Wifi thermostat with temperature drop alert

[Skyman]

Hi, all.

I'm interested in a WIFI thermostat for the home, that includes temperature drop alerts that are pushed to my phone. I don't want to pay a subscription fee monthly for remote control, monitoring, and alerts. What's out there and what do you like?

TIA.

 

[mike93lx]

My aprilaire units will do that with their app (all three are 8620W's) . They work fine, but I don't love them

 

[Skyman]

Thanks for the reply. What about them disappoints you?

 

[PoorUB]

Honeywell, or now Resideo stats do not require a subscription for alerts.

 

[SlotlessMan]

My Ecobee doesn't have a monthly fee and does alerts. My hardware is a few years old so I might be grandfathered in on something but I'd definitely would check them out.

Smart Thermostats & Smart Home Devices | ecobee

ecobee designs intelligent thermostats, cameras, and sensors that work better together to improve everyday life.

www.ecobee.com

 

[PCustoms]

Hi, all.

I'm interested in a WIFI thermostat for the home, that includes temperature drop alerts that are pushed to my phone. I don't want to pay a subscription fee monthly for remote control, monitoring, and alerts. What's out there and what do you like?

TIA.

My Sensi does this...along with programs.

If my temp drops/increases or humidity is high I get an alert via email.

 

[rlitman]

My Ecobee doesn't have a monthly fee and does alerts. My hardware is a few years old so I might be grandfathered in on something but I'd definitely would check them out.

Smart Thermostats & Smart Home Devices | ecobee

ecobee designs intelligent thermostats, cameras, and sensors that work better together to improve everyday life.

www.ecobee.com

I got my Ecobee thermostats from a greatly discounted deal with my local gas company. I've never had to pay a subscription, and I don't believe their thermostats have one. I can get alerts based on temperature or humidity, as well as a smart alert that will say the system has been calling for heat for a long time without the temperature rising. It has other reminders and **** I have disabled, but if you want that sort of stuff...

 

[mike93lx]

Thanks for the reply. What about them disappoints you?

They're just fine, nothing really special. The UI is kind of Meh and to get into the setup for the heat pumps feels a little aged and more buried than would be nice. But once that is done, there isn't a ton of interacting going on. I generally leave the temps alone

 

[Denwood]

I’ve installed a few dozen ecobee stats and have found the low temp and low temp rise alerts very useful. Once to alert us of a loading bay with damaged overhead door seals that was in danger of causing a floor freeze up (radiant) at -25C, and another alert of an entry door left propped again, again in very cold conditions.

There is no fee or subscription required.

 

[Skyman]

Thanks all for the advice. I'll definitely look into these, the Ecobee in particular.

 

[mike93lx]

If I was starting over, I would likely do ecobee

 

[Skyman]

Another vote tallied. Useful, and thanks for it.

 

[manwithtools]

I like the Ecobee's we have as well.

 

[jblnut]

I have an InkBird BBQ thermometer in my shop. It has no temp control but it does monitoring very well and you can go back and look at graphs of the temps as long as it’s been online. I put one in my shop so it can yell at me if it’s too cold, which likely means a garage door is open for too long or I had another opener on the fritz and the door opened itself overnight and it’s 9f in there now. Anyway ….

Screenshot. Main shop, parts room, mechanical room. I also have one on the supply/return lines on my wood boiler so it can yell at me if it gets too cold or too hot.

 

[Skyman]

Interesting. Are those plug-in monitors, or battery-powered? If battery, what's the typical battery life?

TIA.

 

[Skyman]

Ecobee on order. Thanks to all for your suggestions. Appreciated.

 

[Denwood]

Ecobee on order. Thanks to all for your suggestions. Appreciated.

Depending on the model you ordered, you can also look into connecting your ERV or HRV to the stat. It does a good job integrating the HVAC fan along with the ERV operation if your ERV/HRV is integrated to your HVAC ducting. Their new "premium" stat also does VOC monitoring and can respond to this with the ventilation system. It's not super sophisticated control, but at least they are working in that direction

I've set up a few of these integrations, and it works quite well. There are a plethora of automation integrations out there for these stats, if you're oriented in that direction. I had nine of the Ecobee 3s in my commercial building and used the remote temp sensors to trigger occupancy routines for tenant spaces, turned off HVAC if a window was open (DSC alarm/sensor integration), automated alarm arming on vacancy etc.

 

[Skyman]

Thanks for the additional info. This structure doesn't have ERV/HRV, but it's something to keep in mind for the future.

 

[bwringer]

I didn't really want a digital thermostat when we got a new heat pump system, but honestly the Ecobee they install standard has been pretty great. If I were particularly parsimonious, I'd enable the energy-saving features, like detecting occupancy and letting the temps drop more in the winter. As it was, it took some doing to turn all that off so it's a nice even temperature inside.

 

[Skyman]

I intend to disable occupancy detection, and automatic temperature adjustments, as you did. All I'm after is system control, monitoring, and trouble alerts via the app.

How difficult was it to navigate your way through the UI to get to the settings for occupancy and automatic temp adjustments?

TIA.

 

[bwringer]

The Ecobee interface is quite easy to manage, either on the touch screen or via the app.

I couldn't seem to get my settings to stick at first, but I think that was actually the installers resetting these during the post-install followup checks.

I have a heat pump system, so they had a couple of followups in different seasons to make sure everything was tuned correctly.

 

[Skyman]

Very good. Thanks for the follow-up response.

 

[NakeDiesel]

I use 2 sensi's in the house and they both send me humidity or temp alerts. I have a honeywell/goodman communicating tstat in the shop running my 5ton heatpump in there and get alerts from it too with the wifi module installed/connected.