Posted on Home Improvement as well, but thought I would post here too.

Building a house now and will have one air conditioner but it has two zones (one for up and one for down). What smart thermostat do you recommend? I will have to buy two of them correct? I was leaning toward the Ecobee as they have great reviews and a buddy of mine has two for his two story house but wanted to ask here as well. Thank you.

I'd figure out what smart eco system (Google/Apple) you want to commit to, and roll with it. We have an ecobee and love it, I also hate Google and won't use their smart devices.

I use these in both of my houses. Works great and with Google home, setting up the programs for auto away and such is easy.

Google Nest Thermostat E White (T4000ES) 2-Pack

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Google-Nest-Thermostat-E-White-T4000ES-2-Pack/493654406

We use Ecobees and love them. We have two separate systems though, not a single with dual zones. I'm not sure if it can handle a dual zone system correctly. You might need a separate zone controller that's compatible with smart thermostats

I had a zoned system in my last house. Overall it was nice but a little more finicky than a regular system. I think most smart thermostats will work fine with the zone system because the zone controller (probably a honeywell) is doing most of the work. My system had two very basic programmable thermostats. The thermoststs just send the same basic signals to the zone controller and it does the rest.

Like mentioned above, I have a nest and nest E. The E should work great.

kb2001 said:

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We use Ecobees and love them. We have two separate systems though, not a single with dual zones. I'm not sure if it can handle a dual zone system correctly. You might need a separate zone controller that's compatible with smart thermostats

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Love my Ecobee4, IIRC.

kb2001 said:

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We use Ecobees and love them. We have two separate systems though, not a single with dual zones. I'm not sure if it can handle a dual zone system correctly. You might need a separate zone controller that's compatible with smart thermostats

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Why would you think it wouldn't be able to handle it correctly? My understanding was you simply needed two thermostats and it didn't matter which two you bought. Thanks for feedback.

Another vote for ecobee

I had a Nest in my previous home and I have an Ecobee in my current home. I think they're both great.

Ecobee here. I like the little remote sensors, although they often temporarily disconnect on me.

Love my Ecobee, and it will work with Alexa. "Alexa, make the temperature in the home 72".

agcrock2005 said:

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kb2001 said:

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We use Ecobees and love them. We have two separate systems though, not a single with dual zones. I'm not sure if it can handle a dual zone system correctly. You might need a separate zone controller that's compatible with smart thermostats

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Why would you think it wouldn't be able to handle it correctly? My understanding was you simply needed two thermostats and it didn't matter which two you bought. Thanks for feedback.

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I have a variable speed unit and none of the third party smart thermostats are compatible. I have to use the Trane thermostat.

I imagine most would be able to handle zones, but you'll need to confirm. It's not as simple as two AC systems, though, as mentioned, they need to be able to control which zones the air is going to. Also, do you have a variable or a two speed unit? Another thing that adds complexity. Hopefully you don't have a single speed fan for a two zone system....

Ecobee HVAC compatibility

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• Supports up to 2 stages of heat and 2 stages of cool
• Supports a single accessory, such as a humidifier, dehumidifier, ventilator, HRV, ERV (ecobee3, ecobee4, and SmartThermostat with voice control only)
• Supports single-speed fan control

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Nest HVAC Compatibility

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Two stages of cooling and two or three stage furnace heating
Two or three speed fan 1, 2 (only Nest Learning can do more than a single -speed fan control)
Nest thermostats are compatible with zoned systems, including zoned systems with dampers. However, there are some zoned systems that require a C wire to work with a Nest thermostat.

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Also may add, Ecobee gives you pretty advanced analytics vs the other thermos in your area.

Nest may too, but it's pretty impressive.

Would the ecobee with a satellite sensor actually know it's the second zone that is warmer and calling for air? Most zoned systems have two separate thermostats and the zone controller knows which one or both are calling.

FYI; I wouldn't put in a zoned system without a variable/two stage compressor.

agcrock2005 said:

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kb2001 said:

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We use Ecobees and love them. We have two separate systems though, not a single with dual zones. I'm not sure if it can handle a dual zone system correctly. You might need a separate zone controller that's compatible with smart thermostats

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Why would you think it wouldn't be able to handle it correctly? My understanding was you simply needed two thermostats and it didn't matter which two you bought. Thanks for feedback.

