12 Things You'll Want To Know About Your Nest Thermostat
A Nest Thermostat is an excellent tool for keeping your home comfortable, regardless of the season or weather. With a number of innovative features meant to maximize efficiency, convenience and comfort, a Nest Thermostat is the perfect solution if you want to manage your energy use — lowering your monthly bills in the process.
That’s why more homeowners are considering adding devices like a Nest to their HVAC system. If you’re interested in trying a Nest yourself, get in touch with an expert for smart thermostat installation in Lodi.
From auto scheduling to energy efficiency monitoring, Nest helps make securing your sense of comfort effortless.
Curious to learn more? Here’s a look at 12 things you need to know about your Nest Thermostat.
How To Reset A Nest Thermostat?
One of the first things to know about resetting a Google Nest Thermostat is the difference between a restart and a reset.
- Restart: A common feature in consumer electronics, including your phone or computer, restarting your Nest Thermostat turns it off before starting it right back up again. This preserves current settings and should be attempted if your Nest is frozen or not connecting to Wi-Fi.
- Reset: Conversely, resetting eliminates most if not all of your preferred settings. In most cases, people resort to a reset when they’re moving to a new home and bringing the thermostat with them, or if they just want to erase any personal details from the Nest before leaving it behind for the next resident.
To reset, it doesn’t hurt to write down current temperature settings so you have them if they get erased. Next, locate Settings -> Equipment and write down the details about your system wires, heating type and safety temperature settings.
Once you have recorded your preferences, go to Settings, select Reset and press. You will then have five options:
- Restart: Turns your Nest off before rebooting it with your settings. You can also press the outside of the Nest and hold it down for a few seconds until it turns black, and then pull your hand away.
- Schedule: This reset clears all scheduling information—including for your hot water, if that has been connected to your Nest. If you choose this, you’ll be given the chance to plan out a new schedule or wait while your Nest learns your schedule.
- Away: An Away reset erases all the information your Nest has learned about how often you walk by, so that it can change the temperature accordingly.
- Network: If you select this reset option, it erases connection info and your Nest will no longer be connected to Wi-Fi. Use this option if you want your Nest to forget your Wi-Fi password.
- All Settings: Self-explanatory, an All Settings reset clears all your personal settings and learning.
How To Connect Nest Thermostat To Wi-Fi?
A stable internet connection is important to getting the most out of your Nest.
To connect your Nest to the internet:
- Turn the thermostat ring to the Quick View menu.
- Locate the Settings icon.
- Press Network.
- As your Nest is finished scanning for local networks, select your Wi-Fi and, if you have one, enter your password.
Does A Nest Thermostat Use A Battery And How Long Does It Last?
Nest thermostats are powered indirectly through HVAC system, but they also include a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup power in case of an outage. According to Google, Nest’s manufacturer, a Nest Thermostat battery will generally last several months. It can be recharged using a USB charger that comes with the Nest.
How To Turn Off A Nest Thermostat?
If you plan on being away for a couple weeks, you can set your Nest Thermostat to Off mode, though Eco mode would be another option. Using Off mode will turn off all of your regular heating and cooling schedules, but it will still adhere to any current Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting dangerously hot or cold.
To choose Off mode on the thermostat:
- Press and hold the touch bar until it displays “Turn Off” before sliding the bar to highlight Turn Off, and then touch the bar to select.
- You can also go to Mode from the main menu and select Off.
Off mode can even be accessed from your Google Home app:
- Select Thermostat from home screen
- Tap Temperature mode
- Select Off
Will Alexa Work With A Nest Thermostat?
Yes, your Amazon Alexa can be used to control a Nest Thermostat. This voice control function is also available with Nest doorbells and cameras. Google’s own voice control technology, like Google Assistant, can be used to operate your Nest.
Will My Nest Thermostat Function Without Wi-Fi?
In short, yes. Your Nest Thermostat can control the temperature of your home without Wi-Fi. However, a lack of an internet connection means your Nest doesn’t have the smart thermostat functions that most people enjoy.
Can You Lock A Nest Thermostat?
If you’re having a battle over the thermostat in your home between people who like things hot and others who prefer them cold, Nest can help you bring a little order back to your household.
A user can ‘lock’ the Nest to prevent others from adjusting the settings or changing the temperature outside of a preset range. This won’t mean you have to make do with just one temperature—a locked Nest still has access to programmed settings—but simply prevents other users from constantly changing the settings.
