Nest Learning Thermostat

keith_d99

Hi all,

Just realised that Electric Ireland are giving these away free (and free installation) if you sign up for 2 years.

My set-up:

- Oil Boiler
- No current thermostats
- No Zone isolation (that I know of)

If anything this would be a cheap way of getting thermostats.
Was thinking of putting one of these in the kitchen.

Has anybody experience of these? Would ye recommend?

Thanks in advance!
Keith.

Calahonda52

How much of the data is transmitted back to some server farm buried in the Sierras?
What else is being collected?
Can it be hacked to tell the criminal that no one home?

With no zoning and no stats I would doubt it's value, even if free.

Egass13

Calahonda52 wrote: »

How much of the data is transmitted back to some server farm buried in the Sierras?
What else is being collected?
Can it be hacked to tell the criminal that no one home?

With no zoning and no stats I would doubt it's value, even if free.

It only does one zone per nest so not having the system zoned makes no odds. And if you don't have an existing stat , all the better , get a nest and now you do!
And it's a programmable stat with remote capabilities , nothing more , nothing less . I don't think there are secret bunkers below the sierra offices spying on how people use their heating and collecting data , that's all very CIA-ish !

ukoda

Calahonda52 wrote: »

How much of the data is transmitted back to some server farm buried in the Sierras?
What else is being collected?
Can it be hacked to tell the criminal that no one home?

With no zoning and no stats I would doubt it's value, even if free.

A criminal hacked my window blinds to be able to see if the lights were on, so i boarded them up and now im safe

Its probably best we dont use any technology anymore

BTW, i have Nest for a non zoned heating system and its brilliant

keith_d99

ukoda wrote: »

A criminal hacked my window blinds to be able to see if the lights were on, so i boared them up and now im safe

Its probably best we dont use any technology anymore

BTW, i have Nest for a non zoned heating system and its brilliant

Brilliant reply!! ...

So thumbs up for Nest then?? .... Is the learning habits thing useful? Or does it just work best as a scheduler and thermostat?

Did you get it through Electric Ireland?

ukoda

keith_d99 wrote: »

Brilliant reply!! ...

So thumbs up for Nest then?? .... Is the learning habits thing useful? Or does it just work best as a scheduler and thermostat?

Did you get it through Electric Ireland?

I got the deal via Electric Ireland, I've only had it a week but it definately does learn from you, i didnt program anything, just turned it up and down and after a few days it had built a weekly schedule for me, i made a few slight adjustments and now its working really well

I noticed my boiler is not coming on half as much as before, I used to be one of those people that turned the heat on till the place got way too warm then turn it off, now it keeps the place pretty constant heat when im at home

keith_d99

ukoda wrote: »

I got the deal via Electric Ireland, I've only had it a week but it definately does learn from you, i didnt program anything, just turned it up and down and after a few days it had built a weekly schedule for me, i made a few slight adjustments and now its working really well

I noticed my boiler is not coming on half as much as before, I used to be one of those people that turnede the heat on till the place got way too warm then turn it off, now it keeps the place pretty constant heat when im at home

Great feedback thanks!

Yeah at the moment my heating system has on/off and that's it .... well also a timer. But yeah we just leave it on til we feel it's hot enough.

Did the installation go ok? Mine is an oil burner ... I was thinking of putting the thermostat in the kitchen

ukoda

keith_d99 wrote: »

Great feedback thanks!

Yeah at the moment my heating system has on/off and that's it .... well also a timer. But yeah we just leave it on til we feel it's hot enough.

