What is the Nest Thermostat?
Nest is a smart thermostat from Google that combines two interesting features: design and skills. Mountain View acquired the company in 2014 to support its home improvement business. Although they continue to operate as separate companies, they are now part of Google.
This home automation gadget integrates with your furnace and pearl system with a wireless cord system that will allow you to control the temperature of your foundation from your smartphone, hand if you’re in the foundation or not, or admissible from your bravado dial. In addition to the above, Nest employs a stratum training system whereby – after the actual lapse of use – it can presage how long it takes to aflame your foundation or how paused temperature break is according to the construction and ambient temperature of your domicile.
With this knowledge, it promises to provide your foundation with the temperature you desire while minimizing your boiler use. In the end, it translates into saving savings by saving energy.
Before you go shopping for a smart thermostat, there are a few things to consider. These types of smart thermostats work with individual heating appliances and even some like those from Nest, controlling the hot water installed when the water supply allows.
Physical installation of Google Nest
Here we have the Nest thermostat itself, with a circular design, and a small junction box that Nest calls Heat Link that serves as the interface between the thermostat itself and the furnace. The two must be connected for the system to work, and that connection can be made either wirelessly or with a pair of wires. The basic installation options recommend wireless, placing the Heat link near the boiler and the thermostat in the area of the house you want to use as a temperature reference, or replacing your previous thermostat.
When it comes to installation, we find that each house has a different configuration, something that depends largely on the boiler system. Nest provides the user with a network of official installers so that you do not have to worry once you have purchased the thermostat. The company confirmed to us that this service would have a recommended cost of 90 euros. We have preferred to install it ourselves and show you the experience, but this is something we only recommend to those who are familiar with this type of installation.
In the kit that Nest has given us for testing, we had the thermostat desktop support that is sold separately as an additional purchase. It seemed to us the best option to install Nest since, in this way, we have a portable thermostat that we can take to the room we want to serve as a reference for the temperature. In our case, we have placed the Heat Link in the place where we had the old thermostat because that is where the wires coming from the boiler are located and we do not need to make more holes in the wall to attach it. In each house this connection will be different, depending on whether you have two wires or an open or closed circuit.
On the cover of Heat Link, we have a “cheat sheet” in the form of a sticker, showing the control symbols used by boiler manufacturers. Nest provides a paper quick setup guide and a complete PDF guide that can be viewed online, each boiler has its own control system, and it is recommended that you consult your manual to properly make these connections.
Will it work with your heater?
The company offers a guarantee of compliance with combi boilers, heating and system heaters, hot water tanks, underfloor heating systems and even air and ground heat pumps. It is also compatible with OpenTherm standard boilers (this is the language that thermostats and heating systems use to communicate, allowing thermostats to control the temperature and hot water system in the home).