Martin's Blog

Nest Thermostat (THE thermostat) Part 2

Part 1 of the Nest thermostat blog was so much fun for me so here we go with Part 2.

It has been 8 days since my Nest installation.  The thermostat finished its learning process on day 5.  So far so good - I only had to adjust the Nest a few times since the installation and it really learned and remembered all the temperatures I set it to.

In the past 3 days I only had to adjust it once, which is better than expected.  I feel that it is efficient and convenient.

After several days of learning, the Nest is gradually becoming more accurate in its prediction of how long it would take to meet the temperature setting.  As an example when I change the temperature, Nest now displays how long it is going to take to reach the new set temperature and it is pretty much on spot.  See the picture below.

So basically Nest is telling me that currently it is 74 degrees in the house and I want it at 75.  So it will take 35 mins to reach 75 degrees.  It will keep it at 75 until next scheduled temperature change.

Let’s look at some of the menu options.  Here is a shot of Main Menu when you press the Nest.

When you press the Nest on the red/blue dot it goes to the Heat/Cool/Off selection.

Main Menu/Schedule

Here you can add/change any of the times and temperatures that Nest has learned.  It is very easy to do. 

Main Menu/Energy

Here you can actually see how long you had the Heating or Cooling running for each day for the past week.  Not sure how the Nest determines what’s an “Average” though.

Main Menu/Settings

Under the Setting you will find the following options:

Option of Fan Auto or ON

You can Lock the Nest

Next is the Learning Setting

Brightness

Here you can set the Brightness of the screen to Low, Medium, High or Auto.

Screen On allows you to enable the motion sensor so when you approach the Nest it turns on or you can set it to when you press the Nest it will turn on the screen.

Click Sound

Fahrenheit/Celsius

Name (I like Nest)

Network

Nest Account (for privacy purposes I will not upload the screen shot)

Zip Code

Date and Time

Wiring

Advanced

Technical Info

Legal Info

Reset

We covered all of the options under the Settings

There is one more option under Main Menu I didn’t cover - Away

If you are going on vacation or you know you will be away for a longer period of time, you can manually set your Nest to Away Mode.  In the Away Mode, Nest will ONLY keep your home/business in min/max range you set it initially.

For full explanation on how the Away Mode works click here.

If I had to grade this product I would give it A-

There is always room for improvement.  I really tried hard to find something wrong with this product though.  Nest folks really thought of everything.  Although here are my thoughts/suggestions.

• As I mentioned in Part 1 I would have some sort of plastic “blade” glued on top of packaging.  This “blade” could be used to open the plastic foil with an ease.
• I miss the Time display that was on my old thermostat.  Never thought about it until I uninstalled my old thermostat that I actually regularly checked the time on the thermostat.  I am sure that can be added with a future update.
• Last thing is a filter replacement reminder.  My old thermostat reminded me when it is the time to replace the filter.  Couldn’t find this option on the Nest.

Overall, I love this product and I would absolutely recommended to you all.

My most favorite feature is the remote access and control of the Nest which I will cover in Part 3 together with energy consumption.

By the way, if you want to see if Nest is compatible with your existing HVAC system click here.

Thank you again for reading and “Stay Warm”

Martin

(Source: facebook.com)