Not large at all. One thermostat per room. With electric heat you have to put a thermostat in line between the circuit breakers and the heating element (radiant panels in my case). Centralizing the house on a single thermostat, like you would with forced air, would actually be incredibly difficult. It would also lose the benefit of fine control; one of the few positives of electric heat.

Worth pointing out (and you touch on this above) that this is not a function of electric heat but a function specifically of the type of electric heat (radiant in this case). I have electric heat by way of a ducted electric heat pump which is not zoned and thus centralized. Zoned ducted and non-ducted electric heat pumps both offer localized control over heating.

for what its worth, people in the trades would not consider a heat pump "electric heat", even though of course the power does come from electricity.

electric heat refers specifically to heat generated by heating an element with current.

Fascinating! (coming back to this late). What would the consider an electric heat pump, or what would they call it?

Got it. Thanks. Sorry for my ignorance.

The same is also true for baseboard heaters, in general there is one thermostat per room.

For the average homeowner, Nest becomes unjustifiable if you need 2 thermostats.

I have two thermostats. The house has two heat pumps, one up, the other down.

I think it's pretty funny how much gnashing of teeth there is over a $250 item that's installed in a house, given how expensive so many other things in a house are.

Replacing an existing item in your house with something for 10x the cost is not something you want to be doing too often as a homeowner. The benefits have to be quite significant. I've got a simple programmable digital thermostat that works fine. If I come home earlier than normal, I just bump up the heat manually. Calling ahead with my phone wouldn't add all that much value for me. If it was $50, I'd think about it. $250? No chance.

Here's the Honeywell version. It looks kind of crummy, but it's only $150.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Honeywell-Wi-Fi-Programmable-Touc...

you want a zune or an ipod?

I'll take the zune if it means I don't have to use itunes.

Said someone who clearly never used a Zune. Marketing won Apple that war, not technology.

The Honeywell thermostats are legitimately terrible. I've had a 8000-series for a couple years.

That's like saying it'd be reasonable to spend $200 on a light switch.

The issue is that standard programmable thermostats don't come close to the price of a Nest... about $20.

This wifi enabled plug is $50: http://www.belkin.com/us/p/P-F7C027/

These wifi light bulbs are 3 for $199: http://store.apple.com/us/product/HA779VC/A/philips-hue-conn...

I mean, I just don't get why people are so angry that someone would possibly want to spend some extra money to have a cool thermostat. If it was a cool video card for $249 that just lets them play games, no one would blink an eye. But because it's for a house, but for a part of the house that is supposed to be utilitarian, it's a sin.

Not at all, since 99.999% of homes have at least one light switch per room, and probably 80% of homes have only one thermostat.

Homes with electric heat have many more thermostats, which probably isn't as uncommon as you think. But still, $20 -> $250 is quite the spread.

Homes with radiant electric heat have many more thermostats, yes.

Or forced air, in wall blowers.

My home has 7 thermostats. I don't see $1,750 in value in Nest.

I could buy a new fridge, a new stove, and a new water heater for that kind of money. Nice ones, too.

Electric heat means they have electric baseboards in each room, making individual control logical and obvious, so eight rooms really isn't outside of the ordinary. Compare that to central HVAC where there's one furnace and at most you have electric dampers restricting flow to an area of the house (though few houses have even that).

Very common in Europe & Canada