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I have Honeywell Wi-Fi enabled t-stats on the main floor and second floor (with zone-dampers and outside-air economizer controls for "free cooling") and have not enabled "data sharing" or granted user access to anyone besides myself to control them locally or remotely.

They're awesome, and even IF they were hacked and under the control of a greenie-weenie trying to freeze me in winter and broil me in summer…. being an HVAC (and technology) professional for over 32-years now, I know my way around HVAC controls to make things do what I want, when I want.

Ain't she a BE-ute?! ;) :s0108:
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I gave up on our central heat and air-conditioning. It has a very poorly designed and leaky duct system and could never keep us warm in the winter or cool in the summer despite sucking down mega $ of electricity.

I installed (by myself) mini splits in the great room (kitchen, dinning room, living room) and the 3 bedrooms. Now everyone can keep their bedroom at the temperature that is comfortable for them while saving huge $$$ on electric bills. I will eventually network the mini splits on our z-wave home automation system. We love being able to program our lights based on occupancy and time of day. It will be nice when we can do the same with our mini-splits.

I built our home automation myself so it has no link to the internet that I don't want it to have and it shares no data that I don't want it to share. Z-Wave isolates our house from the internet making it an extremely difficult hack to turn my lights on and off without my permission. Most people would be scared of such a system because they don't understand it or how it works. I would say it is better suited for the nerd hacker than the general public though.

P.S. I have never heard of power companies being able to control someone's thermostat and lock them out of it. What city did this occur in?
 
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P.S. I have never heard of power companies being able to control someone's thermostat and lock them out of it. What city did this occur in?
The UK

And IIRC, some places in the US (Calif?) the utilities have enough control to limit AC during peak hours - if you opt in?




The SIL yesterday shared a $25 deal on smart thermostats from the gas co (they have NG heat). I sent him a photo of my heat source; my woodstove. I live alone and I have a pattern for how I heat my 1700sf well insulated house; I get up in the AM, have my breakfast, start a fire in the stove and keep it going during the day, up to the low to mid 60s, until I hit the sack and then the house cools down into the 50s depending on the outside temps. I do not turn on the 10KW electric furnace (central air). This saves me about $300/mo in electricity as long as the firewood lasts.

Even when I use the furnace, I control it manually - I don't need it to do anything fancy - just get the temp up to the mid 60s and hold it there.

My main issue is humidity; both the furnace and the stove dry out the air - so I have pans of water on the stove, and a humidifier going. I also have a ceiling fan in the area between the two large "living rooms" to even out the air/heat with the sloped 12' ceilings and between the two rooms. The bedrooms usually remain closed from the heated areas - but towards the late afternoon I open up the master bedroom to bring it up to the low sixties so it is comfortable when I hit the sack. By the next morning it has cooled down again, which is how I prefer it as I sleep with a down comforter and like it cool - I am plenty warm in the bedroom once asleep under that comforter.
 
I have a VINE (smart) thermostat. The electric company has no control over it. As a matter of fact, I really don't have much control over it and I think only the Chinese govt is the only folks that have it figured out.

I do like being able to adjust it when I'm away, but recently had a power dump while I was away on vacation and when it came back on, it reset to factory settings which was like 50 degrees and of course didn't reconnect to the internet so I had no idea what it was doing. When I got home, my AC had been running full bore for days and my HVAC unit was completely iced up. Probably cost more to run that thing than the actual vacation cost. I am seriously considering going back to the old tried and true manual unit.
 
I have Honeywell Wi-Fi enabled t-stats on the main floor and second floor (with zone-dampers and outside-air economizer controls for "free cooling") and have not enabled "data sharing" or granted user access to anyone besides myself to control them locally or remotely.

They're awesome, and even IF they were hacked and under the control of a greenie-weenie trying to freeze me in winter and broil me in summer…. being an HVAC (and technology) professional for over 32-years now, I know my way around HVAC controls to make things do what I want, when I want.

