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It looks like eco+ is now live. If you have an Ecobee thermostat, then you probably got a message in your app asking you to set it up. Well, if you have not heard of this before, then you are in the right place.
I am going to dive into explaining to you everything that you need to know and to do now that Ecobee eco+ is now live.
First, you have to make sure that you have updated your old firmware. If you do not know how to go about it, you can call Ecobee customer support and ask them to push the most recent firmware so that you can update. This will enable you to enjoy the new features.
As a side note
I wrote a complete hands-on review of weather Smart Thermostats are worth buying here, where I outlined the durability issues I ran into with mine. I would suggest you check it out.
How to Enable Eco+
You can manage this by yourself as Ecobee will have already pushed it to your thermostat. This can be done by adjusting the set point a touch lower while you have your power schedule off-peak. This will enable it to warm up a bit later, and it will be helpful for it to do it by itself without considering the outside temperatures.
What is Eco+?
This is a feature by Ecobee that will enable their users to transform the way they save their energy. Ecobee claims that the Eco+ feature will use the user’s humidity, electricity rates, and humidity and use the information to adjust automatically at the right time. Eco+ plus will be able to work with the existing comfort settings and schedule. This will be observed in the difference in the electricity bills at the end of the month. The eco+ settings can also be adjusted anytime on the Ecobee app.
How Smart is Eco+?
Eco+ senses when you are at home, or you are away, this is by using the Ecobee sensors that will help in the minimizing of energy wastage. This is especially when you are away from home, and it will then recommend you to schedule the changes that will match the lifestyle.
Eco+ will also take humidity into account and take the data and use it to optimize your comfort and energy savings accurately. This will affect the feels like temperature.
Eco+ also will help to optimize against electricity rates, especially during the peak hours when you are using the Time-Of-Use electricity. This is because Eco+ is designed to operate with how individual homes and communities are using their energy. This will provide extra savings by reducing the peaks of electricity on the grid.
Ecobee explain that Eco+ will help the users tho see the difference in the energy bill without realizing the difference in the temperature. This is something that most of the Ecobee users have been waiting for as they updated their website a long time ago concerning Eco+.
For instance, eco+ will be able to pre-heat or to pre-cool your home efficiently as you like it. There has never been better news to Ecobee users than this. They will be able to enter their utility rate plan, and their other details, and this will be helping them to save energy during peak hours.
Feels Like Control
Ecobee also says that eco+ incorporates the feel like control that will help to take the humidity into account when it is controlling the heating and the cooling in the house. When the home is dry, Feel Like will be able to adjust the temperature setpoint to a level where it will keep you comfortable while still helping you to save on the electricity bills.
All this information has been on the Ecobee site, and the users have been waiting for it to launch soon and maybe live now as there are some users also who claim they have received a message on their apps to set it up.
How Does Eco+ Work?
Eco+ is one of Ecobee’s newest smart feature that is going to help the users in saving energy that is personalized to the comfort of their homes. Their information will be used in order to help them personalize it.
Which Ecobee Supports Eco+?
Eco+ is supported on the Ecobee3, Ecobee3 lite, Ecobee4 and the new Ecobee SmartThermostat with voice control. All of these Eco+ compatible devices will be updated automatically with the feature for them to start using it.
Onne will be able to know that Eco+ is active when Eco+ is optimizing their cooling and heating control. They will also be able to see the Eco+ icon on the home screen of their thermostats. If one wants to know more information concerning the Eco+, they should touch the icon for them to access more information on optimizing the heating and cooling.
Definitely check out my guide here on how to connect your Ecobee thermostats to Google Home and know how to go about any connection issues you may encounter safely also.
How to Change Eco+ Savings Preference
Once you have already enabled the Eco+ on your Ecobee thermostat, you can still adjust the energy savings preference through the Main Menu on the thermostat or using the Android and Ios mobile app.
One can adjust by going to the Main Menu then select Eco+. Then next, set the slider to either of the five savings preferences. The savings are minimum savings, basic savings, moderate savings, enhanced savings, and maximum savings. The minimum savings have up to 3% while the maximum savings have up to 20%, which is in addition to the heating and cooling savings.
You can also customize the Eco+ experience using five settings. These include Smart Home & Away, Schedule Recommender, Feels Like, Time of Use, and Energy Savings Event.
Each of these settings is available, and the user can choose any of them. They can choose to enable or to disable and thus to give the user full control of the experience they want to have with their thermostat. When the user disables the settings, this will have an overall impact on the Eco+ heating and cooling savings. It is therefore advisable to ensure that you choose from the five settings one for your home.
Eco+ works with Smart Home Away by leaning when you are going to be away from your home or when you are at home. Eco+ plus enable your Ecobee thermostat to learn your schedule and make adjustments that will help in improving energy efficiency. This is mainly by aligning to the savings preferences of your Ecobee thermostat. The thermostat engages more quickly when the savings preferences are greater.
Schedule Recommender works with Eco+ by analyzing your occupancy data by sending you recommended changes for your schedule that will fit your busy lifestyle. The user has the freedom to choose the recommendations they want as they program it.
What is The Time of Use Optimization With Eco+?
There are utilities that offer the time of use rate plans where the cost of electricity used is higher during the peak hours. When you have Eco+, the time of use setting will help to minimize electric HVAC usage during the peak hours and thus increasing the energy savings.
Eco+ does this so that it can keep the users comfortable during the peak periods. This is by pre-cooling or pre-heating the home. The amount of pre-heating or pre-cooling mainly depends on the savings preference that you have enabled on your Ecobee thermostat and the rates in your area. Pre-cooling and preheating will only occur when if it is cost-effective.
Conclusion
Make sure you check out my recommended tools page and my guide on how to connect Ecobee thermostats to Google Home here before you leave and see what else you may need for your smart home.
