Should You Buy the Room Sensors From Nest and Ecobee?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 9 лют 2025
- Should You Buy the Room Temp Sensors from Nest or Ecobee? Not unless you've got smart vents in your house. These sensors are a waste of money and wont save you money. Lets talk about it!
#VEDA day 4
-----------------------------------
Room Temp Sensors
nest.com/therm...
www.ecobee.com...
-----------------------------------
Ecovent
www.ecoventsys...
Flair
flair.co/
Keen
keenhome.io/
amzn.to/2Kr1r5L
-----------------------------------
►Follow Me !
➥ / grosstechreview
➥ / grosstech
➥ / grosstechnology
-----------------------------------
►SUBSCRIBE UA-cam
→ / grosstechnology
-----------------------------------
DISCLAIMER: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows us to continue to make videos like this. Thank you for the support!
List of gear:
kit.com/GrossT...
Tubebuddy link:
www.tubebuddy....
MorningFame link:
morningfa.me/i...
Video Ranking Academy link:
courses.seanca...
In this video we go over why I believe its useless to have these smart thermostat room temp sensors around your house. And why you shouldn't get them, because its just a scam.
![Best Smart Thermostats 2025 [don’t buy one before watching this]](/img/n.gif)
UPDATE: !!! The sites have changed their wording about this since the recording of this video, which is good. It is totally about comfort, but what I am trying to make sure everyone understands is that these will not save money. That is the point of the video. The companies talk about how these will save you money because it can send heat/air con to the rooms when you are in those specific rooms. But it can't do that! It can only send heat/air con to the entire house... it can't blow to specific rooms, which is what they are leading people to believe.
Does it make the rooms and house more comfortable, oh totally yes. And I've never said it wouldn't do that. It will most definitely make your average more average. You are right with only the one sensor at the thermostat it can't truly know what upstairs or downstairs really is. So making those rooms correct is almost impossible without some type of sensor in those areas.
But again, this will make the entire system blow to the entire house to try and achieve that instead of just to that room, like they said it would.
This all said, both sites have been changed since the recording of this video. The wording has been changed so that its more vague and doesn't state these issues. So it has started to become a mute point, but still viable to know what you will actually get with these things.
I'm going to do a new updated video on this showing both the smart vents, as well as how these sensors work and all. Hope that helps clarify things.
I just wanted people to understand what they were actually getting and not to just think these sensors would just allow certain rooms to get air to them and not to the rest of the house.
Sorry you think the video is misleading but I hope this helps clarify things.
Gross Technology I think it does save money. Before the sensor I’d have to set my cool temp at 74/75 to keep the bedroom cool. Now with adding the stat and sensor I can set it at 76 to keep the room comfortable
Well that’s you changing the temp, if you’d leave it at 76 before it would save the same money.
Gross Technology my point was without the sensor I’d have to over cool my whole up stairs to keep the bedroom comfortable. So it does save money, but it depends how you use it. I agree it can cost you more more but also more comfortable
It does save money. Before if I left my house in the morning and forgot to adjust the thermostat to away mode, the AC will run all day set at he lower temp. The room sensors can tell if anyone is in the house after a period of time. If no one is home, it sets the AC to away mode which is a higher temp. The AC will not turn on as often which saves money.
Wrong!
It will only cool the "hot" room if it's occupied.
Try again.
Smart vents can help as well.
I disagree with your sentiment. For instants. I use mine to monitor my bedroom temp at night. Keeping the temp in bedroom where I want it instead of overheating the rest of the house for no reason, but an hour before I wake up I want the whole house warm, so it automatically switches to another senor and warms the my place up. You might say "well you could just set a schedule to do all that" but I can't due to having an irregular work schedule. So the sensors do this for me if I am in my bedroom. It won't change it until I get into the room at night. This helps and safes me money.
Your understanding of these devices seems to be a little bit narrow. There are a few ways that these devices can save you money by keeping the house at a true average. But the bigger advantage to this device is being able to set one room as a priority During certain periods of the day. For example my bedroom due to the way my HVAC system is configured can get extremely hot during the winter because I keep my door closed and my thermostat is located in my hallway. By placing this sensor in my bedroom and setting certain periods of time where my bedroom takes priority over the rest of the house I can keep myself from being overheated at night. Another good example would be the kitchen when cooking, obviously it would get hotter than the rest of the house and become uncomfortable especially during a holiday situation where you have guests over. Again one of these sensors can automatically see that and adjust accordingly. I'm not trying to be rude but you need to look at more than one side of an issue before you make such matter of fact statements about new technology.
Oh no, don't worry. I never said I was the king and knew it all, was just my opinion on it. But yes you are correct about it giving a better average for the "house" which I will say loosely because unless you have them all over the house it isn't the entire house average, but aside from that, yes you are correct on that. Which I never said was the issue, but will that help save money, in some cases I guess yes a degree or two could save a little bit or it could actually raise your bill because now its trying to work more.
I am strictly looking at it saving you money. Yes these devices have a lot more they can do, and can help automate and make your house more comfortable. And in the situations you said it would most definitely help and solve the issues. But again I'm looking at it from the "saving you money" side.
So even if you had the situation like the kitchen, while yes it will make that room more comfortable, the rest of the house would be freezing because of how much it would have to cool down that one room, but it hits all the rooms. And honestly that is going to throw off the "house average" because of the other rooms getting ac when they don't need it. And honestly this will make your unit work harder and more often trying to keep an "average" temp throughout the house, which can lead to wearing or killing your unit much much quicker.
In the end what I am trying to get people to understand is that these by themselves will not save you money, and really wont work to what they say it will unless you have some kind of smart vents that will control the flow of the air. But yes, they still have uses and in some cases can be really helpful like for you in your room with the heat. But that will not save you money.
If we look at your situation. Okay so your room lets say heats up 5 degrees higher than the rest, because anything less than that you really wont notice, and by having this in there it either will stop heating up the room and the rest of the house resulting in the rest of the house being colder. Or it will turn to put the AC on till that room reaches its temp it is programmed to be, which pumps AC into the rest of the house and freezing the rest. Now if you have a heat pump system with a reversing valve, this is going to wreck havoc on that valve switching back and forth, because with a smart thermostat it will switch to whatever to get that temp to what you want it to be meaning it will turn it to AC for the time period to cool it down. Now we get your room down those 5 degrees but opps, now the rest of the house is 5-9 degrees colder than it should...so what does it do? Turns the heat back on, and we are put into a never ending cycle.
