Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by joshstrange 1509 days ago
So I had a Nest for a year before it just stopped working and Nest told me it wasn't compatible with my system, after previously telling me it was (not sure how it worked more or less perfectly for that first year but whatever). I moved to an EcoBee and I'm happy with it but for all their "smarts" these things are still dumb as rock in my opinion.

I work from home so turning up/down the temp when I'm away is rarely worth it other than when I'm on vacation for a week or a long weekend. I'm happy enough to be able to control it from an app and not have to get up and go to the other side of the house but there is one big thing that is missing for me: it being smart about the outside temp.

Let me elaborate. I want my house to be 65 during the day and 60 at night but there isn't a good way to accomplish that without micromanaging it when the seasons change (or freak weather which happens more and more often).

Depending on the outside temp (and humidity) I have to manually tweak the temp ranges. It would be nice if I could set heat to 65 and cool to 65 but that would kill my HVAC system flipping between the two modes (if the apps even let you do that), I just want it to be a little smarter. Something like "If it's >60 outside then set the cool to 65 and heat to 55" and "If it's <60 outside then set the heat to 65 and cool to 75" (though humidity, inside and out, probably need to be taken into account as well).

I'll probably attempt to tackle this using Home Assistant at some point but it's frustrating that these devices are in some ways stuck in the past of "Set a cool or heat or cool+heat settings", how about a little more intelligence? I want the inside of my house to always "feel like" 65F.

All of the "smart" thermostats are really just the same as before with a way to remotely change the settings (which is an improvement) but I'd never call them smart.

1 comments

You can't set a temperature range, like "keep my house between 65 and 70"? So when it's cold it would heat to 65, when it's hot it would cool to 70, and between 65-70 it would do nothing? That's not very smart..seems like the most basic thing they should be able to handle.
I can set a range but it's been my experience that in the "summer" I need to set it to 65 cool-only. and the in "winter" I need to set it to 65 heat-only. Fall and spring are hell and I have to check the temp to know where to set it. Ranges suck and are a carryover from the old tech, I want my house to be 65, this should be possible.

I think humidity is playing a part in it but I don't want my house to get up to 70 so setting 60-70 isn't going to work and likewise, no matter the season, I don't want it to get down to 60 unless it's at night.

Oh I see what you're saying. So you always want 65, but if you put it on auto the heat will end up turning on in the summer?
Yes, and it's bad in the spring/fall when one day might be in the 40's and the next in the 80's, I have to micro-manage the thermostat or deal with the house fluctuating between 60-70 which I dislike. It's subtle but I'll either constantly feel a little too warm or I'll be too chilly.

I've dialed it in so I know I love 65F, that's what I want my "smart" thermostat to facilitate.