12 Things You Need to Know About Your Nest Thermostat

That’s why more people are looking to add devices like a Nest into their home. If you're interested in trying a Nest yourself, reach out to an expert for smart thermostat installation in Front Royal.

From auto scheduling to optimizing energy efficiency, Nest makes 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. How to Reset a 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 tablet 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: A more drastic function, a reset should restore your Nest to its original settings from the manufacturer. For the most part, homeowners will perform 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.

If you want to perform a reset, it helps to record existing temperature settings so you have them if they get erased. Next, find 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 can choose from five options:

• Restart: Deactivates your Nest before rebooting it with your settings. Another way to restart is to press the outside of the Nest and hold it there until it goes 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. With this option, you’ll need to create a new schedule or wait until the Nest learns your schedule.
• Away: Choosing this reset option erases all the information your Nest has learned about how often you walk by, so that it can change the temperature accordingly.
• Network: If you select this reset option, it will remove all your network information 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 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.
• As your Nest is finished scanning for local networks, find your Wi-Fi and, if necessary, put in your password.

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

Nest thermostats get the power they need directly 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 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 plan on being away for a couple weeks, you can 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:

• 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.
• Or, from the main menu, go to Mode 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. Is Alexa Compatible 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. 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 control the temperature of your home without Wi-Fi. However, a lack of an internet connection means your Nest doesn’t have access to all the key features that most people enjoy.

7. Can You 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.

Nest has a locking feature that allows a user to keep it from making any adjustments outside of a preset range. This doesn’t lock in a specific temperature—a locked Nest continues to use existing program settings—but simply prevents people from changing the settings.

If you want to lock your 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.
• If locking 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. Once you enter your 4-digit pin, your device 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, with premium Nest models, the Nest app to your phone.
• Plug in your Nest Thermostat.
• Start 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, for those needing extra assistance in connecting.

Once you’ve added your 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 preset temperatures on your Nest can also be changed from the app. From the home screen, find your Thermostat before selecting Settings. At this screen, select 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

You can set a temperature schedule on a Nest Thermostat 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: Quick Schedules are based on the national average schedule for more energy-efficient use. 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 presents a preset schedule before letting you customize it. 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. As soon as you're finished making updates, select Done.

To make tweaks or changes to your current 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. 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 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 make your preferred changes. Once you're finished, select Done.

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

Nest thermostats can be integrated with most HVAC systems. The maker of Nest, Google, features a compatibility checking tool that shares questions concerning your location and current setup to see 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 Front Royal. An experienced technician will be able to evaluate your system and, if your Nest is compatible, install it quick so you can jump right into the savings and convenience.

12. How Do I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?

Nest Thermostats are packed with features designed to increase comfort and decrease costs. However, you can actually turn off the smart features if you want to control a Nest manually like a normal thermostat.

Take into account, by doing this you are turning off all of your temperature schedules and your Nest will 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.