That said, if you are able to set a variance or a tolerance for what the "average" should be that will help, but then you are back in the same situation where the room is too hot.
Again, I'm not claiming I know everything, because I don't have both systems so I can't say for sure, but just looking at it from the outside, this is the issue I have with them.
That is the beauty of this community, to get everyone's opinion, and to help everyone, including me, on the information that is correct. So don't feel like you are being rude, I don't take it like that at all. Thanks again for your input. Let me know what you think of what I am saying, plus let me know if you have found a way around what I'm calling the infinite loop issue.
Also, which system do you have? Nest or Ecobee?
I don't think the OP's understanding is narrow. He's saying the same thing as you, just in other words, and that is: AVERAGING. If you have *sensors* in each room but no *actors* (controllers) in each room, there's not much your "smart" thermostat can do, other than settling to an average. With presence sensors, it can become *weighted* average, but it's still an average.
What you can do with heating (radiators) is to *manually* adjust the radiator valves ratios if you know one room is generally warmer than other (set valve to 3 in naturally "warm" room vs to 5 in naturally "cold" room), and fine-tune this manual setting by watching the temperature readings in these rooms over a period of time.
But if you wanted a truly smart heating system, you need a temp sensor in each room AND a temp controller (at least radiator valve) in each room too. Effectively creating semi-independent heating zones. As a minor side topic, a radiator valve with temp sensor built-in will give you skewed readings, as the temperature right next to the radiator is probably higher than 3 meters from it..
Same logic applicable for A/C units. Sensor without actor can do only so much.
Very good points, didn't even think of radiators!
Noooooo....you're wrong. He's absolutely correct. A average forced are system has no way to heat or cool an individual room without affecting something else. If you have a chilly basement and you want it toasty....these devices will do that...at a cost. The remainder of the house WILL be uncomfortably hot AND your furnace will run MORE often. Unless you are a 1%er....these devices are a gimmick. Gullible people who buy this crap usually are unable to comprehend logic or admit they were taken. Man up...you got taken. Don't defend a bad purchase or logic that's illogical.
I know this is an old video, but as a smart home professional, I needed to point out that this is not accurate. You're only looking at it from the point of view of one type of heating/cooling system. The idea to the sensors is to know the temperature in those rooms and whether someone is occupying them to know whether it needs to adjust the temperature to heat/cool that room. In other words, in my home there is one main heating zone that covers both my main floor and my upstairs master bedroom. My master bedroom tends to be pretty cold in the winter even though the main thermostat is set to 71 degrees. However, the system knows to average the system out to keep the master bedroom relatively warm throughout the comfort setting. Then when it knows I'm actually occupying the master bedroom, it heats the main zone until that rooms heats to 71 degrees. This is absolutely saving money versus always having the system heating enough to keep that room at 71. The best HVAC systems in the world have remote temperature sensors. You really should have done more research before bashing the concept.
I agree. In no way did I think the sensors would allow for the HVAC to push out different temps for different rooms simultaneously. That’s just silly but everyone comprehends differently. I want to get the sensors because my room is so hot while the living stays cold, so I need the sensor to tell the ecobee to stop when my room is at a good temp. I’m also hoping the sensor will stop the ecobee from running all the time. Thank you for your response
Yes, old video but happy you took the time to speak the truth on here.
i've always wondered about that... how it will balance all the room temperatures by these sensors but really without the vents or airflow from the registered are also getting controlled. thanks for whacking my head.... you just saved me $80. in my book, that's savings!
Yeah, in some cases it works but it’s something people don’t think about for sure.
How can a Single Furnace or Air Conditioner cool a single particular room when the sensor monitors the room, and the thermostat sets a temperature, that simply indicates that the central air turns on or off or cool or heat, so how is a particular room going to have a different distinct temperature from another.
Step 1, understand how your system works. Air conditioners work by removing the heat from your house through the return... If you have a hot room, and your house doesn't have zones, put in another air return in our near the hot room. If you have a hot room and you leave the door closed, the return won't suck in the hot air. Second, temperature sensors work if your thermostat is located somewhere that doesn't represent the overall temperature of your house. They help average out the temp of the house.
Nobody thinks about it, but this is effective for homes where just one or two people live. They usually occupy 1 or 2 rooms at a time, so the game of adjusting to room temp is useful
smart thing to do would be to consult a hvac tech before trying to talk about hvac. it can help save a significant amount of money which is why most commercial buildings use similar technology. i work on hvac a lot and all of our buildings have a similar system and weather it controls a vent or not it provides data which we use to adjust and tune. for instance balancing the hvac system. you can manually adjust your registers in each room to balance out the hvac air flow. also the systems can ignore unoccupied room temps only focusing on occupied rooms.
Hello, I am so happy you took the time to write your note. I am amazed how many "professional" recommendations people put out when they are undereducated on the topic. I just had the HVAC pros here and they didn't advise what this video does. One of the things that the person in the video is missing is that the sensors have motion detection and turn on a system if was set to be off. The Ecobee has a sensor to turn off HVAC if a window is detected to be open. Both of those features seem logical to me.
The main reason for sensors like this are to improve comfort. On freezing sunny days the sun warms up our 1st floor, though the basement and 2nd floor can drop by 4-6° degrees below the set temperature.
exactly and without it youd have to manually adjust your thermostat like all the time which is pretty impossible and frustrating to do.
I see where you are going with this however it’s not entirely accurate:
1. Is a zone system (electronically controlled dampers and multiple thermostats connected to control board) better? Absolutely, and you’d want Honeywell for that. But it’s expensive, say, $1500-$3000 installed roughly.
2. For businesses or rental properties these sensors can potentially solve a major problem. Unoccupied areas with a thermostat for a system that treats multiple areas. It averages out the temps and let’s the system know to keep running.
