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0 pointsvel0city4y ago0 comments

You don't need to have it internet connected to have your thermostat on a timer. My home has responded to heat or cool the house based on when I wake up, when I leave, when I come home, and when I go to bed for well over a decade all without needing an internet connection to do so. My thermostat doesn't go dumb just because the internet went down or because it became unsupported and got bricked.

The only thing I wish it would do would have better multi-zone temperature and humidity sensing to know to turn on the circulation fan when the edges of the house get too hot/cold compared to where the thermostat is. Even then that doesn't require the internet, it could be done with cheap 433MHz temp/humidity probes running on button cell batteries for years.

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pydry4y ago

I do need internet if i want to tell my heating to turn on 1hr-30 mins before i come home though.

Or to respond to the weather (e.g. start warming the house earlier coz it's a particularly cold day).

If your life is very strictly regimented maybe it's less useful.

This doesnt mean I want a cloud connected thermostat. I want something that talks to homeassistant.

vel0cityOP4y ago

I tell my thermostat my schedule once and how I want my house to be, and it makes sure to hit those temperatures when I want it to. I shouldn't have to "tell it" I'm coming home, it should just do it.

Respond to the weather? Its a thermostat. Even a decent bi-metallic strip thermostat will "respond to the weather". Its not like the thermostat needs to do anything different if its an especially cold day outside, it will keep the indoor environment as you programmed it. How do you think thermostats worked before the internet?

The only "respond to the weather" idea I'd like would be to account for especially humid days as sometimes the temperature is fine but its really humid in the house. But once again it doesn't need to reach out to an API to figure out the humidity outside at some airport 20mi away, it just needs a local humidity sensor.

pydry4y ago

If I am not in the house or I am asleep it is a waste of energy to heat it.

I find it weird that you get indignant at the idea of a little more automation than a timer.

>How do you think thermostats worked before the internet?

Either wasting money heating an empty home when I went out or I came home to a cold house and then turned on the heating. I remember.

I also remember thermostats which didnt understand the concept of weekends, etc.

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pydry4y ago

I do need internet if i want to tell my heating to turn on 1hr-30 mins before i come home though.

Or to respond to the weather (e.g. start warming the house earlier coz it's a particularly cold day).

If your life is very strictly regimented maybe it's less useful.

This doesnt mean I want a cloud connected thermostat. I want something that talks to homeassistant.

vel0cityOP4y ago

pydry4y ago

If I am not in the house or I am asleep it is a waste of energy to heat it.

I find it weird that you get indignant at the idea of a little more automation than a timer.

>How do you think thermostats worked before the internet?

Either wasting money heating an empty home when I went out or I came home to a cold house and then turned on the heating. I remember.

I also remember thermostats which didnt understand the concept of weekends, etc.

1 more reply

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse