Carbon Chemist

Tag: cooling

  • Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) Review: Blending Beauty and Brains

    Google Nest Learning Thermostat (4th Gen) Review: Blending Beauty and Brains

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    Nest’s smart thermostats have been an icon of the smart home since they hit the market in late 2011. Nothing said smart like a device that could learn your habits and make your home operate more efficiently without having to fiddle with settings and automations. In the 13 years since, Nest Learning Thermostats have been easy to identify, with the same thick silver bezel and compact circular screen. This design was radical at a time when most smart thermostats looked like boring, rectangular, beige boxes.

    Google’s fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat has an entirely new look, transforming what now looks like a basic tech gadget into something of an art piece for your wall. It’s got new smarts too, and includes a temperature sensor to place elsewhere in the home. It’s a refreshing upgrade to a longtime staple, and feels smart without being intrusive or overly complex—an important middle line not all smart devices find.

    Slim Setup

    Two discshaped devices sidebyside on a wooden surface to show the difference in size

    Photograph: Nena Farrell

    If you’re hoping to pop the fourth-generation Nest Learning Thermostat onto the backing of a previous Nest thermostat, you’re out of luck. The thermostat base for the new model is a different size, so you’ll have to switch out the old base for the new one.

    While the third-generation thermostat itself is smaller, its base is a little larger with larger connectors; the new thermostat base is smaller with positively tiny connector buttons. You’d think with the larger 3.9-inch screen that the base would be larger, but it has a smaller footprint on your wall, which is nice. It comes with an optional plate as with previous generations, but the new version is an oval rather than a rectangle. A 3.9-inch screen might not sound that big, but it looks surprisingly large on the wall if you’re used to the smaller Nest thermostats, or even something like my previous thermostat, the square Honeywell T6.

    Circular outlet on a wall with wired sticking out

    Photograph: Nena Farrell

    Installing the Nest is easy; make sure your system is compatible and that you’ve flipped off the relevant breaker to cut power. The Nest app is no longer at play with this model. Google has been gradually transitioning many of its features and capabilities to the Google Home app, and that’s what you’ll use for this new model. Google Home walks you through the steps of removing your old thermostat, labeling the wires, and installing the new thermostat over it.

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  • We’ve Been Testing Fans All Summer and These Are Our 9 Favorites (2024)

    We’ve Been Testing Fans All Summer and These Are Our 9 Favorites (2024)

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    When I was growing up in the 1980s and ’90s, there were maybe three types of fans available to the average household consumer, which one had to buy in person at, say, Sears or Kmart: A metal table fan, a wobbly pedestal fan, or a box fan. If it was an especially new or fancy model, there were buttons for different speeds, perhaps encircled by a snazzy faux-wood veneer. Nowadays there are thousands of types of fans from many hundreds of brands in multiple categories, sizes, and shapes. How do you know which fan is the correct one for your particular situation? Thankfully, most fans fall into one of six general categories:

    Pedestal fans offer adjustable height, oscillation (though many tower fans have this also), and larger blades for more power, and they are easier to clean because the blades are usually visible. They’re the best option for large spaces or even outdoors on a deck or patio. One drawback is that they can be top-heavy and easily knocked over, and since the blades are visible, they can be dangerous to small fingers that may find their way inside the cage.

    A table or desk fan is perfect for small rooms that are short on floor space, can provide more direct airflow, and often come in vintage designs or fun colors. They’re also portable, so they are easy to travel with or move from room to room. Many are chargeable for cordless operation or, in the case of our favorite travel fan, can even function as chargers themselves.

    A tower fan is basically a streamlined alternative to a pedestal fan, offering a slimmer profile and less top-heavy structure, which can be useful in households with children or large dogs lumbering about. The blades are also enclosed, making them a great choice for a child’s room. One drawback is that this also makes them difficult to clean, unless you go with a bladeless Dyson.

    Air circulators are designed to move air around the whole room rather than straight at a person or object, which makes them usable for all seasons—in winter, they can move hot air down to the floor from where it has risen. They can also do this from behind furniture, so looks aren’t as important.

    Box fans and transom fans are more utilitarian options that can be used in windows to either bring colder air in or exhaust hotter air out, but neither is particularly stylish or something you’d want in your home year-round.

    Misting fans are usually air circulators or pedestal fans that come with an attachment for misted water to be expelled with the air. Some allow you to connect your hose, while others come with a reservoir that allows them to be used away from a water source.

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  • We Put Air Conditioners to the Test, and These Are Our 7 Favorites

    We Put Air Conditioners to the Test, and These Are Our 7 Favorites

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    Portable air conditioners aren’t as energy efficient or effective at adequately cooling a room. You’ll need to spend a lot of money to get adequate cooling, and the three models below are the ones we like. They’re often louder, and uh, not very portable.

    Dreo Smart Air Conditioner for $460: The Dreo Smart Air Conditioner not only cools a large bedroom effectively and quickly, it also can be controlled by the app in my iPhone. And, as my son pointed out, the Dreo is a dead ringer for Eve from the movie WALL-E. It even rolls, making for easy moving; something I can’t say about window units. Along with the Dreo’s easy-to-use app, it can be paired with Amazon Alexa or Google Home. It has an easy-to-read LED display and control panel, along with a magnetized place for the remote, and louvers that open and close, adding to its robotlike aesthetic. The setup was easy, and I didn’t drill in a single screw, as I was able to close the window on the expanders. It’s not entirely clear how I was supposed to snap the hose into the window hole, but I shoved it in and it seems to fit in there. It’s not super airtight, which is fine. One of the issues with portable air conditioners is the single hose. It can create a vacuum in an airtight space; think pressure in your ears like an airplane. And it can create enough negative pressure that the room can potentially suck in hot air from the outside. So, leave the window open a crack. —Lisa Wood Shapiro

    EcoFlow Wave 2 for $1,299: The EcoFlow Wave 1 has cooled down my wife’s office for more than a year just fine—we can’t use a window AC there because it would block the fire escape. Lo and behold, there’s a new version that’s slightly cheaper (8/10, WIRED Recommends). It’s a little lighter than its predecessor at 32 pounds, yet has a higher 5,100 BTU rating (up from 4,000). New here is a heating mode rated at 6,100 BTU, so you can keep using it in the winter to warm up a room. The company says it’s best for rooms up to 107 square feet. You do need to place it near a window to have one of the included ducts connected to the vent to take hot exhaust from the back of the unit out of the room. What makes this unit versatile is how you can power it. You can use a standard AC outlet, but you can buy the version with a battery to keep it working when you don’t have access to power, or you can hook it up to solar panels.

    Zero Breeze Mark II for $1,698: With its 2,300 BTU, you won’t be able to get the same cooling power as with the EcoFlow Wave, but the Zero Breeze (7/10, WIRED Review) is much lighter at 17 pounds. This bundle includes a battery that will make the whole thing weigh about 30 pounds, but you’ll get four hours of use without needing to be near a wall outlet. Like the EcoFlow, you get a few vent pipes to direct exhaust away and direct cool air to a specific area, but unlike the EcoFlow, you can’t charge the battery and use the AC at the same time.

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