Is it perfect? No, but even zone systems have their own short comings. What these sensors do is offer a possible solution to these problems without going to the next major step of installing a zone system.
Side note: for truly independent control and efficiency you have to abandon central air and go for mini-split systems. However with that you lose the indoor air quality benefits that you get with a central air system. (See how complicated all this stuff is? 😂)
But good video, however I disagree completely that these are pointless.
The only piece of proper, correct information someone has put out there. Rest of the people are just paid to tell you that you need these sensors.
Thanks for the video, I have an ecobee with 2 sensors. They are really helpful as my thermostat was installed next to the return on a hallway so if the bedroom doors are open the thermostat would hit temps before the rest of the house would hit temps. With the addition of 2 sensors I can force the ecobee to only look at the external sensors and ignore the thermostat. This way our whole home cools vs the hallway. I do agree that added vent controls is the complete package but it depends on the square foot of your house! The sensors are great and for my use they are not
A waste but an improvement!
I agree but disagree for winter temps. This worked for me in the winter. The Ecobee unit is in the hall which is always colder I set it at 67. Two rooms were supper hot since the Hall unit was set at 67 but read 64 i just kept trying to get to 67. The heater would turn on but the rooms were already at 70. I got the sensors so the hall unit now knows when to stop heating. I will adjust and evaluate for summer temps.
Exactly, like you said, without smart vents (why have I not looked into any of these?!?!!) it will not save you anything. Makes no sense, the entire house gets cooled to cool that one room. I'm with you here man
Exactly! Now some smart vents actually come with everything, where you don't have to go out and buy a different sensors and thermostat. Which is nice that some have their own system.
I have had the ecobee for over a year in multiple properties and the way the sensor saves you money is instead of the usual thermostat being triggered due to a door opening because in many cases the thermostats have been near the front door and when the door opens the heat will be triggered because the temperature changed. Now it will not be triggered unless the sensor in the specific room that you have placed it in is triggered. Even though what he said in the video is true, it is also true that you can use the sensors in a way to save you money.
In a way, yeah that specific situation would help a little, but since it averages out the temps it would still set it off at some point, so yeah it would lessen it, but not to the degree you’d be seeing a lot of savings, as the companies were trying to say it would.
THANK YOU!!!!! AC repair was trying to sell me these and I thought the same thing. It's just going to turn the AC on longer and make other rooms colder. Great video.
You are welcome! Yeah it sounds great and would be great if it worked that way but unfortunately without a zoned system or auto vents it’s just going to run longer.
Yeah im going the smart vents route. And thanks for that because this video is the first time I'm ever hearing about smart vents. Lol.
The idea behind the smart sensors is to get a “true average” temperature of the rooms being detected. Rather than just a hallway or one individual room where the thermostat is installed. Most people have a room that is difficult to heat or cool and this tech makes it easier to balance it out. No the only way to truly have different temperatures in different rooms is with a zoning system and individual stats in each room. More $$$
That is a very good point, yes these will give a better and more “true average” like you say. That isn’t the issue, it is because of how the companies market them to be cost savings and that it will heat specific rooms based on your presence. That is what the issue I have with them.
The problem I usually see as an HVAC tech is a two-story house we’re upstairs is always hotter than downstairs. They work great for averaging the temperature between to sell one is neither too hot nor too cold they’re both slightly off from what do you want but overall it’s less noticeable
Two words...zone controller.
We have a garage apartment and the main upstairs and both are heated/cooled by the same unit. But they're on separate thermostats. There is a three zone controller (of which we're only using two zones of) in the attic that the thermostats link to, and it controls both the AC/heating unit and each zone damper. This system actually works, because it literally shuts off airflow to areas where it doesn't need to go by shutting or opening the dampers.
However, said dampers have to be installed in your ducting, and it's difficult unless you're redoing the ducting completely.
The only way a zone systems saves money is if you have a varieble condenser and/or furnace that can step down it's output. If not, most zone systems are also about comfort, as all they do is bypass the air that would go to those other rooms back into the return...which can actually cause issues in certain markets. Zone systems that can actually save you money cost upwards of $20k...so are you really saving?
Great content! Thanks for the smart air vent referrals!
Yeah glad to be of help!
This seems to be a short sighted observation. In my situation, the upstairs thermostat is in a poor location to adequately sense the temp of the living spaces. In that light, the sensor makes sense.
Oh I agree, and like I said in some cases it’s justified. But I was more about the fact they were trying to sell this, “save all this money” and “it will only heat/cool the rooms people are in”. Which both of these things have been removed from their site and advertising or been rewritten to explain and say it correctly.
Thank you for this information! You definitely answered the question I had right after reading info about these devices.
Glad to be of help.
Maybe an update is needed here. Specially with ecobee and flair smart vent partnership this issue is resolved but very costly thought.
That’s a great idea. Making a list of new videos to make.
You’re 100 percent correct
Thanks
Thank you for your simplification .I don't know why you have less views , but you made a great point and made easier for me to buy a thermostat without wasting extra money. I had wasted almost 5 hours plus just going over videos and finally decided to get whats needed according to my HVAC system
Thanks!
I just put in two Ecobee Smart thermostats. I have a 3,000 sq ft home and have a HVAC unit on either side of the house. I bough two extra sensors. However, I thought as you did / do that these were a bit of a gimmick. Nevertheless I put them out and tied them to the thermostats. Over the first few days I configured them in such a way that I was using all the sensors to ‘feed’ the main thermostat. Then it dawned on me that I was not using them correctly. Let’s take the thermostat in the master bedroom wing. It is in the master hallway. Half of my home’s temperature is based off the reading at that one location. Fact is once we leave that area of the house around 7:00am, we aren’t really there until 9:30pm or thereabouts. So having 1/2 the house’s temp based off that location doesn’t make much sense. I put one of the sensors in the living room and one in the master bedroom itself. What I have now done is ‘turn off’ the temperature reading during the day at all locations except the living room - where I want the temperature to meet my needs. I could care less about the other locations. Today, for example, the living room temp was 73. This is my temp setting. The hallway, where the thermostat is read 80, but because of the way i have the system configured, that reading is not used during the day to drive the cooling. What this tells me is that prior to the Ecobee I was over cooling the rest of the house to keep the master hallway temp at 73. At night, I have set all sensors ‘off’ except the mater bedroom which I have set to 71. Again, I could care less about the hallway and the living room. I hope that makes sense. Essentially, because you can turn off some sensors and activate others you can effectively move your thermostat where you need it. I’ve only had these for less than a week, but I do see the potential for savings. Time will tell.
