A Nest Thermostat is a great investment 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 easy way 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. If you're interested in trying a Nest yourself, get in touch with an expert for smart thermostat installation in Heflin.

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

Want all the details? Take a look at 12 things you should know about your Nest Thermostat.

1. How to Reset a Nest Thermostat

A key piece of information to know about resetting a Google Nest Thermostat is that resetting is different from restarting.

  • Restart: Similar to restarting any electronic device, 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. 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 just want to erase any personal details 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, locate 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: Deactivates your Nest and starts it back up while remembering your settings. You can also press the outside of the Nest and hold it there until it turns black, and then pull your hand away.
  • Schedule: This reset setting clears any info about your temperature schedule—including for your hot water, if that has been connected to your Nest. With this option, you’ll need to create a new schedule or wait until the Nest learns your schedule.
  • Away: An Away reset removes anything 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 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 clears all your personal settings and learning.

2. How to Connect Nest Thermostat to Wi-Fi

Staying connected to your 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.
  • Find the Settings icon.
  • Press Network.
  • Once your Nest has scanned nearby networks, locate your Wi-Fi and, if you have one, enter 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 each one also features a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup in situations where the power cuts out. According to Google, who manufactures the thermostat, a Nest Thermostat battery should last several months. It can be recharged using a USB charger that comes with the Nest.

4. Shutting Off a Nest Thermostat

If you aren’t going to be in your home for a long time, consider setting your Nest Thermostat to Off mode, though Eco mode is also a good option. The Off mode option deactivates your regular heating and cooling schedules, while maintaining existing Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting dangerously 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.
  • 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, you can use Amazon Alexa to control a Nest Thermostat. Alexa voice controls are also available with Nest doorbells and cameras. And of course, you can use Google Assistant to control your Nest.

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

The good news is that a Nest Thermostat can still control temperatures even 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?

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 stop any temperature adjustments outside of a preset range. This won't mean you have to make do with just one temperature—a locked Nest continues to use existing program settings—but simply prevents people from changing the settings.

To lock a Nest:

  • Press the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and tap on Lock.
  • Enter a 4-digit pin number you can remember, and keep in mind this has to be entered 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. As soon as you've provided your 4-digit pin, the Nest will be unlocked.

8. How to Control a Nest Thermostat from a Phone

A Nest Thermostat is controlled by the 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, 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.
  • Hook up 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 offers a more in-depth setup tool, 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, making adjustments is done 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, choose Thermostat before selecting Settings. At this screen, press Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. This will display your preset Comfort, Eco and Sleep temperatures. 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. 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 gives you the option to change the temperature with a schedule. If you choose that option, it presents a preset schedule for you to customize as you wish. 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.

For anyone wanting to edit their 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. After the day is selected, 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. How to Set a Temperature Range on a Nest Thermostat

Your Nest's Eco mode is great for setting 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 create a custom 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 your preferred changes. Once you're finished, select Done.

11. What to Do if a Nest Thermostat Is Not Compatible

A Nest Thermostat is compatible with most HVAC systems. Google, Nest's manufacturer, has an online compatibility checker that shares questions concerning your location and current setup to see which Nest model works with your system.

If you have a Nest and believe it’s not compatible with your system, it’s best to reach out to a professional for smart thermostat installation in Heflin. 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 make life more comfortable and save money. However, you have the ability to turn off the smart features if you prefer manual controls similar to normal thermostats.

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 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: 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.