A Nest Thermostat is an excellent tool for keeping 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 — keeping costs down in the process.

That’s why more people are looking to add devices like a Nest to their homes. If you want to put in a Nest for your own home, call your nearest expert for smart thermostat installation in [siteinfo field="msa"].

With everything from automatic scheduling to energy efficiency monitoring, Nest is designed to make home climate control effortless.

Curious to learn more? Take some time to review these 12 things you need to 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 the 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 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, first write down your temperature settings so you have them if they get erased. Next, find Settings -> Equipment and record your system wires, heating type and safety temperature settings. 

After writing down this information, go to Settings, select Reset and press. You will then have five options:

• Restart: Deactivates your Nest and reboots it while saving your settings. Another method is to 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 all scheduling information—including for your hot water, if you've connected it to your Nest. By choosing this kind of reset, you’ll have to input a new schedule or wait until the Nest learns your schedule.
• Away: Choosing this reset option 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 will no longer be connected to 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 if you want the most use of its online features.

To connect your Nest to the internet:

• Turn the thermostat ring to the Quick View menu.
• Locate the Settings icon.
• Select Network.
• After your Nest has scanned nearby networks, find your Wi-Fi and, if necessary, enter your password.

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

Nest thermostats get the power they need directly from your HVAC system, but each one also features a rechargeable lithium-ion battery for backup in case of a power outage. According to Google, the maker of Nest, a Nest Thermostat battery last an average of several months. It can be recharged using a USB charger that comes with the Nest.

4. Shutting Off a Nest Thermostat

If you won't be home for a while, it's a good idea to set your Nest Thermostat to Off mode, though Eco mode is also a good option. Using Off mode will turn off all of your regular heating and cooling schedules, but it will still adhere to any current Safety Temperatures to keep your home from getting especially hot or cold.

To choose 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.
• 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. Can Alexa Control a Nest Thermostat?

Yes, Amazon's Alexa is compatible with 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. Can a Nest Thermostat Function Without Wi-Fi?

In short, yes. Your Nest Thermostat can control the temperature of your home without Wi-Fi. That being said, being disconnected from Wi-FI means the Nest doesn’t have the ability to use the smart functions that most people enjoy.

7. Can You Lock a Nest Thermostat?

If different members of your family can't agree on the ideal temperature, 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 continues to use existing program 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 then enter it 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.

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

8. Adjusting a Nest Thermostat from Your Phone

Nest thermostats can be controlled by your Google Home app, accessible through 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, if you have an advanced model, the Nest app to your phone.
• Hook up your Nest Thermostat.
• Open 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.

As soon as you've connected the Nest to your Home app, you can find and adjust 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 preset temperatures on your Nest can also be changed from the app. From the home screen, select Thermostat and then select Settings. At this screen, select 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. Setting 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, also can be controlled via the Nest app.

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

• Quick Schedule: A Quick Schedule will be 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 presents a preset schedule for you to customize as you wish. Once setup is complete, that’s the schedule it will use.
• Temperature Presets: If you prefer other basic preset options, open the Google Home app and press Thermostat. Then, tap Presets and choose Edit. As soon as you're finished making updates, select Done.

If you already have a schedule and want to change it, 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 select 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. How to Set a Temperature Range on a Nest Thermostat

Your Nest's Eco mode is great for setting temperature ranges. 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. That should display the current “Heat to” and “Cool to” temperature settings. You can select each and make your preferred changes. 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. Google, Nest's manufacturer, has an online compatibility checker that presents a few questions related to your location and existing setup to see which Nest model works with your system.

If you don't think your Nest is compatible with your system, consider reaching out to professionals for smart thermostat installation in [siteinfo field="msa"]. Experienced technicians evaluate your system and, if your Nest is compatible, get it installed and on the road to saving you money in no time.

12. How Do I Manually Control My Nest Thermostat?

Nest Thermostats come with many features designed to increase comfort and decrease costs. 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 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.