So I do understand and like the idea that it can not only average out across the sensors but that can turn certain ones off is great. But again my argument with the system working throughout the entire home. For your place, yes the room you want to be a certain temp will get that temp, but it’s also still cooling or heating the rest of the home. It just is possibly shutting off sooner since it reaches that temp of the specific sensor. So I can see it working both ways I guess.
Can you point me to how I can configure a sensor to act as the main thermostat so the systems respond to its readings rather than the main thermostat? The main is in a lonely hallway
Do you have a nest or ecobee?
Two HVAC for a 3,000 sq ft? I have 4,000 and only have one. It's a new house though
I'm all for calling out companies' false claims, but I don't think that is the case here. At no point in time during my research did I get the impression that they were saying you could control which rooms were receiving hot/cold air. The way that they save energy is by adjusting the thermostat's temperature setting so that the coldest/hottest rooms in your house are brought to your desirable temperature ONLY when they are occupied. This is an improvement in energy efficiency.
Makes sense, cus this is a what I was thinking. The unit has to have zones or each room needs to be broken dwn by zones in order for this to even work.
If you fill your house with smart vents there's the possibility that too many vents will close and cause serious problems with your HVAC system. You could freeze the AC unit or cause back pressure on the furnace.
Sadly, it's not as simple as it sounds.
The logic behind the sensors are to ensure the areas that lack being hot or cold like the rest of the house, they get the same treatment. May make sense for some people and others not. For me idk why but our upstairs thermostat got installed in the master bedroom. If I have cool set to 70 in the summer the master will get there fairly quickly leaving the 2 kids room noticeably hotter. Sensors fixed that. Now if they are in their rooms the sensor will know that and don’t worry about trying to keep the temperature
It would be nice to install the sensor so the fan will be used to equalizer the temperature between two different spaces.
Unfortunately it does not in most applications save you money but it does provide you comfort when you want comfort in a room with a different temperature. You can set up the devices and how they interact with each other. You can have them average the temps between the ones you choose or look at just the one/s you select. I do agree that adding smart vents will make a much better controlled home and do add the savings factor but like for me all my bedrooms are upstairs and I only have one hvac unit. I tell the t-stat to only pay attention to the downstairs temp until the evening hours this saves me plenty when it is hot out because the unit does not try to cool upstairs but on the other end I do not have to adjust anything in the evening because now the unit does the adjustments for me based on the extra sensor to make it comfortable sleeping temps based on my master bedroom. Do you need it, no, but can it add comfort yes. My old "dumb" t-stat did not do anything to compensate for the temperature difference either I had to program times and temps manually but it worked. Again on the savings side in most applications you are not going to see savings but it has its uses if comfort not just savings is what you seek. Oh the little sensors have 2032 button batteries that last only about 6 months also. Just my experience with the Ecobee.
You get the most benefit from smart thermostats only if you switch to smart vents that can restrict/open air flow.
The temp sensors work in my situation because I have a roommate who prefers to have the apartment (especially her room) really cold throughout the day. I enjoy warmer temps. The sensor would allow me to prioritize the AC in her room while closing up other vents in the apartment where the AC isn't needed. That way, the AC only works enough to keep her room at that colder temp while leaving the rest of the apartment at my preference.
But do you physically close those vents?
I'm glad you explain this. I am looking at a new smart thermostat and at first I saw the new smaller thermostat add ons and was like hey what a good idea, everyone has that one room that gets a little hotter or a little colder than the rest of the house. Then I immediately started analyzing how this would work and started laughing that this was truly being sold. A central unit is just that, a central unit. It can only provide heated or cooled air through every vent. Therefore, even if you place a thermostat in a certain room and want it to get that room to a certain temp, then all other rooms will change temps as all vents recieve the airflow.
But then I began thinking I had a new ingenious invention with smart vent controls, but 10 seconds later I googled this and realized this has been done.
Yeah but it seams that a lot of people don’t understand this at all. Or they just go to the “it averages out better” which okay yeah but still doesn’t change the fact of what it’s doing.
But yes, smart vents are key, just have to be careful not to damage the unit because the flow change.
@@GrossTechnology yup you would probably be better off doing a hvac bypass to keep from overloading the system
Tyson Stone true but that would depend on the size of the house. If it’s a smaller home like mine, the cost of that wouldn’t be worth it.
Exactly what I always thought. But wanted to hear from someone else. That's the reason I landed on this video. Like how does it stop the air from flowing to other rooms without shutting down the vents physically.
Exactly! But sadly, as the comments all on this video, people don’t understand.
Works well in an instance where you have a two-story house with one air conditioning system and a reverse temperature gradient at night from what you have during the day. A single thermostat cannot be in both places at once.
Found when i placed my remote sensor for my nest on my dresser for the 2nd for bedroom left the the room comfort better controlled vs having to modify any ductwork or system.
Lots of other factors/variables at play with this specific type of thermostat technology, such as keeping humidity down and also prolonging the life of your unit/furnace as well. Humidity in the home causes failures and winds up costing more money when it comes to the system itself. Humidity can create mold in vents and also hinder the central air systems ability to do its job. Lots of newer AC units are much more efficient than those of just a decade or two ago. Couple a nice new central air system with this technology and you'll have yourself a very efficient and well kept system for several years granted it was installed correctly. I think what people should realize is that these room sensors likely won't do much for an older system but will truly shine with a variable speed or two stage unit. Dampers, which is what you were trying to suggest, would certainly do a great job at effectively keeping individual rooms cool, but most people do not want to pay the extra money, not only for the hardware but to also have it installed professionally. You definitely don't want to install dampers on an older, less efficient system as you'd be better off spending that money on a new, more energy efficient compressor.
