I am rather disappointed in the thermostat in my new apartment. Brand new construction and the thermostat is completely “dumb”. Doesn’t even have the ability to program a schedule, much less any sort of connected capabilities. (The rest of the apartment is great, which is why the lousy thermostat sticks out like a sore thumb.)
This has me wondering, how “reversible” (for lack of a better term) is installing a smart thermostat? Could I buy something like an ecobee3, install it, then put back the dumb thermostat when the time comes for me to move out?
I would get an ecobee 4.
Should be undoable if you’re careful with, or avoid wall mods. The only thing that might complicate things is the device that you might need to power the thermostat. This depends on the number of wires you have, and would need to be installed in the furnace.
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Swapping the original t-stat for an ecobee (presume Nest would be similar) should not be a problem. It’s just a matter of disconnecting the wires from the ecobee and reattaching them to the old one. The only additional step I can think of would be removal of the ecobee power unit if that was needed for your particular setup.
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As others have said here, it shouldn’t be a problem. I’m an apartment dweller, too, and one of the first things I did was install a Nest (after checking with the rental agent).
I’d suggest taking the time to check the wiring available to you ahead of time — I think I was lacking a wire that some smart thermostats need. (Nest can use it, but doesn’t have to have it.)
As long as it’s a basic thermostat you shouldn’t have a problem, my Carrier system requires certain models of Carrier thermostats to provide all the energy saving functions.