12 Things You Need to Know About Your Nest Thermostat

A Nest Thermostat is a great investment for keeping your home comfortable, no matter what 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 — keeping costs down 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, get in touch with an expert for smart thermostat installation in Tomball.

From auto scheduling to energy efficiency monitoring, Nest helps make securing your sense of comfort effortless.

Want all the details? Take some time to review these 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: Similar to restarting any electronic device, 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. 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 are moving out and want to erase their personal information from the Nest before leaving it for the next homeowner.

To 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.

Then, to manually restart or reset your Nest, go to Settings, select Reset and press. You will then have five options:

• Restart: Deactivates your Nest and starts it back up while remembering your settings. Another method 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 setting clears all scheduling information—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 until the Nest learns your schedule.
• Away: Choosing this reset option removes anything your Nest has learned about how often you walk by, so that it can update the temperature on its own.
• Network: By selecting a network reset, it erases connection info and your Nest can no longer connect to Wi-Fi. Use this option if you want your Nest to forget your Wi-Fi password.
• All Settings: This reset strips away all your personal settings and learning.

2. How to Connect Nest Thermostat to Wi-Fi

Connecting to Wi-Fi is important if you want the most use of its online features.

To connect your Nest to the internet:

• Access the Quick View menu. This is done by turning the thermostat's outer ring.
• Locate the Settings icon.
• Press Network.
• Once your Nest is finished scanning for local networks, select your Wi-Fi and, if needed, enter 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 last an average of 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 aren’t going to be in your home for a long time, you can set your Nest Thermostat to Off mode, though Eco mode is another solid choice. Off mode shuts down all your regular heating and cooling schedules, while maintaining existing Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting especially 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

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. You can even operate a Nest Thermostat with Google Assistant.

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

In short, yes. Your Nest Thermostat will still be able to adjust the temperatures without Wi-Fi. At the same time, being disconnected from Wi-FI means the Nest doesn’t have access to all the key features that most people enjoy.

7. Can You Lock a Nest Thermostat?

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

A user can 'lock' the Nest to keep it from making any adjustments 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:

• Tap the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and locate the function listed as Lock.
• Enter a 4-digit pin number you can remember, and do so 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. Once you enter your 4-digit pin, the Nest will be unlocked.

8. How to Control a Nest Thermostat from Your Phone

A Nest Thermostat is controlled by the 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, are also controllable through the Nest app.

Before you can control 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, if you have an advanced model, the Nest app to your phone.
• Plug in 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 has created a more comprehensive setup guide, 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, you can make changes to the 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, 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. 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. More advanced versions of the Nest, such as the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat, are also controllable with the Nest app.

There are two ways you can set up a schedule on your Nest:

• Quick Schedule: Quick Schedules are based on the national average schedule for energy efficiency. As you set the thermostat up, the Google Home app allows you to change the temperature with a schedule. When choosing this option, it presents a preset schedule before letting you customize it. Once setup is complete, 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 choose Edit. As soon as you're finished making updates, 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. Select Done to save changes.

10. Setting a Temperature Range on a Nest Thermostat

The Nest features an Eco mode ideal for setting custom 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. The thermostat's display should list existing “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 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 have a Nest and believe it’s not compatible with your system, you should get in touch with local pros for smart thermostat installation in Tomball. 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.

12. How Do I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?

Nest Thermostats are packed with 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.

Take into account, 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 allow you to make 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 current 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.