A Nest Thermostat is a great investment for keeping your home comfortable, regardless of the season or weather. With a number of innovative features meant to maximize 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're interested in trying a Nest yourself, call your nearest expert for smart thermostat installation in Port St. Lucie.

From automated scheduling to optimizing energy efficiency, Nest makes home climate control effortless.

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

1. Resetting Your Nest Thermostat

One of the first things to know about resetting a Google Nest Thermostat is the difference between a restart and a reset.

  • Restart: Similar to restarting any electronic device, including your phone or computer, restarting your Nest Thermostat simply turns it off and then back on. 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 are moving out and want to erase any personal details from the Nest before leaving it behind for the next resident.

To reset, first write down your 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 will then have five options:

  • Restart: Shuts your Nest down and starts it back up while remembering 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, at which point you can remove your hand.
  • Schedule: This type of reset clears your entire temperature schedule—including for your hot water, if that has been connected to your Nest. If you choose this, you’ll have to input a new schedule or wait while your Nest learns your schedule.
  • Away: This kind of reset erases all the information your Nest has learned about how often you walk by, so that it can change the temperature accordingly.
  • Network: With a network reset, it forgets connection logins and your Nest is disconnected from 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

A stable internet connection 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.
  • Select the Settings icon.
  • Choose Network.
  • After your Nest has scanned nearby networks, find 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 also have a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup in situations where the power cuts out. According to Google, the maker of Nest, a Nest Thermostat battery will generally 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, you can set 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, although the Nest will still use your Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting particularly hot or cold.

To select 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. Will Alexa Work with a Nest Thermostat?

Yes, your Amazon Alexa can be used to control a Nest Thermostat. This voice control function is 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?

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. 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 can help you bring a little order back to your household.

A user can 'lock' the Nest to prevent others from adjusting the settings or changing the temperature 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.

To lock a Nest:

  • Select 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 and then press Lock at the bottom of the screen.

When you're ready to unlock the 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 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.
  • Access 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, if you prefer additional 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, select Thermostat before selecting Settings. At this screen, press 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. How to Set a Nest Thermostat Schedule

A Nest allows you to set temperatures schedules 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 energy efficiency. As you set the thermostat up, the Google Home app allows you to change the temperature with a schedule. If you choose that option, it will show a preset schedule before letting you customize it. Once setup is complete, that’s the schedule it will use.
  • Temperature Presets: For changing the Nest's preset temperatures, open the Google Home app and press 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. Setting 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 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 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 heating and cooling systems. The maker of Nest, Google, features a compatibility checking tool that asks a series of questions about your location and current setup to determine which Nest model works 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 Port St. Lucie. Technicians with the proper experience can assess your system and, if your Nest is compatible, get it installed and on the road to saving you money in no time.

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 can actually 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 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, 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.