Everywhere we turn these days there are things that need updating. Some just for aesthetic reasons. Some for functional. Some for both.
Enter our old timey, first floor thermostat in our office. We figured with our new furnace system it’d be a good time to update this to something more energy efficient.
We made the swap to a programmable thermostat in our first house, so this time around the tech geek in me begged Sherry to let us take this upgrade a step further – especially since so many of you have commented about loving your Nest. To my surprise, she agreed. And that’s how I found myself holding one of these babies.
But let me back up for a second. Nest is a “learning thermostat” that keeps a record of your habits (when you turn the heat or AC up, when you’re home or away, etc) and creates and adjusts a schedule for you. Meaning it can be even more intuitive than a typical programmable thermostat – and therefor can save you more money. It can even sense when you’re home (and turn itself down if you’re not). It was designed by people who helped make the iPhone, so it has a bunch of other cool features I’ll get into later. I’ve wanted one since they came out in 2010, but they’ve been priced fairly high. But with the recent release of their 2nd generation thermostat, prices on the 1st generation dropped…
In fact they dropped so much that I had trouble finding them. I finally found some across town at a Lowe’s about 30 minutes away. So I ran over there with a change of address coupon that we received after we moved.
We decided to buy two Nests since we have two systems (one upstairs and one downstairs). So with the reduced sale price, the additional $25 off from my coupon, and the 5% discount that I got for using my Lowe’s credit card (which the cashier was happy to give me despite it not working initially with the coupon) it took our price per unit down to $158. Still a lot for a thermostat, but considering the new ones are $249 it was a we-saved-$180-on-two-of-them victory. And the fact that our downstairs furnace was replaced by our home warranty helped us rationalize spending $300 after we saved around $5,000 on the new furnace.
Update: First generation Nests are now marked down on Amazon, so here’s an affiliate link to the same one we bought for anyone interested.
As for the installation, I’ll admit it had me a little worried. I’d heard that it’s not compatible with all HVAC systems (and our upstairs unit is pretty old) and generally I worried about breaking this expensive little thermom-o-robot in the process.
I started downstairs. The first step was removing the old unit, which was pretty straight forward. First I pulled off the face. Then (with the power turned off at the breaker!) I unscrewed the inner plate so I could reveal all the wiring behind it. Nest kind of thought of everything, so they even included a small screwdriver that made this easier. (PS: Nest isn’t paying me to gush – they don’t even know we bought these – I’m just kind of in love with this thing).
Here’s the inside of our unit. It looks kind of like you’re about to defuse a bomb. But following the installation instructions eliminated just about any fear that this project was going to blow up in my face.
In addition to a handy installation video, they have this cool “Compatibility Check” online that helps guide you through how your wiring works (or doesn’t work) with Nest. Admittedly, I probably should’ve done this before I took so much trouble to buy the darn things…
But good news. We were compatible. And not only that, the instructions included a personalized guide for how I should connect my wires to the Nest unit. Seriously. If only all instruction manuals were this easy.
Also filed under “thought of everything:” the paper manual that came in the box included these wire labels so you wouldn’t risk confusing which red wire went where once everything was removed from the old unit. I didn’t use them since mine were so straight forward, but this still earned points in my tech-nerd handbook.
I detached all of my wires and then removed the last bit of the old unit from the wall.
Then I just slid the Nest base back in its place.
I was also crazy for the fact that there was a tiny little level built into the base so you could be sure it was hanging straight on your wall. Genius.
Then, based on my personalized wiring guide, I just popped my wires back in place using the little tabs. Super easy.
For the grand finale, I snapped the face into place and…
…turned the power back on. There were a few set-up steps to get Nest going, like telling it what type of heating we had and connecting it to our wi-fi. This was perhaps my only gripe with the whole thing – entering in a long alphanumeric password was a bit tedious. #firstworldproblems
The wi-fi is cool because it allows me to access our thermostats from my phone. Nest always touts this as a feature to use when you’re traveling so I didn’t think I’d find much use for it. But on the first night I found myself turning the AC up from bed because it was too hot in our bedroom. Yup. Felt like I was sleeping in my fancypants.
