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 excellent choice to help you manage your energy use — saving you money 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, reach out to an expert for smart thermostat installation in [siteinfo field="msa"].

With everything from automatic 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 the difference between a restart and a reset.

  • Restart: This process is similar across most electronics, 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: A reset erases some or all of your settings. For the most part, homeowners will perform a reset as they're moving homes 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 reapplying them is faster. Next, go to 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 then have five options:

  • Restart: Shuts your Nest down before rebooting it with your settings. Another way to restart is to press the outside of the Nest and hold it down for a few seconds until it goes black, and then pull your hand away.
  • Schedule: This reset clears all scheduling information—including for your hot water, if you have that programmed into your Nest. If you choose this, you’ll have to input a new schedule or wait while your Nest learns your schedule.
  • Away: An Away reset gets rid of any programming your Nest has picked up 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. Use this option if you want your Nest to forget your Wi-Fi password.
  • All Settings: Self-explanatory, an All Settings reset strips away all your personal settings and learning.

2. How to Connect Nest Thermostat to Wi-Fi

Connecting to Wi-Fi 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.
  • Select the Settings icon.
  • Choose Network.
  • Once your Nest scans available networks, select your Wi-Fi and, if needed, 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 in case of a power outage. According to Google, who manufactures the thermostat, a Nest Thermostat battery last an average of several months. It can be recharged using a USB charger that comes with the Nest.

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 is another solid choice. The Off mode option deactivates your regular heating and cooling schedules, while maintaining existing Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting particularly 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 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, Amazon's Alexa is compatible with a Nest Thermostat. This voice control function is 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 Function Without Wi-Fi?

Yes, your Nest Thermostat can control the temperature of your home without Wi-Fi. However, being disconnected from Wi-FI means the Nest doesn’t have the smart thermostat functions that most people enjoy.

7. Can You 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 keep it from making any adjustments outside of a preset range. This doesn't mean you're stuck with a single temperature—a locked Nest continues to use existing program settings—but simply keeps these settings from being changed.

If you want to lock your Nest:

  • Press the Settings icon, scroll to the bottom and find Lock.
  • Enter a 4-digit pin number you can remember, and do so twice.
  • For locking a Nest in Heat or Cool mode, define your maximum and minimum temperature range before tapping 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 a Phone

Nest thermostats can be controlled by your Google Home app, which is accessible on your phone as well as a 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 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.
  • Hook up 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 offers a more in-depth setup tool, if you prefer additional 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, you can change your Nest temperature 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, select Thermostat before selecting Settings. At this screen, select Temperature Preferences and then Temperature Presets. This will display your preset Comfort, Eco and Sleep temperatures. Choose the appropriate setting to change the temperature for that preset.

9. How to Set a Nest Thermostat Schedule

Your Nest allows you to schedule temperature programming 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.

There are two ways you can set up a schedule on your Nest:

  • Quick Schedule: The Quick Schedule feature is based on the national average schedule for more energy-efficient use. As you set the thermostat up, the Google Home app allows you to change the temperature with a schedule. If you select this feature, it presents a preset schedule before letting you customize it. Once setup is complete, 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 choose 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. Choose the day of the week where you want to make changes. 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. Setting a Temperature Range on a Nest Thermostat

The Nest features an Eco mode ideal for setting custom temperature ranges. A key part of this feature is the Nest's ability to adjust the temperature based on whether it detects you at home or not.

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 any and all adjustments. When complete, select Done.

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

Nest thermostats are compatible with most HVAC systems. The maker of Nest, Google, has an online compatibility checker that shares questions concerning your location and existing setup to learn which Nest model works 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 [siteinfo field="msa"]. Experienced technicians 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 increase comfort and decrease costs. However, there is a way to turn off the smart features if you want to control a Nest manually like a normal thermostat.

Don't forget, by doing this you are turning off all of your temperature schedules and letting the Nest 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, 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.