Did the installation go ok? Mine is an oil burner ... I was thinking of putting the thermostat in the kitchen

It took 30 mins hassle free, i put mine on the wall where my old thermosat was but it comes with a stand so you can put it anywhere

Just to add, the Heat Link part goes where your timer is now, and the thermostat can go anywhere - then basically the thermostat tells the heat link box to turn on or off the boiler

keith_d99

Got Nest installed there last week .. .very nice piece of kit!
All working great ... still in learning mode


UKOda (or any Nest other owners) - how is the "True Radiant" feature working for ye?

ukoda

keith_d99 wrote: »

Got Nest installed there last week .. .very nice piece of kit!
All working great ... still in learning mode


UKOda (or any Nest other owners) - how is the "True Radiant" feature working for ye?

its pretty accurate now! i notice it coming on that little bit earlier in the mornings when its really cold, and the read out display of e.g. heating to 22 degrees in 1hr is pretty accurate too

keith_d99

ukoda wrote: »

its pretty accurate now! i notice it coming on that little bit earlier in the mornings when its really cold, and the read out display of e.g. heating to 22 degrees in 1hr is pretty accurate too

Ok ... so it does learn and work?

What I am finding - is that it just seemed to turn on 2 hours before desired temp ... reaching temp 1 hour before target time.

Now I am only 1 week into the Nest - so it is still in learning mode. Although "True Radiant" feature has a status of Ready

I have turned it off for now .... I am going to let it finish the learning process and try again

donegal.

keith_d99 wrote: »

Hi all,

Just realised that Electric Ireland are giving these away free (and free installation) if you sign up for 2 years.

i've just signed up with electric ireland to get one of these.

its NOT free.

you cant avail of any other offers for 2 years so you end up paying about 15% more for your electricity.
my electricity bill are about €100 per month and i'm only saving about €25 by getting my nest from electric ireland, with the extra advantage of having the cost of the nest spread out over two years.

if your bills are much higher than mine you'd probably be better of getting the 15%discount and buying the nest elsewhere.

ukoda

donegal. wrote: »

i've just signed up with electric ireland to get one of these.

its NOT free.

you cant avail of any other offers for 2 years so you end up paying about 15% more for your electricity.
my electricity bill are about €100 per month and i'm only saving about €25 by getting my nest from electric ireland, with the extra advantage of having the cost of the nest spread out over two years.

if your bills are much higher than mine you'd probably be better of getting the 15%discount and buying the nest elsewhere.

Well its a trade off, for the average customer 15% discount over 2 year period is about 350

Nest costs 219 plus its about 170 for installation so about 389

so you are either getting a few hundred in discounts or a free product worth about the same, the only difference is the product (i.e. Nest) has the potential to save you money (some studies say 20% cost savings) so opting for Nest could be very good deal for an average user

i prefer the idea of giving up my discount for something that could save me that discount anyway. i guess everyone should do their sums/research before deciding which offer is best for them

donegal.

i completely agree with you , thats why i've switched to electric ireland.

installation in donegal is €125 and in dublin it's €80

keith_d99

ukoda wrote: »

its pretty accurate now! i notice it coming on that little bit earlier in the mornings when its really cold, and the read out display of e.g. heating to 22 degrees in 1hr is pretty accurate too

Was it inaccurate at the start can you remember?
How long before it started getting accurate?

ukoda

keith_d99 wrote: »

Was it inaccurate at the start can you remember?
How long before it started getting accurate?

It took about 2 weeks to bed in I'd say

EI: Aoife

Hi all,

Thanks for your interest in Nest.

Just to clarify some of the questions here, we can provide and install a Nest (RRP €374) in your home at no cost for new Electricity or new dual fuel customers. We can also provide and install Nest (RRP €374) for the discounted price of €99 for our existing customers. The terms and conditions would require direct debit and online billing. You would also need to sign up to one of our Nest price plans. As you can only have one price plan at a time, you would not be able to avail of any other price plans during the term of your Nest price plan.

You can find out more about our Nest product here.

We're happy to help in the Talk to Electric Ireland Forum if you have any further questions.

Regards,
Aoife

Wearb

Electric Ireland: Aoife wrote: »

Hi all,

Thanks for your interest in Nest.

Just to clarify some of the questions here, we can provide and install a Nest (RRP €374) in your home at no cost for new Electricity or new dual fuel customers. We can also provide and install Nest (RRP €374) for the discounted price of €99 for our existing customers. The terms and conditions would require direct debit and online billing. You would also need to sign up to one of our Nest price plans. As you can only have one price plan at a time, you would not be able to avail of any other price plans during the term of your Nest price plan.

