Home Improvement Thread

Postby **Beveridge** » Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:27 pm

Anything that isn't the mortgage, save up and pay in cash. Emergency fund is there as a backup if something critical goes.

Postby **NTP66** » Tue Nov 22, 2022 8:49 pm

We dedicated $5k in cash to yearly improvement spend, and only went over it once ($8k). I’d do the same as above - under $15k, cash/CC. More than that, I’d have to think about. Still would lean cash if financing rates were absurd.

Postby **willeyeam** » Tue Nov 22, 2022 10:49 pm

Look at you ballers

Postby **Shyster** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 12:11 am

I paid for my furnace with fortuitous timing. AmEx had just offered a nine-month window with no interest payments, so I just put the furnace on my Blue Cash Preferred card. I have investment accounts that I can pull from, and given the higher interest rates, I probably wouldn't think about a HELOC for anything less than at least $15k.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 23, 2022 6:31 am

To clarify, if the price was the same cash or CC, it's going on the CC immediately for the rewards. Most of my Chase cards have their newer 'pay back over time' feature, allowing you to pay back certain debts in monthly installments - interest free. That'd be a great option for larger purchases.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:01 am

Which of yinz has an ecobee? Black Friday'd one and installed it and the accompanying sensor last night and these things are a solid three degrees off compared to the old thermostat and other external thermometers. Is it better to recalibrate and see if it can **** itself or just manually adjust the temperate within the settings?

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:04 am

Which of yinz has an ecobee? Black Friday'd one and installed it and the accompanying sensor last night and these things are a solid three degrees off compared to the old thermostat and other external thermometers. Is it better to recalibrate and see if it can **** itself or just manually adjust the temperate within the settings?

I have an ecobee 4. Which one is off - the ecobee, or the SmartSensor? If the latter, ecobee will replace it for free if you contact support. If the thermostat, I imagine that the same would apply. Even if you got a bad unit, I would stick with them.

Postby **skullman80** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:23 am

I have an ecobee as well. You can adjust the temp setting on the thermostat itself if it's off I think + or minus 10 degrees. I don't think you can do it on the sensors though.

https://www.techsolutions.support.com/h ... stat-12430

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:25 am

You can't adjust the sensors, no. What support will have you do is place the sensor in question next to another sensor or the thermostat to validate that they're reading different temps. I've replaced a few of them in the past because of them being off, and the process is always smooth. They're just slow to ship the replacement.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:26 am

Which of yinz has an ecobee? Black Friday'd one and installed it and the accompanying sensor last night and these things are a solid three degrees off compared to the old thermostat and other external thermometers. Is it better to recalibrate and see if it can **** itself or just manually adjust the temperate within the settings?
I have an ecobee 4. Which one is off - the ecobee, or the SmartSensor? If the latter, ecobee will replace it for free if you contact support. If the thermostat, I imagine that the same would apply. Even if you got a bad unit, I would stick with them.

Both. Thermostat worse than the sensor, but both are off compared to our other available methods of measuring temperature.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:28 am

Which of yinz has an ecobee? Black Friday'd one and installed it and the accompanying sensor last night and these things are a solid three degrees off compared to the old thermostat and other external thermometers. Is it better to recalibrate and see if it can **** itself or just manually adjust the temperate within the settings?
I have an ecobee 4. Which one is off - the ecobee, or the SmartSensor? If the latter, ecobee will replace it for free if you contact support. If the thermostat, I imagine that the same would apply. Even if you got a bad unit, I would stick with them.
Both. Thermostat worse than the sensor, but both are off compared to our other available methods of measuring temperature.

Are you sure your old devices are accurate? Do you have an old school mercury thermometer that you can use to settle things?

Postby **dodint** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:30 am

This will be an unsatisfying answer, but if they're both off by the same amount does it matter? The number itself doesn't actually matter once you figure out where you're comfortable. If there happens to be an offset to what a higher-quality thermometer says that's not really going to affect the ability of the thermostat to make you comfortable.

By all means, return it if you're not satisfied. It would probably bother me enough to get rid of it as well. Just point out that you don't actually need to from a practical perspective.

I'm an Ecobee user that is pretty 'meh' about my ownership experience, FWIW.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:40 am

Reminder to also check out beestat (https://app.beestat.io/) for detailed tracking, etc. He included the new visualizer recently, which is neat, but not really 'useful'.

