warning about nest thermostat

[calmloki]

So you empty nesters all leave your internet turned on while away? We are about six and six at the north and south homes and have two different internet providers that charge about $60/month. We've been putting the unused internet provider on vacation hold while gone. We also just winterize and walk away from both places. Down south we do come back to very tired candles, but I don't figure we lose $360 in damaged goods. Up north the house internal humidity goes up, but again, not $360/year in damage - frankly, the idea of our gas furnace coming on and shutting down while we are away scares me a bit. So do you all have wireless security systems and such that make constant internet hookup worthwhile?

 

[COcheesehead]

Thread drift warning....
The biggest threat to your house when you're gone is probably water and not HVAC related. I've had people laugh at me when I tell them I shut off our main water valve when we leave, but I know way too many people who have had "water events" happen in their house while they were gone.

 

[Freedom56]

So you empty nesters all leave your internet turned on while away? We are about six and six at the north and south homes and have two different internet providers that charge about $60/month. We've been putting the unused internet provider on vacation hold while gone. We also just winterize and walk away from both places. Down south we do come back to very tired candles, but I don't figure we lose $360 in damaged goods. Up north the house internal humidity goes up, but again, not $360/year in damage - frankly, the idea of our gas furnace coming on and shutting down while we are away scares me a bit. So do you all have wireless security systems and such that make constant internet hookup worthwhile?

Cable and internet is included in our monthly condo fees in Florida. We can't suspend it. But we use the cable TV credentials from our condo to stream TV at our primary residence at no extra cost. At our other home we use OTA TV since TV is pretty boring in Europe. We have security cameras, thermostats, irrigation controllers, weather sensors, and phone systems using the internet.

 

[Freedom56]

Thread drift warning....
The biggest threat to your house when you're gone is probably water and not HVAC related. I've had people laugh at me when I tell them I shut off our main water valve when we leave, but I know way too many people who have had "water events" happen in their house while they were gone.

We shut off our water and turn down the water heater temperature before we leave. It's a smart thing to do.

 

[Dash man]

I had two Nest thermostats that gave me problems. One would lose connection to the internet and needed to be manually rebooted to regain the connection, so being away from home we could rarely see the Nest, so having it was worthless. The second Nest would lose power an shut down, again it was useless. I ripped them both out replacing them with HoneyWell Lyric wireless thermostats. No problems with them. Nest security cameras are good, but I avoid their thermostats now.

 

[marko]

Thread drift warning....
The biggest threat to your house when you're gone is probably water and not HVAC related. I've had people laugh at me when I tell them I shut off our main water valve when we leave, but I know way too many people who have had "water events" happen in their house while they were gone.

So you empty nesters all leave your internet turned on while away? We are about six and six at the north and south homes and have two different internet providers that charge about $60/month. We've been putting the unused internet provider on vacation hold while gone. We also just winterize and walk away from both places. Down south we do come back to very tired candles, but I don't figure we lose $360 in damaged goods. Up north the house internal humidity goes up, but again, not $360/year in damage - frankly, the idea of our gas furnace coming on and shutting down while we are away scares me a bit. So do you all have wireless security systems and such that make constant internet hookup worthwhile?

We shut off our water and turn down the water heater temperature before we leave. It's a smart thing to do.

We keep our internet on while we winter for 3-4 months in Florida.

Here in New England, folks like us with steam heat need to keep the water on. No water = furnace goes dry = no heat. Older houses (> 150 years old) don't handle inside temps going down to -10 F very well and can get a lot of damage beyond frozen pipes. Older houses flex a lot and it's best to keep a fairly constant temperature. (my kitchen is about 1/2 inch longer and a 1/4 inch wider in the summer than the winter)

We have temp monitors, video cameras and such keeping tabs on what's going on when we're away all via internet. It's well worth the money to make sure the house doesn't have 5 feet of water in the basement when we return (like my neighbor had)

 

[meierlde]

We keep our internet on while we winter for 3-4 months in Florida.

Here in New England, folks like us with steam heat need to keep the water on. No water = furnace goes dry = no heat. Older houses (> 150 years old) don't handle inside temps going down to -10 F very well and can get a lot of damage beyond frozen pipes. Older houses flex a lot and it's best to keep a fairly constant temperature. (my kitchen is about 1/2 inch longer and a 1/4 inch wider in the summer than the winter)

One idea then is it do a bit of plumbing modification to add a shutoff for water for the rest of the house but that leaves the water on for the furnace. Basically you modify the pipeing so that you have an internal shutoff valve, which shuts everything off but the furnace, and a pipe before the shutoff valve to the furnace.

 

[marko]

One idea then is it do a bit of plumbing modification to add a shutoff for water for the rest of the house but that leaves the water on for the furnace. Basically you modify the pipeing so that you have an internal shutoff valve, which shuts everything off but the furnace, and a pipe before the shutoff valve to the furnace.

Of course. But as long as the furnace stays on I don't worry about broken pipes. I only worry about pipes if the furnace goes down.
We do have rising water table issues which is another reason to keep the internet based monitoring devices running

 

[meierlde]

Of course. But as long as the furnace stays on I don't worry about broken pipes. I only worry about pipes if the furnace goes down.
We do have rising water table issues which is another reason to keep the internet based monitoring devices running

One of the problems that could occur even if the furnace is working is a burst washer hose, or a toilet failure or possibly other plumbing failure such as where the inlet pipe to a faucet meets the faucet springing a leak. So it is not all just frozen pipes, other plumbing things can go wrong also, even in mid summer.

