I’ve been trying to set up my Nest thermostat for hours, watching videos, and still can’t get it to work how I want. Hoping someone here can help.
I want it to:
Be completely off when no one is home.
Turn on automatically to a set temperature when we’re there.
Lower the temperature at night.
Warm up to 20°C around 6:30 AM.
Go off again when no one is home.
I’ve tried different settings but nothing seems to do exactly this. Can anyone walk me through the setup or tell me what I’m doing wrong? Appreciate any advice.
You can’t fully turn it off and still have it recognize when you’re home. The best option is to set it to Eco Mode when no one’s there. It keeps the temperature low but still lets the system turn back on automatically when you get back.
You can also use the app to set it up so your phone works as a presence sensor, but everyone in the house will need an account and be added as a user.
@Saul
I don’t want the heat running when no one is home. Wouldn’t Eco Mode work for that? I was hoping it could be fully off, but I guess setting a low temp could work too. At night I prefer it cooler, then warm again in the morning. Do I just set up a schedule for that, or is there a way to make it adjust automatically?
Set a schedule for when people are home first. Sounds like you want it warm during the day and cooler at night. Just ignore away settings for now and focus on setting the schedule for when you’re home.
Then, set an ‘away’ temperature that’s very low. It won’t be completely off, but it’s as close as you’ll get.
Make sure auto-away is turned on.
That way, it stays warm in the morning, lowers at night, and when no one is home, it drops even further to save energy.
@Kevin
That makes sense, thanks! Should I turn Eco Mode off completely?
And when I set it to 20°C at 6 AM, do I need to add another scheduled setting to lower it later? I saw a video that said if you don’t, it will just stay at the last temperature you set.
@Faith
Eco Mode is a bunch of individual toggles, but at the very least, keep auto-away turned on.
Also, turn off auto-schedule—otherwise, Nest will start randomly changing temperatures based on what it thinks you want, and it gets messy.
Yes, you need to schedule another change if you want it to lower again later. If you set it to 20°C at 6 AM, it will stay at 20 until another scheduled change happens. If you manually adjust the temp during the day, it stays at that new temp until the next scheduled change.