It says it takes a couple of weeks to learn your schedule, so we’ve yet to experience the beauty of that. But I’m especially grateful to have it in this house because we’re already finding that temperatures fluctuate a lot in here thanks to the intense afternoon sun we get. Hope you catch on quick, Nest-dog.
Oh, and part of me worried I’d regret not spending the extra dough to the 2nd generation version, but besides working with more HVAC systems (which isn’t an issue for us, luckily) the differences are apparently mostly cosmetic. The newer version is a little slimmer, doesn’t have the small grill at the bottom, and has a shinier side so it better reflects your wall color. Those all sound like nice-to-haves, but not worth the extra $180. So personally I’m glad we got the units we did. Perhaps I’ll bite my tongue when they release the 3rd generation that babysits your kids and folds your laundry too.
Oh, and before I end this lovefest (lovenest?) I have to share one more anecdote about installing it upstairs, where we had a less ancient thermostat already in place on the wall. I expected it to be the easier install, but when I went through the compatibility check I got this alert. Ruh roh. .
But I followed instructions and in like five minutes I was already getting off of the phone with a Nest representative who had looked at the photo I emailed and described how I should hook up my wires. Brilliant.
So I think overall it took me less than an hour to install both units – which is a miracle for any project where I’m also stopping to take blog photos. I couldn’t be happier.
Well, I could be a smidge happier I guess. Apparently a lot of localities offer rebates to reward Nest owners for making an energy efficient choice (Nest has a list of them here). Our area isn’t doing that yet, so after a few phone calls to our electric company and gas company I struck out at getting any sort of money back. Oh well, at least I’ll get a tiny write off for donating our old units to Habitat for Humanity (along with actually saving money by heating/cooling the house more efficiently).
Anyone else out there have a Nest? Got any tips for me? Or has anyone else made a tech-y upgrade lately? Wait, maybe forget that last question. Sherry probably doesn’t want you guys giving me any more ideas…
Jackie says
Since you asked for more techy stuff, I’m currently obsessed with figuring out how to automate my house – that means making all the light switches iPhone-controllable and adding security cameras, etc. I have radiant heating otherwise I would add a Nest too!! Check it out — all you need is a “controller” (like the Mi Casa Verde VeraLite) and compatible switches and systems (I’m going with Z-wave). You can do light switches, outlets, door locks, alarm systems.. Basically a slightly more advanced version of your bedside remote :) I think you guys would dig it!
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds dangerous! As in, John will love it…
xo
s
Kaesey says
Ooh! This sounds amazing. There’s no individual temperature control in this old condo building, though, so it will have to wait for the next home!
Kismet says
I have a question about your 2nd system. Do you mean you have a 2nd thermostat upstairs that controls the same furnace? How does that work? We has an old 1930s house and the 2nd story is always hotter in the summer (heat rises) than the main floor even with the air running. To get it cool enough up there the main floor gets too cool unless I run around closing all the vents. How does the 2nd thermostat work for that please?
YoungHouseLove says
There are two separate HVAC systems in this house, so there’s one upstairs that has its own thermostat to control it, and one downstairs with its own thermostat (so you can keep the downstairs cooler when you’re down there and save money not cooling the upstairs until you go up there and then turn down the one downstairs).
xo
s
Carrie says
Love the Nest, but more jealous you convinced Lowe’s to give you the coupon and the 5% off for using your Lowe’s CC. I have yet to convince them to double-dip for me, but I’ll keep trying! Knowing someone has succeeded gives me hope it will eventually work for me as well. Gotta keep asking!
YoungHouseLove says
It’s pretty hit or miss for us (maybe 30% of the time they stack them?) but I’ve noticed that if you’re spending a decent amount (a few hundred bucks) they seem more likely to give it to you – I guess since they know you’re not just buying cheap things on sale and you’re investing in a bunch of their more pricey products?
xo
s
Jillian@TheHumbleGourmet says
Fascinating. We have a (probably original) wall heater in our home, so thermostats aren’t really an issue. But, if and when we upgrade, I wouldn’t mind having this baby around.
