A Nest Thermostat is an excellent tool for keeping your home comfortable, no matter what the season or weather. With a range of features and programs designed for maximum efficiency, convenience and comfort, a Nest Thermostat is an excellent choice to help you manage your energy use — saving you money in the process.
That’s why more homeowners are considering adding devices like a Nest to their HVAC system. If you want to put in a Nest for your own home, reach out to an expert for smart thermostat installation in Frederick.
From auto scheduling to monitoring your home’s energy efficiency, Nest helps make home climate control effortless.
Curious to learn more? Here’s a look at 12 things you should know about your Nest Thermostat.
1. How to Reset a Nest Thermostat
A key piece of information to know about resetting a Google Nest Thermostat is that resetting is different from restarting.
- Restart: This process is similar across most electronics, including your phone or computer, restarting your Nest Thermostat simply turns it off and then back on. This records your existing thermostat settings, ad can reapply them once you're done confirming if your Nest is frozen or not connecting to Wi-Fi.
- Reset: A reset erases some or all of your settings. People normally only use a reset when they’re moving to a new home and bringing the thermostat with them, or if they're moving out and prefer to erase all personal info from the Nest before leaving it behind for the next resident.
To reset, first write down your temperature settings so reapplying them is faster. 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 be presented with five options:
- Restart: Turns your Nest off and starts it back up while remembering your settings. Another way to restart is to 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 type of reset clears any info about your temperature schedule—including for your hot water, if you have that programmed into your Nest. By choosing this kind of reset, you’ll have to input a new schedule or wait while your Nest learns your schedule.
- Away: Choosing this reset option gets rid of any programming your Nest has picked up about how often you walk by, so that it can update the temperature on its own.
- Network: If you select this reset option, it forgets connection logins and your Nest will no longer be connected to Wi-Fi. It also forgets your Wi-Fi password.
- All Settings: The most far-reaching option, using the All Settings reset option strips away all your personal settings and learning.
2. How to Connect Nest Thermostat to Wi-Fi
Staying connected to your Wi-Fi is important if you want the most use of its online features.
To connect your Nest to the internet:
- Turn the thermostat ring to the Quick View menu.
- Find the Settings icon.
- Press Network.
- After your Nest has scanned nearby networks, select your Wi-Fi and, if necessary, enter your password.
3. Does a Nest Thermostat Have a Battery and How Long Will the Battery Last?
Nest thermostats receive power from your HVAC system, but each one also features a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup in situations where the power cuts out. According to Google, who manufactures the thermostat, a Nest Thermostat battery will generally last several months. It can be recharged using a USB charger that comes with the Nest.
4. 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. Off mode shuts down all 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 find 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 is available on the Google Home app as well:
- Select Thermostat from home screen
- Tap Temperature mode
- Select Off
5. Will Alexa Work with a Nest Thermostat?
Yes, Amazon's Alexa is compatible with a Nest Thermostat. Alexa voice controls are also available with Nest doorbells and cameras. And of course, you can use Google Assistant to control your Nest.
6. Will My Nest Thermostat Work Without Wi-Fi?
The good news is that a Nest Thermostat will still be able to adjust the temperatures without Wi-Fi. At the same time, without Wi-Fi a Nest doesn’t have the smart thermostat functions that most people enjoy.
7. Are You Able to Lock a Nest Thermostat?
If different members of your family can't agree on the ideal temperature, Nest can help you bring a little order back to your household.
Nest has a locking feature that allows a user to stop any temperature adjustments outside of a preset range. This won't mean you have to make do with just one temperature—a locked Nest will still continue to run the programmed settings—but simply keeps these settings from being changed.
To lock a Nest:
- Select the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and tap on Lock.
- Enter a 4-digit pin number you can remember, and then enter it twice.
- To lock your Nest in Heat or Cool mode, define your maximum and minimum temperature range and then press Lock at the bottom of the screen.
When you're ready to unlock the Nest, open the settings and choose Unlock. Once you enter your 4-digit pin, the Nest will be unlocked.
8. Controlling Your Nest Thermostat from a Phone
You can control the Nest through your Google Home app, which is accessible on your phone as well as 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 make adjustments for 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, if you have an advanced model, the Nest app to your phone.
- Plug in your Nest Thermostat.
- Open the Google Home app on your phone and complete the setup process, link to your new device and connect to Wi-Fi.
- Google offers a more in-depth setup tool, for those needing extra assistance in connecting.
As soon as you've connected the Nest to your Home app, you can access it by clicking Thermostat on the home screen. Once you do that, making adjustments is done by dragging your finger along the screen or tapping on a plus or minus sign.
You also can change preset Nest temperatures on the app. From the home screen, select Thermostat before selecting Settings. At this screen, press Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. This will display your preset Comfort, Eco and Sleep temperatures. Select one of these options to change the temperature for that preset.
9. Creating a Nest Thermostat Schedule
You can set a temperature schedule on a Nest Thermostat either on the device or on the Google Home app. Newer and advanced models of the Nest, such as the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat, are also controllable with the Nest app.
You have two primary ways to establish a temperature schedule on a Nest Thermostat:
- Quick Schedule: The Quick Schedule feature is based on the national average schedule for more energy-efficient use. As you set the thermostat up, the Google Home app gives you the option to change the temperature with a schedule. If you select this feature, it will show a preset schedule before letting you customize it. After you've made all your choices, that’s the schedule it uses.
- Temperature Presets: If you prefer other basic preset options, open the Google Home app and select Thermostat. Then, tap Presets and choose Edit. Once you’ve made the changes, select Done.
For anyone wanting to edit their schedule, 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 find 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.
10. Setting a Temperature Range on a Nest Thermostat
You can set a temperature range on a Nest Thermostat in the Eco mode. 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 display will show any current “Heat to” and “Cool to” temperature settings. You can select each and adjust them to your desired temperature. When complete, select Done.
11. What to Do if a Nest Thermostat Is Not Compatible
Nest thermostats are compatible with most heating and cooling systems. The maker of Nest, Google, features a compatibility checking tool that asks a series of questions about your location and existing setup to see which Nest model is compatible with your system.
If you have a Nest and believe it’s not compatible with your system, consider reaching out to professionals for smart thermostat installation in Frederick. Experienced technicians evaluate your system and, if your Nest is compatible, get it installed and on the road to saving you money in no time.
12. Can I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?
Nest Thermostats come with many features designed to improve comfort while keeping costs low. However, you can actually turn off the smart features if you prefer to control your Nest like it's a normal thermostat.
Remember, by doing this you are turning off all of your temperature schedules and allowing the Nest to work like any other thermostat—it will display the temperature and allow changes, 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, before selecting Done.
- Home/Away Assist: From the main screen, go to Settings and select Home/Away Assist. Then, select Stop Using and click Done.
- Reset: After you've cleared 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.