Review of White-Rodgers 1F83-0471 Universal Non-Programmable Thermostat

Customer Ratings:

Easy hook-up. Blue backlight is cool looking. Keeps very accurate temperature. You will need a neutral from furnace for the backlight to stay on. Just use a blank wire in the harness and hook to common on furnace and on thermostat (white). This is for gas/oil units. Heat pumps already use the neutral.

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Review of Holmes HCH6150-UM Triple Ceramic Tower

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $69.99
Sale Price: $59.28
Today's Bonus: 15% Off

This is a very decent heater. It's small, nearly silent, and appears to be quite safe. So far, I've been using mine in a standard-sized bedroom, which is efficiently fills with warm air. I haven't tried it in a larger space, but since it so easily heats the air in my bedroom, I'm assuming it's capable of something larger as well.

The number one concern with a space heater is safety. After running this unit on high for a few hours, the plastic body was still cool to the touch. Of course the metal face plate where the heat is discharged gets quite hot, but it changes to a glowing red color, so you don't accidentally touch it.

Use an extension cord at your own risk. Holmes doesn't recommend it, but since the supplied cord is only a few feet, you basically have no choice unless you want it really close to the wall (also not a good idea). It draws about 1500 watts, so you'll want a very heavy duty extension cord rating 1875 watts or better, 14 gauge or less. I picked one up specifically to use with this heater and it DOES get warm after a while. The extension cord wasn't dangerously hot or anything, but its temperature did begin to rise slightly.

Basically, you just need to be sensible: don't leave the heater running unattended, don't run the cord under carpet, unplug the unit from the wall when it's not in use, don't try to use a conventional household extension cord, don't plug anything else into the outlet that you use for this, etc. etc. standard stuff. This applies for any space heater, of course.

It has an auto-shutdown feature if its tipped over or becomes too hot. Again, you just need to be sensible and not use it by flammable materials or around children. I chose this unit specifically for its excellent safety features, so based on my research on what's currently available at Target/WalMart/Etc. in the $30-100 range, I'm confident that, if used correctly, this is a good bet for safe, effective heating.

There is a thermostat built in with a variety of settings. It has five levels between 60 and 80 degrees, with each available in both "high" and "low". It also has a general "always on" mode where you can set it on high or on low. I'm a bit skeptical as to the efficacy of the thermostat. For a $30-40 unit, I wouldn't expect anything super-precise or anything. It's very general from what I can tell.

I can definitely recommend this to anyone wanted to efficiently heat anything around 10x14 or so. Again, it probably works in a bigger area, but I haven't tried it. Be safe and enjoy.

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Unlike the other customers, I have had great success with this product. The small heater keeps my large bedroom warm through out the night. The heater has two settings, high and low, and it also has a setting where it will keep the room at a constant temperatrue setting up to 89 degrees. It can also be set to come on automatically. I have not had any problems with a bad smell . Great product give it a try if you are wanting to heat only one room in your house to save money. I like it so much, I bought two.

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Only buy this if you can find it cheaper. I bought this from my wholesale club for 40 dollars. Otherwise it's not worth the money. When I originally bought this heater, I grabbed it from the top and moved it to another location in my room. After doing that, it made a really bad cranking noise every time it oscillated. I exchanged it after a week. The new heater doesn't have that problem. But I did notice this new heater blows cold air out the bottom. The manual says it will blow cold air once it reaches desired temperature to prevent overheating. But mine blows cold air on bottom as soon as you turn it on, before the temperature even gets adjusted. I'm just going to keep this one b/c its a hassle to drive and return it. The cold air blowing on bottom prevents my floor and nearby rug from getting heated so I guess that's a plus. And after leaving the heater on for a few minutes, the cold air seems to go away.

If you decide to buy this, just make sure you don't move the heater around alot. Its made of cheap plastic and the inside structure does not seem that stable. So leaving it in the center of the room should suffice. If you do decide to move it, hold it gently by the bottom base, don't grab it from the top. They didn't put handles on this thing so I guess it's not meant to be moved around a lot.

In terms of heating, it does a good job. I have a 12 x 9 ft bedroom and this heater can warm up the room in about 15 min. It has a programmable thermostat which will automatically shut off when desired room temp is reached. There is also a remote which I can program from my bed which I like.

In terms of the smell, it does have a heated plastic smell when you first turn it on, but the smell goes away after a while.

I am not sure how much electricity it uses since I haven't gotten my bill yet but since my family doesn't want to turn on heat yet for the whole entire house, this works just fine to heat up a small room.

Honest reviews on Holmes HCH6150-UM Triple Ceramic Tower

We've had this heater for two months now, and it is a complete piece of junk. It only ever seems to put out cold air. It says it will only blow cold air to keep an accurate temperature reading, or to not overheat, but it doesn't blow hot air enough to get even warm to the touch! Every now and then it will put out a little heat, but only for a minute or two, then it goes back to cold air. I thought I bought a heater, not a fan. It is going back to the store this weekend. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS HEATER!

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I purchased this heater a couple of years ago and have used it off and on since then. It will do a decent job at heating a small area, but there are a few issues I have with it.

First the positives; as I said, the unit does a good job of heating a small or medium room, provided it is mostly enclosed. For example, a bedroom or office will get nice and warm, but if you're trying to heat a larger room or a room that has no doors and is open to other areas, you will not get a significant increase in room temperature.

