Nest's $39 Room Temperature Sensors Now Available to Order

[aristobrat]

With a central system, it can make one room comfortable and other rooms uncomfortable, such as multi-story structures. I could see this freezing the lower level to make the upstairs comfortable during summer. I would prefer implementing a zoned system that actually does what this wants to do.

With a central air system, many houses already have the problem where one room is comfortable and another room is uncomfortable. That's exactly what these room sensors are trying to help with, IMO.

If these Nest sensors can't detect if someone is in a room, I can see your point about freezing out downstairs to maintain a comfortable upstairs (during the summer).

Ecobee sensors don't have that problem... they can detect if someone is in a room. So if someone is downstairs and someone is upstairs, it will NOT freeze downstairs to make upstairs cool... it run the system until the temp of the occupied rooms average out. If it's 11PM and everyone is in bed upstairs (i.e. nobody is downstairs), then yes, it can make it really cold downstairs to achieve the temp upstairs that the owners asked for.

I think everyone with a central air system that isn't balanced would LOVE to replace their existing system with a zoned (or multi-unit) system, but that's got to be US$10,000+ to implement?! I think these sensors (at least the Ecobee ones) can help the situation for a fraction of the cost.

Why would you need to replace your heating system? If you use the EvoHome, it's possible to install controls on each heater and have zones very cheaply. I don't know how good it works as I'm stuck with Nest, but it does look very promising: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evohome-HR924UK-Wireless-Radiator-Multi/dp/B01L4P4YKQ

IIRC, it was a central air system being discussed, not radiator heat.
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It will be interesting to see if people using these individual sensors with their Nest thermostat see an increase in energy use - specifically for those running single HVAC systems. The concept behind remote monitors / controllers for heating and cooling is fantastic, but when you're using a central HVAC system, if you have a sensor in say an upstairs bedroom, where it's naturally hotter due to heat rising, that sensor is would signal the system to run the AC more to get the temp drop, therefor using more energy than what the main floor Nest thermostat would otherwise call for. Sure, it's giving the homeowner more control over their own comfort, but it will very likely come at a cost of additional energy use.

I think the savings come from the Nest/Ecobee being able to sense when nobody is home and adjust the system accordingly. Most folks I know with programmable thermostats have only done the basics, like "I'm at work from 9-5 on Mon-Fri, so don't heat/cool as much then". They don't remember to put their systems in "away mode" when they run out for dinner and a movie on a weeknight, or are gone for a weekend. Nest/Ecobee can do that automatically for them.

If Nest / Google really wanted to change the HVAC market, they would be working with furnace/ac unit manufacturers as well as creating smart wall / ceiling vents and controllers, so that you could have a system that is integrated and would open / shut vents in individual rooms based upon homeowner need. You might actually be able to use a single HVAC system, if you could direct heating or cooling to specific areas of a home, adjusting for fan speed based upon those needs.

The smart vent market has been going for a year or two, although I don't think any of them adjust the HVAC fan speed. Hopefully the market will continue to mature.

Flair smart vents look like they interface directly with Nest and Ecobee:
https://flair.co

Keen smart vents seem to work on their own:
https://keenhome.io/pages/how-it-works

 

[C DM]

Such a shame Nest is attached to Google the spyware data mining company. Amazing products, no way I’d buy one.

What would be the mining in this scenario? Temperatures?

 

[wardo5757]

I don’t understand how this works. How can these sensors control the individual temperature of rooms when there’s a centralised heating system controlled by the Nest thermostat.

Does it keep heating/cooling under the highest/lowest temp of all sensors has been reached? Or is it smarter than that?

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No. Read the last line. And I guess they never will. It’s not like HomeKit is the defacto platform for smart homes. Apple is giving that position away to Alexa.

Yeh, I knew it doesn't support Homekit, I was being fecetious... I don't know why this is posted in an IOS forum when it doesnt support the native OS.

 

[longofest]

My wife.

 

[RobNYC]

Why would you need to replace your heating system? If you use the EvoHome, it's possible to install controls on each heater and have zones very cheaply. I don't know how good it works as I'm stuck with Nest, but it does look very promising: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evohome-HR924UK-Wireless-Radiator-Multi/dp/B01L4P4YKQ

Because most people have one furnace. So if you have a central heating system that doesn't have zones then you'd have to spend thousands of dollars to update your central heating to a zoned system. That's the entire point of these sensors, for people who don't have zoned heating or cooling.

 

[hagar]

Because most people have one furnace. So if you have a central heating system that doesn't have zones then you'd have to spend thousands of dollars to update your central heating to a zoned system. That's the entire point of these sensors, for people who don't have zoned heating or cooling.

I didn't know that. I assume you're talking about the US. In Europe we have heaters in each and every room by default. So you can easily open and close them. So the Nest approach is really targeted more to the situation in the US.

 

[RobNYC]

It will be interesting to see if people using these individual sensors with their Nest thermostat see an increase in energy use - specifically for those running single HVAC systems. The concept behind remote monitors / controllers for heating and cooling is fantastic, but when you're using a central HVAC system, if you have a sensor in say an upstairs bedroom, where it's naturally hotter due to heat rising, that sensor is would signal the system to run the AC more to get the temp drop, therefor using more energy than what the main floor Nest thermostat would otherwise call for. Sure, it's giving the homeowner more control over their own comfort, but it will very likely come at a cost of additional energy use.

If Nest / Google really wanted to change the HVAC market, they would be working with furnace/ac unit manufacturers as well as creating smart wall / ceiling vents and controllers, so that you could have a system that is integrated and would open / shut vents in individual rooms based upon homeowner need. You might actually be able to use a single HVAC system, if you could direct heating or cooling to specific areas of a home, adjusting for fan speed based upon those needs.

Yeah but the whole point is you choose which sensor takes priority and at what times. I doubt you'll see an increase as people were probably already adjusting the main thermostat to get whatever room they happen to be in to their desired temp. This just streamlines that process.

 

[hagar]

Yeah but the whole point is you choose which sensor takes priority and at what times. I doubt you'll see an increase as people were probably already adjusting the main thermostat to get whatever room they happen to be in to their desired temp. This just streamlines that process.

Nest provides an interface to choose which sensor takes priority? You can actually specify this? Because Nest doesn't provide a lot of settings users can control.

 

[RobNYC]

I didn't know that. I assume you're talking about the US. In Europe we have heaters in each and every room by default. So you can easily open and close them. So the Nest approach is really targeted more to the situation in the US.

In the US, they don't do that. You have one furnace and one AC system if it's central. If they don't build zones into the system there's nothing you can do short of building a new one.

Nest provides an interface to choose which sensor takes priority? You can actually specify this? Because Nest doesn't provide a lot of settings users can control.

Yes, it says it right on the website.

https://nest.com/thermostats/nest-temperature-sensor/overview/

Put temperature sensors in different rooms. And choose which room to prioritize when.​