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 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 HVAC system. To add one to your home, get in touch with an expert for smart thermostat installation in [siteinfo field="msa"].

From automated scheduling to energy efficiency monitoring, Nest makes controlling the climate of your home effortless.

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

1. Resetting Your Nest Thermostat

A key piece of information 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 means a quick off / on cycle. This maintains all your settings and is a step to take 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 when they’re moving to a new home and bringing the thermostat with them, or if they just want to erase all personal info from the Nest before leaving it for the next homeowner.

To initiate a reset, it doesn't hurt to write down current temperature settings so they're still available if you forget or erase them. Next, find Settings -> Equipment and record 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: Shuts your Nest down and reboots it while saving your settings. You can also 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 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 until the Nest learns your schedule.
  • Away: Choosing this reset option gets rid of any programming your Nest has picked up about how often you walk by, so that it can change the temperature accordingly.
  • Network: If you select this reset option, it forgets connection logins and your Nest is disconnected from Wi-Fi. Use this option if you want your Nest to forget your Wi-Fi password.
  • All Settings: The most far-reaching option, using the All Settings reset option removes all your personal settings and learning.

2. How to Connect Nest Thermostat to Wi-Fi

A stable internet connection is important if you want the most use of its online features.

To connect your Nest to the internet:

  • Open the Quick View menu by turning the thermostat ring.
  • Locate the Settings icon.
  • Choose Network.
  • After your Nest is finished scanning for local networks, find your Wi-Fi and, if you have one, put in your password.

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

Nest thermostats get the power they need directly from your HVAC system, but also have a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup in case of a power outage. According to Google, the maker of Nest, a Nest Thermostat battery should last several months. Recharge it with the USB cord that comes included.

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, but it will still adhere to any current Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting dangerously hot or cold.

To choose 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. Can Alexa Control 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. You can even operate a Nest Thermostat with Google Assistant.

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

The good news is that a Nest Thermostat can control the temperature of your home without Wi-Fi. However, being disconnected from Wi-FI means the Nest doesn’t have access to all the key features that most people enjoy.

7. Are You Able to Lock a Nest Thermostat?

If different members of your family can't agree on the ideal temperature, Nest has a function to give you the upper hand.

Nest has a locking feature that allows a user to prevent others from adjusting the settings or changing the temperature 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 prevents people from changing the settings.

If you want to lock your Nest:

  • Press the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and tap on 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 before tapping Lock at the bottom of the screen.

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

8. Controlling Your Nest Thermostat from Your Phone

You can control the Nest through 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 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, you need to follow a few steps:

  • 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 follow the instructions to select your account, 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.

After you've added 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.

You also can change preset Nest temperatures on the app. From the home screen, select Thermostat before selecting Settings. Once there, select 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

You can set a temperature schedule on a Nest Thermostat 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.

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

  • Quick Schedule: Quick Schedules are based on the national average schedule for more energy-efficient use. As you complete your Nest's setup process, the Google Home app allows you to change the temperature with a schedule. If you select this feature, it displays 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 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. 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

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, offers a compatibility tool that asks a series of questions about 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, consider reaching out to professionals for smart thermostat installation in [siteinfo field="msa"]. Technicians with the proper experience can assess 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 loaded with innovative features designed to increase comfort and decrease costs. However, you have the ability to turn off the smart features if you want to control a Nest manually like a normal thermostat.

Take into account, by doing this you're eliminating your temperature schedules and your Nest will work like any other thermostat—it will display the temperature and let you change the temperature, but that’s about it.

Setting your thermostat to manual controls can be accomplished with the following 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: 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.