The remote was nice -I have since lost mine -and allows you to control the unit from, say, the comfort of your bed. You will need to get up and walk over to the heater itself in order to use some functions, but it's a nice thing to have.

This heater has a timer function that allows you to essentially start a count-down 'til when you want the heater to turn on. This is pretty useful for having it heat your bedroom an hour or so before you get up, instead of having the unit running all night or having the room be freezing.

Now the negatives; first and foremost, I'll mention my issue with the heater's built-in thermostat/thermometer. On the heater's display, you can view what the unit believes is the room's current temperature. This is most useful when putting the heater in "Auto" mode, where you can set a certain temperature for the room and the heater will turn off and on based on your particular comfort level. However, the problem with the design of the heater's thermostat is that, I believe, it is located too close to the unit's heating elements and is also probably too enclosed within the casing. I say this because when you first plug the heater in, it will give you an accurate room temperature reading. I have verified this using an indoor/outdoor weather thermometer, as well as my apartment's existing room thermostats. As the heater is operating and warms up, however, the difference between the room's actual temperature and the heater's measure of the room's temp increases. This is an issue because the heater will often turn off prematurely; for e.g. it may think the room's temperature is 70 degrees when it is actually as low as 65. This can make setting the heater's auto temperature shut-off a bit of hit-or-miss guesswork, a skill I have yet to acquire even after two winters with the device.

The timer option I mentioned earlier is a nice feature, but it only allows you to set full, whole hours. It would be nice if you could set it to be more specific, like .5 hrs. increments, since the whole point of the timer is to essentially save money. Also, the timer only works to count-down to then the unit will turn on. It will not "count-up" to when you'd like it to shut off. So if you forget to turn it off and leave the house, it'll run the entire time.

Another issue that may just be my personal perception is that the oscillating option is a bit useless. Unless you have a bunch of people crowded around the heater, the unit's fans aren't strong enough where turning on oscillation would increase the unit's efficiency.

One more point that is really just a nit-picking thing; the display on the heater is a very bright green which may be an issue for you if you have the timer set at night and are trying to sleep. Again, I realize that's a bit of a trivial issue, but I know it was a bit annoying for me and may be for others.

Overall, this unit was, as I said, decent. I wouldn't spend more than 45 $ or so for this and if you check Consumer Reports, they always have a list of the year's most efficient stand-alone heaters. I know for a fact this Holmes Tower isn't on there.

Cheap Vornado 530L Compact Whole Room Air Circulator

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $69.99
Sale Price: $44.99
Today's Bonus: 36% Off

Is the new model 530 as good as older Vornados that established the company as a quality innovator? In this review, I compare the new 530 to two older compact models that I own. These are the excellent model 180 compact fan(infinite speed, no longer available) and the very good 510 compact (3-speed and in very short supply watch out for merchants who substitute the current model 530 for the 510). These (and the larger, venerable model 280) have great features, quietness, quality, and durability. My comments should apply to the model 530 regardless of the color of the plastic case, since color has no bearing on performance in this product.

FEATURES

The 3-speed compact design is similar to that of the older models (note that some slightly more expensive Vornado models have infinite speed control instead of 3-speed but are otherwise the same). But the 530 has one major disadvantage that you're likely to miss in the promo copy. The fan head doesn't tilt as much as those in the older models. This model tilts only about 50 degrees, while the older fans tilt about 80 degrees. The older design is much better at getting air from the floor to the ceiling.

QUIETNESS

The whirring fan blades make as little noise as the older models (whisper quiet on low, moderate amount on medium, a lot of "whoosh" on high), but the 530 has an irritating low-pitched motor noise the older models don't have. Because it's low frequency sound, it will even go through walls.

QUALITY

Personally, I think the motor, because of the noise, must not be up to the quality of previous models. One of the fan blades on my 530 still had plastic from the molding process that hadn't been removed. Definitely a quality-control problem. My older models were all manufactured in the US; this one in China (judging from a recent visit to a store that had a number of Vornado models, the company's moved manufacturing of most, if not all, of their consumer market fans offshore).

DURABILITY

We'll have to see. Comes with a limited 5 year warranty (you must get an RMA and ship to Vornado in Kansas and other reviewers have complained about shipping and handling costs nearly equaling the cost of a new fan).

BOTTOM LINE

In my view, this fan departs from the Vornado tradition of quality and quietness. I don't recommend using the model 530 in a bedroom or other place where you need quiet due to the low-pitched motor noise. Note that the user manual pictures both the model 530 and the R2D2 looking model 630.

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Vornado is well known for producing quality consumer fans. My 530 moves more air than much larger box fans. It also moves air in a more controlled, concentrated fashion. This is great for moving cool air from one room to another. It is also nice for ventilating a room at night where outside noise a problem as the window need only to be open ten inches or so.

The raw power of the fan is useful for more than just circulating air through a room. It allows for an intense cool blast of directed in face during my cardio workout. It is also good for drying towels and carpeting.

Despite my continued enthusiasm for the product, I did have some problems. The first is the rather loud motor noise/vibration at lower speeds. Secondly, there was an apparent problem with the first fan I purchased. It was dropped about two feet onto padded carpeting. This caused one of the fan blades to break off. Fortunately, Bed Bath and Beyond has a no hassle return policy.

It is interesting to note that Vornado frequently pitched "American Made" in their marketing collateral. When I checked the model number on the base for this review, I noticed the "Made in China" sticker on the bottom.