Cassie says
Just be careful! I bought my hubby one as a gift a few months ago, and we were in love…for the 10 days it worked! After that, it started pumping heat into our house (we live in FL, so we do not need any more heat!). My husband was on the phone with super helpful customer service (they are great) for hours upon hours until finally at 1am, we broke down and called an all night repair guy. It was 98 degrees in our house and we were starting to worry about our dog! $400 later, we had to put tons of freon in and replace the capacitor because the Nest caused the capacitor to constantly run and burned it out, along with $200 worth of freon! Yikes! They said ultimately, it wasn’t compatible with our practically brand new system (the house was built in 2000, and the AC was fully replaced less than 5 years ago) even though it should have been. We plan to move in the next few years and want to try it again though, because for those 10 days, it was awesome! Wow, sorry for the novel… ;)
YoungHouseLove says
Oh no! That stinks! We heard from someone else with a new system who said it wasn’t compatible with it either. Such a bummer!
xo
s
Kate says
Great post! Right now I am trying to come up with a plan to convince my husband that this would be a worthwhile upgrade. I am not sure if you would have enough data to do it, but a follow-up post about how much money you saved on your energy bill would be great!
YoungHouseLove says
Will do! Some other commenters have shared their savings too (someone said 10-30%, another person said 30%, and someone else said $1500 so far!).
xo
s
Paige @ Little Nostalgia says
Oh man, my husband is going to FLIP when he sees this post. He’s been campaigning for a Nest since we bought the house last summer, but we’ve not gotten around to it. I’m sure I’ll be hearing about it after work today, haha.
Amanda says
This was an awesome post. Especially since I’m vicariously living through you guys in my I-want-a-house-but-I’m-too-young-so-I-rent world. (I’m only 24, and have no clue where I want to end up so house hunting would be silly. I’m fine with pretending I can install cool thermostats and the like right now)
I actually gasped when I saw that you bought the Nest. And yes John, it would be a lovenest! Haha.
Have you seen the wifi energy efficient light bulbs? They’re some super expensive light bulbs, but you can control your home lighting from your phone. Yes you heard (read?) me correctly!
YoungHouseLove says
INSANE! And now John will totally want them. Haha!
xo
s
kelsie says
I just installed our Nest a couple of weeks ago.
I’ve actually had it since they very first came out, but we moved right after I got it, and never installed it.
We’re finally renting a place where it makes sense to use it, and since it comes with the mounting plates, I didn’t have to paint or do anything permanent to install it. Just put the old one in the Nest box for replacing when we move out!
I won’t really find out any benefits of it for a while, since here in Seattle we rarely have A/C, but it looks cool when I walk by it and it lights up and shows me that little green leaf anyway.
McKenzie says
I have always wondered about these! I live in Alaska, so I opted not to get one. I was worried that it would get used to one schedule (winter) and then summer would come and the whole thing would be off. Plus, our homes do not have AC. It rarely gets into the 90’s, mostly just stays in the 80’s in the summer. But winters can be extremely dramatic in their fluctuation. We went with the programable, but I gave this one some serious thought!
Tracy says
Neat! Your downstairs thermostat isn’t in the most ideal spot for learning your habits. Especially not-working-in-the-evening habits (meaning if you’re just hanging out in the rear of the house). Can you use the phone app to indicate that you’re home and on the first floor w/out making a trip out to the front office?
Also I notice there is quite an age difference between your previous thermostats? Was the upstairs system added fairly recently (less than 10 yrs)?
YoungHouseLove says
We think the thermostat upstairs was newer, but the HVAC system is pretty old. As for the phone app, you can always tweak the temp or tell it to change something wherever you are, so if we’re on the sofa or in bed we can adjust things with the tap of an app.
xo
s
Laurie says
Those instructions do my instructional designer/tech writer heart good!
I’m torn between fun technology to play with and something that learns about me right before it takes over the house.
Also, was your wall painted behind the thermostat? You didn’t have to do any touchups did you? Dang. Someone was taking care of details.
YoungHouseLove says
We do have some touch ups, but since we’re planning to paint the office and the hallway it blends in ok for now and will look a lot better when we get to that.
xo
s
corne says
I’m addicted to scoring leaves and get far too excited about the monthly report. We’re in the top 34% of Nesters and we got 28 leaves last month. It’s become and addiction to try and score even higher without broiling to death.