I have ZERO experience with installing, selling or repairing HVAC, however I recently had to do some homework on the subject as I had my whole system replaced with a 17 SEER two stage trane compressor and furnace with bottom floor and top floor zoning (dampers). With the sensors I can also inform my installer which rooms are cooler or not pumping out enough air so they may make adjustments to the zoning control accordingly.
To conclude; I have two ecobee thermostats (one up/one down) and 4 sensors (2 up/2 down) and so far I'm petty happy with the adjustments it makes according to occupancy as well as temperature fluctuation. They could definitely be better, cheaper and more configurable, but they do help.
First off, thank you for watching and for putting the time into writing your comment.
I completely agree with what you are saying, newer systems are by far, going to take advantage of these sensors, and smart thermostats the best. And as you mentioned having zoning control with dampers really allow you and your new system to take advantage of these sensors. That being said though, I am not really suggesting people spend thousands and get dampers installed to have these sensors work, but rather look into smart vents, that they can setup and install themselves. They act, in a rough way, similar to the dampers you have installed.
The main point I was trying to have people think and realize that putting these sensors is not going to save them tons of money like the companies tried to portray their devices would do. And you are especially correct that the older systems, while they will work with the thermostats, will not take full advantage nor really see the savings as the companies were saying.
The other point I was making is that without some type of damper, either smart vent or actual damper in your system, to achieve that lower or higher temp in the rooms, or even to get that "average" temp in the house, it would have to heat or cool your entire home. Which just common sense tells you that if you are heating or cooling an entire house, rather than just the room that is in question, you will not be saving money and will actually be spending more, especially in the larger homes.
That said, a lot of the larger homes already have two zone controlling systems installed, either by two actual systems or one with two different zones with dampers installed. In the second case, yes the system would be able to close some of those dampers off, but it still is not just going to heat or cool a single room.
To sum it all up, yes will having more sensors around the home give your system a better and more accurate temp readings and therefore allow you to have a more accurate "average" temp throughout the home, most definitely. And if that is all you are looking for then by all means the sensors are going to be great! (A bit pricy as you said, but they will do just that) But if you are, as they were stating on their site, wanting to cool or heat a single room in your home, either because its the cold or hot room in the house or its the one you are in, and you have no dampers or smart vents, you will be wasting energy and money on heating or cooling the entire house to achieve that "average" temp.
That is what I wanted people to be aware of.
Again, thanks so much for your comment and for watching. If I can help you with anything in the future don't hesitate to reach out. Thanks again!
Exactly. I said how in the works is the sir handler going to control individual rooms.
It should save you money if you have zones already, but if you have zones set up the same way I do - a control for each zone - you will have to buy a nest or ecobee for each zone. It will save in the case of ecobee sensors because the occupancy detection. I have 3 zones. I mostly use 1, so it will set the other 2 zones to "away" mode and only push air to the zone I am in. I also have a fireplace, so when that is in use it is very helpful.
If you do not have zones, then this is probably not good.
It’s really not useless, per se. my thermostat is in the room with my front door. In the winter, every time my door opens heat kicks on and the second floor roasts. This would help me.
Good points. Thanks!
You are welcome
Brilliant. Looking at getting a smart thermostat. Never thought about how those sensors work. Might be cheaper to just ard cheap thermometers for each room you want to. I might look at smart vents. Great common sense info.
My main thermostat is in my living room with my fireplace. When the fireplace is on the room heats up so the furnace doesn't kick in, then the rest of the house gets very cold. A remote sensor in a different room will ensure the house stays at a constant temp even when the fireplace is on. There is a value to these sensors without smart vents if you understand your needs.
Good explanation!
Not sure I agree with that. Yes, if you put a sensor in the colder rooms, your hvac system should kick on and heat up those rooms, but, if you dont have a smart vent/sensor in the room where your fireplace is, your also pumping the heat from your hvac system in to that room as well and it may get over heated
Great video!!! Thank u 🙏
I have the ecobee3 room sensors strictly for comfort. My room temps are quite different, and goodness, my bedroom can be very hot.
Oh I agree, the sensors are and do work for trying to average out the temp in those off rooms. Like I said, my kids room is the same way, either hotter or colder based on whats happening in the weather. But back when this video was made it was advertised as a "saving you money on your bill" thing. That has since changed on their site, but that was the main thing I was trying to get across on this video. Plus the idea that they would only cool or heat a specific room without having smart vents or zones in the system is false as well.
I understand where your coming from. Do you know that it's an option that you select? It's the follow me option. If you don't want it to do that then don't select it and let ecobee just basically do an all around average instead of follow me. I don't do the follow me option because I too believe it's a waste but it's a nice option for some who wants comfort in the room that are in and probably don't mind the cost. The ecobee does a very good job keeping the system from running more than it needs to because of the sensors. Rather than relying on one thermostat that can cause other times to get colder like my master bed room. Thanks for sharing.
See that is something that the Nest doesn't do. Starting to lean more towards the EcoBee line than the Nest, although the Nest works better in the Google sphere than the EcoBee does. And the sensors for the Bee are more than just temp sensors. But I will say that if you have any door sensors or motion sensors already around your home for a smart things or wink system, they often times have a temp sensor built in so you could, theoretically do the same thing for much cheaper...if it'd sync up. Thanks for the information!
It uses the fan to even the temp in other rooms as well as uses the a/c or heater so it doesn't always make the other rooms cooler and you don't need the vents.
I thought I was watching Gilbert Gottfried for a moment....
You are!
Gottfried is less annoying
“But I speak louder than Actions” -the back of his shirt
I wondered the same thing. I just paused the video and came down to the comments.
I really thought that I was missing something with the sensors. I was thinking the same thing...how can it control the temperature in individual rooms without changing the temperature in others lol. I still enjoy my nest though. Great info.
Oh yeah, I think both thermostats are amazing, and even if you have the sensors it will keep the rooms at a certain temp, but its gonna cost ya. So not like they don't work, plus you can use them as motion sensors for smart lights and other things too. So they aren't useless, just don't get them if you are wanting it to "save you money" from changing the temps in different rooms. That... it ain't gonna do.