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I made the terrible mistake of purchasing 4 of these "Vornado 530L High velocity 3-speed air circulators" from Amazon because of the glowing reviews and after doing a little research the fan looked nice in the images and I liked the idea the grill would snap off for easy cleaning. It didn't take long for me to realize I wasted a lot of money ($39.99 for each fan)... The problems started when fan 1's blade would seize up and stop turning. I would have to turn it offunplug it then take the grill off and try spinning the blade a few times (I think thats how my grandfather started planes back in world war one ^__^) it worked about a week then finally died. The problems continued with fan 2, it started making this terrible high pitched sqeeeeal at the worst possible times like for example 3am while I'm trying to sleep. Its like having nails being dragged across a chalk board continuiously, I couldn't deal with that for long so I put it out near the garbage pick up for my pillaging garbage pickup person to pick up. Now on to fan 3... Fan 3 is special because it started over loading my electrical outlet so I would have to reset it. I tried moving it to another area of my home but it still over loaded my outlets.

So out of the four fans that I've puchased last year, I only have one still working and it makes sqeaking sounds but not so bad as to keep me awake. For the purchase price of these fans I expected very good quality but I've gotten quality worse than cheap Lasko fans, in fact I've had Lasko fans that worked 4 and 5 years while these expensive vornados haven't lasted 8 months.

Very disappointing purchase and I don't recommend these fans at all. Buy at your own risk.

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I smoke so I use this fan pointed out my window to extract the smoke. I had one that lasted 8 years and it was on practically every minute.

Pros: It's easy to clean, which maybe why it lasted so long, and is quiet at lowest setting. The only reason I had to buy another one was because I had an accident cleaning it and I got too much water in the motor. oops

Cons: They'll probably stop making them by the time I have to buy another one!

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This is our second Vornado of this size. (Our other is at least 6 years old and still going quietly strong.)

We live in an older two story house. The builder put small 4x10 registers IN the floors of two of the bedrooms upstairs, but in the master a register 3" above the floor in the corner and pointed at the window! One of the bedrooms is now my office (the kids are GONE!)

We just got a new HVAC. As powerful as it is, there is a three to five degree difference between each of the upstairs rooms. The 1973 vintage ducts and registers fight back against such power. But the Vornados do the trick, and they do it quietly and efficiently to the point that the AC can be turned down 5 degrees during the day, and off at bedtime! When it's 101 outside, we're comfortable at 74-76 (and freeze at 73, but that's age not temperature).

The reason is that the Vornado truly CIRCULATES air through even the largest of the three rooms, and we put both in front of the registers pointed upward and on LOW. They're whisper quiet, and ... I can't say there's a breeze, but there's a flow of air that can be sensed rather than felt and the rooms cool off. I sleep like a baby, a very old baby, but the point is that I sleep.

Our AC and electric in general will probably be down another 10%. It's already down 16% because of the more efficient HVAC. And if I haven't stressed it enough, the Vornado is reliable, well built, and WHISPER QUIET!

Cheap Hunter 44550 Auto Save 7-Day Programmable Thermostat

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $107.99
Sale Price: $40.97
Today's Bonus: 62% Off

The manual was very thorough, and the setup was a breeze. It has a ton of advertised features, I found the following VERY useful:

1. The battery replacement cover is on the front (you do not have to take out the whole unit or take screw out to replace batteries

2. The 1 touch backlight is very convenient to look things up at night

3. The ability to program the device off the wall while sitting down comfortably with the manual and pieces of paper is convenient

4. The one touch feature to tell the device that you home for the day wthout other intervention is convenient.

other than that, what can I say? it works!

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'Tis the part of the year when temperatures here range between freezing and 85 degrees, sometimes during the same day. It was a continuous hassle, turning on the heat or turning on the A/C, trying to keep the kids from having pneumonia or the chinchillas passing away from the heat.

My son and I installed this thermostat in about 20 minutes. The directions are very comprehensive, and when it says read through them *before* installation, they are correct RTFM!

As for the thermostat, it has performed well. We set a range for it to stay within, and it does that without any problem. Switches between A/C and heat as needed without our intervention. A great feature is the Home button, which allows you to move to the warmest (heat) or coolest (A/C) setting on days when you are home (or are just too darned cold). Otherwise, set it and forget it no need for seasonal (or daily) adjustments.

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We wanted to cut back on costs as well as use less energy, so we researched programmable thermostats and chose this one based on the good reviews. After installing the thermostat and using it for a few days, I can say that we are VERY pleased and that it lives up to the good reviews. It came with everything needed to install as well as very detailed instructions on installation and on using the many customization features. It's tedious to set all of your daily options I mean, you have the option of setting four different programs a day! but after it's set, it's very easy to just let it go and you only need to hit one or two buttons to override without changing your saved settings. It also doesn't reset your features if the batteries go dead, which is good to know.

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I purchased the model 44459 4 years ago, which essentially is the same unit. My basis for the selection was the indiglo feature. This is one that most of the other similar priced units did not have.

To my suprise, I found the energy and filter monitoring features to be most usefull. The energy monitor allowed me to track my usage in both summer and winter, and to see how much the other upgrades to the house made a difference in energy savings. The front access to the battery is also usefull, although I changed the battery this year for the first time in 4 years.