YoungHouseLove says
Haha, I love it!
xo
s
Melissa says
I’ve always just had one thermostat in the whole house so when I read that you have a thermostat upstairs and downstairs I was all like, “they have two air conditioner units?!” Then I realized my flawed logic and now think how awesomely convenient that would be!
Laura says
I must have been living under a rock! I had never heard of these, and now I really want one. That would be really neat to adjust your thermostat from your phone.
Alexa @ travelmiamor says
Thank you so much for this post I wondered how to install and now that I know I think a purchase is in our future :)
Susan says
Excellent post! I have an upstairs and downstairs furnace and would love to change the temp by phone. With chicago winters we go bust keeping the house warm but if you turn it down during the day you’re eating dinner still wrapped in a blanket. Just found my next project!
Mel says
I have the nest and I LOVE IT. In the winter I get cold sometimes in bed, and I just used my iphone to change the temp without getting out! I love the report they send you at the end of the month. It’s gadgety, but I think it’s worth the money!
Alyssa says
Curiosity is getting the best of me – I found it super interesting that you had two furnaces! Is there a reason for two or are all two stories built with two? I’ve only lived in one story houses. Thanks!
Oh, and I’m totally sold on the nest!!! Must go buy one NOW!
YoungHouseLove says
We’ve never had two before since we lived in a one story house too, but I think it’s fairly common to have one for each floor (so you can heat or cool the one you’re on and turn down the other floor so you save money).
xo
s
Amanda says
I’m living in a house with a furnace (and only one temperature control for the entire house) for the first time. Is it common/normal for houses with a single control to have dramatic differences in room temperatures? Even with shutting some of the vents to help with temperature control, there will sometimes be a 10 degree difference between the warmest and coolest rooms. It’s really annoying. I’ve always had ceiling heat with a thermostat for every room in the past so I could adjust each room to compensate for things like afternoon sun or being a room full of electronics (my husband’s beast of a computer creates an incredible amount of heat).
YoungHouseLove says
Woah, I’ve never heard about being able to adjust the temp in every room individually! Sounds awesome!
xo
s
Megan says
You guys might want to check out thesweethome.com
They basically do all of the research on a lot of home goods and tell you which one is best (from trash bags to smart thermostats [the nest is the top pick]). It’s a really neat site and they tell you the reasoning behind all of their picks and their runner-ups (a lot of detail, like 12 paragraphs on which is the best ice cube tray, geeze).
They just recently launched, so they don’t have everything reviewed yet, but it’s still pretty awesome. And their sister site has been around for a while, which is the same things for techy stuff and gadgets and could save a bunch of time of research for bigger ticket items.
Anyways, I thought you might enjoy the site. It’s kind of fun to go through it and get all proud that they picked something that you picked on your own as the best out there.
YoungHouseLove says
Love that! Thanks for the tip!
xo
s
Jennifer : Creative Scatter says
Oh no, now I really want one! Unfortunately for me, the Nest came out right after I upgraded my thermostat to a programmable one. I would love to be able to track my energy usage and change the temperature on my phone!!
Amanda says
I’m so envious! I’ve never heard of the nest, but now I want one reaaaaallly bad!
Amanda says
And p.s. go as tech nerd as you want, because i’m secretely loving all these high tech upgrades!
Katie B. says
Awesome! I first saw this on a “This Old House” episode and thought it was so neat. I hope you guys do a follow-up post on if it helped lower energy costs. Thanks for sharing!
Jennifer I. says
I just caught thermostat envy.
Raemi says
My tech-loving husband begged for these for both floors of our house when they first came out — now I can’t imagine not having them! They have paid for themselves by lowering our outrageous Texas summer A/C bills, plus they are so much prettier on the wall. :) I also like that they “talk” to each other to help regulate temps between the upstairs and downstairs, and that they can be controlled from your phone! And the number geek in me loves the monthly reports from Nest about how much energy (and money!) we’re saving.
Gina says
Thanks so much for this post. I have been wanting one of these for a while and now I’m going to attempt installation myself and surprise the hubs!
Gwen, The Makerista says
The design of that thermostat is so cool! We have a similar system that works with a phone app and it’s been great! We save quite a bit every month with the presets!
Amie says
Android users will be happy to know it’s available from Google Play.
