12 Things You'll Want to Know About Your Nest Thermostat

A Nest Thermostat is an excellent tool for keeping your home comfortable, regardless of 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 — keeping costs down in the process.

That’s why more homeowners are considering adding devices like a Nest to their homes. If you want to put in a Nest for your own home, get in touch with an expert for smart thermostat installation in Philadelphia.

From automated scheduling to optimizing energy efficiency, Nest helps make home climate control effortless.

Curious to learn more? Take a look at 12 things you should know about your Nest Thermostat.

1. How to Reset a 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 preserves current settings and should be attempted if your Nest is frozen or not connecting to Wi-Fi.
• Reset: Conversely, resetting eliminates most if not all of your preferred settings. In most cases, people resort to a reset as they're moving homes 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 reset, first write down your temperature settings so you have them if they get erased. 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: Shuts your Nest down before rebooting it with your settings. Another method is to press the outside of the Nest and hold it there until it goes black, at which point you can remove your hand.
• Schedule: This reset clears your entire temperature schedule—including for your hot water, if that has been connected to your Nest. With this option, you’ll have to input 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: By selecting a network reset, it will remove all your network information and your Nest will no longer be connected to Wi-Fi. It also forgets your Wi-Fi password.
• All Settings: This reset clears all your personal settings and learning.

2. How to Connect Nest Thermostat to Wi-Fi

A stable internet connection is important for making the most of your Nest's features.

To connect your Nest to the internet:

• Open the Quick View menu by turning the thermostat ring.
• Locate the Settings icon.
• Press Network.
• Once your Nest scans available networks, locate your Wi-Fi and, if you have one, put in your password.

3. Does a Nest Thermostat Have 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 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 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. Using Off mode will turn off all of your regular heating and cooling schedules, but it will still adhere to any current Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting especially 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 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, Amazon's Alexa is compatible with a Nest Thermostat. This voice control function is 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?

Yes, your Nest Thermostat can control the temperature of your home without Wi-Fi. At the same time, a lack of an internet connection means your Nest doesn’t have the ability to use the smart functions that most people enjoy.

7. Are You Able to Lock a Nest Thermostat?

When family members can't stop bickering over temperatures, Nest offers a handy feature that keeps things simple.

A user can 'lock' the Nest to prevent others from adjusting the settings or changing the temperature outside of a preset range. This won't mean you have to make do with just one temperature—a locked Nest will still continue to run the programmed settings—but simply prevents people from changing the settings.

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 then enter it twice.
• For locking a Nest in Heat or Cool mode, define your maximum and minimum temperature range and then tap Lock at the bottom of the screen.

For unlocking it, open the settings and choose Unlock. As soon as you've provided your 4-digit pin, your device will be unlocked.

8. Adjusting a Nest Thermostat from a Phone

A Nest Thermostat is controlled by the Google Home app, accessible through 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, if you have an advanced model, the Nest app to your phone.
• Plug in your Nest Thermostat.
• Open the Google Home app on your phone and complete the setup process, link to your new device and connect to Wi-Fi.
• Google has created a more comprehensive setup guide, if you prefer additional assistance in connecting.

As soon as you've connected the Nest to your Home app, it's accessible 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, find your Thermostat and then select Settings. Once there, press Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. Current presets for Comfort, Eco and Sleep modes will be displayed. By selecting one of those three options, you can change the temperature for that preset.

9. Making 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, are also controllable with the Nest app.

You have two primary ways to establish a temperature schedule on a Nest Thermostat:

• Quick Schedule: The Quick Schedule feature is based on the national average schedule for energy efficiency. When you are setting up your Nest, the Google Home app enables you to set the temperature with a schedule. When choosing this option, it presents a preset schedule before letting you customize it. After you've made all your choices, that’s the schedule it uses.
• Temperature Presets: To change the temperature presets on your Nest, open the Google Home app and press Thermostat. Then, tap Presets and select Edit. Once you’ve made the changes, 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. After the day is selected, tap Add and select 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. How to Set 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 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 make any and all adjustments. When complete, select Done.

11. What Should I Do If My Nest Thermostat Isn't Compatible?

Nest thermostats are compatible with most heating and cooling systems. The maker of Nest, Google, offers a compatibility tool that presents a few questions related to your location and current setup to learn which Nest model would be compatible with your system.

If you don't think your Nest is compatible with your system, it’s best to reach out to a professional for smart thermostat installation in Philadelphia. 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. Can I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?

Nest Thermostats are loaded with innovative features designed to improve comfort while keeping costs low. However, you have the ability 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'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, 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.