Well, this morning, I found that my heat would not turn off, and the thermostat was stuck in the on position. I performed all normal troubleshooting procedures to no avail. I spoke directly with a Hunter Tech Support agent, who agreed with me, the unit went bad. She put me on hold for about 10 minutes, and when she returned, she informed me that my unit was no longer under warranty (which I knew, just wanted to get repaired). To my supprise, she offered a one-time courtesy replacement of the unit, NO CHARGE! All they ask is that I pay for return postage of the bad unit. She even offered to expedite the order, so that I would not be without heat for very long!

Now, I am not saying that they will extend this to everybody, but I was highly impressed with the way they stand behind their product. When I looked at the specs between my unit, and this one, which they are sending to me, they are exact! Even the owner's manual is the same!

I have been very pleased with the unit, and have grown to love the features. Home Today, Hold, and ease of programming features a plus. It even has a keypad lock function to keep the kids from messing with the temp settings.

Great value and features for the price. Highly reccomended!!!

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I purchased this product following a recommendation from Consumer Reports and extensively reading consumer comments on Amazon. We are VERY pleased with the thermostat! My husband was a little bit anxious on whether he could replace the unit himself (decided to do it on a weekday so that back-up could be called if needed). He was surprised how easy it was to replace the unit.

We especially like the automatic change-over between heat and A/C. Since it's not uncommon in the fall to go from very chilly nights to very warm days, we were constantly shifting the thermostat back and forth. With this unit, you no longer have to do that. You simply set your heat temperature for wake-up, leave the house, return home, go to bed, and then do the same with your A/C temperature. The unit automatically engages the right unit at the right time -it's amazing!

Also, the unit is very easy to program and does NOT make any noises when it turns on and off. This is an excellent choice -you won't be disappointed!

UPDATE:

10/9/2013: Product Update 6 years later and thermostats are still working perfectly. Batteries need replacement about once a year so that the lovely little light works when we adjust the thermostat. Have not had a single issue with them. Still a 5-Star product !!!

Discount Holmes HCH4266WGL-U Twin Ceramic Heater with Manual Thermostat

Customer Ratings:

We have oil heat and a very large older home so try to conserve running the furnace when you only need to warm up a few rooms. This heater is great for my livingroom it's has 2 ceramic heater units built into it, quiet, heats the room up very quickly would recommend it to anyone. Ceramic heaters use far less electricity than traditional heaters.

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We bought this ceramic heater to heat our Airstream TT as the propane heater heats great but is just too noisy. This heater is quiet, emits a suprising amount of heat, and you can adjust the temperature. All in all a very good value.

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This little power house is easy on the wallet, very powerful, heats up in an instant and silent: there is no noise. I am very pleased with the quality of this item and intend to stay with this because I have to pay high gas bills and I use it to heat the room instead of turning on the gas heat. Works like a charm and makes the room toasty and warm without taking a lot of money either! I highly recommend this. Not one complaint. Very extremely pleased.

Honest reviews on Holmes HCH4266WGL-U Twin Ceramic Heater with Manual Thermostat

I got this to replace a long line of space heaters that have failed

Pro's:

I have a very large bedroom (about 500 sq. ft.) and it does a very god job of heating it quickly

low profile and light weight makes it easy to move, but be careful

fairly quiet

good thermostat control, with 2 different fan settings

removal intake cover and "filter"

Con's:

needs 3 feet clearance on all sides per instructions

"filter" on the backside will only catch large clumps of dust, smaller hairs or bits of dust go right through and hit the heating element

cycles on and off a lot when reaches temperature, but would only wake a light sleeper

no GFI built in

BIGGEST CON : the expanded metal grate on the front gets very hot after short usage. It gets hot enough to give a nasty burn if touched. There is no secondary plastic grill as a guard. DO NOT LET SMALL CHILDREN OR PETS NEAR IT! This could be a recall issue in the future.

Handle: it's oddly placed on top so the average person would be more likely to grab it by he side to move it. MISTAKE: that's how you get a nasty burn.

I don't have any small children and my dog won't go near it, so I will keep it unless recalled.

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I had previously owned this same unit and was delightful that I could find the exact replacement. I use it in my office as it is small and can be placed in any area.

Buy Nest Learning Thermostat - 2nd Generation T200577

Customer Ratings:

I originally purchased the 1st generation of this thermostat. The only thing I didn't like about the 1st gen thermostat was how far it protruded from the wall. On my final day for the return policy of the 1st gen, the 2nd gen was advertised to be released soon. So, I didn't hesitate to uninstall the old thermostat to send it back, pre-order and wait on the 2nd gen. The 2nd gen thermostat's profile in my opinion is perfect for the look and style I desire in my home; It makes my home appear a little more modern, but not too much. The install was easy and it looks great just as with the 1st gen. I noticed a $35 drop in my $120 per month power bill w/the first gen. I have a 2200 sq/ft home w/3bdrm and 2bth that's occupied by only myself and my wife. My AC system is a basic singles stage AC and a two stage heater; I hooked up six wires: O,R,B(C),W2,G & Y. I live in FL and the AC runs at 82 during the day and 78 at night. I'm hoping for about the same performance if not better with this thermostat. I'll admit I did try to go with a programmable Honeywell thermostat which ended up not being compatible with my system while waiting on this order. So my options were keep to my pre-order with the 2nd gen nest or keep the old thermostat from over ten years ago with no features. I'm glad to have decided to go with the 2nd gen Nest.

