# Nest Thermostat - Anyone?



## rob_vrs (Jan 4, 2012)

Hi,

I am after some advice regarding the Nest Thermostat (similar to the british gas hive) which can be installed to help save money on heating.

I have recently purchased my first home which we move in next week. Its a new build with the normal digital style thermostat with one up stairs and one down stairs, I understand this to be multizone.

Now Im all for saving money on my monthly budget for bills.

Does anyone have the Nest Thermostat and have they seen savings on there monthly bills?

Due to me needing 2 thermostat this will cost £320 which I would want to see a saving per month on my bills.

Any advice welcome.

Rob


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Having any fancy thermostst in it's self does not save money, I guess it's how you use it.

They look cool, maybe worth the £320 alone, when i get a thermostat controled house I will be having one or something similar for that reason alone....

The one thing that may put me off is Google buyng them, I have a totally Apple based house and you never know that google are planning for the future of the product.......although they'd be daft to hamper apple adoption.

Sorry I cant help on the running costs. I suspect any savings they show are based on generally poorly insulated US houses where A/C costs are huge.


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## rob_vrs (Jan 4, 2012)

Yeah, £320 would take a while to pay back maybe 2-3 years. I like to work to a budget for my bills so If i can reduce that monthly cost its more savings for luxuries is how I see it. 

We have a very nice looking Risco Lightsys2 alarm system being installed so would suit the hallway nicely being modern like the alarm panel haha.


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## robertdon777 (Nov 3, 2005)

Sign up to British gas, they will install their version (hive) for free at the moment to new customers. Worth £199.


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## rob_vrs (Jan 4, 2012)

robertdon777 said:


> Sign up to British gas, they will install their version (hive) for free at the moment to new customers. Worth £199.


Im going to look at that, I don't think its compatible with multi zone yet. Something to look at will have to look at there tariffs.

Rob


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## shl-kelso (Dec 27, 2012)

The savings from improved controls can be substantial, upto 40% when replacing basic themostat/timeclock controls. However if the thermostat is in a poor location (I.e, Hall and Landing) then some of the clever presence control in Nest will have to be disabled as it will not be able to reliably monitor your occupation. 

Providing you do not have other independent sources of heat in one of your primary rooms on each level (Lounge and Master Bed?) and providing these rooms do not heat much more easily or faster then your other rooms then I'd suggest relocating the Nest stat to these areas instead, after all there is little point in having a clever stat in an area your rarely spend any time in.

Another option is to go for much improved zone control using something like Honeywell Evo and their HR92 wireless radiator controllers. These replace the top part of your radiator thermostatic valves and have a built in room sensor. So you can now measure and control each room independently, with simple central control from the Evo touchscreen or companion smartphone/tablet App (if you include the Honeywell gateway).

The touchscreen controller, gateway, and radiator controllers are just about to arrive in B&Q (as will Nest apparently), otherwise it can be bought through approved installers/suppliers.

As Evo is modular you can build up in stages if preferred, or use the digital room sensors and wireless relays to control your existing zones valves instead (with the hot water kit too if you have a cylinder heated by the boiler).


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

shl-kelso said:


> The touchscreen controller, gateway, and radiator controllers are just about to arrive in B&Q (as will Nest apparently), otherwise it can be bought through approved installers/suppliers.


NEST is in B&Q already :thumb:


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## SteveTDCi (Feb 8, 2006)

I have the Hive and its very good, changing the settings is very easy. We didn't have it to save money, just for the ability to adjust things without getting off the sofa. Our temp is apparently 2 degress lower than other Hive users and you can set it so the heating turns itself off or on when you leave the house.


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## 121DOM (Sep 16, 2013)

Take a look at Salus

You can see current temperatures, change timers, boost water all from you iphone / android. 

Best thing i've bought this year (excl swissvax)


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

There's also an unofficial windows nest app that works too.

Hive isn't free, it's £200 now.

Oh and to the apple fan, it was an ex apple genius that designed it so got the panache, although Google have just bought it.


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## SteveyG (Apr 1, 2007)

shl-kelso said:


> Another option is to go for much improved zone control using something like Honeywell Evo and their HR92 wireless radiator controllers. These replace the top part of your radiator thermostatic valves and have a built in room sensor. So you can now measure and control each room independently, with simple central control from the Evo touchscreen or companion smartphone/tablet App (if you include the Honeywell gateway).
> 
> The touchscreen controller, gateway, and radiator controllers are just about to arrive in B&Q (as will Nest apparently), otherwise it can be bought through approved installers/suppliers.
> 
> As Evo is modular you can build up in stages if preferred, or use the digital room sensors and wireless relays to control your existing zones valves instead (with the hot water kit too if you have a cylinder heated by the boiler).


