How to Set Up and Use the ecobee Smart Thermostat Premium

At a Glance

Step-by-Step: Setting Up in the ecobee App

This covers the app side only. If your thermostat is not yet mounted and wired, that part is in your installer’s instructions, not here.

Daily-Use Features

Save Money with eco+ and Community Energy Savings

eco+ is ecobee’s built-in set of energy-saving features, and it’s worth turning on even if you skip everything else in this section.

eco+ is set up automatically when you register your thermostat, and you can fine-tune it any time under the eco+ menu. Its features include Smart Home & Away, Schedule Assistant (which suggests schedule changes as your routine shifts), Adjust for Humidity, and Time of Use, which shifts heating and cooling toward lower-cost hours where available.

Community Energy Savings: ComEd’s thermostat rewards program

Because we’re in ComEd territory here in Elgin and the Fox Valley, customers with a connected thermostat can enroll in ComEd’s Connected Savings program (run through the PJM grid region). On a handful of peak-demand days a year, the program makes small, brief adjustments to your thermostat, and you can opt out of any individual event from the app, a browser or the thermostat itself. In exchange, ecobee’s program advertises up to $125 a year in rewards from your energy provider, and ComEd’s own program has paid a $15 sign-up card plus $10 per year enrolled; exact amounts and terms are set by ComEd and ecobee, not by us, and are worth double-checking on their enrollment pages before you commit.

How to enroll

• In the ecobee app, confirm your home address under Manage Homes so the program can match you to ComEd’s territory.
• Still in the app, go to the eco+ menu, tap Utility, choose ComEd and confirm your provider.
• If an offer is available for your address, it will appear on screen; follow the prompts to apply and agree to the program terms.
• You can also enroll directly through ComEd’s own Connected Savings sign-up page if you’d rather start there and link the thermostat afterward.

Your comfort settings always stay in your control, and enrolling or leaving the program doesn’t change anything else about how your thermostat works.

Tips for Best Use

• Keep SmartSensors away from vents, windows, exterior walls and direct sunlight so they report accurate room temperature.
• Give each comfort setting at least one participating sensor, or it won’t factor into the average the thermostat uses.
• Comfort setting changes ease in over about 30 minutes, so don’t expect an instant jump when the schedule switches.
• Turn on eco+ and Community Energy Savings early; you can always adjust or opt out later, but you won’t earn rewards for days you weren’t enrolled.
• Re-check your Wi-Fi password if you ever change your router, since the thermostat needs it to reconnect after setup, too.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Skipping Wi-Fi setup and registering later — the registration code expires in about an hour, so if you wait too long you’ll need to regenerate it from the thermostat’s Registration menu.
• Forgetting to assign a new SmartSensor to a Comfort Setting. A paired sensor that isn’t assigned anywhere won’t affect temperature control.
• Entering your 5 GHz Wi-Fi network by mistake. The thermostat only connects to 2.4 GHz networks; if your router broadcasts one name for both bands, that’s fine, but a router with separate 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz names needs the 2.4 GHz one.
• Expecting the air quality reading to be accurate right away. Calibration can take up to 8 hours and doesn’t affect your heating or cooling in the meantime.
• Assuming eco+ or Community Energy Savings will override your comfort settings without warning. Both notify you before an adjustment, and you can opt out event by event.

Troubleshooting

• Registration code expired. Go back to Settings > Registration on the thermostat and generate a new one; the old one simply times out after about an hour.
• Thermostat won’t connect to Wi-Fi. Double-check the password, move the router closer if you can, and confirm your network is 2.4GHz or dual-band; some older routers’ 5GHz-only networks aren’t supported.
• SmartSensor won’t pair. Make sure you’re within range of the thermostat, re-enter the 8-digit code from the battery compartment carefully, and give it up to 3 minutes to appear in the app after pairing.
• Screen frozen or unresponsive. Press and hold the center of the screen for about 10 seconds, or pull the thermostat off its wall plate and reseat it, which reboots it without losing your settings.
• “Wiring error” message after setup. Go to Menu > Settings > Equipment > Wiring to see what the thermostat detected, and select Re-configure Equipment if something looks wrong. If that doesn’t clear it, the wiring itself may need a technician’s look.
• Alexa or voice assistant not responding. Confirm the thermostat finished registering (voice features unlock after that), and check that its sound effects/microphone haven’t been muted in Preferences.

If none of that clears it up, or the problem looks electrical rather than app-related, call (847) 224-2420.