There are Nest only exclusive cost-saving features on this device. So please no ranting on how this is just another overpriced thermostat for those who are reading reviews and are against this product. Move on to another product where people care instead of being a Debbie downer. My two favorite features of this unit are the auto-away and air-wave technologies (for the A/C) which are probably the two most cost saving features for me. Air-wave shuts down the compressor before the push box. Since the coils are still cold from the compressor running, the thermostat knows how long it takes for your home to get from one temp to another. Depending on this time, the thermostat knows when to shut down the compressor to save power while still getting the home to the desired temp. Auto-away is a feature that shuts off the AC within a programmable range if it detects no one is home. My unit is in a hallway that doesn't see much traffic (I spend most my time in a back office) and this unit still managed to not go into auto-away mode while I'm home. A side note on auto-away though is that it must be trained within the first two weeks before it has an idea of your home activity. Once the unit trains itself, the power saving features will all be automated unless you manually disable them.

As everyone else has claimed, the setup was quick and easy for both the thermostat and wifi to access a personal profile/account. The tools to install the thermostat are generously included with the premium price. Packaging was premium and very Apple-like; a nice presentation.

Yes, like mostly everyone else, I realize $250 is a lot to spend on a thermostat. I don't mind spending that kind of money on something that is going into my home that will be used 24/7. If you don't mind the price hurdle, I'm pretty confident you'll be happy with the performance, company(Nest) and style of this thermostat.

I'm very happy with this thermostat if its anything like the 1st gen in performance. If it doesn't perform, expect a followup to this review. As of now, I'm very pleased assuming the only real differences I'll be expecting from the 1st to 2nd gen is aesthetic appeal.

If you have any questions, I'll do my best to respond. Also, before giving a review a thumbs down, provide a suggestion for making it better. Thanks.

----------update (12-12-12)--------------

I just wanted to mention then 2nd gen is on par with the 1st gen thermostat in cost savings and performance.

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I received and installed my second-gen Nest thermostat about three weeks ago and was initially very happy with it. Simple to install, beautiful, easy to use, it is certainly all that. Unfortunately, it lacks one characteristic that a thermostat MUST have. It is not robust. It fails under circumstances that a $50 hardware store thermostat would have no problems with, and when it fails it DOES NOT FAIL SAFE which is a pretty major problem when you're talking about a device that is controlling expensive heat and cooling (and, in a cold climate, keeping your pipes from freezing!)

I was pretty surprised to come home today to a sweltering-hot apartment when the outside temperature was in the mid-to-high sixties. It's a brand-new apartment, very well insulated, and initially I simply thought that all the sun streaming through the skylights and windows was responsible for the high temperature. The Nest indicated that it was 86 degrees inside and of course, with a set point of 50 degrees, it was obviously not heating. (Right?) I set the temperature to 75 and switched it to cooling mode. Cool air started streaming from the AC vents great. Should cool down in a little while. (Right?) After thirty minutes with the AC on, I was if anything more uncomfortable, so I went over to the Nest again imagine my surprise when I saw that the inside temperature had gone up to 89 degrees! At this point I knew something was very wrong. It took only a few seconds to determine that the Nest had my heating on full bore even while the AC was cooling. No wonder the place was sweltering! I called Nest and after a very short debugging session (the customer service agent had obviously seen this many, many times before) he determined that the Nest had failed in such a way that the heating was stuck on, full-time.

The rep informed me that this was a known issue that Nest's engineers were trying to solve. Apparently the Nest, unlike a cheap hardware store thermostat, is extremely sensitive to voltage "spikes" on the wires that connect it to your HVAC. Such spikes are pretty much par for the course in an HVAC environment those wires are connected to electromechanical relays, transformers, and other old-school electrical gear and regular thermostats are designed to deal with it, which is why you don't have problems with your cheap Honeywell. (The one I replaced with the Nest had been doing its job happily for the better part of a decade.) But this electrical "noise" can make the Nest fail and fail spectacularly, typically by leaving the heat (or cooling) on full time, or else keeping them from coming on. Any of those failure modes could get pretty expensive if you happened to be away when they happen you could burn through a lot of fuel and/or use a lot of electricity, and in the worst case scenario your pipes could freeze and flood your house. Nest knows this, so they are no longer replacing thermostats that fail this way (since their hardware is flawed, any replacement is just going to fail again, and the next time it could be a lot worse). Of course, they won't tell you this in so many words: the company line is that your system (because it exhibits voltage spikes) is "incompatible" with the Nest. Never mind that it is a bog-standard HVAC setup, passed their compatibility test with no issues, and has worked fine for a couple of weeks). Never mind that it works fine with a garden-variety hardware-store thermostat. Naturally Nest doesn't want to admit that their fancy hardware is seriously flawed in its inability to handle the kind of electrical noise that is found on ordinary HVAC control lines, but make no mistake about it: the fault isn't in your system. It's in their thermostat, which isn't designed to handle real-world conditions.

This isn't just a matter of semantics. The problem is that, if you purchased your thermostat from Amazon, Nest wants you to return it to Amazon (not to them). They are explicitly disclaiming any responsibility under their warranty since it's your HVAC system that's "incompatible," not their thermostat that is broken. Presumably if the thermostat fails outside of Amazon's 30-day return window you're out of luck. At least the Nest would make a nice paperweight. This is the part that really shocked me and made me feel that the company must be getting a bit desperate. Reading the online forums, I can see that this is a pretty common problem, and I suspect that Nest financially can't handle the number of returns it would have to handle if it treated this as a warranty issue. Fortunately, my Nest is only 3 weeks old, so I can return it to Amazon, but I really hate to have to do that it seems like an abuse of Amazon's generous return policy, when it's really Nest that should be facing up to their problem. I feel very sorry for those whose devices fail, excuse me, prove to be "incompatible" outside of the return window. At least I kept my old thermostat rather than recycling it as Nest suggests I do!

