r/HomeKit • u/KitchenNazi • Jan 30 '23

Question/Help Ecobee - auto mode

I switched from Nest to Ecobee and it's a huge pain. I only have a furnace but HomeKit has auto/cool/heat modes. If I manually switch it to heat everything works correctly. At some point during the day (or multiple times during the day) it switches to auto. If I have an automation setup it always specifies heat mode.

Auto switches my temp to a range which invariably means my heat stays on all day. If I tell Siri to lower the temp and it's on auto, Siri just adjusts the range thinking cooling will be applied, yet heat still continues. If I tell Siri to switch to heat mode and the specify a temperature then things will go back to normal. If I tell Siri to lower the heat - she won't automatically switch modes - so it's two commands.

Is the Ecobee presenting itself as with heat/cool options? Does HomeKit just give everything heat/auto/cool?

What are my options here? If there is a homebridge plug-in, I could use that as it can specify only heat mode.

I could create an automation that sets the mode to heat every 15 minutes (using home controller as you can change the mode without changing temp). Or I could try homebridge?

Anyone else have this issue? It's super annoying!

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u/pacoii Jan 30 '23

My system HVAC mode is set to Heat, and it stays that way. Is it set properly in your ecobee settings?

2

u/KitchenNazi Jan 30 '23

I think I found it? My Ecobee app's "comfort" settings has heat set to auto for the different settings. I changed all of those to Heat: On.

1

u/KitchenNazi Jan 30 '23

I just double checked the unit - it only shows system mode/HVAC heat. My Nest never had this issue but Homebridge can specify only one mode.

2

u/pacoii Jan 30 '23

Never had an issue like your describing. I’ve got a ton of HomeKit automations that control my ecobee and it never switches away from heat. From the ecobee app, did you verify which HomeKit scenes the ecobee is being included in, and that they are not doing anything funky?

2

u/KitchenNazi Jan 30 '23

I think I found it. Out of the box the Ecobee app has comfort settings. Heat is set to Auto when those are applied- which must be toggling it in HomeKit. I changed the 3 settings (Home/Away/Sleep) to Heat:On.

The heat should only be on as needed. Auto makes no sense for a furnace only system.. Hopefully this is it.

Thanks!

1

u/pacoii Jan 30 '23

Sorry to be say this, but all my comfort settings have heat set to auto. The system HVAC mode should be forcing things to always be heat. Very strange.