I’ve mentioned before that owning a Volt has changed us. We were environmentally aware before, but now, we are doing more than ever to change our impact on the Earth. Solar panels, new efficient home, high speed Level 2 chargers, whole house water softener/filtration and now Nest Learning Thermostats.
In an effort to take our energy efficiency to the max as well as lowering our carbon footprint, I bought and installed two 2nd generation Nest Learning Thermostats. The founder of Nest, Tony Faddell worked at Apple and was known as the “father of the iPod,” so I was certain the product would be elegantly designed, easy to set up and effective.
I’m usually a bargain shopper, but I could find no deals on these. The price on Amazon was the same as my local Home Depot ($249.99). I am also impatient, when it comes to getting a new gadget, so rather than wait for them to be shipped to me, I bought them locally.
Installation was a breeze. The only real question was how to deal with a jumper wire that was in my existing thermostats. I located the technical support number and gave them a call. While holding for the “first available technician,” I was presented with recorded information rather than music. Believe it or not, one of the pieces of information answered my specific query! The Nest does not need jumpers.
The user interface was very intuitive, so getting the Nests on our Wi-Fi network and configured was a snap. Now, we’ll have to spend a few months monitoring their learning process…
I’ll keep you posted.
