Nest 'intelligent' Thermostat: Free Install

makeorbrake

As per the thread title, Nest intelligent Thermostat offered with free installation if purchased and registered by Wednesday 24th September.


http://www.irishtimes.com/business/s...rket-1.1932209

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8TkhHgkBsg


https://store.nest.com/ie/


Nest is giving everyone who buys a thermostat between September 18th -24th free installation (normally costs €120)


* Thermostat must be registered by the 24th in order to qualify for free install.

uck51js9zml2yt

There's a lot of time needed for this to pay for itself at €219.

moodrater

My current ones are much better, one has a screw in it so the wife can't turn it past 18 celcius and the master one is so complicated she can't operate it. If I bought one of these she'd have it whacked up to 30C and be going around in shorts and a t-shirt.

Quazzie

I have 7 thermostats in my house. Whats the chances of there being a buy one get six free offer?

ablelocks

moodrater wrote: »

My current ones are much better, one has a screw in it so the wife can't turn it past 18 celcius and the master one is so complicated she can't operate it. If I bought one of these she'd have it whacked up to 30C and be going around in shorts and a t-shirt.

Going by that you should be putting it up to 38.....

ted1

makeorbrake wrote: »

As per the thread title, Nest intelligent Thermostat offered with free installation if purchased and registered by Wednesday 24th September.


http://www.irishtimes.com/business/s...rket-1.1932209

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8TkhHgkBsg


https://store.nest.com/ie/


Nest is giving everyone who buys a thermostat between September 18th -24th free installation (normally costs €120)


* Thermostat must be registered by the 24th in order to qualify for free install.

The installation price is very very inflated.

At 220 it won't save you money.

makeorbrake

ted1 wrote: »

The installation price is very very inflated.

At 220 it won't save you money.

I've held off for nearly six years. During that time, I've gotten quotes for the installation of 2x thermostats. Some of those quotes were based on availing of the SEAI heating control upgrade grant - some without. Those with the grant were more expensive than the ones without! None of them were less than €450 and nor did they have the features of these nest 'stats.

So.....it wont save you money where you already have thermostats - but it will if you simply don't have any.

ted1

makeorbrake wrote: »

I've held off for nearly six years. During that time, I've gotten quotes for the installation of 2x thermostats. Some of those quotes were based on availing of the SEAI heating control upgrade grant - some without. Those with the grant were more expensive than the ones without! None of them were less than €450 and nor did they have the features of these nest 'stats.

So.....it wont save you money where you already have thermostats - but it will if you simply don't have any.

To be honest I find those quotes wuite unbelievable. What did they encompasse?
Where they adding zoning? The best doesn't add multi zone and can't unless you buy a second one.
The Nest doesn't actually have many features. It's main feature is controlling the A/C which isn't relevant in Ireland.


I'd be looking at the heatmiser neo which has better features and includes the facility to multi zone.

robertpatterson

moodrater wrote: »

My current ones are much better, one has a screw in it so the wife can't turn it past 18 celcius and the master one is so complicated she can't operate it. If I bought one of these she'd have it whacked up to 30C and be going around in shorts and a t-shirt.

Pics or gtfo !

whiskeyman

Am I right in thinking this is the type of thing the people who buy it will want it out on a visible wall somewhere (for friends and guests to see), instead of discreatly tucked away in a press etc...?

Yggr of Asgard

The main unit has a Thermostat in it, so you can't tuck it away in a press as that would bring wrong temperature readings, you need to put it into the room that you want to heat to your specifications.

And if you don't want it on the wall, they offer a stand.

And it's one zone only at present, so in effect all you gain is a remote ability to switch your heating on/off and automatically control the temperature in one room.

Advantage over the main other available system, the climote is that you have better control over it via the internet and linking to other services like for example IFTTT. So if your iphone detects you landing at the airport, it automatically switches on the heat if your room temperature is to low, but if it's know you are away it won't hence saving you energy.

Bad side is that google will now know you behaviour.

I have the Nest Smoke alarms and I'm happy with them and am thinking of getting one of these, however the free installation offer is sort of bogus, they won't be able to deliver the units in time for this offer.

ted1

whiskeyman wrote: »

Am I right in thinking this is the type of thing the people who buy it will want it out on a visible wall somewhere (for friends and guests to see), instead of discreatly tucked away in a press etc...?

