Quote:
Originally Posted by poohbear
If all you have is 12volts, that's all the stat has. As a retired AC guy, thriow the nest in the trash. If you just have to have the internet link just get another Honeywell with wifi. Either way all your usage data gets sent to somebody to help design an ad just for you.
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So all that thermostat data (one record for each 5 minutes) that I have from 2009 for my ecobee SMART thermostat is useless? It saved me over $500 one Saturday morning. Here in central Florida the temperature very seldom gets under 40. I woke up that morning and noticed that it was a bit nippy in the house.
At 9 AM I called the AC guy and gave him the info, he said it was the logic card and he did not have any and would have to order one on Monday. I called another AC guy (Big AC company here), pretty much the same answer and I asked him what the logic card would cost... a minimum of $500 plus installation and testing.
I decided to query my thermostat database and it showed that the interior temperature was dropping since 4AM. The stats showed that it was 35 outside and the heat pump was not getting activated (supply duct temp) or the secondary resistance heating was not getting activated. The Energy Management system did not show any major current draw either.
I then went to check the thermostat settings on the computer and low and behold, the heat pump cutoff was changed from 25 degrees where I set it, to 40 degrees. The secondary resistance heating was deactivated. Reset them to my numbers and the system went back to normal.
So, what caused the system to change my settings. No clue, other than we had some MAJOR lightning hits near our house last summer. I did not see any major voltage spikes or brownouts on the electric service since January of 2018, which is monitored by my Energy Management system. Although the thermostat's humidity sensor has been acting weird. Possible thermostat firmware upgrade glitch, possible.
We could also go into the AC units increasing (over time) output temperature at the supply duct that alerted me to a possible problem low level of Freon (15 year old system, with 2 computerized zones) a few years ago.
Data is a TOOL, just like the pressure meters, temperature meters, multimeters. When used properly it becomes a VALUABLE tool, to see how the system has been running, and changes up to the problem time.
The next generation of thermostats are going to communicate with the HVAC systems, not like the current generation that just tells the HVAC system what to do without knowing if it is doing it or not. I am one of the lucky guys that incorporated my 3 systems to keep me informed as to how the house is doing. Smart thermostat, Home Automation system and Energy Management. The ALL talk to each other, and I have them programmed to give me alerts... just need to create a program to compare the current thermostat settings to the settings that I put in. That's another day.
So with the $500 of savings, I went out and purchased more Home Automation toys....
I Love my toys.
Don
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