^^ This. I wouldn't waste your money on the Nest thermostat. True multiroom control is a far better investment.


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## jamest (Apr 8, 2008)

Haven't got a Nest but got a Tado instead.

The presence detection was the key feature which is great if you're in and out the house at random times and can't set the timers for the heating. If you already have multiroom and are fairly regular with when you leave the house etc then I would stick with what you have. You won't save huge amounts especially if your house is small like mine.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

ardandy said:


> Oh and to the apple fan, it was an *ex apple genius that designed* it so got the panache, although Google have just bought it.


Just to clarify he was Senior Vice President of Apples iPod group....not a meat puppet from the local 'genius' bar :lol:


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## Jarw101 (Jun 7, 2011)

I fit hives all day long for BG. They are 10% off till the end of the month I believe so £179.10 
If you have a conventional system then you can control both heating and hot water which is something Nest can't do. 

Even has geocaching now so it can automatically turn on/off at a set distance as you travel to your home.


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## ardandy (Aug 18, 2006)

Npower doing Nest for £100 with a very long fixed tariff.


From trusted reviews:
Which is better – Nest or Hive?
We haven’t yet done our full review on Nest so we’re only going to give some first impressions for now. However, if you want the next generation of smart home tech, Nest sounds like the more convincing system. 

It learns, it’s location-aware and its control unit deserves to be seen, not hidden away like Hive’s. However, if all you want is a smart system that will save you some cash, and decrease your energy footprint, we recommend checking out the rates offered by the partner energy firms, British Gas and nPower.


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## Roswell (Aug 11, 2008)

Can i be the first to not want to rain on your parade but £200 / £300 is a dam shed load of gas to try save that's 2 /3/4 months gas usage for me so the return on investment would take a long time. 

All you need is a simple thermostat set to 15 - 18 during day / summer months and manually wind it up when you need to. You want to stop the air in the house getting to cold to the due point otherwise you risk condensation / damp issues you don't need any clever occupancy detector if you walk in and its a bit chillier than normal wind it up to 21.

I fully embrace technology but the cost exceeds the benefit / reward other then bragging rights.


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## shl-kelso (Dec 27, 2012)

The ROI for intelligent heating controls is far better than most other energy improvements once you've taken care of the basics (insulation, draught proofing etc). It is better than solar PV, solar hot water, LED lighting and lots of other "popular" energy improvements as it works on the biggest energy use in the property - space heating accounts for 2/3 of the average household energy bill.

If the smart stat does nothing except reduce the large temperature swings caused by traditional thermostatic control of the heating it can save 10-15%, and the improved user interface also means most users are more likely to keep checking/adjusting their settings which leads to improved efficiency (no more leaving the stat turned up to maximum by mistake for example).

So it is not inconceivable that a smart stat may pay for itself in 12-18 months, whereas the more expensive fully room-zoned systems are more like 4-5 years based on simple payback calculations.


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

Bero said:


> Having any fancy thermostst in it's self does not save money, I guess it's how you use it.
> 
> They look cool, maybe worth the £320 alone, when i get a thermostat controlled house I will be having one or something similar for that reason alone....
> 
> ...


No sooner predicted and it starts link...not sure if this is positive or negative.....as always with Google and Facebook, YOU are the product.



shl-kelso said:


> The ROI for intelligent heating controls is far better than most other energy improvements once you've taken care of the basics (insulation, draught proofing etc). It is better than solar PV, solar hot water, LED lighting and lots of other "popular" energy improvements as it works on the biggest energy use in the property - space heating accounts for 2/3 of the average household energy bill.
> 
> If the smart stat does nothing except reduce the large temperature swings caused by traditional thermostatic control of the heating it can save 10-15%, and the improved user interface also means most users are more likely to keep checking/adjusting their settings which leads to improved efficiency (no more leaving the stat turned up to maximum by mistake for example).
> 
> So it is not inconceivable that a smart stat may pay for itself in 12-18 months, whereas the more expensive fully room-zoned systems are more like 4-5 years based on simple payback calculations.