No point using the inside of a press as a reference point for a room temperature....

ted1

dublin-texas wrote: »

The main unit has a Thermostat in it, so you can't tuck it away in a press as that would bring wrong temperature readings, you need to put it into the room that you want to heat to your specifications.

And if you don't want it on the wall, they offer a stand.

And it's one zone only at present, so in effect all you gain is a remote ability to switch your heating on/off and automatically control the temperature in one room.

Advantage over the main other available system, the climote is that you have better controll over it via the internet and linking to other services like for example IFTTT. So if your iphone detects you landing at the airport, it automatically switches on the heat if your room temperature is to low, but if it's know you are away it won't hence saving you energy.

Bad side is that google will now know you behaviour.

I have the Nest Smoke alarms and I'm happy with them and am thinking of getting one of these, however the free installation offer is sort of bogus, they won't be able to deliver the units in time for this offer.

The tado looks like a better offering. The climote has a reoccurring subscription which ruled it out.

Rather than worrying about ifttt I'd like to see if it has PI control. Bad control can damage boilers and be inefficent.

The tado uses the outside temperature to calculate how long the inside will take to heat up.

micks

ted1 wrote: »

The tado looks like a better offering. The climote has a reoccurring subscription which ruled it out.

Rather than worrying about ifttt I'd like to see if it has PI control. Bad control can damage boilers and be inefficent.

The tado uses the outside temperature to calculate how long the inside will take to heat up.

I was looking at heatmiser how does it compare to above?

ted1

micks wrote: »

I was looking at heatmiser how does it compare to above?

How is your heating setup? Have you zones?

MaceFace

This Nest thermostat is actually much better than I think people give it credit for.

One of the cool things is that it is coming from a company that is pushing the entire market forward. With software updates, the functionality of this could continue evolving for a long time to come. Opening this up to partners to build solutions on is a great move. The current Jawbone Up integration kind of shows the thinking behind this.

As for the current solution, yeah, you could just look at is as just a thermostat and maybe think of a remote control as something neat but not that important, but the self learning is pretty cool. Also, the remote thermostat that the European versions have are a nice addition - so you can have the thermostat in your living room rather than where many are in Ireland - in the hall or landing areas (or in my case, none at all), and it can communicate to the heating wirelessly.

As for the worthiness of it being a bargain alert - absolutely. It is a limited time offer of free installation. This is not something most people could do themselves.

ted1

MaceFace wrote: »

This Nest thermostat is actually much better than I think people give it credit for.

One of the cool things is that it is coming from a company that is pushing the entire market forward. With software updates, the functionality of this could continue evolving for a long time to come. Opening this up to partners to build solutions on is a great move. The current Jawbone Up integration kind of shows the thinking behind this.

As for the current solution, yeah, you could just look at is as just a thermostat and maybe think of a remote control as something neat but not that important, but the self learning is pretty cool. Also, the remote thermostat that the European versions have are a nice addition - so you can have the thermostat in your living room rather than where many are in Ireland - in the hall or landing areas (or in my case, none at all), and it can communicate to the heating wirelessly.

As for the worthiness of it being a bargain alert - absolutely. It is a limited time offer of free installation. This is not something most people could do themselves.

Tado claim 97%. Self install, it's the same process so I inagine that most people could.
Many many different systems offer remote thermostats, it's not a USP to the NEST

makeorbrake

ted1 wrote: »

To be honest I find those quotes quite unbelievable. What did they encompasse?

I too found them utterly unbelievable - but believe it! I got at least 4 different guys out to price it. It encompassed replacement of a simple timer with 2 thermostats on two separate circuits - nothing more! To cap it off, one or two of those wanted to go running qualplex all over the place!

Furthermore, I'm out in the sticks - so trades *should* be cheaper here than anywhere. on that basis, I dont think that 120 install is exaggerated.