Nest has a serious engineering problem on their hands and I believe they are scrambling to do something about it before it all comes crashing down. (The rep offered to put me on a mailing list to be informed when their engineers fix the issue, presumably so that, I can court disaster again by buying the next version.) They've had a lot of really great press (not undeserved, because their device *is* really nice, when it works) but that can only carry them so far if the news gets out that their $250 thermostat could leave you overheated or flood your house, they're going to lose that momentum. So it's not surprising that they're trying to frame this as "merely" a compatibility issue. But if I had a Nest at this point, even if it seemed to be working OK, I would still be really, really nervous about it, for two reasons: (1) the device is not robust to typical levels of electrical noise; a voltage spike could happen on any system at any time, possibly breaking the Nest and subjecting to you God-knows-what financial loss, and (2) it's not clear that the company would stand behind their product if that did happen.

Advice: stay far, far away from this product.

Best Deals on Nest Learning Thermostat - 2nd Generation T200577

As a certified licensed HVAC contractor for 32 years and Certified Nest Reseller in Scottsdale Arizona I have personally re-installed and troubleshot over 50 of the Nest thermostats. We like the Nest and it's concept though we have been experiencing multiple problems with regards to error messages, units operating erratic, systems switching from ac to heat, compressors cycling into internal overload, burnt up control boards and relays to name a few. I do admit it's great for business, though once we show up for service, we now own the call and are responsible for making the system work. The newest problem was this last week on a commercial building with 4 new AC units on the roof and 4 new Nests. We have logged in 6 additional non chargeable hours to troubleshoot and replacements in a 1hr job to change out all 4.

To keep it short, these are the facts;

*Installed 4 nests, all AC units are same brand, 2 Nests are functioning

*Nest #1, installed, ran for 1 day went into heat, troubleshot replaced control cable and determined bad base, replaced with new from supplier. Installed new Nest, ran 3 cycles, began chattering compressor contactor relay (shorted from 26v to 16v) and compressor went off on overload. Replace Nest with conventional thermostat, unit is now operational for last 2 days.

*Nest #2, customer wanted nest in his office, shut off system power, removed Nest head, relocated line in office, reinstalled base and applied power to system, Nest displayed error message on G terminal as no power and system had no fan, removed head metered lines and jumped fan circuit and fan came on. Replaced Nest with conventional thermostat, unit is operational.

*I called the Nest Tech support and was informed that there is a problem with the "FET" (field effect transistor) inside of the base that they are having problems with. Talked with commercial support for 45 minutes, there was nothing they could help with that we have already done. We are not sure at this point where we stand with the Nest folks and are waiting for their response from them concerning these issues.

UPDATE 9-22-2013

9-22-2013

We are a licensed HVAC contractor in Arizona. We have discussed with product support and consulted for an hours with Nest service techs of multiple problems associated with 2nd generation thermostat subases. We have yet to hear back from the support team in regards to sudden failures of the Nest thermostats.

Problems found installing new Nest thermostats that will result in complete Nest replacement and possible component replacement include;

*wiring errors in the G terminal after running for a week

*failure to operate fan with relocation of Nest from one office wall to another office wall

*uncontrollable

*compressor relay chatter and compressor overload shutdown

*system going into heat while in cooling mode

*ac units tripping breakers

*costly control boards on ac units shorting out and needing to be replace

*system settings changing from O to B and going into heat mode

*ac units running without the Nest head installed

*wifi not responding to commands with regards to setting changes

We are still waiting on the Nest team response to us, during this time we are definitely not recommending this product to our customers or anyone else.

Honest reviews on Nest Learning Thermostat - 2nd Generation T200577

Picked mine up from the store today.

***DO NOT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE FILM FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE UNIT*** I am one of those remove plastic wrap from everything kind of guys. Guess what, that isn't plastic wrap on the entire bottom of the Nest ring itself. It's the sensors. Don't scuff up your Nest!

It took longer to unbox it then it did for me to install it. It helps that I only had 2 wires, red & white to connect. Connected to my Wifi easily. It then downloaded a software/hardware update 3.01. After that it was pretty painless.

Looks great on the wall. If you think the stainless ring reflects the color of your wall like they say it does, then you are willing it to happen.

I never had the Nest 1 to compare it to but this one is very sharp looking. Everything in the box was well packaged.

Mainly got this unit for the fuel savings and the fact that it does not need a "C" wire to work like every other fancy thermostat.

Android app works perfectly over 4G or Wifi. Running ICS on a Droid Razr.

Unit does have an Anti-Freeze temp setting since someone asked.

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Day one with the Nest, and I'm on the fence at the moment...

I finally accepted that the days of "I'm at work from 8:00 to 5:00, so stop using the heat / ac" programming with my trusty Honeywell VisionPRO were coming to an end with my wife and daughter in and out of the house at different times throughout the day. So, I was really taken with the auto-learn auto-away functionality.