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The thermostat will control the AC system, I don't know if you can have two thermostats controlling the same system. I really don't know much about dual zones though. My parents had one, that was well before smart thermostats were a thing, and it had it's own thermostat units to control the system. Each thermostat could control both zones though, so they were really just head units and temperature sensors for the zone controller.

It may work just fine. If the zone controller has the thermostat inputs and each thermostat can turn its own zone on or off you'd probably be fine. You might do well to check out forums for Ecobee or Nest or whichever and see if people there have solutions for dual zone.

Please post back what you end up doing, I'm curious about this now.

Ecobee 3 on Apple homekit.

Happy with it.

Cant imagine anything conceivably better.

Reginald Cousins said:

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Also may add, Ecobee gives you pretty advanced analytics vs the other thermos in your area.

Nest may too, but it's pretty impressive.

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Yes this is good data.

Gives you a good sense of how efficient your home really is.

Nest here but it was a coin flip between that and the Ecobee, you're in good shape either way.

had both the nest (the high end one) and the Ecobee.... I like the Ecobee better

I'll throw this thread a bone, since I do this for a living designing performance systems for high end homes.

Please DO NOT buy a nest or ecobee. These are consumer electronics thermostats, and not designed for tight delta T sensitivities (meaning they don't read accurately.) Also, as mentioned, if you want to do zoning, remote sensing, control variable or 2 speed equipment, they just don't work well or even have the functionality for it.

If you have a single speed HVAC, go with a Honeywell T10, has the fancy smart capabilities, can add remote wireless sensors, it's great. With wireless sensors, you the thermostat can ping the sensors for temp readings and deliver based on average readings across sensors, or prioritize the reading of one. I have a sensor in my master bedroom and just have the AC system read that sensor at night.

Zoning, I would only do this if you have 2 stage or better HVAC btw, as you need variable output if only 1 of 2 or more zones is calling. The days of using bypass dampers and sending excess CFM back to the return plenum are long gone, delivery temps are too low.

So if zoning and/or 2 stage or variable equipment, use a high end thermostat that matches your equipment brand.

Happy to answer questions....

I disagree with your suggestion on staying away from an ecobee.

04texag said:

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Please DO NOT buy a nest or ecobee. These are consumer electronics thermostats, and not designed for tight delta T sensitivities (meaning they don't read accurately.)

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I have a Vantage Pro2 Weather Station sitting next to one of my ecobee's remote sensors, and the two are consistently aligned in temps.

04texag said:

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Also, as mentioned, if you want to do zoning, remote sensing, control variable or 2 speed equipment, they just don't work well or even have the functionality for it.

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I have a two stage system and the ecobee handles it well. It offers Auto modes, or the flexibility to specify the maximum runtime on stage 1 before moving to stage 2, maximum delta temps before moving to stage 2, and also reverse staging, where when the setpoint is reached on stage 2, it can go down to stage 1 as opposed to shutting off for additional humidity control. Lots of flexibility.
The remote sensors can also be used to define the setpoint in specific rooms at specific times, averaged across multiple sensors at other times, etc.

Ecobee2 downstairs, ecobee3 up, on zoned system. 3 years in, would buy again.

That's awesome they are working well, but that's more an exception than the rule with what we see on a regular basis, with multiple clients a month removing them due to errors and issues.

The best bet is to go with Honeywell or brand matching controls, as those all offer similar feature sets today to compete with ecobee and nest.

04texag said:

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That's awesome they are working well, but that's more an exception than the rule with what we see on a regular basis, with multiple clients a month removing them due to errors and issues.

The best bet is to go with Honeywell or brand matching controls, as those all offer similar feature sets today to compete with ecobee and nest.

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I've had several Honeywells and to me nothing touches the Ecobee for functionality.

Just soooo many options to customize.

That said, I have a simple 2400 sqft. single level setup.

It's flawless.