{"id":1329,"date":"2011-12-18T16:43:49","date_gmt":"2011-12-18T22:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1329"},"modified":"2012-01-04T21:24:44","modified_gmt":"2012-01-05T03:24:44","slug":"my-nest-thermostat-installation-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wiredprairie.us\/blog\/index.php\/archives\/1329","title":{"rendered":"My Nest Thermostat installation experience"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>After the amazing mad dash for the Nest thermostats<\/a> when they were first made available for pre-order, I ordered three thermostats for our home from Best Buy (as Nest.com had sold out). We\u2019ve got a three zone heating system, and I wanted to replace all at once (as the system works as \u201cmesh\u201d to learn habits, if people are in the house, etc.).<\/p>\n

Our order wasn\u2019t scheduled to ship until January\/February of 2012, so I was pleasantly surprised by their early arrival.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s evident that Nest has paid careful attention to the entire experience of purchase and installation as you\u2019ll see. I can\u2019t think of another appliance in our home that has come close. Hopefully, other manufacturers are starting to take notice that as consumers, we don\u2019t want everything sealed in a nearly impossible to crack open plastic casing.<\/p>\n

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More consumer electronics packaging is slowly becoming part of the product experience. Apple deserves credit for being a consistent proponent of the packaging being part of the product purchasing and initial \u201cownership\u201d experience.<\/p>\n

The Nest thermostat is no different.<\/p>\n

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Opening the top immediately reveals the product. There\u2019s no drama here, just a thermostat (covered in a plastic shell to protect the case from scratches).<\/p>\n

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The top of the box has a mold to keep the thermostat safe and secure. It\u2019s glued to the top so it too stays out of the way of \u201cproduct.\u201d<\/p>\n

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No annoying twist ties or anything here .. the thermostat is easily removed from the box. In fact, make sure you don\u2019t drop it as there\u2019s nothing holding in the box.<\/p>\n

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Under the bottom mold for the thermostat is a small color welcome packet and B&W installation instructions.<\/p>\n

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When you pull out the instructions, you\u2019ll find the remainder of the installation parts. Inside you\u2019ll find a mini multi-bit screwdriver, the installation base, a few screws and drywall anchors, and the optional wall plates.<\/p>\n

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I had the (unfortunate?) need of 2 of the different sizes of wall plates to make installation easier.<\/p>\n

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The multi-bit screw driver was a nice touch. My only suggestion to Nest would be to investigate making the screwdriver have a slightly more \u201cgrippy\u201d exterior. I found in a few cases where screws were overly tightened that the screwdriver rotated too freely in my hand.<\/p>\n

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As is very typical of home thermostats, Nest has included a set of stickers for the various wires you might encounter during installation. At first I read through the instructions and then went hunting through the paperwork looking for a loose set of stickers.<\/p>\n

In fact, they\u2019re part of the instructions and I had completely overlooked them! I\u2019ve installed more than my fair share of thermostats over the years, and found that the ones that are labeled and colored<\/strong> are the nicest. The blue, while attractive from a design perspective, just isn\u2019t as nice. If you have more modern house, it\u2019s likely that the color of the wires match the connections, so the stickers may not be needed. While our HVAC wiring did have the modern wiring, I still use the stickers, just to make certain everything is properly connected (as I\u2019d rather not have to call a HVAC specialist out to our house to get the HVAC working again!).<\/p>\n

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First step is to turn off the furnace. Don\u2019t leave it on<\/strong>. Either kill power at your electrical panel or at the furnace itself. Many furnaces\/HVACS have a power switch on the furnace itself which you can use and may be more convenient. In either case \u2013 make sure you\u2019ve turned off the power.<\/p>\n

To remove a thermostat, you\u2019ll likely need to remove a few screws and maybe a wall plate. I found that the included screwdriver wasn\u2019t long enough to reach the screws of the old thermostat, so you may need an extra (the included Nest screwdriver was still handy for removal of the wires from the older thermostat).<\/p>\n

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After removal of the wall plate and old thermostat, you may be greeted by a giant \u201cHEY, I SUCK AT CUTTING A HOLE IN DRYWALL BUT YOU\u2019LL NEVER NOTICE YOU STUPID HOMEOWNER<\/strong>\u201d hole like I was when removing the old thermostat. If you\u2019re as handy with drywall repairs as I am, you\u2019ll be thankful that Nest included some wall plates.<\/p>\n

I labeled each of the wires using the enclosed stickers and then removed the wires from the thermostat.<\/p>\n

Be careful to not allow the cable to fall back into the wall<\/strong>! If the wires are stiff, you can wrap a few loose wires around a pencil or pen which should help prevent the cable from sliding back into the wall. (Or if the wires aren\u2019t stiff, consider a piece of tape, a pencil, and the wires to be a reasonable alternative).<\/p>\n

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Next, you\u2019ll want to see what you might be up against behind the wall. During installation of two of our new Nest thermostats, I found that the best location for the thermostat meant that one of the screws would line up with a wall-stud behind the drywall. If you weren\u2019t blessed with a giant freaking hole like in the example above, do a bit of gentle prodding with a screwdriver to see if there are any unexpected obstacles. Use a stud finder if necessary.<\/p>\n

