This week we have had a Nest Learning Thermostat fitted.We have had to wait until a version was available for the UK. This would then be joining the Nest Protect that we’d fitted earlier.
I decided that having someone else fit it was a good idea and took advantage of the UK service offered by Nest. The package contained everything (and more) that would be needed for the installation, including a UK USB mains transformer in case we wanted to move the thermostat’s installation.
This was the original wall thermostat, fitted nearly 20 years ago:
And after it was removed:
The Nest Thermostat fixing plate even has miniature spirit level:
And here’s the #1 reason why I left up to the Nest technician for installation – remember in the UK these wires are live with 240 volts:
This is the junction box in the airing cupboard along with the original heating control. This is where the wiring for the valves for both the heating and the hot water all ‘come together’.
And here’s the final installation, with the Heat Link wired in. The hot water continues to controlled by the original programmer. For the heating it is programmed to be always ‘on’ and the Nest Thermostat now controls the scheduling.
After connecting the Thermostat to my Wi-Fi (simply adding it to my network and entering my password) I logged in then into my existing Nest account, originally set up for the Nest Protect, and requested to add the Thermostat. To my surprise the Thermostat displayed my account’s email address and asked me to confirm if this was indeed my account – one press and it was connected. The Thermostat then linked itself to the Heat Link upstairs.
Now came the moment of truth – making sure that raising and lowering the temperature would indeed fire the boiler up and to double check that water heating was still scheduled OK.
As everything was working Ok, we entered a simple initial schedule that reflected the start and stop times of the original programme but now including requested temperatures into the Thermostat using my PC.
How painless could this have been? All that is left is a little painting . . .