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c/edmonton-home-improvementthe_johnthe_john1mo agoProlific Poster

Rant: That fancy smart thermostat was a total mistake for my old house

Went to the Edmonton Home Show last spring and got sold on a $300 Nest unit by some smooth talker... now my 1950s bungalow's furnace short-cycles like crazy because it can't handle the dumb wiring. Has anyone else tried putting modern tech into an older Edmonton home and regretted it?
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2 Comments
nancy_green
nancy_green1mo agoMost Upvoted
@lucas63 Your buddy's panic attack description is spot on lol. That short-cycling noise is the worst, sounds like a dying robot in your basement. I feel your pain with the Nest, these smart gadgets just weren't made for old Edmonton houses with their weird wiring.
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lucas63
lucas631mo ago
That short-cycling thing sounds brutal. My buddy Dave tried putting a Honeywell smart thermostat into his 1960s split-level in Ritchie last winter. He was so excited to save on heating bills, but it was a mess. That old furnace just couldn't handle the digital signals right. It kept turning on and off every five minutes like it was having a panic attack. Ended up costing him more in gas because the system never ran long enough to get warm. He finally had to call an electrician to sort out the wiring, took the guy three hours and a lot of swearing. Now he just sets it manually with a basic schedule and calls it good enough.
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