Why (ON EARTH!) would I need to control my thermostat from my phone?? Come on...

When discussing thermostat features with people who call in with questions, I often get the " Why (ON EARTH!) would I need to control my thermostat from my phone?? Come on..." comment. It generally (but not always) comes from people of my boomer generation..we didn't grow up with smartphones and the idea of using a smartphone for anything sounds like an unnecessary complication...especially if we can just walk up (or ask someone over the phone to walk up) to the device and change the temperature in 2 seconds!

It's true that it makes even less sense for people who work from home or are retired and always at home or have someone who is in the home 24/7!

But the fact is that more and more thermostats are Wi Fi enabled and the price difference with the non Wi Fi models is sometimes negligible. So here are some Pros and Cons that I have discussed with several callers considering buying a Wi fi enabled stat that may help you decide. Their scenarios were quite different; some were mostly at home and others were not. In all cases, the callers ended up purchasing a Wi Fi enabled thermostat from us but didn't plan on using that feature. I convinced them to set it up just in case it came in handy one day. 

Note: 

On most Wi Fi enabled stats (all that we sell), the Wi Fi function is optional (can be turned off until such time as you deem you want it on and the thermostat will work 100% for basic functionality)

Reported Pros of turning on Wi Fi according to some callers (ignore the ones that sound silly to you or not applicable to you, PLEASE!!!)

* A caller who said would never use the phone functionality because she religiously keeps her HVAC system at a comfortable temperature when she is home and a slightly uncomfortable (energy saving) temperature when she leaves, told me one day she forgot. And another day she didn't plan to be away for more that 10 minutes and decided to not change it, but her trip took much longer. She appreciated the ability of being able to adjust the set temperature and not having to have her unit needlessly wasting energy. 

*Another caller said he would never use it, but I urged him to set it up just in case. He told me he had someone at home 24/7-His grandmother. " I keep the same temperature around the clock. The house is truly never unoccupied, changing the temperature remotely is not important". One day the grandmother felt very cold and set the temperature for 90F and then fell asleep. He got an alert. 

* So, some people just like the Alerts feature. Would you like your phone to tell you if your unit broke down and it has gotten so cold that the pipes are about to burst or so hot that the humidity (for those models that have a humidity sensor) shot up and your closets are getting moldy?? Or simply that someone has turned the set temperature up or down to an unreasonable level???!!

* And  the caller who lives in a region with super cold winters finally called back to say she liked the fact she could adjust the temperature without getting out of bed. Staying under the blankets, rather than walking to her thermostat half way on the other side of the house proved to be a plus. 

* A caller who regularly turned OFF her ac (not a recommended practice, increasing the setpoint is the recommendation) used it for the first time on a day that the weather got so bad she worried about her pets and, for the first time, used it to turn the unit on from her PC while she was at work! (Some models work on phones, tablets and PCs) 

* And then there was the caller who never used it, and did not want to learn how to use it because she was always home. But one day she had to leave for an unexpected trip and she was able to enable her son, who lives far away,  to REMOTELY monitor her house temperature and call on a neighbor who had a key the day there was a problem!

Now, there are also some sophisticated technical reasons to connect your thermostat to Wi Fi: It will pick up the outdoor temperature and humidity of the weather station nearest to you (pretty accurate in most cases). And it can make decisions based on the outdoor temperature such as switching from compressor heat to backup heat (critical in dual fuel heat pump systems), restricting ventilation when outdoor conditions are extreme if periodic ventilation is programmed and , if you are driving an external humidifier, it will override it to minimize frost or condensation on windows by not allowing the humidifier to run above a certain level. 

Also, if you set a schedule for temperature changes , it can anticipate the changes based on outdoor conditions so that the desired temperature is reached at the desired time.

CONS

Drat, there are always cons!!

* Main one: "C wire". Most Wi Fi enabled thermostats REQUIRE a C wire (those that claim they don't , generally "suggest" one for "optimal performance"). So what is a C wire? Without getting too technical, old mechanical thermostats (no display) and battery powered thermostats did not require a C wire running from the thermostat to the furnace or air handler. So, if you are replacing one of those, the installer may have: Run the C wire but not connected it (so it's sitting there) or skimped and not run that wire at all. 

So without  getting any tools how do you know if you have a C wire? And a connected C wire at that! If your current thermostat has a display but does not use batteries, chances are excellent that you have a C wire, but not 100% certain. On some battery models, the batteries are a backup, so if you have one of those and you remove the batteries and it keeps working, most likely you have a working C wire. If none of these are the case, you have to check if there is a spare wire that was never connected and connect it at both ends- professional installation suggested! If no spare wire there are some other workarounds.

* Secondary one: Some (most) models only work on a 2.4GHz router band. Most routers have this band (and newer ones have an extra 5 GHZ band). A few very modern routers ONLY have a 5GHz band; if that is the case, make sure the thermostat you pick can communicate on 5Ghz (there are just a few in the market as of 2021!) 

Well those are some ideas. Hope they help you decide!

Need to talk about it? Feel free to call and chat! 800-349-4360 Ext 204 (Technical Support). If no answer leave a message: WE RETURN VOICE MAILS!!!