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Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

nytimes.com

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Re: Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

#11

Post by Jack000 »

hijinks wrote: post #3

Wow this happened to my family. We didn't have heat for I think 5 hours. Now we are in the SF Bay so it didn't get crazy cold but I had a wife telling me to fix it and the stupid thing wouldn't come online. I chalked it up to one of the kids pulled the unit from the base plate and the battery drained. It seems like a GIANT bug to me that the Nest won't come back online till the battery is almost fully charged. I "fix…

happened to me too. I thought it was a problem with the heating system itself (why wouldn't the nest be getting a charge?) but now it all makes sense.

Re: Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

#12

Post by nulltype »

mhurron wrote: post #8
tcdent wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scary enough to have redundancy? edit: I'm talking about redundant systems. A wood fireplace, for example. You should have a backup of any form of technology you rely on to maintain your life. We regularly do it with far less critical applications.

Think about what you just said. Redundancy for a thermostat. You know, that thing that before the Nest you never even had to think about.

The thermostat at my place works great. That wasn't enough to keep the heater from breaking for about a week around Thanksgiving.

Re: Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

#13

Post by rubidium »

FireBeyond wrote: post #6

"It also happened recently with Fitbit, the maker of wearable activity trackers. The company was hit with a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco asserting that the wristbands failed to “consistently and accurately record wearers’ heart rates,” which is vital for those with certain medical conditions." Apropos of anything else - I don't think Fitbit has ever tried to market itself as a medical device.

It turns out even if a company markets its products with big bold "not for diagnostic/medical use", and its customers use the products for diagnostic or medical use, the company can still be on the hook. It depends on a number of things, not least of which is the company's knowledge of the actual use of their devices.

Re: Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

#15

Post by dogecoinbase »

tcdent wrote: post #4
newday wrote: post #2

Considering how cold it gets up here in Canada, this is scary.

Scary enough to have redundancy? edit: I'm talking about redundant systems. A wood fireplace, for example. You should have a backup of any form of technology you rely on to maintain your life. We regularly do it with far less critical applications.

Not before Nest, no. I guess so now?

Re: Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

#16

Post by tomkinstinch »

ghaff wrote: post #7
tcdent wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scary enough to have redundancy? edit: I'm talking about redundant systems. A wood fireplace, for example. You should have a backup of any form of technology you rely on to maintain your life. We regularly do it with far less critical applications.

Can you have redundant thermostats? Though I'd note that traditional thermostats and even simple programmable ones are very reliable.

Sure, at least for traditional two-wire thermostats that turn on when the circuit is closed: connect them in parallel.

The Nest is so obviously a product designed in warm California—not anywhere that sees truly hard winter. If it were designed well, it would fail safe (furnace on). I'd rather have a hefty heating bill from my furnace running 24/7 than have all of the pipes in my house freeze and break. If I ever install a Nest or other smart thermostat, it will be in parallel to the bimetallic-strip-and-mercury-switch from forty years ago.

Re: Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

#17

Post by x0x0 »

FireBeyond wrote: post #6

"It also happened recently with Fitbit, the maker of wearable activity trackers. The company was hit with a class-action lawsuit in San Francisco asserting that the wristbands failed to “consistently and accurately record wearers’ heart rates,” which is vital for those with certain medical conditions." Apropos of anything else - I don't think Fitbit has ever tried to market itself as a medical device.

I have a fitbit chargehr. It doesn't monitor heartrate for shit; it's 20-50 bpm off during exercise.

Re: Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

#18

Post by schwap »

ghaff wrote: post #7
tcdent wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Scary enough to have redundancy? edit: I'm talking about redundant systems. A wood fireplace, for example. You should have a backup of any form of technology you rely on to maintain your life. We regularly do it with far less critical applications.

Can you have redundant thermostats? Though I'd note that traditional thermostats and even simple programmable ones are very reliable.

Maybe you could have a thermostat in parallel that's normally set to a minimum temperature? Thermostat -> furnace communication is pretty dead simple.

Re: Nest Thermostat Glitch Leaves Users in the Cold

#20

Post by schwap »

tomkinstinch wrote: post #16
ghaff wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you have redundant thermostats? Though I'd note that traditional thermostats and even simple programmable ones are very reliable.

Sure, at least for traditional two-wire thermostats that turn on when the circuit is closed: connect them in parallel. The Nest is so obviously a product designed in warm California—not anywhere that sees truly hard winter. If it were designed well, it would fail safe (furnace on). I'd rather have a hefty heating bill from my furnace running 24/7 than have all of the pipes in my house freeze and break. If I ever inst…

I don't think it would be as simple as a high heating bill. A residential furnace is certainly not made to run 24/7. No big deal if you're at work but if you're out of town for a while...
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