Setting up my thermostat should have been pretty straightforward, having only four wires. But what would normally be a few minutes worth of work turned in to a night of frustration. Near midnight, I finally gave in and checked to see if their support people were still around. Turns out, they were. In under a minute, I was talking to a US-based support person. We went through some information gathering, and just as actual work was going to begin, the Nest thermostat magically started working. "Weird. We'll have to keep an eye on that." Yeah, I'd have to concur.

The menus were easy to navigate, and a couple of minutes later, my Nest account was setup and my thermostat was reporting in. The settings on the site are much easier to use than the walk-up menus, so don't get sucked in to playing with the menus if time is important. (Personally, I dig the menus.) After a short while, I noticed that the thermostat seems to stop reporting in after ten minutes. And... it doesn't seem to come back, until you walk up to it and tap it. I'd wonder if it was a problem with network connectivity if I wasn't on the same wireless network in the same room as the thermostat and wireless router. "Always Connected"? Not so much. How am I supposed to control it when I'm away, if I can't even control it from my couch?

Speaking of walking up to it, for a thermostat packed full of sensors, it can't seem to figure out when someone's standing in front of it. Although it has a setting to turn the display on when it senses motion, it doesn't pick up anything from me until I'm an inch or two from touching the thermostat.

Maybe there are software updates coming. Maybe the energy savings will make the cosmetic problems less important. Maybe I just got a crap unit. In any case, this product seems to be for early adopters who are willing to deal with some bumps in the road. If you expect flawless performance, you probably want to wait for the third generation, or at least a few updates.

UPDATE: This will be the first update of several.

While I did call Nest Support last night, I didn't mention anything about the sensor not "seeing" me, or the network connection dropping. Yet, at noon (Eastern) someone called about the issues I reported in this review. I haven't been able to return the call just yet, but before anyone takes my review too negatively, I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that if nothing else, Nest's support is incredible.

2ND UPDATE: The support person at Nest has been great with follow-up calls, and some progress has been made. The sensors seem to be learning, which is a big plus. And, it's starting to look like my furnace is quirky about giving full power to the wiring. After some troubleshooting, I'm able to consistently reproduce the same wiring "problem" that the Nest sees.

*So, a potential warning to owners of newer Goodman equipment*: it's looking like the system board doesn't push full power until the system has been powered on for about ten minutes. If you're fascist about safety and turn off your furnace power to work on 24V wiring (guilty), it seems that the Nest will complain about Y1 or RC arbitrarily until the system has been powered on for a while.

3RD UPDATE:

Now that I've had Nest for just over a week, things have started going downhill again. Gone are the days when the display would notice me walking by. Now we're back to waving a hand in front of the display to get it to light up.

Well... except for this evening. It decided at 6:52 that we were away. We had left at 4:50, but for the first "Hey, you're not here" I guess it was better than nothing. When we got back, the heat came on, and everything seemed normal for a little while.

Then it started getting warm. After a brief time, I went up to the Nest and found that it decided to turn itself up to 80. I caught it at 74, and turned it down to 72 where I left it.

In summary: For as polished as it seems, Nest is looking more schizophrenic as time progresses.

4TH UPDATE (10/30/2012):

And I'm docking a star.

After a couple of nights of "Why is it so hot in here? Oh, the dumb thermostat made it 80 again," I realized that for some mysterious reason, my Nest had created a new auto-schedule to make it 80 every day at midnight.

Why 80 and not 78, or 81? Who knows? I've never set it higher than 73, so I couldn't guess where that number came from. However, I did lose my green leaf for the day. Was it because 80 is an unreasonable setting? Was it because I manually intervened? Who knows. Nest certainly won't tell me.

What it will tell me, is that yesterday, the house was empty at 10:30 in the morning. It was actually empty at 8:25, but it's not like I bought a relatively expensive device to know better. I can't say I'm entirely shocked, because it seems to have stopped paying attention to nearby motion again. Great.

The thing is, getting the daily reports online really does tell a tale. I absolutely see the value in the product -if it worked properly. I've decided to exchange mine today, to see if a replacement is any better.

5TH UPDATE:

Well, my replacement hasn't arrived yet. I cleared out the schedule, and once again "Gee... it seems kind of warm."

This time, instead of the thermostat being set beyond 72, it's set right... it just happens to be orange (showing that the heat cycle is active) and the actual thermometer shows that I'm at 74... no... 75... I set it to "Off" on the web interface and set the fan to "Always On". The display is black, shows it's set to 72, with the fan on, and "Heating"... 76... 77... Well, there was no "click" and the furnace is still going... 78... It's been five minutes, so there's a reasonable cool-down window... 79... 80... Breaker time.

Yeah, the stupid Nest thermostat wouldn't turn my furnace off this time. My months-old furnace. I did a hard reset, let it reboot, set the fan back to "Always On", and now it's sitting there happily doing nothing.

We'll see how the new one goes, but for everyone's sake, I hope mine's defective.

6TH UPDATE (11/16/2012):

If anyone's following my saga, I've been running on the new Nest thermostat for about a week now, and so far, it hasn't jacked my furnace to 80, so that's a positive thing. It did decide that it should schedule 72 for 4 p.m. out of the blue, but that's better than 80.

That's probably the only positive thing though. The new one seems to have a much wider temperature variance before it will heat or cool, so setting it to 72 means you could be touching 70 before the furnace comes on.

Motion sensing is also as dismal as can be. Sometimes it notices me. Most of the time, I have to wave my hand at it.