That's a very good point. Also, to think about that most thermostats have a 1-2 degree variance as well so they wouldn't even do anything if the temps were that close. But you bring a really good point out, if there are multiple people in the house, how does it take that into account.
I’ve recently purchased a house with Ecobee 3 lite installed unit in MB and hallway running a dual 1st and 2nd floor system. I was about to get these sensors but figured air is blowing on just either 1st and 2nd floor. My dampers set to 0 for direct blow on either floors since hot air rises. You’re right without additional room dampers or smart vents installed. These sensors would be basically 1/4 of its main purpose. Most of the customer reviews and ecobee company itself didn’t stressed this out. But maybe customers are just looking to set on average temp which is easy to understand if they know how cold and hot air convection works. Thanks for the review hopefully people understand that they are just throwing money at purchasing sensors. If they want a 100% efficiency install dampers or smart vents in each room that’s where you get your money’s worth for these sensors.
Thank you! Finally someone that understand this. You are correct, and thanks for your input!
Finally a video that makes sense, but I do think an overall average may regulate the temp of the house more, however, it could be running the unit longer. If it lowers the temp everytime you leave then you still may save money. My Question is to anyone, if you leave the house and the heat goes from 70 to 65 cause it knows you went to work WILL it warm the house up when you leave work automatically, OR will it be cold until you get in the house and it knows you are home now (thinking ecobee3/4 vs Nest). Thanks.
That’s a great point. Yes it will definitely help regulate the entire house temps that’s for sure.
As far as your question, you can set it to do either. It would go off your geolocation of your phone. I’m not totally sure if that can be fully done in the nest/eco bee app or though things like IFTTT.
That said I think with it being a learning thermostat it will actually learn when you normally leave for work and get back and adjust without those inputs. That is the idea of them being not just controlled remotely but also having the ability to learn your habits and automatically adjust to them.
Thank you! Guess I have to decide which brand. Wish someone can just tell me ecobee4 or nest 3. 😀
Well do you already have google home or amazon Alexa?
Gross Technology thanks! Yes I have both. I went with the ecobee4 and a few sensors. A couple things bugged me about nest. Thanks for all your replies!
Yeah no problems glad to help.
What things bugged ya about nest?
I do think that the sensors can come in as useful in certain situations, even without the smart vents, which I would rather have than not. Let me explain. I bought a home 9 years ago and still live in the same home, but now alone, I'm a single guy. I have a 2 story home; old cellar, main floor, and upstairs. The one room I really want a smart vent in, is my bedroom, which is upstairs. The problem I have, is my vent measures 2x12, which I cannot find a smart vent for. what I would like is to keep my main floor heated between 68 to 71 during the day, but as heat does rise, it does get hotter upstairs, so at night, I would like the tempurature to be taken from my upstairs room. So for this scenario, the sensor without the smart vent should do what I want. I would still rather go the smart vent route as I do have a main floor bathroom that the door stays closed on and does get quite warm.
I have 3 zones in my house. These sensors will allow me to better control those zones with only 1 thermostat instead of 3.
In your case, yes, with that many zones its huge to have multiple thermostat readings.
Because of all the marketing speak about smart thermostats I’ve read, it took me 3 days of research to realize that’s not what they claim unless you have some kind of zoning setup. I really can’t understand why they doin’t just make the smart thermostat SEND multiple thermostat readings from sensors to a multi-zone panel. Then you can manage all systems from one panel. Want to override one particular sensor (room)? Add a simple UP/DOWN buttons and temp display to the sensor. Done. None of all this misleading crap to sell you more junk and WASTE more energy.
Exactly!!! Glad someone else gets it. By the way, they do have systems like you describe, but they are commercial systems that cost WAAYYY Too much for a residential situation. But hopefully that comes down the line at some point.
If the other room is 2 degrees hotter would it not just turn on the fan instead of the whole a. System to redistribute the air? For example basements are colder than the min floor if you just run the fan and have a return down stairs it could push that colder air from down stairs to the upstairs right?
That would be wonderful if it was that smart. But no it wouldn’t do that.
I agree with you for the most part. I mainly use them as occupancy sensors for the ecobee. I have teenagers in the house, and when I leave they're usually not too concerned of where the thermostat is set. The censors know if nobody is home and shuts things down. That's what I primarily use them for.
Yeah my wife likes to open the windows up in the summer so I have sensors to turn the AC off so I don’t cool the outside down.
No one ever said it would close your vents to the other rooms. Common sense tells you to cool a warmer room to a specific temp it will cool the already cooled room. That’s why you only use the sensors to rooms that are always occupied or use schedules for only at night where the temperature is more evenly distributed. I use sensors in my kids and only use them for sleep schedules. It’s smart sensors not smart vents.
Not true my HVAC system in my house uses three thermostats to heat and cool my home. I have one on every level and I have automatic dampers that control temp on each level closing dampers on level heat or air is needed and bringing that level to desired temp. So the echobee and it's sensors with help replace two of the stats and with main unit on entry level. So know your home and there's products for venting already doing this outside of smart vents as he called it.
It is true, but you have 3 different units supplying your home. That is why that system works in your home. Plus you are talking about the dampeners that automatically adjust which is exactly what the smart vents would do. So you are proving my point. They are the units that control the air flow. And not just blowing through the entire floor in your case.
It will cost more money but it will get the temp to an acceptable level . I'm ok with that. Esp if its smart enough to stop clling when the rooms aren't occupied.
I understand, but it can't cooling rooms that are occupied vs ones that aren't. It will still run the system to the entire home, or whichever split system those rooms are in.
I have sensors all over the place. I love them! Helps keep my house warm/cool.
They definitely do keep the rooms at the certain temps but it’s at the cost of blowing more air or heat to the rest of your house. Therefore costing more money. But yes they will regulate and keep those rooms at desired temps, just not with the money savings.
Do you have the ecobee or the nest?
Ecobee 3
Why is this man yelling at me about sensors.
😂
These sensors have been useful to make sure certain rooms maintain a specified temp. Not a money saver per-say unless the rooms you in are closer to the ideal temp than the non-occupied rooms.
Oh very true, not doubting or saying that they wont work. But its not what the company was saying they would do.
i was thinking same exact thing!!!!!... great video! :D finally somebody said it!!!