 

[davhin]

I have been using a Gen 3 Nest for two years and gave DS one for Christmas last year. Both have been working flawlessly.

 

[bloom2708]

ecobee (3 or 4) is a good (better) alternative.

 

[misanman]

We have a zoned heating system with three thermostats. I checked into getting Nest thermostats but they are not compatible with our furnace/air conditioner control system.

I'm guessing we are an outlier but it might be good to check compatibility before getting one.

 

[CRLLS]

I have seen the ancient, round Honeywell thermostats, the ones with the bi-metal coil and mercury switch inside, fail in the "heat on" position. It was over 100 degrees in the house when it was about zero outside. No design is without failure.

 

[zinger1457]

A little off topic but what's the reasoning for keeping a vacation home cooled to 76 degrees when you're away? Out here in AZ many (including myself) don't keep it that cool when we're home.

 

[calmloki]

A little off topic but what's the reasoning for keeping a vacation home cooled to 76 degrees when your away? Out here in AZ many (including myself) don't keep it that cool when we're home.

Supposedly plastics and furnishings do better at a moderate temperature - in La Quinta Ca we just let the temperature go where it wants - many set the AC at 85-90 while away. Granted, our unmoderated 120 degrees in the house does do some damage, but it gives us something to shop for when we get back - like candles or any foods with oil. Haven't really noticed any furniture damage.

 

[copyright1997reloaded]

i have three Honeywell WiFi enabled thermostats, model RTH8580WF which I picked up for $69 each (except for one of them which I got on EBAY as an open box even cheaper). I have them in the three zones in my house. I also have them bridged to my Smart Things, along with a number of other temperature sensors around the house. So, I can pretty much see the temperature in every room in the house from my phone.

I do this because in the winter I heat with wood plus my central heating (baseboard H20 fueled via heating oil). While the wood stove is good, I am sometimes concerned if it is really cold that the far away areas/edges of the house may be prone to freezing, so I like to know the temperatures in various portions of the house and can adjust the central heating accordingly if needed, no matter where I am.

 

[ncbill]

A little off topic but what's the reasoning for keeping a vacation home cooled to 76 degrees when you're away? Out here in AZ many (including myself) don't keep it that cool when we're home.

Humid climates like mine you are running the A/C for dehumidification so things don't start growing...e.g., mold on the drywall.

So here I don't set my programmable thermostat above 80ºF.

 

[Texas Proud]

Somebody might look this up, but I saw a teaser that there was something going on with Nest today.... had to leave so did not see what it was...

Did a Google and saw nothing...

 

[calmloki]

Somebody might look this up, but I saw a teaser that there was something going on with Nest today.... had to leave so did not see what it was...

Did a Google and saw nothing...

Post 19 link perhaps?

 

[Texas Proud]

Post 19 link perhaps?

Could be... missed that post and I only saw a teaser... but I think that was the gist of the teaser...


Thanks.

 

[joeea]

So you empty nesters all leave your internet turned on while away?

We are at our second home virtually every weekend year round. And we spend pretty much every vacation there as well.

We leave all our utilities on but turn the heat down as we are leaving.

We don't need a security system.

 

[calmloki]

We are at our second home virtually every weekend year round. And we spend pretty much every vacation there as well.

We leave all our utilities on but turn the heat down as we are leaving.

We don't need a security system.

Ahh - different animal than our 6&6 snowbirding. Good deal being close enough to do weekends.

 

[hopefullyoneday]

I had a similar problem with a Honeywell Wifi thermostat (RTH9580 color touch screen). I installed one in our California home on a Lennox AC/Heating system without any issues. I then installed a second thermostat in our Florida condo on a Trane AC/Heating system and set it too cool with a set temperature of 73 degrees. I noticed that the heat went on. I shut it down and then restarted and the same thing happened. I looked through the manual and found that the configuration setting for the changeover needed to be set. This switches between heating and cooling. Once I did that there were no issues. I believe you are having the same issue with your Nest thermostat.

No, my issue is it works fine then the software somehow switches the mode. We swapped wires and changed the o/b config and no help.

 

[hopefullyoneday]

So you empty nesters all leave your internet turned on while away? We are about six and six at the north and south homes and have two different internet providers that charge about $60/month. We've been putting the unused internet provider on vacation hold while gone. We also just winterize and walk away from both places. Down south we do come back to very tired candles, but I don't figure we lose $360 in damaged goods. Up north the house internal humidity goes up, but again, not $360/year in damage - frankly, the idea of our gas furnace coming on and shutting down while we are away scares me a bit. So do you all have wireless security systems and such that make constant internet hookup worthwhile?

My townhouse is half underground so the a/c on helps with humidity.

 

[hopefullyoneday]

I had two Nest thermostats that gave me problems. One would lose connection to the internet and needed to be manually rebooted to regain the connection, so being away from home we could rarely see the Nest, so having it was worthless. The second Nest would lose power an shut down, again it was useless. I ripped them both out replacing them with HoneyWell Lyric wireless thermostats. No problems with them. Nest security cameras are good, but I avoid their thermostats now.

Having a problem now with one of 2 cameras keeps going offline. Nest has been having problems enough that it was on the stock channel yesterday.