What Makes a Thermostat Smart?
Back in 2011, the original Nest Learning Thermostat took the world by storm, offering Wi-Fi connectivity in a stylish puck-shaped device that could learn your daily routine and create heating and cooling schedules accordingly. While the Nest wasn’t the first connected thermostat to hit the market (Canadian-based Ecobee beat it by two years), it was nonetheless a game changer that helped spawn a new market. Both Ecobee and Nest are still at it, but now face stiff competition from HVAC industry mainstays such as Carrier, Honeywell, Trane, and others.
If you’re looking to smarten up your home, your thermostat is a good place to start and can help you save a considerable chunk of money by reducing your heating and cooling costs. However, not all smart thermostats are created equal; some are designed for simple heating and cooling systems and offer basic scheduling and programming options, while others are designed for complex multi-stage systems and will control heating, cooling, dehumidifier, and ventilation systems. As is the case with most smart home devices, prices vary depending on features and capabilities. Read on to find out what to look for when shopping for your smart thermostat, and our favorite models we’ve tested.
What to Look for in a Smart Thermostat
Smart thermostats offer a variety of features that will not only help keep your home comfortable, but can reduce heating and cooling costs. The most basic models are relatively inexpensive, but are still equipped with Wi-Fi circuitry that allows you to connect the device to your home network and the internet. They can be controlled from a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet using a free mobile app, and some models also let you control things from a web browser.
Basic controls allow you to raise and lower the temperature, create a seven-day heating and cooling schedule, override the schedule if you or a family member will be returning home early, and turn the system on and off. The Nest Learning Thermostat takes scheduling a step further; it can track your daily comings and goings, as well as heating trends over time, and create a heating and cooling schedule based on when you are usually home or away and what temperature you prefer during those times.
As is usually the case, you’ll pay more for more features. A bright colorful touch display makes it easy to configure and program the thermostat and gives it a touch of style, and it can usually be read from across a room. Moderately priced thermostats like the Honeywell Lyric T5 display the current time and temperature until you tap the screen, at which point it will display temperature and menu settings, while more expensive devices such as the Nest Learning Thermostat contain motion sensors that will light up the display when you enter the room.
Many of the latest smart thermostats contain humidity sensors that will trigger an alert when it detects high or low humidity levels, and some models will display your local weather forecast. The Ecobee Smart Thermostat With Voice Control comes with a remote room sensor that helps keep temperatures uniform throughout your house, especially in rooms that are far away from the thermostat.
If you want your thermostat to automatically lower the temperature when you leave your house and kick back on when you arrive home, look for a model that supports geofencing technology, such as the Nest Thermostat. Geofencing uses your phone’s location services to let the thermostat know when you have entered or exited a virtual perimeter around the house. Using the mobile app, you can set your preferred Home and Away temperatures and the thermostat will be triggered when you enter and leave the perimeter. Just make sure you have your phone with you when you leave the house.
Usage reporting is another helpful feature that lets you see a historical view of how often your system is running and how long it takes to meet its target temperature. Some thermostats even tell you what the outside temperature was at the time so you can see how it impacted your HVAC system. Other common features to look for include reminders for maintenance and replacing things like air filters, vacation scheduling capabilities, and power cycle alerts that let you know if your system is acting erratically.
What Else Do Smart Thermostats Work With?
If you have other smart devices installed around your home, look for a thermostat that will work with as many of them as possible. The Nest Learning thermostat works with other Nest devices such as the Protect smoke alarm and Nest Indoor and Outdoor cameras, as well as numerous third-party devices including smart switches, fans, and lighting systems. IFTTT (If This Then That) support is a popular feature that allows you to have the thermostat trigger, or be triggered, by other IFTTT-enabled devices or services. For example, you can create an applet that turns on a smart air conditioner when your thermostat reaches a certain temperature.
Many of the latest smart thermostats support Amazon Alexa, Apple Siri, and Google Assistant voice commands, letting you to do things like change temperature settings and find out the current temperature using your voice. Some of the most feature-rich smart thermostats out there, including the Ecobee 4 and Ecobee Smart, have built-in Alexa voice control and can do just about everything that an Echo speaker does; you can ask them to play music from your Amazon library, get the latest news and sports scores, find out the weather forecast, change temperature settings, and much more.
Can You Install a Smart Thermostat Yourself?
Smart thermostats are usually very easy to install, but it’s important to know how your system is wired before you begin. Always make note of your wiring before you remove your old thermostat, and if possible, take a picture. Most of the latest devices come with pre-printed labels that you can attach to the wires to help identify them during the installation. You should also know what type of system you have as you’ll be asked to enter that information during setup. Commonly supported HVAC system types include gas, oil, electric, propane, forced air, and radiant.
Most smart thermostats can be used with multi-stage heating and cooling systems, but if you’ll be controlling other components such as whole-house dehumidifiers, heat pumps, and ventilation systems, make sure you select a thermostat that supports those devices. In fact, if you have a complex multi-component HVAC system, it’s a good idea to have a professional HVAC technician install the thermostat for you to avoid damage to your system.
Another factor to consider is whether or not your system contains a C (common) wire, which is used to supply constant power to the thermostat. Almost all smart thermostats require a C wire to work, but older houses with older heating systems usually don’t have a C wire because older thermostats did not require one. Some smart thermostats come with a power extender kit that you can install yourself to supply power to the device. Other devices, including Nest thermostats, can be installed without a C wire, but will steal power from the furnace control circuits to provide enough power to keep the internal battery charged. While this usually works without issue, it has been known to cause problems with certain HVAC systems and may actually cycle on the system to steal power. If you’d rather not take a chance on frying your furnace’s circuit boards, you can have a professional technician run a C wire for around $150 or so.
Between installation and the device itself, the cost of a smart thermostat can carry a significant premium over a traditional model. But keep in mind that it can actually save you money on heating and cooling costs over time, not to mention the flexibility it provides when you’re both in and out of the house.