If you want to lock your Nest:
- Press the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and find Lock.
- Enter a 4-digit pin number you can remember, and do so twice.
- To lock your Nest in Heat or Cool mode, fine-tune your maximum and minimum temperature range before tapping Lock at the bottom of the screen.
For unlocking it, open the settings and choose Unlock. Once you enter your 4-digit pin, the Nest will be unlocked.
Controlling Your Nest Thermostat From A Phone
A Nest Thermostat is controlled by the Google Home app, accessible through your phone or other smart device, including a computer. Other versions of Nest, including the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat, are also controllable through the Nest app.
Before you can control a Nest on your phone with Google Home or the Nest app, you need to follow a few steps:
- Download the Google Home app or, with premium Nest models, the Nest app to your phone.
- Connect your Nest Thermostat.
- Open the Google Home app on your phone and select the account, link to your new device and connect to Wi-Fi.
- There is a guided setup tool on Google, if you would like more assistance in connecting.
After you’ve added the Nest to your Home app, it’s accessible by clicking Thermostat on the home screen. Once you do that, you can change your Nest temperature by dragging your finger along the screen or tapping on a plus or minus sign.
The app also allows you to change the Nest’s preset temperatures. From the home screen, find your Thermostat before selecting Settings. Once there, select Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. The display will show your preferred Comfort, Eco and Sleep temperatures. By selecting one of those three options, you can change the temperature for that preset.
Setting A Nest Thermostat Schedule
You can set a temperature schedule on a Nest Thermostat either on the device or on the Google Home app. More advanced versions of the Nest, such as the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat, can also be adjusted by using the Nest app.
The two easiest ways to schedule your Nest are:
- Quick Schedule: The Quick Schedule feature is based on the national average schedule for energy efficiency. When you are setting up your Nest, the Google Home app gives you the option to change the temperature with a schedule. If you choose that option, it presents a preset schedule for you to customize as you wish. After you’ve made all your choices, that’s the schedule it will use.
- Temperature Presets: To change the temperature presets on your Nest, open the Google Home app and select Thermostat. Then, tap Presets and select Edit. After the changes are complete, select Done.
If you already have a schedule and want to change it, open the Google Home app, select Thermostat and then tap on Schedules. Choose the day of the week where you want to make changes. Once you pick the day, tap Add and select the preset you want. Finally, select Time before touching and dragging the numbers to change the time. The changes won’t save unless you select Done.
Setting A Temperature Range On A Nest Thermostat
The Nest features an Eco mode ideal for setting custom temperature ranges. A key part of this feature is the Nest’s ability to adjust the temperature based on whether it detects you at home or not.
To customize the Nest temperature range in Eco mode, go to Settings and select Eco. The thermostat’s display should list existing “Heat to” and “Cool to” temperature settings. You can select each and make your preferred changes. Once you’re finished, select Done.
What Should I Do If My Nest Thermostat Isn't Compatible?
Nest thermostats are compatible with most HVAC systems. Google, Nest’s manufacturer, offers a compatibility tool that shares questions concerning your location and existing setup to see which Nest model would be compatible with your system.
If you don’t think your Nest is compatible with your system, it’s best to reach out to a professional for smart thermostat installation in Lodi. An experienced technician will be able to evaluate your system and, if your Nest is compatible, get it installed and on the road to saving you money in no time.
How Do I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?
Nest Thermostats are loaded with innovative features designed to improve comfort while keeping costs low. However, there is a way to turn off the smart features if you prefer to control your Nest like it’s a normal thermostat.
Take into account, by doing this you clear all your temperature schedules and your Nest will work like any other thermostat—it will display the temperature and let you change the temperature, but that’s about it.
Setting your thermostat to manual controls can be accomplished with the following steps:
- Auto-Schedule: From the main screen, go to Settings and then scroll to Nest Sense. Go to Auto-Schedule, select No and click Done.
- Eco: From the main screen, go to Settings, scroll to Eco. Once in Eco, select Off for both the Heat to and Cool to temperatures, and select Done.
- Home/Away Assist: From the main screen, go to Settings and select Home/Away Assist. Then, select Stop Using and click Done.
- Reset: Once you’ve turned off the settings, reset your nest. From the main screen, go to Settings and select Reset, highlight Schedule and then select Reset to clear out any saved scheduling data.
