12 Things to Learn About Nest Thermostats

A Nest Thermostat is the perfect way to keep your home comfortable, no matter what the season or weather. With features designed around maximizing 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 into their home. If you want to put in a Nest for your own home, call your nearest expert for smart thermostat installation in Tucker.

With everything from automatic scheduling to energy efficiency monitoring, Nest helps make controlling the climate of your home effortless.

Want all the details? Here’s a look at 12 things you need to 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 there's a 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 maintains all your settings and is a step to take 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 as they're moving into a new house and bringing the thermostat with them, or if they are moving out and want to erase all personal info from the Nest before leaving it for the next homeowner.

If you want to perform a reset, it doesn't hurt to write down current temperature settings so they're still available if you forget or erase them. 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 will be presented with five options:

• Restart: Turns your Nest off 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 clears any info about your temperature schedule—including for your hot water, if you have that programmed into your Nest. If you choose this, you’ll need to create a new schedule or wait while your Nest learns your schedule.
• Away: This kind of reset removes anything your Nest has learned 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 can no longer connect to Wi-Fi. It also forgets your Wi-Fi password.
• All Settings: Self-explanatory, an All Settings reset removes all your personal settings and learning.

2. How to Connect Nest Thermostat to Wi-Fi

Connecting to Wi-Fi is important for making the most of your Nest's features.

To connect your Nest to the internet:

• Turn the thermostat ring to the Quick View menu.
• Find the Settings icon.
• Select Network.
• As your Nest scans available networks, select your Wi-Fi and, if necessary, enter your password.

3. Does a Nest Thermostat Use a Battery and How Long Does It Last?

Nest thermostats receive power from your HVAC system, but each one also features a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup in case of a power outage. According to Google, Nest's manufacturer, a Nest Thermostat battery should last several months. The Nest's battery is rechargable with a USB cable included with the thermostat.

4. How to Turn Off a Nest Thermostat

If you won't be home for a while, you can set your Nest Thermostat to Off mode, though Eco mode is another solid choice. Using Off mode will turn off all of your regular heating and cooling schedules, while maintaining existing Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting particularly hot or cold.

To select 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.
• Or, from the main menu, go to Mode and select Off.

Off mode can even be accessed from your Google Home app:

• Select Thermostat from home screen
• Tap Temperature mode
• Select Off

5. Is Alexa Compatible 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.

6. Does a Nest Thermostat Work Without Wi-Fi?

In short, yes. Your Nest Thermostat can still control temperatures even without Wi-Fi. That being said, 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 you’re having a battle over the thermostat in your home between people who like things hot and others who prefer them cold, Nest offers a handy feature that keeps things simple.

Users can lock the Nest to keep it from making any adjustments outside of a preset range. This doesn't mean you're stuck with a single temperature—a locked Nest still has access to programmed settings—but simply keeps these settings from being changed.

To lock a Nest:

• Select the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and locate the function listed as 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 tap Lock at the bottom of the screen.

When you're ready to unlock the Nest, open the settings and choose Unlock. As soon as you've provided your 4-digit pin, your device will be unlocked.

8. How to Control a Nest Thermostat from a Phone

Nest thermostats can be controlled by your Google Home app, accessible through your phone or desktop 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, with premium Nest models, the Nest app to your phone.
• Hook up your Nest Thermostat.
• Access the Google Home app on your phone and complete the setup process, link to your new device and connect to Wi-Fi.
• There is a guided setup tool on Google, for those needing extra 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, making adjustments is done 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, select Thermostat before selecting 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. Setting 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: Quick Schedules are based on the national average schedule for energy efficiency. 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 and allows you to make changes. Once setup is complete, that’s the schedule it uses.
• Temperature Presets: For changing the Nest's preset temperatures, 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 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

Your Nest's Eco mode is great for setting temperature ranges. Your Nest will adjust the temperature depending on if you're at home or away.

To customize the Nest 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 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 shares questions concerning your location and existing 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 Tucker. Technicians with the proper experience can assess 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 increase comfort and decrease costs. However, you can actually 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're eliminating your temperature schedules and letting the Nest work like any other thermostat—it will display the temperature and allow changes, 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, 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: 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.