Ain't she a BE-ute?! ;) :s0108:
View attachment 1317841
I purchased a similar Honeywell thermostat for our last home when we upgraded from an oil furnace to natural gas. I loved it. Forget to turn the thermostat down when you leave for vacation? No problem. Open the app on the phone. Come home early during the summertime from a trip? Have the house cooled down before you get home. I often wished I had an oven with a similar program to have the oven heated when you decide to bring the frozen pizza home at the last minute instead of cooking a meal. :s0114:

That said, while it was a smart thermostat, it was not hooked up to the utility company. Most utility companies will offer you a free one if you let them control it. Usually, they offer a discounted rate to fool people into signing up. If I recall, the thermostat was only about $100. Not worth it. Even if it was $1000, it would not be worth it to me. I have some friends behind enemy lines in SoCal who get theirs shut off in the middle of summer for several hours at a time. They signed a deal with the devil.

These thermostats work with no internet connection; you just can't access them via your phone without it. So if you are concerned about the government hacking your household network and gaining control, you just disconnect the device. You could still have all the timers set up for when you leave to work and return home. I had it set up for 72° at 5 am, 65° when we left for work, come back on at 3:30 to 72° and down to 65° while sleeping. Each day could be set up individually, or the whole week at once.
 
A utility might not be able to control a thermostat inside my house; port forwarding/etc. is something I am given to understand is not always possible, depending on the device, with Starlink. It uses CGNAT, so exposing devices on your private network is sometimes not possible. SL is implementing IPV6 and maybe exposing the IP address of your network, but I am not sure. I am given to understand that with CGNAT the IPV4 address can change from time to time and it is the IP addy of the POP?

Either way, a "smart" thermostat just doesn't give me enough utility/convenience to be worth it IMO.

Even when I go to hydronic radiant heat with some additional features - I plan to do this when I build new - I think I can get by just fine without having the ability to control it remotely.
 

granted - the UK - but still

I have not put any "smarts" in my house, except for my TV, phone and computer. I heat with firewood, and if I need to turn on my furnace I can do it manually - it doesn't take a lot to control the heat (although there have been times I left it on by mistake - big whoop!).
I have some lightswitch controls. My thermostat is smart capable. I just didn't give it network access.

This, I feel vindicated my decision.

 
The hook comes when you apply to the power provider for the rebates they offer you when you buy the thermostat. with that rebate you agree to let them control the temp at high usage times.

Not me. Keep your rebate!
 
We had the power supply go out on our four year old wifi router so I could not do anything until I got home. I tend to keep one older router as a backup. I was going to start using my old router but the router used the same power supply so I just plugged in the older power supply to get my Wi-Fi working again.

Now I am using my backup power supply pack so I need to either buy a new router or possibly buy a new power supply for my Netgear router.
 
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We have a PUD (Public Utility District) that is user owned. They provide excellent service, they are very personable and our electrical rates are some of the best in the PNW. There is nothing preventing the good folks of the greater Portland Metropolitan Area, from creating your own PUD and telling PGE to take a hike.
 
My thermostat may be smart but I use it like a manual unit. House is set at 64°F, 24x7.
I used one of those Vine units for 3 months. What a POS. If you put it on HOLD, it would reset itself after 24 hrs. Was going to pull it out and replace it with a manual unit while I was there, said fuggit instead.
 
The hook comes when you apply to the power provider for the rebates they offer you when you buy the thermostat. with that rebate you agree to let them control the temp at high usage times.

Not me. Keep your rebate!
Absolutely correct. I purchased a NEST programmable thermostat and when I looked at the rebates I saw the hook. Essentially for $85 they control your comfort during high peak times. I live in South Texas and in 2022 we had 60 some days in a row of over 100* heat. I can't imagine what it would be like to have the temp control be remotely set by GVEC to maybe 80-85. And for $85 you have sold out your family.
Nice thermostat but the rebates are not worth it.
 

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