As I believe, owing it does not save money. But for lazy, or busy people and as a fit and forget device it may help manage energy use.


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## Rob_Quads (Jul 17, 2006)

I think the big problem with all these devices is the ROI is complete guesswork at the moment. I've not seen any real studies showing actual results of this being used vs a normal program system


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## paralla (Dec 7, 2011)

I have Tado which I think is the bees knees.

Nest detects if you are home or not using sensors to detect your presence in front of the thermostat. Tado tracks the location of your smartphone.

Tado will turn the heat off immediatly after everyone leaves the house, Nest can take up to three hours to decide nobody is home before turning the heating off which seems pretty dumb for a smart thermostat.

In my opinion tracking the location of your phone is a better method to determine if anybody is home or on their way home than a sensor in the house.


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## jamest (Apr 8, 2008)

paralla said:


> I have Tado which I think is the bees knees.
> 
> Nest detects if you are home or not using sensors to detect your presence in front of the thermostat. Tado tracks the location of your smartphone.
> 
> ...


I also have a Tado but with the new API, Nest will have the ability to do this as well by using IFTTT (great service by the way).


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## Bero (Mar 9, 2008)

paralla said:


> I have Tado which I think is the bees knees.
> 
> Nest detects if you are home or not using sensors to detect your presence in front of the thermostat. Tado tracks the location of your smartphone.
> 
> ...


And if you leave your phone at home you have no way of switching it off remotely :lol:

I joke, but I think this is the start of really promising consumer goods which WILL be good, and enhance lives. Some things are idiotic....

Smart fork
Smart cup
Nest's very own smoke detector
Google Glass

But for a thermostat it does make sense (as costs come down). Smart watches will add value once they do it properly and it's not just for Facebook notifications on your wrist.

But simple devices like fridges and freezers.....when you can connect them to the internet (not to tell you what to order at ASDA!) you can switch off the compressors briefly at peak load times (world cup final half time, or coronation street adverts) if they are below a set temperature. This makes lots of sense, you can balance load more effectively over the network.


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## paralla (Dec 7, 2011)

Bero said:


> And if you leave your phone at home you have no way of switching it off remotely :lol:


If you leave your phone at home you can turn it off from one of the other associated smart phones using the Tado App or from any web browser.


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## Thebill (Mar 20, 2011)

I have the nest and love it.


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## lofty (Jun 19, 2007)

I've been experimenting with two of these Terrier controls for a few months, I've actually ordered some more as they work well.It means most rooms can be totally independant of each other.The only downside is that the motor that controls the pin on the TRV is a bit noisy, so they are no good for bedrooms.I fitted them to my lounge which only gets used on a evening, and will be fitting more to the spare bedrooms, family room and kitchen.

http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatal...=feedmanager&gclid=CI-3jc6jn78CFVMRtAod90YAtg


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## packard (Jun 8, 2009)

Old thread, we have a traditional gas boiler (hot water tank)' had recent full double glazing, doors, cavity wall, and loft all done and noticed bills drop overnight. Boiler has had full service and various parts replaced and engineer indicated it has a lot of life yet.

Existing rads all (bar main bathroom) have thermo' on rads, main control has water/heating on separate control, and a Digital stat.

I like some of the features of hive but think am I ever going to get £199 back over even 5 years?. Also if I did have to replace would any gas engineer (gas safe of course)' then be able to get hive working?

Any one use this in similar situation.


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## shl-kelso (Dec 27, 2012)

packard said:


> Old thread, we have a traditional gas boiler (hot water tank)' had recent full double glazing, doors, cavity wall, and loft all done and noticed bills drop overnight. Boiler has had full service and various parts replaced and engineer indicated it has a lot of life yet.
> 
> Existing rads all (bar main bathroom) have thermo' on rads, main control has water/heating on separate control, and a Digital stat.
> 
> ...


Adding sophisticated controls to a system with an old inefficient boiler will make significant savings as your bills are that much higher to begin with - improved temperature measurement and control can save 10-20% off your gas bill so a bit of simple maths can tell you if the payback is worth it.

Regarding maintaining the boiler after fitting new controls, the controls do not modify the boiler in any way so make no difference. Any "engineer" who can't fix the boiler because of the new controls needs to find another career! Whether your boiler has a traditional thermostat/timeclock, digital programable stat, or new smart stat makes no difference to the wiring and control of the boiler.


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