Al’s Plumbing, Heating & A/C in Plano, Texas provides maintenance & repairs for all brands of Central A/C, Gas & Electric Furnace, and Heat Pumps. Additionally we sell and install new HVAC Systems from American Standard (same company as Trane), Ameristar (same company as American Standard) and Coleman HVAC (same company as York HVAC).
Al’s also provides full service plumbing maintenance, repairs and replacements for every plumbing component in your home. Al’s sells and installs Rheem Professional Series gas & electric water heaters, and tankless water heaters. Al’s is near your home in Plano, Richardson, and Garland. We service all homes in southern Collin and Denton Counties with no travel charges.
Call Al’s today to discuss any concerns or problems you have with your HVAC System or Plumbing. We will arrange an appointment at your convenience and offer 24/7 Emergency Service.
NEST Thermostat App:
Control Your NEST Products From Anywhere In The World
The Nest Thermostat can certainly be called a “Smart Home” Feature. This quite sophisticated thermostat is one of the easiest to program.. To program it, simply make the adjustments you want and when you want them to occur. NEST will “learn” how you personally manage your home’s Heating and Cooling needs, and program itself to match your preferences. After you have made the adjustments for 2 weekdays, it remembers them for all 5. Both days of one weekend will program it as well. If you prefer, you can program it yourself, which is also quite easy.
Because NEST communicates with the world through your home internet WI-FI, NEST obtains weather forecasts and adjusts the time your furnace or a/c turns on to ensure the home’s temperature is what you want — when you want it. So, if a nasty cold-front sweeps in overnight, your home will be at the preset temperature at the preset time because NEST turned the furnace on earlier than on a warmer morning. This gave the furnace the extra time needed, due to the much colder outside temperature.
This smart-thermostat saves you money by turning on the HVAC only early enough to be sure your home is at the temperature you want at that time. A standard programmable thermostat adjusts the temperature at the preset time you tell it to. You must allow enough time for worst weather conditions, which means it turns the HVAC on sooner than necessary on milder days.
Smart Thermostats add the 2 additional layers of knowledge: 1. The time required to reach the temperature at the desired time + 2. Current weather conditions = HVAC runs only the minimum time required. This feature adjusts as needed to maximize your comfort while minimizing energy usages.
Add another layer of knowledge, your NEST knows when you are near home (based on your smartphone’s GPS location). So, if you are coming home early because weather conditions worsened during the day, for example, Nest adjusts the HVAC the moment it realizes you are near home. While this won’t have the home at your desired temperature when you arrive, it ensures the HVAC is already running to achieve your desired temperature as soon as possible.
How the Nest Thermostat App Works for You
The Nest Thermostat App connects you with your Nest when you’re away from home. Using this app, you can adjust the temperature, change any settings, see how much energy you’ve used and more. With Nest Messages, your Nest can send periodic bulletins to perform other energy-saving measures such as; replacing the air filter.
It also notifies you if the HVAC system stops working. This feature is very valuable when winter temps are cold enough to freeze water pipes. While of little issue in DFW, northern states home owners have a valuable asset with this features.
The Nest Thermostat App works in tandem with the Thermostat. The app sends the thermostat information you want it to know about the settings that best match your lifestyle, making heating and cooling more energy efficient. When adjust your home temperature from the Nest App, the Nest learns the change just as if you had it at home.
Before we get into details, take a couple minutes to view their video at: https://nest.com/app/ This video shows how using the app makes your life easier, and can adapt as your life changes. What’s more, it’s quite endearing and entertaining to watch.
And, while you are watching movies, this YouTube video shows some of the adjustments described below as they are being made. YouTube Video showing the Nest App in use
Here Are Some Of The Many Things You Can Do With The Nest Thermostat App
- Switch between Heating, Cooling, Heat • Cool, and Off modes
On the Nest App’s control screen, the lower left corner will show an icon that looks like four waves. Tap one the icon to switch between different modes. You can switch between Heat, Cool or turn the HVAC system off.
So, if you had the A/C set to run while away on a business trip, and the weather turns nasty cold, you can switch to heating from anywhere in the world. No need to come home to a hot or cold home because the HVAC was set to the wrong function.
