Does anyone have experience with an Ecobee thermostat controlling a WaterFurnace unit? Owners? Installers? I have owned a WaterFurnace Series 5 for nine years now. It has worked reasonably well with the first generation Ecobee SmartThermostat model (EB-STAT-02). There was a struggle to get my HVAC guys to accept the configuration back in 2012, as WF had no smart thermostats yet. I ended up being the main researcher for technical issues and after some trial/error, we got the system running smoothly. (Eden Energy Equipment out of Ontario Canada was a huge help even though I was 2000 miles away. Sadly, that resource seems to have discontinued with Ecobee products.) I briefly considered the WF Symphony upgrade, but fell out of my chair at the price tag and never looked back. Unfortunately, problems have arisen just recently with my system. A maintenance visit to confirm that the WF was working appropriately points to problems with the aging Ecobee. I just ordered an Ecobee SmartThermostat with VoiceControl (EB-STATE5-01) and will install it soon. I am pleased that Ecobee has expanded their technical resources for geothermal units specifically, when before it was such a gray area. In the meantime, dose anyone have this model installed or been the professional that set one up? Any comments? Peace, Dr. Z.
While I have no useful comments, I do hope that you'll come back and post about your experiences with the new unit. I have a WF5 with the "stock" thermostat, and for my purposes it does the job. I don't need a lot of "smarts" because I only have one set-back timer (drop 1C overnight), but I am somewhat interested in "data" that some of these smarter thermostats may offer (usage/runtime stats, for example) that may not require the additional sensors inside the WF that I lack. Brad.
Can’t help you with the ecobee, but I can tell you that the Honeywell T9 and T10 work with geothermal. My system is 3 heat and 2 cooling (2 stage HP with aux heat strips). The T9 is the big box store version and is “dumbed down” while the T10 is the pro version which gives you some better control. I like them because they offer room sensors which gives you more flexibility with controlling room temperatures and they also offer runtime information through the app. Hope someone can help you out with you thermostat.
Is your water furnace series 5 the two piece (geo unit + separate furnace) or all in one unit? I’ve been using a 2 piece & ecobee 3 for 4 years now.
I basically only use EcoBee's on WF equipment. Except where zoning is required. Mainly because of the ability to lock out supplementary heating based on outdoor air temp. And some remote monitoring capabilites for out of town clients. The clincher was the data was stored in Canada, so I was happy with that (vs Nest). Then a bigger company just bought EcoBee so I'm not sure what the status is at these days.