If any of you go for the heat miser, tado or other system, please come back and let us know what the final install cost was.

garlad

I have no thermostats.
On/off/timer for gas heating, 1 zone, dial on boiler.
I have thermostatic valves on approx 1/3 of my rads.
Would this Nest be of any use to me?

makeorbrake

ted1 wrote: »

Self install, it's the same process so I inagine that most people could.

In the case of swapping out an existing thermostat, then I think self install would be achievable. That's not my scenario and I'd be utterly lost as to how to install.

makeorbrake

dublin-texas wrote: »

however the free installation offer is sort of bogus

It's most definitely not. See my post above.

dublin-texas wrote: »

however the free installation offer is sort of bogus, they won't be able to deliver the units in time for this offer.

Why not? That's not what they claim. If that's the case, I'll be returning/charging back on my visa.
otherwise, you can walk into a harvey norman and buy one there.

Yggr of Asgard

makeorbrake wrote: »

It's most definitely not. See my post above.

Why not? That's not what they claim. If that's the case, I'll be returning/charging back on my visa.
otherwise, you can walk into a harvey norman and buy one there.

* Thermostat must be registered by the 24th in order to qualify for free install.

So let's assume you order today on the 19/09, they say they ship within 1-2 business days, that would than possibly on 23/09, unless they ship it courier it won't be here before 24/09.

Yes it's a nice offer but the * makes it kind of a gamble to get it, unless you are lucky and it's shipped today with courier. Or you are lucky and find it in a Harvey Norman store. Good Luck with that.

If you look through the forums you find that there are loads of complaints from other users that took these startup offers when it was launched in their market.

MaceFace

garlad wrote: »

I have no thermostats.
On/off/timer for gas heating, 1 zone, dial on boiler.
I have thermostatic valves on approx 1/3 of my rads.
Would this Nest be of any use to me?

Will it be of use to you? Almost certainly, but only you can say if the investment is worth it to you.

You system sounds similar to mine - no thermostatic control. It's either on or off the temperature is controlled by a dial on the boiler with no indication of the actual temperature.

A Nest (or similar) would be a step up for 99% of the houses in Ireland.

The only drawback I can see with this is the auto-away, but with an open API, it should be possible to develop an app that switches this off if your phone is connected to your home wifi.

Overall though, it's just a thermostat and timer for your heating, so it's not very exciting.

MaceFace

dublin-texas wrote: »

* Thermostat must be registered by the 24th in order to qualify for free install.

So let's assume you order today on the 19/09, they say they ship within 1-2 business days, that would than possibly on 23/09, unless they ship it courier it won't be here before 24/09.

Yes it's a nice offer but the * makes it kind of a gamble to get it, unless you are lucky and it's shipped today with courier. Or you are lucky and find it in a Harvey Norman store. Good Luck with that.

If you look through the forums you find that there are loads of complaints from other users that took these startup offers when it was launched in their market.

I think you are reading this wrong - my reading is that you should only have to register for free install by the 24th if you have already purchased the item (from Harvey Normans). If you purchase direct, you should not have to. Otherwise, it's a total joke. Can't see that.

You can get it pretty freely in most Harvey Norman stores. They have a stock checker.

makeorbrake

dublin-texas wrote: »

* Thermostat must be registered by the 24th in order to qualify for free install.

So let's assume you order today on the 19/09, they say they ship within 1-2 business days, that would than possibly on 23/09, unless they ship it courier it won't be here before 24/09.

Yes it's a nice offer but the * makes it kind of a gamble to get it, unless you are lucky and it's shipped today with courier. Or you are lucky and find it in a Harvey Norman store. Good Luck with that.

If you look through the forums you find that there are loads of complaints from other users that took these startup offers when it was launched in their market.

I will be returning it if it doesn't reach me in time to avail of the offer. otherwise, it would be an inequitable offer on their part.

otherwise, you can walk into a Harvey Norman today and buy one.

brightkane

Newbie question. Would the heating need to be turned on to constant and then controlled b the thermostat? We have one thermostat in the hallway. The boiler is in a cubby hole with an one off or timer unit on it

makeorbrake

Update - order cancelled!

ok, I've backed the hell out of this deal. Went back in to their support site and re-read the 'free install' offer. It's one free install per household! I have 2 zones and wanted two installed.

