Are Ecobee Smart Thermostats for Each Zone Worth it

I assume you have a separate thermostat for each zone now, yes? I installed two ecobee 3 lites last year to run the two boilers in our 4-unit condo building, and they are terrific. Have you compared the features of the different ecobee models? You may only need ecobee 3 lites, which do everything we need.

And why would you buy the packs with the remote sensors if you don't need the sensor? Best Buy has a sale on the ecobee 3 lites for $130 until December 5, so that would save you $60 per thermostat. Amazon has the same price too.

We do need the sensors because each ecobee is installed in a first floor condo untit, but it controls a boiler that also heats the second floor condo unit. So each ecobee is paired with a sensor in the second floor unit. This works very well to control the temp in the second floor units, which do not have their own thermostats. But in your own house, if you're going to install 6 ecobees on 6 separate zones, I doubt you really need the sensors, so I wouldn't bother with them in your case.

Also, you'll need to supply power to the thermostat. If you now have only 2 wires to your thermostats, you'll need to add a "C" wire. And you'll need 24 volt AC power. You may already have 24 VAC available powering your zone valves. We happened to already have a dedicated 24 VAC transformer for our doorbells in the basement, so I tapped power for the ecobee 3 lites from there.

There are other ways to get power to ecobees, but they depend on the details of your specific system, so you may have to do more research on that, or ask more questions here with more detail about your setup (eg how many wires you have running to each thermostat).

@lost11 We have no zone valves. One boiler on on side of the building circulates hot water to both the 1st floor and 2nd floor condo unit on that side of the building. You would think that zone valves would be needed to regulate the heat in each unit independently of the other. But this is a 100-year-old building with a converted gravity system that was installed by the old-timers who knew how to balance the system correctly by using the correct diameter pipe for each branch of the circuit for even heat flow using gravity only. So even though there are no zone valves, and no airflow path for heated air to flow and equalize between units, the temperature in both units can be kept within 1 degree of each other at all times.

Before I installed the ecobees, we did have some problems regulating the temps in the 2nd floor units, mainly due to other issues like air in radiators, short cycling, and insulation problems. But after I got those other issues fixed, and then installed the ecobees in the 1st floor units with sensors in the 2nd floor, we've had excellent control over the temps in the 2nd floor units and have been able to maintain those temps within 1 degree of the 1st floor units, despite having no zone valves.

@gardenman asked: Are Ecobee Smart Thermostats for Each Zone Worth it?

That depends on what you want to accomplish. Are you looking for WiFi connection to the entire system so you can adjust as needed without actually walking upstairs to the thermostat. (that would be me, I'm lazy). Yes get all 5 zones a thermostat.

Are you just wanting to know what is going on, without the ability to make changes on your smart phone or tablet. That would also be me because I'm nosy and want to know what the kids are up to on the third floor. Get 2 thermostats with sensors for the other floors. You need to change the thermostats manually but you can see what the zone temperatures are.

If you are an absentee owner and want to see that the system is operating without going to the location, then you only need one to let you know that it is operating, and just hope that everything else is as it should be.

The setback feature is nice for reducing fuel costs, but you need to understand your system to know if a setback will actually save you $$$. some systems need to be ste bacj for over 8 hours for the savings to mean anything because the additional run time to get the system back the the comfort level may eat us your savings if you setback for only a few hours. Every system is different. Are you looking for control, comfort, savings or something else.

We installed two new zones upstairs in an older house. We generally keep upstairs around 60F and that saves energy.

When visitors want higher temperatures they can adjust as needed.

We have the ecobee lites. I think they were free from some state "giveaway" scheme. They are pretty good. They seem to go offline for a while several times a week. When ecobee terminates internet service, the thermostats will still work with the touchscreens.