2023 Thermostat Recommendations

[TheA2Z]

Saw the 2022 post.  Any changes to best Thermostat to use with eisy/ pg3?  I saw Ecobee was popular in 2022.

What is best zwave Plus t-stat?

What is best PG3 t-stat?

[lilyoyo1]

I don't think much has changed in the thermostat market. It's still the same companies making the same product lines.

We use the ecobee premium in our new house. I purchased it more for looks then anything else. Some of the features are gimmicky but overall I like it. Prior to moving I put one in our bedroom. It felt like it compensated  for humidity better than my old ecobee 3.

If there's a difference in years, I guess I would say the ecobee premium but honestly all of them probably have the same overall performance 

[TheA2Z]

Thanks @lilyoyo1.  Just checking to see if anything new out there that folks have tried.

I would prefer not cloud based and more of a plain zwave plus model.  Do you need to use PG3 for ecobee or is it zwave?

[lilyoyo1]

2 hours ago, TheA2Z said:

Thanks @lilyoyo1.  Just checking to see if anything new out there that folks have tried.

I would prefer not cloud based and more of a plain zwave plus model.  Do you need to use PG3 for ecobee or is it zwave?

Its wifi so you'll need the nodeserver. 

One thing I've always asked myself before investing in devices is; what do I want to get out of any given technology?! In this case, its; "what do you want to get out of your thermostat"?!

The ecobees and nests of the world have additional features that may fit you better long term. Zwave and direct access are great but zwave thermostats generally lack many of the features that aid in comfort and lifestyle. In addition to that, it does marry you to zwave to a certain degree since you're forced to stay with it unless you decide to completely move on.

 

 

[TheA2Z]

@lilyoyo1  Yeah.  I got 2 nests now and I use them exactly like the old programmable t-stats they just look prettier.  I program all the temps. 

I would like more reporting to eisy than I get with Nest which is zero.

One thing I want to do is always turn on the UV lights I have on both sides of the A/C coil when Fan on running in cool only.  I know I can wire that up to hvac but its a pain getting to it in tight crawlspace.

I would like to add more control to set temps based on temps/ humidity outside.

Im sure I can think of other things in future with dampening vents. 

I would also to not be cloud.  Zwave plus preferable.

So hopefully, i wont be told this in my thermostat quest: 

 

[Athlon]

Still an Ecobee fan here. We have a three zone house, so I have three of them installed along with one of their sensors in each room. They just work.

I also use the Ecobee node server for a quicker occupancy response when we come and go.

[lilyoyo1]

14 hours ago, TheA2Z said:

@lilyoyo1  Yeah.  I got 2 nests now and I use them exactly like the old programmable t-stats they just look prettier.  I program all the temps. 

I would like more reporting to eisy than I get with Nest which is zero.

One thing I want to do is always turn on the UV lights I have on both sides of the A/C coil when Fan on running in cool only.  I know I can wire that up to hvac but its a pain getting to it in tight crawlspace.

I would like to add more control to set temps based on temps/ humidity outside.

Im sure I can think of other things in future with dampening vents. 

I would also to not be cloud.  Zwave plus preferable.

So hopefully, i wont be told this in my thermostat quest: 

 

Good Luck on your search. If you go the zwave route, let us know how you like them. 

[RedReiter83]

I am going to try out the ecolink thermostat. 

I believe they are 500 series z-wave

Have not coñected to my HVAC, but have added it to my EISY, WITH NO OBVIOUS ISSUES

 

[brians]

One thing about ecobee is don’t ever sign up for eco+. They entice you with a rebate from your power utility provider (mine was $50) and then when opt in allows them (your utility provider) to control your AC etc. based on electrical usage in area. In other worlds you lose significant control of your system and thermostat. Go Google it and you will find many unhappy people. It took me a while to get out of it by contacting my electrical utility company and now I disabled it permanently. 
 

[larryllix]

4 hours ago, brians said:

One thing about ecobee is don’t ever sign up for eco+. They entice you with a rebate from your power utility provider (mine was $50) and then when opt in allows them (your utility provider) to control your AC etc. based on electrical usage in area. In other worlds you lose significant control of your system and thermostat. Go Google it and you will find many unhappy people. It took me a while to get out of it by contacting my electrical utility company and now I disabled it permanently. 
 