- Adjust the current target temperature
Bring up the image of the Nest Thermostat and move your finger along the outer ring to adjust the temperature setting. To easily fine tune your adjustments, use up and down arrows.
- Viewing your Energy history
Click or tap on the menu icon in the upper right corner of the Home screen. Click or tap on Energy History to see your heating, cooling and fan usage for the last 10 days. This way, you can see how much your HVAC is running, which is a great way to see the energy savings on during milder temps, as compared to more extreme temps.
- Adjust your schedule
Click or tap on the menu icon in the upper right corner of the Home screen. Select Schedule to view/edit your heating or cooling schedule. You can adjust your Nest to reflect temporary or permanent changes in your schedule and maximize energy savings. So, if perhaps you are going on a mid-winter vacation, adjust your Nest to keep heating at a minimum until you are ready to return home.
- Thermostat Settings
To get to your Nest Thermostat Settings, click or tap on the Settings icon in the upper right corner of the Home screen and select your Nest Thermostat from the list of options.
You Can Also View The Details About The Thermostat, including:
- Model
- Serial number
- Software version
- MAC address
- Private IP address
- When it last contacted the Nest serversBattery level
How The Generation 3 Nest Thermostat Functions
Not feeling the need to “Reinvent The Wheel” I chose the following two detailed evaluations of the 3rd Generation Nest Thermostat. These are written by someone with a deeper technical knowledge of the product than I have.
This link will take you to a Detailed Evaluation Of The Third-Generation Nest Thermostat: Cnet.com Evaluation of Nest 3rd Generation Thermostat
Here is a 2nd evaluation: http://thewirecutter.com/reviews/the-best-thermostat/
Because a home fire or carbon monoxide built up can happen at any moment, this prompt notice allows you time to take action as soon as a problem is detected. So, if you are at work, and carbon monoxide builds up in your home, you have time to get people or pets out of the home right away.
Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas which will make you ill in smaller doses, and can kill you in large enough doses. With any fuel burning furnace, this possibility is always present. Co2 build up can come from something as serious as a new crack in the furnace’s heat-exchanger. The heat-exchanger keeps the home’s indoor air separate from the combustion-air the burners are using. If a crack occurs (chances increase as the furnace gets older) — the combustion-air enter’s the home’s interior air.
This can also happen from a problem as minor as a furnace flue which becomes clogged. Bird or squirrel nests, dead birds & animals, twigs, leaves and debris may enter an un-capped chimney flue and block flue gases from the furnace or water heater.
SUMMARY: The Nest Smart Thermostat has dozens of helpful features, all with these two goals:
- Allow you to keep your home as comfortable as possible
- Do this with the minimum amount of energy required’
The Nest App provides remote access (through smart phones & tablets) to your thermostat from anywhere in the world. This allows you to make thermostat adjustments you would make if you were at home. This provides for 24/7 control of your Nest Thermostat.
Additionally, the App will send you messages, such as a notice there may be something wrong with your heating system based on the temperature of the home (as compared to the thermostat’s setting). Though not scary in DFW, a furnace quitting in northern climates can quickly lead to frozen and bursting water pipes.
Adding Nest Protect provides home security and Smoke / Co2 Monitoring. If a problem occurs, you will be sent a warning message to your cell phone.
Al’s Plumbing, Heating & A/C in Plano, Texas provides maintenance & repairs for all brands of Central A/C, Gas & Electric Furnace, and Heat Pumps. Additionally we sell and install new HVAC Systems from American Standard (same company as Trane), Ameristar (same company as American Standard) and Coleman HVAC (same company as York HVAC).
Al’s also provides full service plumbing maintenance, repairs and replacements for every plumbing component in your home. Al’s sells and installs Rheem Professional Series gas & electric water heaters, and tankless water heaters. Al’s is near your home in Allen, Frisco, and McKinney. We service all homes in southern Collin and Denton Counties with no travel charges.
Call Al’s today to discuss any concerns or problems you have with your HVAC System or Plumbing. We will arrange an appointment at your convenience and offer 24/7 Emergency Service.