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 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. To add one to your home, reach out to an expert for smart thermostat installation in Newton.

With everything from automatic scheduling to monitoring your home’s energy efficiency, Nest makes securing your sense of comfort 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

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 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. 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 are moving out and want to erase any personal details from the Nest before leaving it behind for the next resident.

To initiate a reset, it doesn't hurt to write down current 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.

After writing down this information, 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 turns black, at which point you can remove your hand.
  • Schedule: This reset setting 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 while your Nest learns your schedule.
  • Away: This kind of reset removes anything your Nest has learned about how often you walk by, so it will be able to change the temperature even when you're not around.
  • Network: By selecting a network reset, it will remove all your network information and your Nest is disconnected from Wi-Fi. It also forgets 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

A stable internet connection 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.
  • Select the Settings icon.
  • Press Network.
  • Once your Nest is finished scanning for local networks, locate your Wi-Fi and, if necessary, 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 also have a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup power in case of an outage. According to Google, the maker of Nest, a Nest Thermostat battery should last 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 won't be home for a while, consider setting your Nest Thermostat to Off mode, though Eco mode would be another 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 select 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. Is Alexa Compatible with a Nest Thermostat?

Yes, you can use Amazon Alexa to control a Nest Thermostat. Alexa can also be integrated with with Nest doorbells and cameras. Google's own voice control technology, like Google Assistant, can be used to operate your Nest.

6. Will My 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 offers a handy feature that keeps things simple.

A user can 'lock' the Nest to keep it from making any adjustments outside of a preset range. This doesn’t lock in a specific temperature—a locked Nest will still continue to run the programmed settings—but simply keeps these settings from being changed.

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 keep in mind this has to be entered twice.
  • If locking in Heat or Cool mode, select your maximum and minimum temperature range before tapping Lock at the bottom of the screen.

For unlocking it, open the settings and choose Unlock. Once you enter your 4-digit pin, the Nest will be unlocked.

8. Controlling Your Nest Thermostat from a Phone

You can control the Nest through your Google Home app, which can be accessed from your phone as well as 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 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.
  • Hook up your Nest Thermostat.
  • Start 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.

As soon as you've connected the Nest to your Home app, you can access it 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, choose Thermostat before selecting Settings. Once there, press Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. The display will show your preferred 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. 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 energy efficiency. As you set the thermostat up, the Google Home app enables you to set the temperature with a schedule. If you select this feature, it will show a preset schedule and allows you to make changes. Once setup is complete, that’s the schedule it uses.
  • Temperature Presets: If you prefer other basic preset options, open the Google Home app and select Thermostat. Then, tap Presets and select Edit. After the changes are complete, 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 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 create a custom 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 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 asks a series of questions about your location and existing setup to see which Nest model works 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 Newton. 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. Can I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?

Nest Thermostats are loaded with innovative features designed to make life more comfortable and save money. 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 clear all 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 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.