12 Things You Need to Know About Your Nest Thermostat

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 easy way to manage your energy use — saving you money in the process.

That’s why more people are looking to add devices like a Nest to their homes. If you want to put in a Nest for your own home, reach out to an expert for smart thermostat installation in Omaha.

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

Ready to learn more? Here’s a look at 12 things you should know about your Nest Thermostat.

1. Resetting Your Nest Thermostat

The first thing to know about resetting a Google Nest Thermostat is the 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. In most cases, people resort to a reset as they're moving into a new house and bringing the thermostat with them, or if they just want to erase their personal information from the Nest before leaving it for the next homeowner.

If you want to perform a reset, first write down your temperature settings so reapplying them is faster. Next, find Settings -> Equipment and record your system wires, heating type and safety temperature settings.

After writing down this information, go to Settings, select Reset and press. You will then have five options:

• Restart: Deactivates your Nest before rebooting it with your settings. Another method 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've connected it to 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: This kind of reset erases all the information your Nest has learned about how often you walk by, so that it can update the temperature on its own.
• Network: With a network reset, it forgets connection logins and your Nest can no longer connect to Wi-Fi. It also forgets 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.
• After your Nest scans available networks, select your Wi-Fi and, if you have one, put in 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 they also include a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup power in case of an outage. According to Google, the maker of Nest, a Nest Thermostat battery will generally last several months. It can be recharged using a USB charger that comes with the Nest.

4. Shutting 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 is also a good option. 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 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 can even be accessed from your Google Home app:

• 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 can also be integrated with with Nest doorbells and cameras. You can even operate a Nest Thermostat with Google Assistant.

6. Will My Nest Thermostat Work Without Wi-Fi?

The good news is that a Nest Thermostat can control the temperature of your home without Wi-Fi. However, 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 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 doesn't mean you're stuck with a single temperature—a locked Nest continues to use existing program settings—but simply prevents other users from constantly changing the settings.

To lock a Nest:

• Select the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and find Lock.
• Enter a 4-digit pin number you can remember, and keep in mind this has to be entered twice.
• To lock your Nest in Heat or Cool mode, define 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. Once you enter your 4-digit pin, the Nest will be unlocked.

8. How to Control a Nest Thermostat from Your Phone

Nest thermostats can be controlled by your Google Home app, which can be accessed from your phone or desktop computer. Other versions of Nest, including the Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat, are also compatible with remote control via 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.
• Hook up your Nest Thermostat.
• Access 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 has created a more comprehensive setup guide, if you would like more assistance in connecting.

After you've added the Nest to your Home app, it's accessible 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.

You also can change preset Nest temperatures on the app. From the home screen, select Thermostat and then select Settings. At this screen, select Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. Current presets for Comfort, Eco and Sleep modes will be displayed. Select one of these options to change the temperature for that preset.

9. Creating 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, also can be controlled via the Nest app.

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

• Quick Schedule: A Quick Schedule will be based on the national average schedule for energy efficiency. As you set the thermostat up, the Google Home app enables you to set the temperature with a schedule. If you choose that option, it presents a preset schedule and allows you to make changes. Once setup is complete, that’s the schedule it will use.
• Temperature Presets: If you prefer other basic preset options, open the Google Home app and press Thermostat. Then, tap Presets and select Edit. Once you’ve made the changes, select Done.

To make tweaks or changes to your current schedule, 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 select 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

You can set a temperature range on a Nest Thermostat in the Eco mode. 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. 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

A Nest Thermostat is compatible with most heating and cooling systems. The maker of Nest, Google, has an online compatibility checker that presents a few questions related to your location and existing setup to learn which Nest model is compatible 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 Omaha. 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. Can I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?

Nest Thermostats are packed with features designed to make life more comfortable and save money. However, you can actually turn off the smart features if you prefer to control your Nest like it's a normal thermostat.

Bear in mind, by doing this you clear all 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.

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: 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.