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For one of the installations in our house, I needed to use the long drywall screw to accommodate the thickness of the Nest thermostat mount, wall plate, and drywall into a stud. It\u2019s a 2 inch screw. Without it, the screw wasn\u2019t deep enough to hold the thermostat securely to the wall. I found that although the screw-head of the drywall screw was larger than the original screw included, it didn\u2019t cause any problems when the main unit was connected to the base.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re using the included drywall anchors, do the right thing and predrill<\/strong>. While I predrilled the hole, it wasn\u2019t large enough to allow smooth entry, and it quickly stripped the anchor\u2019s Phillips screw head. I had to use some electrical pliers I had in my tool bag to remove the partially set wall anchor (thankfully, I was able to just twist it slowly out).<\/p>\n

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Thankfully, I had a replacement wall anchor available that nearly matched the original, yet was a bit stronger and better made. So, a second attempt worked without a hitch.<\/p>\n

You\u2019d think I\u2019d learn my lesson \u2026 however, I proceeded to wreck the second drywall anchor just as quickly as the first. Again, a replacement with a better made anchor did the trick. As you may not have replacements, be more careful than I. Don\u2019t expect them to work well without predrilling. Note to Nest: your included drywall anchors suck and you saved money in the wrong place<\/strong>. The bulk package of plastic anchors I already had on hand were far better. I\u2019d suggest considering metal ones instead \u2013 I\u2019ve got some of the those \u2013 and they rock! (However, they were slightly too large for this installation, otherwise I would have switched to them without hesitation).<\/p>\n

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I used the square plate to cover the giant hole in the drywall and then connected the wires. As this was my third thermostat installation, getting the wires in place on this unit was much easier than the first two. I\u2019d like to think it was \u201cexperience,\u201d but I\u2019m actually going to say it was a bit of luck. On the second unit, I struggled getting the 24V \u201cC\u201d wire connected successfully. Each time I pushed it in \u2026 it would pop back out. It was bad enough that I thought it was connected and then not until I had installed everything did I notice that the thermostat reported that I hadn\u2019t connected the \u201cC\u201d wire.<\/p>\n

(Note, the \u201cC\u201d wire is very important, as it\u2019s where the Nest thermostat draws power for the unit and without it, you may have a less than stellar experience<\/a>).<\/p>\n

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I\u2019d made sure that the \u201cC\u201d wires were powered before beginning the installation (I actually had to add the connection myself to the furnace).<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s with the wires connected. If you\u2019d wondered how you\u2019d level a round object like this \u2013 no worries! There\u2019s a small \u201clevel\u201d at the top of the Nest thermostat which makes leveling a breeze (right below the nest logo in the photo below)!<\/p>\n

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I snapped the front of the unit onto the base carefully and then turned on the power to the furnace again.<\/p>\n

A few moments later, I could see a tiny green light in the lower right corner of the thermostat and the screen activated. It\u2019s a really great touch to the over all experience that the screen is round like the device.<\/p>\n

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It takes a few minutes for the device to begin the setup process.<\/p>\n

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The device has a tiny speaker so, it makes a few little \u201cclicks\u201d as it nears readiness.<\/p>\n

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As you\u2019ll see throughout the installation, the Nest thermostat has a very simple and elegant user experience. It\u2019s not got much flourish, \u2026 just clean lines and a simple UI. Very pleasant. Thankfully, no EULA! :)<\/p>\n

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You\u2019ll only need to do this once ideally \u2013 setup of the Internet wifi connection. Our home\u2019s wifi password is sufficiently complex and was particularly annoying to spin, click, toggle, spin, click\u2026. But, it\u2019s done with. I can\u2019t think of a better way to do this that wouldn\u2019t take just as much time. To select a number or character, spin the outer frame, and then \u201cpush\u201d the frame to select. That\u2019s really the only input the device takes from the user. Spin and click. Nice.<\/p>\n

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As soon as the wifi is connected, it downloads an update. It took about 5 minutes to download the update, install the update, \u201cbacking up software\u201d and reboot.\"20111218-IMG_0146\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t know what \u201cBacking up software\u201d is doing. I hope the \u201cCloud\u201d is involved somehow because that makes all Internet things better. :)<\/p>\n

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This was a very nice touch \u2013 an image of the connections I made. On the second unit I installed, this was key to my discovery that the \u201cC\u201d wire had become dislodged already!<\/p>\n

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In order to receive the time and temperature, your zip code is needed.<\/p>\n

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If you\u2019ve got more than one thermostat, you\u2019re asked for a name for each thermostat. It\u2019s got a few reasonable defaults. You can do a custom name if you\u2019d like directly on the unit, or later on the web site.<\/p>\n

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The thermostat asks if it should start in heating or cooling mode:<\/p>\n

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I don\u2019t know if the unit tries to make an educated guess based on the outside temperature (obtained by using the Zip code provided earlier), or if it always defaults to heat.<\/p>\n

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OK-doky.<\/p>\n

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Done!<\/p>\n

One setting I\u2018d immediately suggest is going to settings (push the display once, spin to \u201cSETTINGS\u201d) and changing the \u201cBRIGHTNESS\u201d to auto<\/strong>. Just spin the outer wheel until you find the BRIGHTNESS setting and then push to toggle through the options. It defaults to medium which was much too bright at night in a darkened hallway.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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After completion of installation, set the temperature as desired.<\/p>\n

Here are some things I learned:<\/p>\n