I use a few features of ecobee+ only. My electrical utility does not, and cannot, control my ecobee stat. I didn't sign up for any part of that.

I just enabled the features I wanted, like A/C compensation for high humidity.

[Athlon]

1 hour ago, larryllix said:

I use a few features of ecobee+ only. My electrical utility does not, and cannot, control my ecobee stat. I didn't sign up for any part of that.

I just enabled the features I wanted, like A/C compensation for high humidity.

Same here. No way I'll let National Grid control my thermostats.

[larryllix]

Same here. No way I'll let National Grid control my thermostats.

We don't hear much about that anymore here. My guess is it never paid off much for the grid, and only served to subsidize the cost of Nest thermostats mostly.

Two of my kids have Nest thermostats but have slowly disabled most of their fancy features because they never really worked well in the first place. Ecobees are far superior in operation features, accuracy, and have no need to spy on your house activities.

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[Athlon]

2 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Ecobees are far superior in operation features, accuracy, and have no need to spy on your house activities.

Their support is great also. My boiler didn't have a C wire to the thermostat locations, so I needed these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HRK7CWX/

The support guy I was paired with actually created a full color PDF custom wiring diagram for me so I wouldn't need a separate 24v transformer. I was able to grab power from some contacts on my boiler. The annual tune-up guy from my oil company was very impressed. 😆

 

[larryllix]

On 9/6/2023 at 12:42 PM, Athlon said:

Their support is great also. My boiler didn't have a C wire to the thermostat locations, so I needed these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HRK7CWX/

The support guy I was paired with actually created a full color PDF custom wiring diagram for me so I wouldn't need a separate 24v transformer. I was able to grab power from some contacts on my boiler. The annual tune-up guy from my oil company was very impressed. 😆

 

A few times I have contacted them on WhatsApp and got a response within minutes.

In my apartment building they kill the heat/AC power wire for each alternate off season and my thermostat would use it's AI (programmed assumptions) to change the menus that didn't need to exist on the stat. All those functions would disappear from my thermostat not allowing my stat to have it's humidifier set-points adjusted.

Ecobee support showed me how to bypass the automatic feature of the wiring connections sensing  and got my all my humidity set-points back on the stat. MY ecobee stat controls my floor humidifier via the ISY ecobee NS (thanks @Jimbo.Automates) and an Insteon On/Off plug-in module.

Edited September 7, 2023 by larryllix

[larryllix]

On 9/6/2023 at 12:42 PM, Athlon said:

Their support is great also. My boiler didn't have a C wire to the thermostat locations, so I needed these: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07HRK7CWX/

The support guy I was paired with actually created a full color PDF custom wiring diagram for me so I wouldn't need a separate 24v transformer. I was able to grab power from some contacts on my boiler. The annual tune-up guy from my oil company was very impressed. 😆

 

After sleeping in the heat due to poor quality thermostat of another fancy brand at my son's house, I realised a feature that I completely forgot about on the ecobee stats.

      ...the ability to have two different Cooling and Heating schedules with the same temperatures (no differential).

What this means is, if you want the A/C set to 72 degrees you must set the heating to less than 70 degrees, as the stat will not allow settings closer than 2F between any scheduled temperatures. When changing seasons on other stats, all scheduled temperatures must be reprogrammed. If you have to change back and forth several times each fall...well good luck to you.

This is a problem that doesn't exist on the ecobee thermostats. You simply switch from cooling to heating or vice versa and the pre-programmed schedule takes over without any need to reprogram your setpoints for up to 10 different times of the day and 7 days each week.

This is a very obscure feature that most stats have a problem with and users will never realise it until having to go through the long time it takes to reprogram every scheduled time, several times per year. These stats simply do not have multiple schedules making it easy to switch seasonal profiles.

I should mention that this "defective design" stat is a smart touch screen stat that came with an ECM motor style new furnace and A/C unit., and not a cheap unit. This is so typical of every other brand of the 5-6 other stat brands I have experienced.

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by larryllix