6 years of trying to get a reasonable solution in place! I guess I'll have to keep looking.

@ted1: You mentioned self install of other systems. Are there any online guides on how to do that?

loyatemu

brightkane wrote: »

Newbie question. Would the heating need to be turned on to constant and then controlled b the thermostat? We have one thermostat in the hallway. The boiler is in a cubby hole with an one off or timer unit on it

I think the Nest turns the boiler on and off as necessary (it comes with an attachment that connects to the boiler). Whether it also operates the valves for the heating zone(s), I don't know.

ted1

makeorbrake wrote: »

Update - order cancelled!

ok, I've backed the hell out of this deal. Went back in to their support site and re-read the 'free install' offer. It's one free install per household! I have 2 zones and wanted two installed.

6 years of trying to get a reasonable solution in place! I guess I'll have to keep looking.

@ted1: You mentioned self install of other systems. Are there any online guides on how to do that?

Look up the tado or heatmiser neo.

To be honest it's very simple. If your not comfortable doing it ask a friend, or when getting your boiler serviced as the guy how much extra to change out the thermostat/ clock

JDxtra

I already have a basic thermostat in my hall (never touched). The timer for the boiler is in the utility. Although this thing looks great, I can see it costing me money. Surely it would end up turning the heating on when I would not normally bother?

fulhamfan

I have Tado a year and despite good video re fitting on their website, it was not that easy as we have different electrical supply said my friend who took an hour to fit despite training and working as a Sparks many years ago. It does what it says on the tin and definitely saved me money in addition to having a warmer house as and when needed. Put simply, if you have a data plan on your phone, it tracks where you are and when you will be home. It learned where I work and when it sees me leaving, it checks the traffic and estimates how long it will take to get home, then checks the weather and turns the heating on 15 / 20 mins before I arrive home to ensure it has reached my selected temp of 21 degrees. Support seems to be very good and when I left a door open when away on holidays thus blocking the sunlight on the sensor recently, I came home to this email

Hello,
We hope you are having fun with the tado° Heating App!

Our system has detected that the battery in your tado° temperature sensor has a low charge level.

To prevent your temperature sensor from running out of energy please charge it by connecting the micro USB cable to the plug slot in at the
bottom and putting it on charge for 24 hours. You can use any micro USB cable and a power adapter or a USB jack on your computer. Please l leave it connected for about 24 hours and make sure that the sensor gets enough daylight exposure (but not direct sunshine), this way it can recharge itself.

If your system is installed in a vacation home there is no need to immediately charge the temperature sensor as the temperature sensor inside
the tado° box will be used as backup sensor when the temperature sensor's buffer storage runs low.

Your tado° team

As I said it does what it says on the tin and is a lot more than just a remote control. Plus as someone said there are no ongoing charges like Climote but more than that I really don't know. I only had one thermostat!!!

micks

ted1 wrote: »

How is your heating setup? Have you zones?

Yes - two zones - Upstairs and downstairs with Hot water only when both zones are "OFF"

cheers

Graham

JDxtra wrote: »

I already have a basic thermostat in my hall (never touched). The timer for the boiler is in the utility. Although this thing looks great, I can see it costing me money. Surely it would end up turning the heating on when I would not normally bother?

What makes you think it would turn the heating on when you wouldn't?

JDxtra

I turn on my heating when needed, except for the timer in the morning. So if the temperature is a little cool, but not cold - you might not bother with the heating and may just put on a jumper or something. Or maybe you're heading out in a little while and there's no point heating the house. The Nest will just fire up the heating in these cases.

Graham

If you turn the heating down regularly, the nest learns that habit and adjusts accordingly. If you're out, the next spots that and sets itself to away.

Sounds like your preference is heating off by default so you probably wouldn't get the value out of it.

ozmo

Important: Check first it is compatible with your boilers.

https://nest.com/thermostat/installation/#works/?mode=buy

I looked a while back at importing one - and it said then it wasn't compatible to replace thermostats that simply turned 220v off and on - which is all our fairly new housing estate anyway.

It said it needed low voltage signal wires from the boiler to work.

