I've installed an Ecobee Enhanced w/four remote sensors.
Noticing some odd behavior and want to clear it up before I install the Ecobee integration. This seems like more of a hot mess than I expected...either I misunderstand the functionality, or ?
Most concerning - Comfort Settings aren't following their scheduled times.
First example: I created and scheduled a custom Comfort Setting called "Home 830am" scheduled for 830am today. When I returned to the app home screen after creating/scheduling the setting, the Home 830am settings had already been set even though it was just 8:12am.
Second example: I set a hold early this morning when the heat came on early and I didn't need it. That hold was set some time between 5:30 and 6am when I was woken up. The next scheduled change in my schedule was "Home" comfort settings at 7am. I confirmed I have the "Hold Duration" setting set to "Until next scheduled activity."
For some reason the thermostat displayed "Until 10:30pm" for the hold, and didn't adjust to the 7am Comfort Setting at 7am, the hold persisted.
6:39 am, (actually some time after I had set the hold), and the thermostat is saying the hold will last until 10:30pm, skipping over the start of my 7am Home event:
After 7:00 am and hold doesn't get released so "Home" settings can start.
Other oddness:
Every time I go to the Schedule page it defaults to Saturday. Very annoying/confusing that it doesn't either default to the current day, or the last day I was on. Always displays w/Saturday schedule selected.
Fan modes in all Comfort Settings don't display correct settings name, Auto and On (I assume those are the intended literals) don't appear - instead I have ellipses. I have the thermostat set to allow the furnace to control the fan.
Thanks, they actually have different names the stock one called Home, and mine called Home 8:30, but I can see how that could potentially cause the app confusion.
I'll rename mine and see if that helps.
I assume from your comments you haven't had any problems like I'm having?
I admit, though, that I have only Home and Asleep scheduled. Home is scheduled to start at 7:00am, which is l about when I usually get up. Asleep isn't scheduled until 1:30am because my bedtime and any away time fluctuate from day to day. I use Rule Machine rules to change the heating/cooling setpoints for Away and for when I actually go to bed. But Asleep always kicks in at 1:30am, and Home starts at 7:00am.
ETA: I do have custom comfort settings for Morning and Bed, but since I can't trigger those via RM they aren't being used right now.
Do you have smart recovery turned on? At least that is what it is called on my Ecobee, I have had it three or so years now.
If smart recovery is on, it tries to make sure the temp is where you want it by the time it changes. If off then it just changes on the schedule. That is how it works on mine anyway.
Great sleuthing! I do have that enabled for heating and cooling. Oddly enough that setting is not even exposed on the mobile app (Why, Ecobee, why?!) so it would bave been a long time before I found it. Possibly I enabled it during initial setup of the thermostat, but of course I have no memory of doing so. Thanks for the tip.
The early start of my 8:30 comfort settings at 8:12 am is likely explained by that. I'll do a little more experimenting but that seems like the explanation for my first issue.
The second issue - setting a hold between 5:30am and 6am and it wasn't cleared when my 7am scheduled change should have occurred still needs some re-confirming/figuring out if that issue is happening consistently.
The last issue - the schedule page always defauting to showing Saturday is still there and just seems to be a "that's the way it is" issue.
Two other interesting oddities as I wander around the settings in the Ecobee web portal:
Time zone was set to PST when I set up the tstat, web portal said EST
House age was set to 115 years on web portal, actual is about 50. I remember setting the year the house was built during setup, not sure how it got set to 115 years ago, I remember that setting pretty clearly as it surprised me and I've never had to provide that info on a tstat setup before.
I am pretty sure it is enabled by default. It took me two weeks to realize what was happening and disable that.
Something else you might look into.... Ecobee is heavily integrated with Alexa. You might check and make sure there are no Alexa settings getting involved (like hunches in particular).
As to the hold settings, mine were also flaky. But, they were opposite to yours. I had holds set to run to the next scheduled change, and then anytime I changed them with Google or Hubitat, they always set permanent holds.
Last thing I would recommend is joining the Ecobee group on Facebook. I usually detest FB groups for support - but, you might find your answer in there or get better help there.
I have a wee bit of buyers remorse myself at the lack of ability to control my variable speed fan. But, that is what it is. They don't make a smart stat for my system that will control it.
PS Be aware, there is NO WAY to update your e-mail with Ecobee. The only way you can do it is to delete your account, create a new account (losing all your history) and add the thermostat back to the new account. That is just a head's up lesson learned.
I am not using Alexa at all...it's sitting in it's box and I haven't done anything to add the thermostat to Alexa via the Alexa app or the Ecobee mobile app. Some time back I also went into the Alexa app and turned off hunches. Hopefully I'm safe from her hunching on me.
Sounds like their hold settings may be problemmatic -thanks for the tip.
Try to avoid FB, but if they have active support there might be worth it. Thanks for the tip.
Definitely a compromise for me, don't like the cloud side, but the wife likes it and even said she had seen one at a friends house and thought it was easier to use than the Nest it replaced. At least I can do some integration w/the HE built in and other options.
I added mine when I first got it. I thought I would try out the voice control in my mostly google household. Went on vacation and used the scheduled vacation set back. Also had vacation lighting set up that turned my TV off and on while we were away. Came home to a house that had run the thermostat schedule as if I had been home.
Turns out, the Ecobee heard a commercial that caused it to resume the schedule (I believe they were advertising an "I'm home" routine.) I shut down the mic then and have not used Alexa at all since.
I do have a Bose speaker that runs an Alexa morning routine. But, that ecosystem is Sooooo sensitive to wake words that refuse to have any Alexa devices listening.
Ah, I'm on Android, so clearly the Android team at Ecobee is drinking a little heavier than the iOS devs. That, or the iOS folks just handle their booze better...
I've had the Ecobee 3 for a couple years, and not impressed. It loses connection, is slow. I wound up pulling the Ecobee integration, it wasn't reliable for me, at least 18 months ago.
Check if you have geofence setup on the ecobee.
I'm having my first "disconnect" right now, day after installing - web portal says I have no devices, mobile app sees my tstat just fine. Not exactly confidence building.
Sounds about the exact opposite of my experience. I have been pretty happy with it. I have an Rule that notifies me when it goes offline and that is very seldom.
I also have been very happy with ecobee (version 4) and the Ecobee Suite Manager in Hubitat. The app does check if not online and attempts to reconnect while polling. Works well. I also have notification rules to check online status.
I agree also it is very seldom it goes offline, and since I use the ecobee app for scheduling which runs locally, it really doesn't' matter.
I have the Ecobee Smart Thermostat. Yesterday I kept wondering why it felt so cold in my house. I was hanging out mostly in a room that doesn't have a sensor in it, and it turned out that the Ecobee decided I wasn't home and turned on the Away schedule. When I walked up to it to see why it was freezing me out, it realized I was home and started things up again.
I turned off the Eco+ setting "Smart Home & Away." That should nip that in the bud. I'll tell it when I'm leaving, thank you very much.
Of course it's now complaining that it can't save me as much money. Too bad.
I do have that enabled for heating and cooling. Oddly enough that setting is not even exposed on the mobile app (Why, Ecobee, why?!) so it would bave been a long time before I found it. Possibly I enabled it during initial setup of the thermostat, but of course I have no memory of doing so. Thanks for the tip.