I don't understand how they get around this whole thing. I understand if you want to just say it will control the temp in a specific room to be that temp, or that it will get that temp when motion is detected in that room. But it can't do all that and save you money without restricting the flow of air into the rest of the house.
You see how by making tech which can detect your temperature in every room, facilitated you talking about smart vents. That's exactly what they're going for here. To build a technology which allows you to have a smarter and smarter home. They are the original building block and want their technology to get adapted.
Remember when Amazon first came out with Alexa and people said it was silly, all it could do was add stuff to your shopping list. That was a few years ago and now you can tell Alexa to lower your blinds and turn off the lights gradually. Alexa is the preferred technology of the vendors who are creating these devices now. And soon you'll be able to tell Alexa to order you a pizza with all your desirable toppings right to your house.
By entering the market early and being the technological standard in that industry is a very good thing for the brand.
That’s a very good point.
I have the same issue in my kids room and pair them with the smart vents from keen and try to fix it that way
Nice! How do you like the vents? Have they been helping?
I have to check you on something. From what I know having ecobee, not sure about nest, you cannot set temps on sensors everything is basically averaging of the ecobee thermostat that the sensors communicate with. You may want to clarify that.
On the Nest side you set what temps you want that sensor to basically be at. Really you set what temp you want that room to be at and it runs the system off that sensor.
@@GrossTechnology Got it so the nest has that capability. I guess ite up to the individual and the system,. Its probably an option. I prefer the average because everyone finds it more comfortable in the house. It is a good option though especially if your married lol. Thanks for the info
Really? Well that's great! Yeah I agree very important when married, or have kids.
you go sleep on that 80 degree room. I use the sensors depending on the time of day. Day time is the living room and night is the master bedroom. Also I had my house properly balanced.
I know this is an old vid but just seen it. .. you need a zoned ventilation system for the room sensors
Exactly!!!
let's say Install a window unit in one room and I set it to 75. let's say it cooled the room to 75. If I put a sensor in the room where the window unit is and the thermostat was set to 78 for central ac unit. wont it run less because it thinks the room is cooler?
If you do have smart vents or multiple zones then it’s a good idea to use them but if you don’t then it’s rather pointless.
Now let's talk about these smart vents!!! Great video man! 🙌
Haha yeah I’ve gotta get a smart thermostat first, then the vents. But they are really cool.
What you really need is.......balancing the output of each heating/cooling duct in the house for each room. For both the summer and the winter months.
Buy yourself some inexpensive ($2) thermometers and install 1 in each room at eye level on an interior wall. (Please do not try and get by with just a couple of thermostats--- it won’t work)
Now read the temperatures every day morning, noon, afternoon and evening. Record these readings on a temperature chart. You will notice that each room will have its own individual temperature trend based upon solar radiation or lack thereof.
Now analyze the data you have collected.... You will know which ducts need increased airflow and which ones need to be turned down. Make the changes to the air flows within the ducts and monitor / record the temperatures in all of the rooms continuously. By tweaking each duct you will be able to balance the temps within the home. This is done by finding the dampers on the duct and moving them a little at a time. Over a period of time with the proper tweaks all of the rooms in your house will be very close in temperature. NOW MARK THE POSITION OF THE DAMPER CONTROL. WITH A SHARPE PEN FOR WINTER OR SUMMER. BECAUSE DIFFERENT SETTINGS ARE NEEDED FOR HEATING OR THE COOLING SEASON. So when the opposite season rolls around a ten minute trip to the basement to move the dampers again should do it.
If you have a two story home an Automatic temperature sensing exhaust attic fan may be required to attain and maintain comfortable temps in a room with a southern to western exposure.
A contractor can install the attic fans with no problems. However ...... they will not want to balance your home room temperatures for you. It is too labor intensive and they cannot do it in one trip. Plus once you find out that this procedure works you will want it perfect and they cannot make a profit by taking all of the time to adjust the dampers.
A contractor will want to install a couple of smart vents and call it a day. Literally, they might work or not and you will be left making all of the adjustments in any event.
Good luck. Try it ..........Your comfort level will go way up and all you had to do was move a few damper levers around.
More ways to make you spend more money! Great video Josh!
Thanks Jeff! I don’t mind if they sell them under the idea that it can’t do.
I have an idea!! Make a smart vent with a built-in sensor that connects to your smart t-stat! Wow! So now I don't have to spend money on a smart vent and then spend money on a sensor. MIND BLOWN! Don't steal the idea people I claimed it. Hard work here I tell you.
Haha hate to break it to ya but yeah that’s what those smart vents do lol but it is a great idea
@@GrossTechnology Please let me know where such a vent exists? I see plenty that are smart vents but you have to buy a separate smart temp. sensor.
EDIT - Think I found them. My hopes and dreams are crushed but brightened by this smart vent reality.
"Smart Flaps" - I knew where you were going with this. #dampers. Would need to see if they have DX Boots (manual mechanical dampers) that you can adjust until you get equal readings across the sensors. Great Vid!
Thanks man! Yeah, the ones by Keen actually do have temp sensors that you can then have "average" out and will close or partially close to get the right temps everywhere. Plus they address the issue with damaging your system because of closing vents. They are by far my favorite ones.
So true.
Question, if I have two sensors in different rooms with vast temp differences, that should also create conflicts, right? Eg: 1 room at 68 and 1 at 72 and there is only 1 HVAC unit in the home.
The system now creates an average of the two and will maintain that average. The other thing that they do now is only have a sensor be in the average of a person is detected in the room, if you have that enabled. Does that make sense?
While this scenario is true, so is the opposite what if you have parts of your house that get way too cold in one room where your thermostat is that is hotter.
You can put the temperature sensor in a room that is more average for example say your temperature changes drastically throughout the house you put the sensor somewhere where the temperature of the house is more centered rather than hot or cold you put your temperature sensor in that room and now you only have a 2 degree differential at any point in the house rather than that 4 degree differential without the sensor
The fact that this needs to be explained is comical. This should be common sense
I totally agree but sadly, as some comments prove, it is needed to be said and especially when the companies are telling you or advertising them wrongly.
