Thermostats play an important role in maintaining the temperatures in our homes, whether in the living room or any other room within the house. Nest lab is a company that is famous for manufacturing Nest learning thermostats that are programmable, smart and Wi-Fi enabled to deliver utmost comfort. The fact that it is compatible with almost every HVAC system makes it popular among different households.
Nest thermostats gradually evolve from 1st generation to 2nd to 3rd to E and finally the most current which is G4CVZ. All these thermostats aid in controlling the temperatures so that when it is too hot, they keep the house cool and if it gets too cold, they regulate it and make it warmer depending on your preference. This article reviews the 3rd generation nest learning thermostat in depth.
What is the 3rd Generation Nest Learning Thermostat?
If you are looking to upgrade your home’s cooling and heating system, then you should consider the 3rd generation Nest Learning thermostat. First things first, it is programmable such that you do not need to manually set the temperatures when need be; it will sense the behavior of your HVAC unit and adjust accordingly.
Secondly, it is compatible with Wi-Fi. If you have a smartphone or a tablet you are able to control this thermostat from wherever you are in the house as long as the network is strong. Not only is it easy to use but there are no complications when installing it.
With a properly functioning nest learning thermostat, you are sure to save on energy costs. Therefore, for best results try out this thermostat and you will not regret.
1. Specifications
| Colors | Stainless steel, copper, brass, mirror black, white |
| Screen | 480*480 resolution; 24-bit color LCD |
| Dimensions | 3.3*5.92*1.21 |
| Sensors | Temperature, humidity, proximity, motion |
| Memory | 512 MB |
| Weight | 8.6 pounds/ 244g |
| Battery | Built-in rechargeable lithium-ion |
| Warranty | 2 years |
| Wireless | Yes |
| Compatibility | Heating , cooling, heat pump, fan, humidifier |
| Certification | Energy star |
| Energy consumption | Less than 1 kWh per month |
| Generation | 3rd |
2. Design
We begin by looking at this thermostat’s design. It features a polished design and you can freely choose among four options; copper, black, stainless steel and white. None of these design options is more expensive than the other; they cost the same.
Moreover, the display screen is larger than that of the other thermostats by 40% thus improving on the visibility factor. It has a 480 by 480 pixel resolution that assists with visibility as well. Also, its profile is a bit slim and this makes sure that it does not stick out from the wall onto which you mount it.
It’s design somehow resembles that of Apple IPod’s click wheel mainly because of the ring. When you want to access the menu of the thermostat and enter data, you will have to rotate, click or press on the ring. The outer ring shows current temperature while at the center of the display there is the target temperature.
3. Performance
Give this thermostat approximately a week for it to learn your heating and cooling schedules based on your preferences. After this week, it is able to schedule itself without you having to manually program it.
In addition to this, you can share access to this thermostat with your family members (up to 9 of them being the maximum number) and this makes the Home/Away feature more effective. The rest of the family members can simply download the Nest application on their smartphones and can start using the thermostat.
They can remotely receive alerts and notifications, control the temperatures and also change the settings in the account. This is why you should be cautious about who you want to use the thermostat with.
4. Special Features
This thermostat has some features that uniquely distinguish it from the rest. One of these features includes Farsight which is basically a far-field sensor. It allows you to notice both temperature and time even when you are far away and the larger display enables you to look through them as well.
Similarly, there is the auto-schedule feature which studies how you set your heating and cooling temperatures on a daily basis and uses that information to come up with a schedule. In other cases, you can still adjust the settings when you see the need to.
There exist other miscellaneous features that are of great importance. To prevent your thermostat from turning on and off because of exposure to sunlight, the sunblock feature comes in handy.
In addition to this, you can easily tell how long your HVAC system will take to reach the desired room temperature by using the time-to-temp feature. With the help of the furnace heads-up feature you will know when your furnace is experiencing problems.
The Home/ Away feature detects if you are present in the room or not by using motion sensors. In case you are not around, it switches to the ECO mode so as to conserve energy which in return reduces on energy costs.
Do you know that you can take into account the time it takes for the thermostat to reach the temperature set using the Early on feature on this thermostat? It will use the calculations by the Time to Temperature feature to turn on the HVAC unit early enough to allow it to reach the temperature when the scheduled time reaches.
5. Compatibility with other devices
Additionally, this device is compatible with other Nest devices and voice commands such as Alexa and Google home. If you want to increase or decrease temperatures of your thermostat, easily command Alexa and it will do so as long as both of them are on a network. However, it is not compatible with Siri.
Some houses come with Nest Protect that is usually compatible with the thermostat. Once the siren goes off, the thermostat will show an alert on its display and hence you will know that something is wrong.
In cases where there is carbon monoxide in the house, this thermostat will be able to detect it and shut off any heating. This ensures that there is no fire.
If you need to set your thermostat’s temperature manually, there is the IFTTT channel that makes this easy.
6. Nest App
Nest thermostats have an application that helps to control their functioning. It has a friendly user interface thus very straightforward. Also, the app comes with more settings than the ones available on the thermostat display. You can use the app to set a certain schedule which the thermostat’s system will follow and make only few changes when necessary.
Further, this app allows you to control everything that relates to the thermostat using your phone. If you want to lock your thermostat so that no one else can access it, the app comes in handy.
7. Installation
Installing this kind of thermometer is very easy as long as you have the right tools with you. If you are a DIY enthusiast, you will definitely enjoy doing this. Recently, many thermostats come with an installation kit that includes; mounting screws, mounting base, installation instructions and screwdriver.
Before installation, make sure you shut off the main source of power in order to install the new thermostat or replace an old one with a new 3rd generation nest learning thermostat. Remove the old thermostat from the wall by unscrewing the nuts or screws using a screwdriver.
Take the base plate of your thermostat and mount it to your wall with the help of a screwdriver. At this point you can now attach the wires appropriately according to their respective polarities. Mixing them up will cause the thermostat to stop working.
After connecting the wires, put the top part of the thermostat on the base plate. Turn on the power source. Your thermostat should be ready to use.
8. Setup
The next thing to do after installing the nest thermostat is to set it up so that you can use it. Your thermostat needs to learn about some of your preferences in terms of temperature and other details concerning your home where you want to set it up.
Some of the details you need to specify are; languages you prefer current location to help in updating weather, date and time, type of internet connection and the temperature you want. When you correctly fill these details, the thermostat starts functioning accordingly.
Conclusion
The 3rd Generation Nest Learning thermostat is among the best of the other Nest thermostats. It is easy to use, set up and install altogether. The fact that it uses Wi-Fi greatly improves its performance. The best thing about it is that it can function without the use of a C wire. We can also agree that it is worth its price.
