A Nest Thermostat is an excellent tool for keeping your home comfortable, regardless of the season or weather. With a range of features and programs designed for maximum efficiency, convenience and comfort, a Nest Thermostat is the perfect solution if you want to manage your energy use — saving you money in the process.
That’s why more homeowners are considering adding devices like a Nest to their homes. To add one to your home, reach out to an expert for smart thermostat installation in Branchville.
From automated scheduling to monitoring your home’s energy efficiency, Nest is designed to make securing your sense of comfort effortless.
Curious to learn more? Take some time to review these 12 things you need to know about your Nest Thermostat.
1. How to Reset a Nest Thermostat
The first thing to know about resetting a Google Nest Thermostat is that there's a difference between a restart and a reset.
- Restart: This process is similar across most electronics, including your phone or computer, restarting your Nest Thermostat turns it off before starting it right back up again. This maintains all your settings and is a step to take if your Nest is frozen or not connecting to Wi-Fi.
- Reset: Conversely, resetting eliminates most if not all of your preferred settings. People normally only use a reset when they’re moving to a new home and bringing the thermostat with them, or if they are moving out and want to erase any personal details from the Nest before leaving it for the next homeowner.
To initiate a reset, it helps to record existing temperature settings so reapplying them is faster. Next, find Settings -> Equipment and write down the details about your system wires, heating type and safety temperature settings.
Then, to manually restart or reset your Nest, go to Settings, select Reset and press. You will then have five options:
- Restart: Shuts your Nest down and starts it back up while remembering your settings. Another way to restart is to press the outside of the Nest and hold it there until it turns black, at which point you can remove your hand.
- Schedule: This reset clears any info about your temperature schedule—including for your hot water, if you've connected it to your Nest. If you choose this, you’ll have to input a new schedule or wait until the Nest learns your schedule.
- Away: An Away reset erases all the information your Nest has learned about how often you walk by, so it will be able to change the temperature even when you're not around.
- Network: With a network reset, it erases connection info and your Nest can no longer connect to Wi-Fi. It also forgets your Wi-Fi password.
- All Settings: Self-explanatory, an All Settings reset clears all your personal settings and learning.
2. How to Connect Nest Thermostat to Wi-Fi
Connecting to Wi-Fi is important to getting the most out of your Nest.
To connect your Nest to the internet:
- Open the Quick View menu by turning the thermostat ring.
- Select the Settings icon.
- Choose Network.
- After your Nest has scanned nearby networks, find your Wi-Fi and, if necessary, put in your password.
3. Does a Nest Thermostat Have 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 in situations where the power cuts out. According to Google, who manufactures the thermostat, a Nest Thermostat battery will generally last several months. The Nest's battery is rechargable with a USB cable included with the thermostat.
4. Shutting Off a Nest Thermostat
If you plan on being away for a couple weeks, consider setting your Nest Thermostat to Off mode, though Eco mode is another solid choice. The Off mode option deactivates 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:
- Hold the touch bar until the display reads “Turn Off” before sliding the bar to highlight Turn Off, and then touch the bar to select.
- Or, from the main menu, go to Mode 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. Is Alexa Compatible 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. Does a Nest Thermostat Work Without Wi-Fi?
In short, yes. Your Nest Thermostat will still be able to adjust the temperatures without Wi-Fi. That being said, being disconnected from Wi-FI means the Nest doesn’t have the ability to use the smart functions that most people enjoy.
7. Can You 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 doesn't mean you're stuck with a single temperature—a locked Nest continues to use existing program settings—but simply prevents people from changing the settings.
If you want to lock your Nest:
- Press the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and tap on Lock.
- Enter a 4-digit pin number you can remember, and keep in mind this has to be entered twice.
- If locking in Heat or Cool mode, fine-tune your maximum and minimum temperature range before tapping Lock at the bottom of the screen.
To unlock a Nest, open the settings and choose Unlock. After you've entered the 4-digit pin, the Nest will be unlocked.
8. Adjusting a Nest Thermostat from a Phone
You can control the Nest through your Google Home app, which is accessible on your phone or other smart device, including a computer. Other versions of Nest, including the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat, can also be controlled remotely by the Nest app.
Before you can make adjustments for a Nest on your phone with Google Home or the Nest app, there are a few steps to complete first:
- Download the Google Home app or, with premium Nest models, the Nest app to your phone.
- Plug in your Nest Thermostat.
- Start the Google Home app on your phone and follow the instructions to select your account, link to your new device and connect to Wi-Fi.
- Google offers a more in-depth setup tool, if you would like more assistance in connecting.
As soon as you've connected the Nest to your Home app, you can find and adjust 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, select Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. The display will show your preferred Comfort, Eco and Sleep temperatures. Select one of these options to change the temperature for that preset.
9. Creating a Nest Thermostat Schedule
A Nest allows you to set temperatures schedules 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: A Quick Schedule will be 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. When choosing this option, it presents a preset schedule and allows you to make changes. Once setup is complete, that’s the schedule it uses.
- Temperature Presets: If you prefer other basic preset options, open the Google Home app and press Thermostat. Then, tap Presets and choose Edit. After the changes are complete, select Done.
For anyone wanting to edit their schedule, open the Google Home app, select Thermostat and then tap on Schedules. Find the time of week you want to add a temperature to. 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. Select Done to save changes.
10. How to Set 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 create a custom temperature range in Eco mode, go to Settings and select Eco. That should display the current “Heat to” and “Cool to” temperature settings. You can select each and make any and all adjustments. Once you're finished, select Done.
11. What to Do if a Nest Thermostat Is Not Compatible
Nest thermostats are compatible with most HVAC 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 would be compatible with your system.
If you don't think your Nest is compatible with your system, consider reaching out to professionals for smart thermostat installation in Branchville. 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. How Do I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?
Nest Thermostats come with many features designed to increase comfort and decrease costs. However, you can actually turn off the smart features if you prefer manual controls similar to normal thermostats.
Don't forget, by doing this you're eliminating your temperature schedules and allowing the Nest to work like any other thermostat—it will display the temperature and let you change the temperature, but that’s about it.
You can achieve this by disabling the settings in a series of 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: 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.
