12 Things You Need to Know About Your Nest Thermostat

A Nest Thermostat is a great investment 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 an excellent choice to help you manage your energy use — lowering your monthly bills in the process.

That’s why more people are looking to add devices like a Nest to their HVAC system. To add one to your home, call your nearest expert for smart thermostat installation in Elk River.

From auto scheduling to monitoring your home’s energy efficiency, Nest is designed to make controlling the climate of your home effortless.

Want all the details? Take a look at 12 things you should know about your Nest Thermostat.

1. Resetting Your Nest Thermostat

One of the first things 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 means a quick off / on cycle. 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 more drastic function, a reset should restore your Nest to its original settings from the manufacturer. People normally only use a reset as they're moving into a new house and bringing the thermostat with them, or if they just want to erase all personal info from the Nest before leaving it behind for the next resident.

To initiate a reset, it doesn't hurt to write down current temperature settings so reapplying them is faster. Next, go to 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 can choose from five options:

• Restart: Shuts your Nest down and reboots it while saving your settings. Another way to restart is to press the outside of the Nest and hold it there until it turns black, and then pull your hand away.
• Schedule: This reset setting 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 while your Nest learns your schedule.
• Away: This kind of reset gets rid of any programming your Nest has picked up about how often you walk by, so that it can change the temperature accordingly.
• Network: With a network reset, 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: 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:

• Open the Quick View menu by turning the thermostat ring.
• Select the Settings icon.
• Choose Network.
• As your Nest has scanned nearby networks, select your Wi-Fi and, if you have one, put in your password.

3. Does a Nest Thermostat Have a Battery and How Long Will the Battery Last?

Nest thermostats are powered indirectly through HVAC system, but also have a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup power in case of an outage. According to Google, who manufactures the thermostat, a Nest Thermostat battery should 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 won't be home for a while, it's a good idea to set your Nest Thermostat to Off mode, though Eco mode would be another option. The Off mode option deactivates your regular heating and cooling schedules, while maintaining existing 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” and then slide 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, your Amazon Alexa can be used to control 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. Can a Nest Thermostat Function Without Wi-Fi?

In short, yes. Your Nest Thermostat can still control temperatures even without Wi-Fi. That being said, being disconnected from Wi-FI means the Nest doesn’t have the smart thermostat functions that most people enjoy.

7. Are You Able to Lock a Nest Thermostat?

When family members can't stop bickering over temperatures, Nest has a function to give you the upper hand.

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 continues to use existing program settings—but simply keeps these settings from being changed.

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.
• For locking a Nest in Heat or Cool mode, fine-tune your maximum and minimum temperature range and then press Lock at the bottom of the screen.

To unlock a Nest, open the settings and choose Unlock. As soon as you've provided your 4-digit pin, the Nest will be unlocked.

8. Adjusting a Nest Thermostat from a Phone

A Nest Thermostat is controlled by the 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, can also be controlled remotely by 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.
• Access the Google Home app on your phone and select the account, link to your new device and connect to Wi-Fi.
• Google offers a more in-depth setup tool, if you prefer additional assistance in connecting.

Once you’ve added your Nest to your Home app, you can find and adjust it 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 preset temperatures on your Nest can also be changed from the app. From the home screen, find your Thermostat and then select Settings. At this screen, press Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. Current presets for Comfort, Eco and Sleep modes will be displayed. Choose the appropriate setting to change the temperature for that preset.

9. How to Set a Nest Thermostat Schedule

Your Nest allows you to schedule temperature programming 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, also can be controlled via 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. As you complete your Nest's setup process, the Google Home app enables you to set the temperature with a schedule. If you select this feature, it presents a preset schedule and allows you to make changes. After you've made all your choices, that’s the schedule it will use.
• Temperature Presets: For changing the Nest's preset temperatures, open the Google Home app and select Thermostat. Then, tap Presets and select Edit. Once you’ve made the changes, 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. You can then pick the day of the week that you want to add a temperature. 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. Your update won't be applied until you select Done.

10. How to Set a Temperature Range on a Nest Thermostat

Your Nest's Eco mode is great for setting temperature ranges. This is a function that adjusts the temperature in your home depending on if anyone is in the residence or if it is empty.

To access Eco mode for customized temperature ranges, go to Settings and select Eco. That should display the current “Heat to” and “Cool to” temperature settings. You can select each and make your preferred changes. When complete, select Done.

11. What to Do if a Nest Thermostat Is Not Compatible

Nest thermostats are compatible with most HVAC systems. Google, Nest's manufacturer, has an online compatibility checker that asks a series of questions about your location and current setup to determine which Nest model works 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 Elk River. Experienced technicians evaluate your system and, if your Nest is compatible, install it quick so you can jump right into the savings and convenience.

12. Can I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?

Nest Thermostats come with many 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.

Don't forget, 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, 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.