Thank you!! A review that describes what I was concerned about.
Hello Mr. Mallat! You are very welcome, always glad to help and hear that our video has been helpful! Let me know if there is anything else I can do for ya.
I checked out the three smart vents you mentioned. Seems the Keen is a better fit since it can pair up with the Nest. Our guest room runs colder than the rest of the rooms in the house. So let's see if this will help regulate the temperature better.
Yes, I like the Keen best of them all as well. One thing to think of, if you want to save some money, just close off that vent in the room, or close it a little. The biggest concern when closing things off is making sure you don't freeze up your system since enough air isn't being moved out, but one room wont kill that, and since you'd be using a smart vent with your thermostat it will regulate that.
Great video Josh! Very informative! A bit to wrap my head around.
Haha thanks Chris! I actually cut down the video by about half, probably would have explained more. Maybe I’ll do a more in-depth video about it when I do smart vents.
Gross Technology look forward to it!
The systems either on or off. Did you figure a sensor would individually heat and cool certain rooms? Or do you think people are too dumb? I’m confused.
Is there integration between smart thermostats and smart vents?
There are, and some of the smart vents even have their own system to where you don't actually have to have a smart thermostat. They are pretty amazing.
Common sense If you have forced air with standard vents senors wont always work. A simple call to an HVAC specialist will confirm. If I were building a new home I’d probably strongly consider mini splits.
Exactly! Thank you! But people don’t understand this, hence most of the comments below.
This is old video but they avg the temperature now
It only works if one person lives in a big house and all the statements are accurate.
Or has a thermostat is a very off or bad spot that is so far from where the rooms are.
So I have decide to buy a new macbook Pro 2018. Can i connect my Cinema Display and my thunderbolt 2 Sound card to it?
With an adapter of course.
Hey Mrbigfrog! Welcome back! I believe that does work. Let me do some looking into it, I’ll get back to you.
Gross Technology
Hi is it safe?
Is what safe?
Is it safe to buy one?
Are you asking if it would work? Yes as long as the adaptor allows you to go from thunderbolt 2 to 3 (usb-c) is one that supports display as well as data. Here is the one from Apple: go.magik.ly/ml/ebuy/ But read at the bottom, there are some "notes" about what it will not do. Also keep in mind that your power for the laptop is also thunderbolt 3 so make sure you have enough ports on the one you decide to get.
Wait what if your thermostat is in the hottest room of the house then maybe a sensor makes sense
That is true, it will help even out the “average” temp for the house, but again the main point I’m trying to make is that to really use these features the companies talk about with the sensors is that you need vents that will open and closed based on where the air or heat need to go instead of the whole house.
So how many people watched this video and weren't smart enough to realize where the rooms are hotter you open those vents with the slider and the rooms that are colder you close those vents with the slider?
The only dangerous part of this, while it will help, you have to be careful not to suffocate the system. But yes, that is a way to help.
I disagree with your assessment that it doesn't save you money. While I completely agree that the system runs on full regardless of what sensor is calling for temps, it can still save money by knowing whether or not someone is home and whether or not it needs to adjust based on an area that may fluctuate temps more agressively than others. I understand where you're coming from and agree their wording could be better, but the hyperbole in this video just pushing back the narrative to far in the other direction.
78° .....🥵🥵🥵 Bro I wouldn't be able to sleep lol. Also I know you've since updated the video. But I don't think this was ever a "money ploy" or companies trying to "steal your money" these are pretty obvious what they'll do. Some rooms are just hotter then others and these help solve that. But yes as you said, the vents are really the best way to go. Just crazy expensive
Please yell less. At 2x speed, it’s not pleasant.
Thanks for the great info.
It won’t save you money, but it will balance your system
Wow!! Those pesky tech companies haha. Very informative Joshua. Really good job 👍🏻😁
Thanks Roger! Yeah it’s one of those things where what they say it’s for sounds great but definitely do your homework.
Should have listened to you. Better to have one sensor and decide what to set it at. Selling a sensor for Ecobee for $30 want one?
Sorry, I don’t have an EcoBee so wouldn’t work for me.
Great review your right i went to hvac school your right unless you smart vent is useless. Thanks for educating us i was wondering myself i almost got tricked thanks
It averages the temperatures from what I understand
You are correct, it does average the temps from all the sensors. This is an older video, working on an updated one to explain this all better and get my point across better. Thanks for stopping by though.
You sound like Dexter Holland. You should sing a "Come Out and Play" cover :)
Great thank you!!! 😀 I knew that was going to happen but no one was talking about it 😂 thank you.. I rather use small heaters on each room room with a sonoff th16.. And set each room to specific tempeture!! 😀 😀 Thank you
You are very welcome! I’m glad it was helpful. This video is probably my most controversial one but I felt that the truth had to be put out there whether people liked it or not.
@@GrossTechnology complete agree with you 😀😀 you just earned one more subrciber for being so honest 😁😁😁
I really appreciate that!! Welcome aboard!
Great information and unfortunately that is the thinking in other areas of life, like insurance, paperless, new tech. phones. Bottom line cost more and do less
Well if you are going to use it for something else it’s fine. But as advertised not so much.
106 ppl not so smart. This guy actually exposed the fundamentals required to make this work. Without smart vent these ecobee or Smart Nest is basically useless. Very few reviewers actually know this. Kuddos for making this video.
Thanks! Yeah probably my most controversial video I’ve made. The main issue is that people think I’m saying the temp sensors won’t work, which isn’t correct. Yes putting the temp sensors around will give you a more “average” temp in the house, but it will be at a cost to your wallet and even the unit itself.
@@GrossTechnology exactly. Without proper zoning adding sensor is really useless. I just came across this whole smart vent thing about few house ago. Then asked myself how does the furnace/AC know where to blow the cold/hot air? and baam thats when i realized you either need zoning done at duct with mechanical flap or smart vent which probably cost less. Btw do you know any Smart vent that works offline meaning you can still control within LAN when your internet connection is offline. Thanks
Ohhh thats a good point, and sadly the ones I know of do not work of LAN, only a Wifi signal. Guess they don't expect you to have a network jack next to each vent.