Yep, we did it today.
I'm busy, so Yelped for assistance, and found recommended local contractor Tom Wright ((510) 710-3310). He and his colleague installed the second generation Nest, bought at Amazon for $249. It took about 10 minutes of actual work, but several additional minutes waiting for the system to connect to the house's WiFi, to upload updates, and to accept my minor input. It's insanely elegant and insanely simple to orient. In fact it feels way too simple for a programmable thermostat. I'm casting about for the way to input the full week's schedule and engage, but the eye is essentially saying back "no Maureen; you just live your life and punch me a couple times in the coming week or two, and I'll figure it all out. Really. Go to yoga class."
Tom charged $75, which we should make back in energy savings in about a month or so, based on various Nest info out there. The Amazon review site has lots and lots of user feedback and insight ("does it think dogs are people?" "what if I have this kind of furnace?" "can thermostats on different floors talk to each other?") and the Nest site at Nest.com and the blog at http://www.nest.com/blog/ are choc a bloc with info. The second generation even has a wall plate that covers up the schmutz left by your old '90s thermostat (the original "eye" is the same shape as the old non-programmable round one we all grew up with, and clearly the Nest folks heard back from non-professionals saying "you said it was deeply perfect, but I had to hire a painter to come and patch and paint the 1962 paint color newly revealed when we reverted from '90s thermostat to Gen1 Nest..." So they quietly added a nice piece of optional 3x6 plastic to the kit.)
For more on the Nest vs. Honeywell mudbath, see http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/nest-lays-defense-against-honeywell-smart-thermostat-lawsuit.
Anyone want a very nice 2008 programmable thermostat for free? Let me know and I'll drop it off--you just need to figure out how to hook up the wires.
I'm busy, so Yelped for assistance, and found recommended local contractor Tom Wright ((510) 710-3310). He and his colleague installed the second generation Nest, bought at Amazon for $249. It took about 10 minutes of actual work, but several additional minutes waiting for the system to connect to the house's WiFi, to upload updates, and to accept my minor input. It's insanely elegant and insanely simple to orient. In fact it feels way too simple for a programmable thermostat. I'm casting about for the way to input the full week's schedule and engage, but the eye is essentially saying back "no Maureen; you just live your life and punch me a couple times in the coming week or two, and I'll figure it all out. Really. Go to yoga class."
Tom charged $75, which we should make back in energy savings in about a month or so, based on various Nest info out there. The Amazon review site has lots and lots of user feedback and insight ("does it think dogs are people?" "what if I have this kind of furnace?" "can thermostats on different floors talk to each other?") and the Nest site at Nest.com and the blog at http://www.nest.com/blog/ are choc a bloc with info. The second generation even has a wall plate that covers up the schmutz left by your old '90s thermostat (the original "eye" is the same shape as the old non-programmable round one we all grew up with, and clearly the Nest folks heard back from non-professionals saying "you said it was deeply perfect, but I had to hire a painter to come and patch and paint the 1962 paint color newly revealed when we reverted from '90s thermostat to Gen1 Nest..." So they quietly added a nice piece of optional 3x6 plastic to the kit.)
For more on the Nest vs. Honeywell mudbath, see http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/nest-lays-defense-against-honeywell-smart-thermostat-lawsuit.
Anyone want a very nice 2008 programmable thermostat for free? Let me know and I'll drop it off--you just need to figure out how to hook up the wires.
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