Since it now has to "learn" everything again on its own, expect a 7th update for Auto-Away and automatic scheduling.

7TH UPDATE (11/26/2012) Cyber Monday Edition!:

I believe it was Flavor Flav who first said "Don't believe the hype." It was as true then, as it is now, though I guess now I'm talking about a thermostat and Flav was talking about... okay, bad analogy, I guess.

In any case, here's my final verdict:

*If you think it's cool to be able to control your heating and cooling system remotely, this is a fairly elegant and device-agnostic solution.

*If you think friends and family will come marvel at your expensive thermostat, this fits the bill nicely.

*If you want your home's temperature to be a specific number, forget you ever saw this item. Even when you set it to an explicit temperature, it often allows a 1 2 degree variance on either side.

*If Auto-Away was a selling feature and you expect it to notice nobody's home in under two hours' time, forget it. Two hours is the shortest time its taken for this thermostat to figure out the house is empty.

*If you're thinking that huge energy savings are going to offset the price, think again. Now that I've had this for an entire electric / gas billing cycle, my changes are (drumroll please): 8% more electricity than last year, 0% more gas. The temperature here has been roughly the same as last year, but I did install a new high-efficiency furnace and AC to replace the 15 year-old one that was in last year, so... uh... you do the math there.

I may have another update or two in me, but after two units, I'm not at all impressed.

FINAL UPDATE: 12/13/2012

After weeks of crazy thermostat settings, a higher energy bill, and lots of frustration, the Nest Learning Thermostat is officially gone. I've replaced it with the ecobee EB-STAT-02 Smart Thermostat 4 Heat-2 Cool with Full Color Touch Screen, and I'm not looking back.

Better Chef Buffet Burner Table Top Single Reviews

Customer Ratings:

I know this burner is inexpensive, but it is still junk. I bought two of these burners. Yes, they look pretty, but that's where the good ends. One of the burner's grates is uneven, causing the pot or pan to wobble. When it wobbles, the pan or pot does not make full contact with the burner's heating grate. The other burner's heating grate is more even, but it does not get red hot like the other burner. Too many inconsistencies. To sum up, you never know what you are going to get with these; an uneven grate, or an underpowered unit. I got water to boil, but it took ages. I will not buy these again.

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I am using this to melt oils for soap making. I have also used it to keep something on a simmer during a BBQ.

What I like about it:

very light weight and low profile making it easy to store

Power switch and temp controls seperate so easy to make sure if it is on or off

does well at maintaining lowwer temps. (I have not tried to actually cook on high heats I wanted something that could maintain low heat and this does that quiet well)

What I don't like

burner does not rest flat. This makes pots woble and can lead to uneaven heat

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Although did not purchase this item through Amazon (local discount store) still have usage issues. After placing a 6" diameter pot of cold water on coil; fixing an immersion thermometer in water positioned 1/4" above bottom of pan (not to touch metal) and then switching unit on and turning temperature knob incrementally; allowing unit's sensor to keep up with heat demand; the maximum heat temperature reached was between 210°F and 211°F. It doesn't reach 212°F (boiling point). The mystery of why pasta doesn't cook fully is now uncovered with this unit. It is at best a 'buffet warmer' not as stated on box 'burner.' And yes, have same issues with pans wobbling on uneven coil. At $19.00, was cheap enough to try it out and it tested not a boiling unit. Pros: good for keeping cooked foods warm; melting butter and chocolate for recipes. Cons (particular to this unit): does not achieve a rolling boil of water for cooking foods; and pans wobble creating uneven heating of pans. Needed a unit for cooking and this one was a disappointment of my needs.

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The only drawback is that the coil isn't as leveled throughout as it could be, and so balancing things can be especially hard at first before you level the surface on which the burner rests.

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This Burner table top is amazing. You can cook as if you were at home.I bought this for my buisness, sometimes you just get tired of eating take out food, and wish to cook a little something.This is perfect! Fast shipping also.

Cheap 65 Pint Dehumidifier

Customer Ratings:

I ordered a 50 pint KUL from another store. MY basement had gotten very damp even though we did a have a small air conditioner in place. The KUL works great. Noise level is comfortable. You can talk over the appliance and be heard. It hums instead of hurting your ears. It has made my basement a lot more comfortable than it use to be. It has a nice appearance and the machine is easy to operate. You can use the bucket or use a hose which connects to the back and drains either into a drain, a tub, or a sink.

I have owned this KUL about a week. One day it did overflow but I mopped it up and the basement floor is concrete. I have no idea why it malfunctioned. I will purchase a timer if I can find one with a 3 prong plug and use that on days that I work. The bucket is hard to return to base after empty, but it does have a handle and empties much better than others I have owned. There is a delay of 3 minutes before the unit turns back on after stopping. Sometimes I have to remove the bucket and reinsert it because the full light does not got out. Its a minor problem. Otherwise, I am very happy with the unit so far. Its easy to use has a continuous on with Turbo and dehumidifies like crazy. I know it will add to my electric bill but that is better than having mold in the basement due to the very wet weather here.

I would recommend this machine over a Kenmore or LG.

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At first it was great my basement never felt drier. The problem I have a few problems however. The thing that is supposed to detect when it is full broke after 3 months and got my basement floor soaked. I also have to empty this manually 3-4 times a day in the summer. It also upped my electricity bill by $50 a month

I want to try to put a splitter in my washer drain hose so it can just run continuously.