Community Forums

immortl · 06-18-2021, 09:06 PM

I like my technology and modern conveniences, but not this. The info and control some folks give up to save a buck or three is amazing.

TLDR: If the user enrolled their smart thermostat in the program (knowingly or unknowingly) the power company adjusts the settings during peak power demand.

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/texas...t-thermostats/

I don't imagine to many RVs would be impacted by something like this as we're wandering around between power companies from stop to stop. But then again, I don't know how these things register with the power company.

Thanks,
Joe

NXR · 06-18-2021, 09:49 PM

I did that once upon a time. The electric company provided their own thermostat, which used cellular. Why did I do that?

We got a lower electric rate 365 days a year and the electric company specified they would increase the temperature a maximum of five degrees and only for a few hours in one day.

They said they would notify us when it happened and we had the option to dial the temperature back down. If we overrode them too many times in one year we lost our discounted rate.

In the four years we had that thermostat the electric company never needed to raise the temperature and eventually they discontinued the offering.

Ray

timjet · 06-19-2021, 05:43 AM

After reading the article I came away with the fact that the person interviewed had opted in on the energy saving program offered by their power company to allow the power company to raise their thermostat temp in return for a lower electric bill.

So what's the beef. You save some money but voluntarily allow the power company to control your thermostat. If you don't like the temp they set you change it with the understanding that if you do it too many times you may get rejected from the program. Sounds like a win win to me.

I allowed the power company to control my water heater for some electric bill savings. I never knew if they controlled it or not and never noticed any change in hot water temp.

immortl · 06-20-2021, 12:25 AM

No beef. I didn't fully articulate the thought in my head in my original post.

I've recently read several posts where people were putting in smart thermostats to manage temps for pets left behind in the RV while they were out and about. My thought is if doing this, you many want to pay attention to the setup process and opt out of the feature. Again though, not sure if this would impact RVers moving between service companies. And even if it did, 4 degrees probably isn't harmful. Probably over thinking it. I won't get into securing IoT devices on their own segregated network

Thanks,
Joe

IC2 · 06-20-2021, 05:25 AM

I don't understand the need for a 'smart' thermostat. We have 4 heat/cool zones in our home, each with a programmable thermostat. I set them where I want, over ride or put it on hold when I want. Not a big deal and they are inexpensive as well. Then there is that 'smart' clothes washer. Huh? Why do we need that. If we are washing clothing, the washer gets turned on when it's loaded. If it washed, dried, folded and put those items away, then I could see that function. Or maybe my Luddite effect is working

dbircky · 06-20-2021, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IC2

I don't understand the need for a 'smart' thermostat. We have 4 heat/cool zones in our home, each with a programmable thermostat. I set them where I want, over ride or put it on hold when I want. Not a big deal and they are inexpensive as well. Then there is that 'smart' clothes washer. Huh? Why do we need that. If we are washing clothing, the washer gets turned on when it's loaded. If it washed, dried, folded and put those items away, then I could see that function. Or maybe my Luddite effect is working

They are designed for peak efficiency at removing money from your wallet.

timjet · 06-20-2021, 06:07 AM

Like the OP mentioned I can't quite figure out why a thermostat or a washing machine would need to be connected to the internet. However the more expensive Nest thermostat's have a learning feature which presumably saves energy by learning your temp settings and adjusting automatically. Still don't know why it would need to connect to the internet. Perhaps if you forget to adjust the thermostat when on an RV trip you could tap into it and adjust it remotely. I just put "Adjust thermostat" on my Leaving Home checklist.

I do have an irrigation timer that does connect to the internet and allows me to control my irrigation system though my cell phone. That's very handy when fixing a broken irrigation head allowing me to fix it without going back to the controller several times to turn it on and off and see it's fixed. This unit also monitors local whether and will stop irrigating when rain is forecast. City water is getting more and more expensive so this is a handy cost saving feature.

jondrew55 · 06-20-2021, 06:15 AM

I have 3 ecobee thermostats in my house and love them. I find it real useful to be able to monitor and adjust the rooms without getting up. I even got an alert once that my upstairs temperature was abnormally high. Apparently the heat pump had a brain fart and went into a runaway heating mode thinking it was cooling.

Every single device you buy these days takes your personal info and does something with it. It’s almost impossible to avoid. The eye of Sauron is always on you.

NXR · 06-20-2021, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IC2

I don't understand the need for a 'smart' thermostat.

Do you live in an area where there is this thing called "winter" and do you leave your home unattended during "winter"?

We do. Being able to see that the power is on and that the furnace is still working is a good thing to us.

We do turn the water off at the main valve and drain the pipes etc. but it's still nice to know we're not coming home to a disaster.

Ray