Teach Your Home a Lesson
Buying a new home during a pandemic is nothing I’d wish on my worst enemy, but the force of “adulting” nonetheless moved my husband and I to purchase our first home together. With that being said, several other considerations were necessary, at least in our minds; a couch and a loveseat (or maybe a sectional), and a new bed frame. While setting up our National Grid electricity and gas accounts, I came across an advertisement for Google’s “Nest Learning Thermostat”. As I read, I learned that they offer rebates at the time of purchase with an active account; as such, I immediately jumped to take advantage of the deal. Now that I was in that home energy mindset, I recalled a home energy monitoring device I had investigated a few years ago from a company called Sense, which at the time seemed cost-prohibitive. Presently however, recently purchasing a home suddenly made $299 (Sense) and $174 (Nest), plus tax and shipping, not seem like such lofty purchases, especially if they’re so easy to install, configure, and they work as described.
In the lead up to the purchase of both devices, I made sure to watch both installation videos from start to finish. Google’s tutorial empowered me with literally all the knowledge I needed to do the installation. Everything starts with turning off the breakers. I had to turn off both our air conditioning system and our furnace, since both provide power on an individual basis straight to the thermostat wires. From there, it was harder removing the old thermostat from the wall than it was physically attaching the various plates and base of the Nest device. Once I had everything firmly affixed to the wall, I was able to snap the front on, and flip the breakers back on. The device soon powered up with the familiar multicolored G logo. Using the phone-based app, I was able to get going in about 10 minutes, three of which were just waiting for the device to fully boot for the first time. Once connected to the (you guessed it) Nest Wi-Fi system I have set up, I immediately found the menu option to check for updates and forced them to download immediately. The first step, after putting any device on your home network, is to bring it up to date. After that, keep monitoring the devices to ensure they update periodically.
The Sense home energy monitoring device was more involved in its installation. I elected to install the device inside the circuit breaker panel, which happens to be in our basement. That means I had to take the front of the panel off and expose the internal wiring. But before that, I knew the device uses wi-fi, so I installed a fourth mesh router on our home network in the basement to service the monitoring device. After turning the power off to the whole house, I removed the panel and fixed clamps around our two main lines, nestling the grey wires behind all the existing wires. I then located a 240-volt circuit breaker that I knew was no longer in use and installed the power for the unit as instructed by their video and quick-start guide. Once I had the wires connected to the breakers and panel, I extended the wi-fi antenna out one of the holes punched in the side, so that the metal of the panel and door wouldn’t interfere with the signal to the basement’s new mesh router. After I had everything connected, I put the panel back on, flipped on the 240-volt breaker, and began the app’s setup. One tip; don’t try to set up the device while you’re standing physically between your router and the device; it took me two tries to join the Sense device to our Nest Wi-Fi because my body and my phone were blocking signals, but it worked (eventually), immediately giving out useful data about the overall energy consumption of our home.
In terms of installs, both the Google Nest Learning Thermostat, and the Sense Home Energy Monitor were easy if you have the confidence to turn breakers on and off and use a screwdriver. To be honest, I didn’t have to turn off our whole house for the Sense install, but it must always be done out of an abundance of caution because electricity can kill you. It can also mess up the equipment you’re trying to install, so even if you don’t hurt yourself, you’ll void the device’s warranty. With the thermostat, the difference was immediate. The house has been cooler, and various smart features keep the fans going, for instance, to blow around the air for more even distribution. The energy monitor has already started collecting statistics and, according to blogs I’ve read, will continue to collect data for several weeks before giving insight into individual appliances or electronics that the device has detected. For now, I can’t wait to get home, turn everything off, and then turn things on one-by-one to see what kind of power drain all our devices truly possess. The Sense monitor can be purchased with an extra set of clamps that will monitor the output of solar systems and generators, allowing for environmentally friendly expansion. The Nest system can also be expanded with temperature sensors that can be purchased separately and placed throughout the home.
Disclaimer: I’m no stranger to electrical work, or HVAC work, so these processes came easily to me. If you have any doubt, contact a licensed electrician or HVAC technician before purchasing and installing anything yourself. Your life is not worth a new gadget for your house.
