Comments on: Nest Thermostat Review, Update #8

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 17:05:17 +0000

In reply to Charlie. The thermostat has a display to show when various "power saving" events occurred. I'm not aware of any way to see the information from their web application though.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 15:33:27 +0000

Hello,
I installed my NEST about two weeks ago. I’m experiencing the scheduled data wipe out that some pointed out here. I have not touched my NEST, do all schedule adjustments on the web tool, so not sure why it keeps “learning” without me doing nothing on the Thermostat itself. I think I’ll pause learning too

As per Auto-Away, is there a way to know it’s working or it has been triggered other than NEST telling you auto-away is ready? For example, will NEST tells you somewhere that it was on Auto-Away from this time to this other time?

Thanks

By: David

David — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 18:01:07 +0000

I left a voice message for Tom C. at Nest. He is a Customer Service Manager or Supervisor. He is the person that helped me get the replacement NEST. I left him the message on Friday and it is now Tuesday…no return phone call. I will be calling again today.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:11:20 +0000

In reply to David. If you'd like to post the pictures on some free photo site of your choosing, you could add a link to them in a comment if you'd like.

By: David

David — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:51:19 +0000

@ Aaron, I did check the surface temp of all three units and the NEST was still at least 1 degree off (warmer) than the Oregon Scientific units…and the Room temprature was off 1.5. I paid around $60 for one of the Oregon Scientific weather stations and $40 for the other. The Lacross was part of a weather station and ran over $100+ so these are not the cheapies….

Guess I will be calling support sometime today. I have pictures to verify my statements if interested.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 11:55:07 +0000

In reply to David Porter. David, did you try any tests where you made certain the display both wasn't on and hadn't been on recently (use the phone or web interface to compare temps)? It will be interesting to hear how they respond, but I would expect that all thermostats and thermometers have some margin of inaccuracy in all but the most expensive devices. So, their response will likely be tempered (ha!) by a statement like that. The unit I returned was reading 6 degrees off inconsistently, which made it totally unpredictable and useless.

By: David Porter

David Porter — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 03:52:23 +0000

I used my laser thermometer to check the surface temp of the Nest and my two Oregon Scientific thermometers. The Nest surface read 70.0, One of the Oregon Scientific read 69.0 the other read 69.5. The Nest surface temp rose when the display was on.

During the same evaluation, the Nest read a room temp of 71, one Oregon Scientific read 69.4 and the other read 68.9. so the variance is 2.1 to 1.6 between the oregon scientific and the Nest. I tend to believe the Oregon Scientific over the Nest. I have pictures of everything I mention above if you are interested.

I guess I will call customer support again….I can handle a .5 variance, but I feel a 1+ variance is not acceptable.

Let me know if you would like the pictures..

By: Aaron

Aaron — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:46:51 +0000

In reply to David. On all of my units when I checked this evening, they all report within a half degree (F) of what the surface temperature is reading.

By: Clark

Clark — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 02:39:05 +0000

FedEx dropped off my Nest today and I got it installed in about 10 mins. A few things I have noticed in the 3 hours it has been installed. The reported temperature after setup was 74. The thermostat that I removed said 70. After reading this blog, I let it sit for 20 mins and came back, it now said 70. I played around with the settings for a min or two and then left. I came back a few mins later to find the reported temperature was 76. I then started monitoring the reported temp using the iPhone app. It dropped 1 degree every 2-4 mins until it finally settled at 70 ~15 mins later. It has stayed there but I have not played with the thermostat.

The next thing that I noticed (bothered me) was the Aux lockout temp. I have a heavily insulated home with a R44 value in the attic. My balance point is 18 deg F for my house. I want to set the Aux lockout to 20 deg F but Next has a bottom limit of 35 deg F. I have no need for Aux heat to kick in after 1 hr (per the Nest support documentation) at 35 deg F. I monitor my kWh usage and the heat strips are WAY to expensive to run unless necessary. Not sure if anyone has thoughts on this.

Thanks for the blog and I’ll report how my Learning and Auto Away works when it reports it has gotten smart :-)

By: David

David — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:00:16 +0000

I have a surface laser thermometer at work. I will take it home tonight to check. I have not contacted customer service again…but plan to do so….Do what are the variances you are seeing on your NEST? Just curious….