Replacing Coleman Mach thermostat with Ecobee Si Smart

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John Canfield

John Canfield

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Joined
Aug 8, 2006
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Texas Hill Country
Mavarick said:
Jerry, first off it depends what you are looking for in a stat. I was looking to switch from heat to cool automatically with a 2 stage heat pump with gas backup and there is nothing available.
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I have been communicating with Ecobee tech support and they talked with their hardware guys - they looked at the Coleman-Mach thermostat, the RVP service manual and Duner's conversion chart and they are pretty certain the Smart Si will be a good replacement.  It will work off 12V and it is relay driven, all requirements for a replacement.  This thermostat will work with a two stage heat pump with gas heat backup.  I've spent quite a bit of time looking everything over and I'm satisfied it will work; I'll be tackling this Saturday and will let everybody know.  If it works (and I have no reason to believe it won't), it will be Ecobee's first RV install.

This is a fully configurable auto switch-over thermostat with WiFi capability.  I'll set up a web portal on Ecobee to configure the thermostat while I'm playing around.  Using WiFi isn't a requirement, but it a nice feature for the geek (like me.)

Too bad Bill's replacement isn't available, but what's important is the leg work he did when he initially did the replacement analysis and made his wiring chart with footnotes - that was a huge help for me.
 
John Canfield said:
This is a fully configurable auto switch-over thermostat with WiFi capability.  I'll set up a web portal on Ecobee to configure the thermostat while I'm playing around.  Using WiFi isn't a requirement, but it a nice feature for the geek (like me.)
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That is awesome news John, please let us know how it works out. I would love to get one installed so I can worry about our furry kid just a touch less for the rare occasions that we leave her alone in the coach.
 
Yea, looks cool but I will wait for your report to see how you like it as it seems expensive for what I think I need. Maybe they will make a more basic model with auto switch over for an RV.
I don't even know if this is possible but are you planning to be able to monitor inside MH temp with the wifi feature of the stat when you are gone? We use our phones now for tethering but I guess if we were leaving I could set up our antenna and network inside the MH to grab the rv park wifi if it was available & usable. Then in theory we could hook to the stat via the smart phone app if it will give you current inside temps. That way we would know if the power went out etc. Maybe just wishfull thinking?
 
Mavarick said:
Yea, looks cool but I will wait for your report to see how you like it as it seems expensive for what I think I need. Maybe they will make a more basic model with auto switch over for an RV.
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LOL - this is their basic model  :D

I don't even know if this is possible but are you planning to be able to monitor inside MH temp with the wifi feature of the stat when you are gone?
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Pretty sure that is possible with the Smart Si, definitely possible with the touch screen model.  I'll update everybody as this progresses.
 
Thanks John, glad you are running with it. Please keep us informed. I'm mostly just looking for a digital versus what I have, Very hard to set accurately with that old slide bar.

What your looking at sounds like a possibility
 
Yes, I will follow this thread also.  John, are you replacing a broken thermostat, or just upgrading?
 
mike and pat said:
Thanks John, it looks like you are going to cost me more money.
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Think of the bigger picture - you are stimulating the economy  ;).

FrontrangeRVer said:
Yes, I will follow this thread also.  John, are you replacing a broken thermostat, or just upgrading?
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Mark - just upgrading for a couple of reasons.  One, I hate the slide switch to switch among the various modes (heat/off/ac/etc), it is difficult to slide the switch to find the desired detent and it will probably fail at some point.  Second major reason is when we're in a climate where we always need a little heat at night and then by mid-day we need AC - it's time to slide the switch (refer to complaint One  :D) to cooling mode.  We've had auto-changeover in the stick house for years and I've always missed it in the coach.
 
John Canfield said:
Single zone Michael (basement air.)  They have other models that will probably work with multiple zones.
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So John, How did you handle the addition of your roof ac?
 
Okay, it works!  ;D ;D

Configuring it was easy and user friendly, they put a lot of thought in the user interface - good job Ecobee developers.  No wiring surprises.  After getting it set up I was testing heat and cool, heat worked great and then I switched it to cool mode.  The Si called for cool. the compressor started and then the Si rebooted.  Yikes.  Tried it again and it rebooted.  Yikes, yikes.  Looked over the settings again and then tried cool mode again and held my breath - yea, ran fine.  Guess it was clearing it's its throat  :D.  Only thing I haven't tried was emergency/auxiliary (propane) heating.

I configured WiFi and did the register my thermostat thing and then went on-line to Ecobee and set up an account (it's free) and then looked at my web portal.  You can adjust the thermostat from the portal and see what the temperature and humidity is at the thermostat.  I compared the temperature from the portal to the actual thermostat reading and it wasn't the same - it was off by a degree or two.

This is a geek's thermostat - it's been fun to play with, I still have a bit of a learning curve with the portal features and I'm not clear on some of the Ecobee terminology.
 
John,

I was looking at their website. I could not make heads or tails of it. Can the Si handle two roof air heat pumps with two gas furnaces (dual zone)???

It looks like a fine gidgit for inner geek in some of us and I like the idea of the wifi.
 
Steve - probably if the roof air units are controlled by conventional thermostat wiring, but it might take two Si thermostats grouped together (I just discovered you can group thermostats together, but I don't know how exactly that works.)  Give their tech support a call Monday and/or wade through the manuals.

Ecobee has designed the product line to work in a simple home to a large office building with almost any combination of HVAC you can imagine (boiler, geothermal, gas, two stage heat pump, two stage cool, one stage cool, one stage heat, etc., etc.)

The Si is targeted to the residential or vacation home, the Smart (touch panel) has more features, and the EMS is targeted at commercial installs from what I've read.

I like the Si enough to where I think I'm going to install one in the stick house - you can set up alerts to email you if the temperature goes too high or too low, needs the filter replaced, schedule service, etc. - I like that feature.
 
The T-Stat I have is an RVP digital, it has two zones and each has one roof air/heat pump and one furnace.

I really am not to clear on how it is currently set up wiring wise. I guess I got some studyin to do!!

Thanks John!
 
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