Graham

ozmo wrote: »

Important: Check first it is compatible with your boilers.

https://nest.com/thermostat/installation/#works/?mode=buy

I looked a while back at importing one - and it said then it wasn't compatible to replace thermostats that simply turned 220v off and on - which is all our fairly new housing estate anyway.

It said it needed low voltage signal wires from the boiler to work.

Is that link for the U.S. model nest? My programnable timer only had live, neutral and switch live.

ozmo

Graham wrote: »

Is that link for the U.S. model nest? My programmable timer only had live, neutral and switch live.

Link is US alright - didn't know there was a European version of nest - I don't know anyone who has anything other than the usual thick wire live/neutral timer switch and I couldn't find anywhere if Nest do any adapters.

Also - Didn't Google buy these guys out - knowing them there might be an improved version soon that automates more of the house.

Graham

ozmo wrote: »

Link is US alright - didn't know there was a European version of nest - I don't know anyone who has anything other than the usual thick wire live/neutral timer switch and I couldn't find anywhere if Nest do any adapters.

Also - Didn't Google buy these guys out - knowing them there might be an improved version soon that automates more of the house.

The UK/IE version comes with a heat link box which in our install replaced the existing timeclock/timer-switch. No requirement for any additional adapters and used the existing cables.

wandererz

Are any of these systems compatible with underfloor heating systems?

greyc

The Owl Intuition seems to do the same job, it's only £119 on Amazon, anyone try it? I've been thinking of getting it, has good reviews

brightkane

greyc wrote: »

The Owl Intuition seems to do the same job, it's only £119 on Amazon, anyone try it? I've been thinking of getting it, has good reviews

Any link?

makeorbrake

brightkane wrote: »

Any link?

http://www.theowl.com/



Seem to be confined to remote control of heating - on/off and temperature.

brightkane

On Amazon I mean. Can't find it for that price

Fingleberries

Graham wrote: »

The UK/IE version comes with a heat link box which in our install replaced the existing timeclock/timer-switch. No requirement for any additional adapters and used the existing cables.

The Heat Link looks to be a bit boxy, not sure if I'll have the room. 10cm x 10cm and then 3cm from the wall
Did anyone else install this? Does it look as bad as I'd think hanging on the wall?

Graham

Fingleberries wrote: »

The Heat Link looks to be a bit boxy, not sure if I'll have the room. 10cm x 10cm and then 3cm from the wall
Did anyone else install this? Does it look as bad as I'd think hanging on the wall?

I'd imagine the natural location for most heat link boxes is in a hot press (or similar) where it won't be seen. It's a fairly tidy box anyway, certainly a lot neater than most of the boxes it replaces.

In our case, it replaced the old time clock style timer in a pantry.

The thermostat should be the only visible part for most installations.

ted1

Graham wrote: »

I'd imagine the natural location for most heat link boxes is in a hot press (or similar) where it won't be seen. It's a fairly tidy box anyway, certainly a lot neater than most of the boxes it replaces.

In our case, it replaced the old time clock style timer in a pantry.

The thermostat should be the only visible part for most installations.

The natrual location is under or beside the boiler, few set ups would see the boiler control in the hot press

makeorbrake

Evohome offers far greater control. However, its not feasible at current pricing. I'll bide my time and buy it once its offered at a reasonable price.

Graham

ted1 wrote: »

The natrual location is under or beside the boiler, few set ups would see the boiler control in the hot press

That makes sense, either way I wouldn't be overly concerned about the appearance. The heat link is a fairly inoffensive small white box

Fingleberries

Graham wrote: »

That makes sense, either way I wouldn't be overly concerned about the appearance. The heat link is a fairly inoffensive small white box

Thanks for the picture - especially handy to see it compared to a reference object.

For me, the control box for the Boiler is similar to one of these right outside the cabinet containing the Boiler.


I was mainly worried that the cabinet door might not open fully if the Nest Heat Link was protruding too much from the wall. Will have to get out the tape measure when I get home

Zimmerframe

Installed the Nest a while back, it's a nice piece of kit, but I hate the implementation of the screen display.
The large easy to see display only shows the set temperature, which you quite obviously already know, because you just set it.
The important display in my opinion is the actual room temperature and it shows that in a tiny font.