Thanks for your comments. It’s interesting to hear that others aren’t enamored by the learning features yet.

However, I’d be disappointed to turn off learning mode as that’s one of the supposedly awesome features. :(

I noticed yesterday that the “learning mode” was again confused by a few days of different routines. It really needs a “vacation” mode. That would solve the majority of the issues I’m having with the learning and auto adjustments it is making. I noticed yesterday that one of the thermostats announced, “Auto away worked and saved X.” Huh? Apparently, the furnace had run during the day for some strange reason (as it had on Monday and Tuesday). So, it “saved” us by running the furnace for 3 hours apparently while we were away and then deciding we weren’t there, and turning the temperature down.

By: GregN

GregN — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 19:24:13 +0000

Early adopter here too, with a few of the same problems:
Installed on Dec.11 and we left for a few days on the 12th. Kept an eye on it remotely, adjusted when needed, and set a schedule for all 7 days. After a few days a message popped up saying it didn’t have enough data to enable the “away” function, but still learning. No problem, figured our absence delayed the learning curve. After about a week and a half, our set schedule was changed. Half the weeknight “sleep” settings were missing for no apparent reason. Checked the support site, found the piece about “Learning Pause”. Guessed that would prevent future unwanted changes, but called Support to confirm:
Nice guy, he could see my previous settings, erasure of same, and re-set schedule. Didn’t sound so sure about “learning pause”, but he said to try it and gave me a case # for future if needed. Been a week now with learning off, and the schedule is spot on so far. The nice thing about ‘learning pause’ is that manual or remote adjustments are activated but not remembered. Reverts back to schedule at the right time(s). Yes, my Learning Thermostat is no longer learning, but I’m happy that it’s no longer teaching itself how to mess up the schedule I want!
Overall, I still say this is going to be the greatest thing since sliced bread for most people, especially the 80% with programmable thermos that have never used the features (though we always have). It IS beautiful, and I don’t regret the purchase at all.
Thanks for your post and thoughts.
Happy New Year!