Smart Thermostats, What Are They Good For?
Are you considering converting your new or existing home into a smart home with smart tech gadgets? One of the smartest choices you can make is choosing a smart thermostat for a more comfortable, energy efficient, green living. The two most popular types of smart thermostats are wireless or wifi thermostats (e.g Ecobee3) and learning thermostats (e.g. Nest Third Generation Learning Thermostat). Keen Home Smart Vents with its rapid upgrades are not too far behind and are notably the third most popular.
Ecobee3 – The Wireless Wizard
Primarily a wireless device, Ecobee3’s native integration with Amazon Echo is its strongest suite. For the uninitiated, Amazon Echo is a wireless speaker controlled by voice. The Ecobee3 embodies all the leading benefits of a wifi thermostat in its design and features given below:
- As you can clearly deduce from the tagline, Ecobee3’s design takes into account different rooms in a home with varying temperatures and its smart remote sensors adjust the temperature setting for each room as required.
- It is equipped with a remote sensor which accurately senses if someone is at home or away and moderates preferences accordingly.
- Ecobee3’s seamless integration with Amazon Echo enables temperature settings through voice command.
- This smart wireless thermostat is quick to learn your habits and adapts itself to your lifestyle and routine. Within few days of installation, you will be able to completely rely on its smart sensors to maintain the desired settings for you.
- It also provides weather forecast for next four days.
- The app makes it possible to manage the settings remotely thus making it energy efficient and ensuring optimum utilization of the device. This also results in improved performance of your HVAC system.
- Ecobee3’s smart sensors automatically alter the heating and cooling requirements of unoccupied rooms thereby saving valuable energy for occupied rooms that really need them.
- In an event that the thermostat intermittently loses wifi connection, the unique thermal protect feature maintains a comfortable room/home temperature.
- Ecobee’s Home IQ feature allows you to monitor and track energy usage over time and gives you an estimate of usage in previous months as well as other homes in the neighbourhood.
Nest Learning Thermostat – The Learned One
Nest holds a legacy of thermostat innovation. Nest Third Generation launched in 2015 was one of the most sophisticated thermostat devices released in the recent past. It is simple to operate, has an extremely advanced user interface and a classic look. It came to be known as a learning thermostat as it attempts to study and understand its user. Some of its most striking features include:
- Automatic scheduler to adjust temperature based on whether you are at home or away so you don’t have to bother setting temperature every now and then.
- Emergency alerts in the event of low temperatures which could result in pipe explosions or gas furnace malfunctioning.
- When no one is around, this smart thermostat switches to energy-saving mode and automatically comes to its own when someone enters the room.
- Its sharp sensors also senses the presence of someone entering a room and automatically puts on lights. Its far-field sensor feature enables time and temperature view from a distance.
- Updated reports on energy consumption and energy saving patterns with tips and recommendations can be viewed directly on the app. A bright green leaf pop-up on display screen notifies you every time you enter an energy-saving temperature zone.
- The initial installation process is quick and easy which can be handled even by an amateur.
- It integrates easily with Amazon products such as Amazon Echo.
Keen Home Smart Vents – The Efficient Alternative
Keen Home Smart Vents are efficient because they allow you to adjust the temperature settings of each room of your home. Your bedroom temperature settings can be altered to be cooler or warmer than the living room or kitchen and vice versa taking care of your all-round comfort and relaxation. Some other impressive features of Keen Home Smart vents include:
- It focuses on maximizing comfort while saving energy.
- Interconnectivity with other vents in the home allows complete control over the amount of air for every room.
- The app provides immediate troubleshooting assistance in case of a connectivity issue with any of the vents.
- It is compatible with the Nest Learning Thermostat which acts as the control center for the vents.
Smart thermostats with their in-built capabilities have become the most preferred option of homeowners and the adoption rate is increasing every season. A smart thermostat can be a very efficient solution for greener and smarter home and help save energy with the ability to manage the temperature remotely. By upgrading to a high efficiency furnace, homeowners in Canada might even qualify to receive a free thermostat, depending on who they choose.