You can find out more about our Nest product here.

We're happy to help in the Talk to Electric Ireland Forum if you have any further questions.

Regards,
Aoife

What period and cost is your shortest plan that includes a free Nest and install?
What is your cheapest plan over the same period without a free Nest?

EI: Una

Hi Wearb,

Thank you for getting in touch.

The Nest plan (Nest thermostat and installation at no charge; direct debit and online billing required) has a two-year contract only. This plan would be set up for the customer by the Home Services team.

Discount price-plans (set up by the Sales team) have a contract duration of 12 months from the last day of the calendar month on which they are created (the discounts can last beyond this contract period - for a maximum of three months, depending on when in the quarter the price-plan is created).
The price-plan with the most discounts for electricity only is: 15% off electricity (core discount with mandatory direct debit - 13%; online billing discount - 2%).
The price-plan with the most discounts for Dual Fuel (electricity + gas) is: as per previous for the electricity account, and 11% off gas (core discount with mandatory direct debit - 9%; online billing discount 2%).

All price-plan details are on our website's switching page.

Regards,
Una

chris_ie

Looking to get a nest myself. Had looked at climate but the lack of wifi kinda put me off and I like the design of nest. We have two zones in the house. Upstairs and downstairs. I could get a nest for each zone. My problem is downstairs. We have an open fire in the sitting room and a stove in the living room / kitchen area. Some days we light a fire in sitting room and others in the kitchen. Obviously having fire on would raise the temperature preventing the oil boiler from firing preventing the heat to other rooms. However chances are if the fire is on we'd mostly be in that room (might be a problem if more people are in the house in different rooms). So I wouldn't know where to put the nest. Sitting room, living room, hall? Would be a bit out of place in the hall and that would be the hardest to heat causing it to fire up more. Anyone in a similar situation that has it?

17larsson

chris_ie wrote: »

Looking to get a nest myself. Had looked at climate but the lack of wifi kinda put me off and I like the design of nest. We have two zones in the house. Upstairs and downstairs. I could get a nest for each zone. My problem is downstairs. We have an open fire in the sitting room and a stove in the living room / kitchen area. Some days we light a fire in sitting room and others in the kitchen. Obviously having fire on would raise the temperature preventing the oil boiler from firing preventing the heat to other rooms. However chances are if the fire is on we'd mostly be in that room (might be a problem if more people are in the house in different rooms). So I wouldn't know where to put the nest. Sitting room, living room, hall? Would be a bit out of place in the hall and that would be the hardest to heat causing it to fire up more. Anyone in a similar situation that has it?

You could use the stand. It's pricey at €35 but it means you can move it from room to room

Egass13

17larsson wrote: »

You could use the stand. It's pricey at €35 but it means you can move it from room to room

Stand comes free with electric Ireland aswell

17larsson

Egass13 wrote: »

Stand comes free with electric Ireland aswell

You get nothing for free! Locked into a two year contract at fixed rates reimburses electric ireland nicely

Egass13

17larsson wrote: »

You get nothing for free! Locked into a two year contract at fixed rates reimburses electric ireland nicely

Well... ye know what I mean. Its included in the "free" offer. ..

chris_ie

Yeah saw the stand and could do that. Would prefer it in one spot but I suppose best to start with them stand. Keep bouncing between Nest and systems to cotnrol the radiators. I'd need 2 Nests anyways. Just got a new condensing boiler installed as the old one packed in. Figure I may get the rest done. We usually just put the oil on constant and sometimes forget about it, on boost but then house gets cold again or else dont put it on at all and complain about the house being cold :P So figure a thermostat might help us get the best out of it. I'm an electric ireland customer at the minute but dont know about changing the plan, I'd nearly rather just stick with what I have and buy the Nest(s) outright.

Also, will be interesting to see how it learns. I work 9 to 5 so have a regular enough schedule. My wife works nights, short days, long days, it varies so theres days I'll be working and she'll be home. I suppose it'll put heat on when I'm home, not so much the random days she is off.