I am really looking into this for a Christmas present to the both of us for Christmas. Or to the parents.
lori pruitt says
I got dorkily (word?) excited when I read this. We installed a Nest in our last house and LOVED it. Of course, at the time no one knew what that newfangled contraption on our wall was. We have raved about it to anyone that would listen. And can we just talk about that little screwdriver it came with? I have gotten so much use out of that! I’d say the Nest is just worth it all the way around :) Hope you guys are enjoying it as much as we did! Hoping to install it in our new rental soon!
Kelly says
Does is know you’re away from home because your iPhone is no longer on wifi/nearby? How would that work if you left an iPhone-less child home? Would that just be one more thing to remember for the babysitter? Just trying to anticipate my husband’s questions before I make the pitch :)
YoungHouseLove says
I don’t think it uses your phone to tell if you’re home since you might not always have your phone on you- it’s mostly by motion (when you walk by the unit lights up and senses you) but if you’re in the back of the house and it’s in the front it’s not always perfect (so adjusting things on the phone helps it learn and get more on point).
xo
s
Meg A. says
Nest sounds kinda creepy. It “knows” what you’re doing – eek! Like Santa Claus, but it gives you the gift of energy efficiency.
Cait says
Hello! I love your blog and book. I was very excited to see your post today because I happen to work for my father’s HVAC company. We are strictly residential with about 4,000 maintenance customers. We are also members of the Air Conditioning Contractors of America Association. After reading your post I went and discussed it with my father and our foreman. I asked what they thought about the Nest because after your post I wanted one in my apartment! Our foreman says that it is a very cool product and can do some neat things, if you have a simpler system. He said however that if you have a more complex system, you loose a lot of functions that you would have with other thermostats, like humidification controls and variable speed fan controls. For my small simple in my apartment it would be okay, but for someone like my Dad, who has the top of the line of the system in his home, he would be loosing a lot of features by switching to the nest.
Also, on a side note to anyone changing out their thermostat, a lot of the old ones contain mercury so be sure to dispose of them properly!
YoungHouseLove says
Love the tips Cait!
xo
s
Victoria says
I see a few others have requested this too, but a follow-up post on your savings would be very much appreciated. I’ve never heard of a Nest before, but with a baby on the way we are looking for every way to pinch some pennies.
YoungHouseLove says
We’d love to share a follow up with you guys in a few months!
xo
s
Erin says
We love our Nest! It didn’t take long for us to learn our schedule, and I love that it doesn’t turn itself on b/c one of the animals walked down the hallway it’s in. The energy reports are very cool, it gives you a pretty precise breakdown of where you’re using energy and how efficient you are in comparison to previous months, as well as to other Nest owners. It does turn off during the day and go into its “Auto” mode while I’m working in my office, but the phone app makes it so easy to get it running if I get too warm during my workday. We rarely touch our thermostat now, it’s so good at learning. Enjoy!
Mary Nicole says
Ring, ring. What’s that sound? It’s you guys phoning it in every. single. day.
What happened to this blog? I keep waiting for you guys to get interesting again but every day, it’s disappointing. A whole post about an armadillo print? Come on, guys! Thank God for John’s clever writing style or I would have bailed out months ago!
Your content is just not where it use to be. As everyone says, if it’s not interesting for you, then stop reading. So, I’m going to do just that.
Alison says
Is everything in your life interesting? It’s not in mine. Their content can’t be where it use to be, life changes.
Sara Beth says
I don’t know if anyone above has said something similar already, but I just want to say “Thank you!!” for not doing paid product reviews. I always know I can trust that you are giving us your unbiased opinion on a product. My husband and I have talked about getting a Nest at some point, and I was able to send him a link to your post without fear of “paid endorsement” skepticism on his end. Thank you!
YoungHouseLove says
Aw, you’re welcome Sara Beth!
xo
s
Julie @ Living on the Ledge says
Well that certainly is fancy pants! We installed zoning for our new house too, and I can’t wait to see how it works!
