6 ms·

Knowing that pretty much all software is buggy and Nest and Wink are pretty new to market, do you want to depend on them with your life? In the northeast US th

by matt_s 12y ago

Knowing that pretty much all software is buggy and Nest and Wink are pretty new to market, do you want to depend on them with your life? In the northeast US this weekend we will be having a high temperature of zero degrees Fahrenheit in some areas. I don't want to rely on a flaky device determining if the heat should be on. What happens if the temp drops really low, like with a power failure? Did they test that? Same can be said for smoke detectors. A lot of new construction houses have all the smoke detectors wired by electricity with 9v battery backup. One goes off, they all go off. Sure there can be device failures, but you're talking about something that has been around for a long time with a proven track record. If anything, maybe keep the old tech devices running and use the new tech along side it to see how it works.

JshWright 12y ago
As a counter-anecdote, I have been very grateful for my Nest during these especially cold days. It takes the weather outside into account, and does a much better job keeping my house in a comfortable temperature range.
- maxerickson 12y ago
  Outdoor temperature reset has been a feature on furnace controllers for a long time (also called modulating aquastat). (so there is a sense in which it isn't necessarily a smart home type of feature, it doesn't need a great deal of integration or whatever, and will work with any dumb thermostat)
  - JshWright 12y ago
    Yeah, to be fair, my Nest replaced a dial thermostat with a mercury switch on a bimetal coil...
joezydeco 12y ago
If the power is off, no thermostat will be able to start your furnace. What's scarier is the thermostat going down at inopportune times. Last January Nest pushed a firmware update that bricked some units...right during the coldest night of the year for us. My early adopter neighbor was up at 2am rewiring his old Honeywell dial to keep his family warm.

by matt_s 12y ago

JshWright 12y ago

As a counter-anecdote, I have been very grateful for my Nest during these especially cold days. It takes the weather outside into account, and does a much better job keeping my house in a comfortable temperature range.

maxerickson 12y ago
Outdoor temperature reset has been a feature on furnace controllers for a long time (also called modulating aquastat). (so there is a sense in which it isn't necessarily a smart home type of feature, it doesn't need a great deal of integration or whatever, and will work with any dumb thermostat)
- JshWright 12y ago
  Yeah, to be fair, my Nest replaced a dial thermostat with a mercury switch on a bimetal coil...

joezydeco 12y ago

If the power is off, no thermostat will be able to start your furnace. What's scarier is the thermostat going down at inopportune times. Last January Nest pushed a firmware update that bricked some units...right during the coldest night of the year for us. My early adopter neighbor was up at 2am rewiring his old Honeywell dial to keep his family warm.