Postby **skullman80** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:42 am

Beestat is what makes ecobee so nice to use honestly. I saw that update, but it doesn't really interest me. The other data provided though on a day to day basis is really nice.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 9:45 am

Yeah, it's neat if you want to visualize your entire house at any given point to see temperature differences, but you can obviously get the same data from the charts.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:06 am

Which of yinz has an ecobee? Black Friday'd one and installed it and the accompanying sensor last night and these things are a solid three degrees off compared to the old thermostat and other external thermometers. Is it better to recalibrate and see if it can **** itself or just manually adjust the temperate within the settings?
I have an ecobee 4. Which one is off - the ecobee, or the SmartSensor? If the latter, ecobee will replace it for free if you contact support. If the thermostat, I imagine that the same would apply. Even if you got a bad unit, I would stick with them.
Both. Thermostat worse than the sensor, but both are off compared to our other available methods of measuring temperature.
Are you sure your old devices are accurate? Do you have an old school mercury thermometer that you can use to settle things?

No mercury thermometers, but two ThermaPro indoor thermometers match the old thermostat, which matches the downstairs thermostat, so I'm just trusting them at this point.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:07 am

Which of yinz has an ecobee? Black Friday'd one and installed it and the accompanying sensor last night and these things are a solid three degrees off compared to the old thermostat and other external thermometers. Is it better to recalibrate and see if it can **** itself or just manually adjust the temperate within the settings?
I have an ecobee 4. Which one is off - the ecobee, or the SmartSensor? If the latter, ecobee will replace it for free if you contact support. If the thermostat, I imagine that the same would apply. Even if you got a bad unit, I would stick with them.
Both. Thermostat worse than the sensor, but both are off compared to our other available methods of measuring temperature.
Are you sure your old devices are accurate? Do you have an old school mercury thermometer that you can use to settle things?
No mercury thermometers, but two ThermaPro indoor thermometers match the old thermostat, which matches the downstairs thermostat, so I'm just trusting them at this point.

Gotcha. If you can adjust the thermostat based on skull's post, I'd then just contact ecobee for a replacement sensor.

Postby **Dickie Dunn** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:10 am

This will be an unsatisfying answer, but if they're both off by the same amount does it matter? The number itself doesn't actually matter once you figure out where you're comfortable. If there happens to be an offset to what a higher-quality thermometer says that's not really going to affect the ability of the thermostat to make you comfortable.

By all means, return it if you're not satisfied. It would probably bother me enough to get rid of it as well. Just point out that you don't actually need to from a practical perspective.

I'm an Ecobee user that is pretty 'meh' about my ownership experience, FWIW.

That was my initial thought last night. I installed this around 10 PM so I wasn't able to track extensively before bed. It was looking like they were both off the same amount, but so far today the thermostat is off 3 degrees and the sensor has been off a max of 1 degree.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:12 am

IMO, if it's brand new, I'd send it all back and request a replacement. That's what the warranty is for.

Postby **dodint** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:16 am

IMO, if it's brand new, I'd send it all back and request a replacement. That's what the warranty is for.

Of course.

I tossed it out there if he finds this is just how they are but likes everything else about the Ecobee experience.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:18 am

IMO, if it's brand new, I'd send it all back and request a replacement. That's what the warranty is for.
Of course.

I tossed it out there if he finds this is just how they are but likes everything else about the Ecobee experience.

Yeah, and I think your advice and adjusting the thermostat are very applicable if it's out of warranty, because it's still a great product.

Postby **dodint** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:20 am

It's not Ecobee's fault but I'm 'meh' on mine because I can't see when my supplemental heat is running and that was the whole reason I bought a smart thermostat. We've talked about it before but all of that is handled by the air handler so the only info my thermostat sees is if the fan is running, or if heat/cold is running.

That and I'm over being asked to buy Ecobee air filters.

Postby **skullman80** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:20 am

In my use case I don't even use the thermostat for any temp readings as it sits right behind but slightly above our tv in the living room. That thing reads way higher than anything else in the house. We use the sensors for everything temp wise.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:28 am

It's not Ecobee's fault but I'm 'meh' on mine because I can't see when my supplemental heat is running and that was the whole reason I bought a smart thermostat. We've talked about it before but all of that is handled by the air handler so the only info my thermostat sees is if the fan is running, or if heat/cold is running.

That and I'm over being asked to buy Ecobee air filters.

I vaguely recall this conversation now. I wonder if other advanced thermostats can actually give you that data, or if you need the OEM t-stat from the appliance to get it. Similar to how ecobee can't really work with variable speed fans because it can only handle stages, and will not ramp up/down fans.

Postby **AuthorTony** » Wed Nov 30, 2022 10:56 am

Does anyone have experience with smart blinds? I wanted to get a blackout roller blind for a window that is directly across from my TV. I'm debating between a name brand regular blind (which seems stupid expensive) and a motorized blind I can control via Alexa (which is also stupid expensive, but at least has some tech). I guess my biggest concern with the smart blind is the motor crapping out. If that happens, can it still be used manually? I supposed that's a dumb question, but I'm a pretty dumb guy so...