Mike Grant says
We installed two of them this past spring and they have been great. I also did a blog post about the process which was very easy. My setup was a little different in that I wanted to charge the internal battery on a regular basis rather than having the furnace cycle on and off to provide the charge. Check it out.
http://www.mikegrant.com/nest-thermostat-installation/
YoungHouseLove says
So smart Mike!
xo
s
michele says
i haven’t read all of the comments so perhaps this has been brought up already, but i was just listening to a story on npr this morning about the new “burglary” method: cyber break-ins via gadgets like this, that the bad guys can hack to see all of your systems, or do something as simple as search local wireless signals to see who has home controls online. they can literally open your garage doors and walk right in, they know exactly what sort of gear you have in your home based upon what you have connected to your wireless, and for those who have security cameras, the bad guys can literally see what you have in your home, control your lights and cars and locks, turn off your security system, etc. … new technologies, new problems.
YoungHouseLove says
Sounds scary! We have found a ton of peace of mind from our alarm system (it has a motion sensor, backup safety features if the power is cut, etc) so it really helps us feel secure when we’re home or off traveling. House sitting family members are also a favorite backup to an alarm when we’re going to be gone a while. Robots are cool but people still win I think, haha!
xo
s
Kate says
My husband was dead-set on getting a Nest when we finished our renovations… and I’m glad I acquiesced and “let” him get it last year! We both LOVE it! The convenience of being able to control it from our iPhones is awesome, as well as the Auto-Away setting and the leaf-earning abilities!
I bet your favorite part of having a Nest will be the monthly and quarterly energy reports… where you get to see the leafs and $$$ savings add up! My husband’s geeky side loves the report and how it quantifies our energy and money savings.
YoungHouseLove says
All this talk about counting leaves has me excited. I’m a keeping score with greenery kind of girl. Ha!
xo
s
Summer says
How cool!!! Is this only compatible with an iphone? LOVE reading your daily posts. Im fairly new to your site, and think ya’ll (im from the south) do such amazing things. Keep up the good work :)
YoungHouseLove says
It works with all smart phones I think and on a computer you can access stuff too!
xo
s
Ashley H says
Maybe you already said this, but was the Nest on sale at Lowes? I saw where you said they were about $158 each after the discount and I couldn’t figure out the math if they were originally $250 each (which is what it says online at Lowes). We have been eyeing one and if we can get it for under $200 I want the details! Thanks! New to the blog world and love reading your post!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Ashley! We think the first generation ones were $200 originally but dropped down (and then we stacked the coupon and our credit card discount) but the second generation ones are $250 I think. Hope it helps!
xo
s
Rachel says
We have a nest and we love it! We love that it learns our schedule and turns down when we’re out of the house. It’s so easy for visitors to use, too! I freaked out when my husband said he spent $400+ dollars when they first came out, but he’s a techy-geek guy so this is perfect for him.
emmarose says
Man, I’ve wanted one of these since before they were available! Housing situations haven’t allowed me to settle for long enough to invest in one. I was living in/renovating my rental house when they came out and was so bummed I couldn’t put one in there.
Although now living with my boyfriend and starting a new job might allow me to start thinking about getting one soon-ish. He’s not super on board about it yet (and he works at Home Depot? Weirdo). His dad mentioned he might be getting one, so I can drool over that in the meantime.
Joseph says
Holy crap I NEED one of these!
Katherine says
I wondered if you guys would ever get a Nest. We are part of the unlucky group who can’t use the first version, so we ponied up the dough for the 2nd Gen. We’ve had it since April, and it’s been wonderful! In April alone we saved $40 over our “usual” April bill. Now that it’s over 85-90 we aren’t saving $40 a month, but it will most likely still pay for itself within 12-15 months! I love the techy-ness of it, but I’m a person who enjoys working with databases and report servers! It was so awesome to have our AC unit off the week we were on vacation and have the ability to turn it on remotely when we were on our way back, enabling us to save money AND return to a cool house!
Joy says
I have wanted one of those for a very long time. I love living through you guys Lol… We are actually waiting to see if we are going to sell this house.
Karen says
Sherry,
Is it possible to have John cloned? The guy does all the tech/tuff jobs that I could use some help with! Think of the money you could make off of this cloning project!!
Just a thought,
Karen
YoungHouseLove says
I think a world full of Johns would be both delightful and terrifying. Haha!
xo
s
Amy says
We love our Nest. But our Lowes would not let us use our coupon AND our 5% from the credit card at the same time. We had to choose one or the other!