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Correct, this is totally different than having a smart gas oven or stove. I too would never have plumbing or gas appliances hooked up to the internet. But my Ne

Correct, this is totally different than having a smart gas oven or stove. I too would never have plumbing or gas appliances hooked up to the internet. But my Nest thermostat is totally safe.

assttoasstmgr 5y ago
Whirlpool figured this out and deserves some praise here. All their new appliances that support Wi-Fi connectivity have a physical "Remote Enable" button that you must manually push every cycle to enable remote control of the device through the app. You cannot start the oven/washer/etc remotely unless someone has manually acknowledged it at the appliance and I believe it resets after 24 hours or when the cycle is complete.
- jay_kyburz 5y ago
  I bet its all software though.
  - WalterBright 5y ago
    Of course, and it's remotely upgradable, too. That way, the manufacturer can install spyware anytime they want, and any hacker can use it to mine bitcoins.
    - jay_kyburz 5y ago
      I'm looking forward to banner ads on the front of my oven nagging me to buy more frozen pizza.
      - attilaperez 5y ago
        I'd give it maximum 3 years until this is a reality. The way this shift works in effect is that all the higher end appliances stocked by retailers are quickly swapped for IoT ones. When a consumer goes microwave shopping the only choices they are given are super budget crap or "premium" WiFi connected offerings. These transitions are very well coordinated between Big-Box retailers and manufacturers.
pengaru 5y ago
> But my Nest thermostat is totally safe. It is not "totally safe" for your furnace to start in an unoccupied home, particularly after it's been off for an extended period. It's not impossible for critters to have setup shop in the warm space near a pilot light, and in an unoccupied home there's nobody to even smell what would be an obvious problem before it becomes a crisis.
- assttoasstmgr 5y ago
  This is FUD. Thermocouple-based gas valves immediately extinguish the flow of gas when a pilot goes out in e.g. a pilot fed hot water heater. This has been standard for decades. Pilot lights have not been used in gas furnaces in decades. Everything has been electronic ignition since the 80s at the latest. In fact they have been outlawed in some locales for close to 40 years.
  - pengaru 5y ago
    > Thermocouple-based gas valves immediately extinguish the flow of gas when a pilot goes out in e.g. a pilot fed hot water heater. This has been standard for decades. Who said the pilot light was out? > Pilot lights have not been used in gas furnaces in decades. Everything has been electronic ignition since the 80s at the latest. In fact they have been outlawed in some locales for close to 40 years. And the baby-boom produced how many homes with pilot lights? Thermostats are often upgraded on existing homes without touching anything else, and every single home I've lived in was built decades ago still having original HVAC.
  - efreak 5y ago
    My grandmother's house has a stove with at least 5 pilot lights on it (one for each burner); I'm not sure about her water heater, gas dryer, HVAC, etc. Just because pilot lights aren't commonly used in the past half century doesn't mean they don't exist.

Correct, this is totally different than having a smart gas oven or stove. I too would never have plumbing or gas appliances hooked up to the internet. But my Nest thermostat is totally safe.

assttoasstmgr 5y ago

Whirlpool figured this out and deserves some praise here. All their new appliances that support Wi-Fi connectivity have a physical "Remote Enable" button that you must manually push every cycle to enable remote control of the device through the app. You cannot start the oven/washer/etc remotely unless someone has manually acknowledged it at the appliance and I believe it resets after 24 hours or when the cycle is complete.

jay_kyburz 5y ago
I bet its all software though.
- WalterBright 5y ago
  Of course, and it's remotely upgradable, too. That way, the manufacturer can install spyware anytime they want, and any hacker can use it to mine bitcoins.
  - jay_kyburz 5y ago
    I'm looking forward to banner ads on the front of my oven nagging me to buy more frozen pizza.
    - attilaperez 5y ago
      I'd give it maximum 3 years until this is a reality. The way this shift works in effect is that all the higher end appliances stocked by retailers are quickly swapped for IoT ones. When a consumer goes microwave shopping the only choices they are given are super budget crap or "premium" WiFi connected offerings. These transitions are very well coordinated between Big-Box retailers and manufacturers.

pengaru 5y ago

> But my Nest thermostat is totally safe. It is not "totally safe" for your furnace to start in an unoccupied home, particularly after it's been off for an extended period. It's not impossible for critters to have setup shop in the warm space near a pilot light, and in an unoccupied home there's nobody to even smell what would be an obvious problem before it becomes a crisis.

assttoasstmgr 5y ago
This is FUD. Thermocouple-based gas valves immediately extinguish the flow of gas when a pilot goes out in e.g. a pilot fed hot water heater. This has been standard for decades. Pilot lights have not been used in gas furnaces in decades. Everything has been electronic ignition since the 80s at the latest. In fact they have been outlawed in some locales for close to 40 years.
- pengaru 5y ago
  > Thermocouple-based gas valves immediately extinguish the flow of gas when a pilot goes out in e.g. a pilot fed hot water heater. This has been standard for decades. Who said the pilot light was out? > Pilot lights have not been used in gas furnaces in decades. Everything has been electronic ignition since the 80s at the latest. In fact they have been outlawed in some locales for close to 40 years. And the baby-boom produced how many homes with pilot lights? Thermostats are often upgraded on existing homes without touching anything else, and every single home I've lived in was built decades ago still having original HVAC.
- efreak 5y ago
  My grandmother's house has a stove with at least 5 pilot lights on it (one for each burner); I'm not sure about her water heater, gas dryer, HVAC, etc. Just because pilot lights aren't commonly used in the past half century doesn't mean they don't exist.