topic Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day in Nest Thermostats

Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B — Tue, 02 May 2023 13:20:11 GMT

While working at home, I am often in my office for hours at a time. Even though I (and my phone) are in the house, if I don't walk past the thermostat periodically, the temp drops to uncomfortable levels. Then, when I do get up and the Nest senses movement, the heat kicks on.

I'd much prefer for the house to maintain a comfortable temperature range when I am home during the day without having to babysit the thermostat!

How do I get the Nest to maintain a comfortable temperature while I am in the house??

Update:

I decided to turn OFF the Home-Away Assist feature to see if this was the culprit. Since turning this off, the temperature has been much more consistent while I am home. I believe the problem is that the NEST method of detecting the presence of my cell phone is not a good solution. I believe it is monitoring my home network and checking to see if the phone is on the same WiFi network. Seems like a solid idea - except when the phone goes into power save mode (and is not active on the network), the NEST interprets this as if I am not in the house. This is not a good solution. I love the concept, but NEST needs to find a better way to sense the presence of the cell phone if this is going to work.

Update 5/2/2033:

First, I want to say that I appreciate all of the feedback on this thread. It's been helpful to know that I'm not the only one struggling with this!

I am happy to say that I believe I finally have my Nest Thermostat working the way I want it to now! I have Home/Away Assist turned back ON and it seems to be doing its job correctly. The one other change I made to the settings is turning OFF the Auto-Schedule option. I believe this is feature that make this thermostat a 'Learning Thermostat'. However, since my routine varies so much, it was constantly changing the schedule that I had programmed into the unit, which I found very frustrating! Since turning this feature off, the thermostat has been performing just the way I want it to - When we are away for an extended period of time, the device goes in to ECO Mode, and then senses when we arrive back home and immediately begins heating (or cooling) to the temperature setting I have set in the schedule.

For Reference, these are my current settings:

Home/Away Assist: ON
Auto-Schedule: OFF
Time-to-Temp: READY
Early-On: ON
Cool to Dry: ON
Sunblock: ON
Leaf: READY
Airwave: ON
Eco Temperatures: 64 / 76
Safety Temperatures: 40

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

MikeH1 — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 00:56:24 GMT

Yes I have the exact same issue. It is so frustrating to have to monitor the thermostat for changes all day! You can set it to 'hold' but there is always a time limit so you cannot set it permanently. So frustrating and such a giant design flaw.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B — Tue, 11 Jan 2022 13:40:45 GMT

I am thinking that the issue is with the Home Away Assist - I suspect that the Nest does NOT detect that my phone is "home". Possibly when the phone is not active. Shouldn't Nest detect my phone even if the phone is in screen saver/power save mode??

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

johnCNA — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 03:40:34 GMT

You should check the permissions for the Nest app to be sure it ALWAYS has location access, not just when the app is open.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 13:07:55 GMT

Good suggestion. However, I have checked and the Nest app is allowed to access Location All the time.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B — Wed, 19 Jan 2022 15:00:17 GMT

Update: I decided to turn OFF the Home-Away Assist feature to see if this was the culprit. Since turning this off, the temperature has been much more consistent while I am home. I believe the problem is that the NEST method of detecting the presence of my cell phone is not a good solution. I believe it is monitoring my home network and checking to see if the phone is on the same WiFi network. Seems like a solid idea - except when the phone goes into power save mode (and is not active on the network), the NEST interprets this as if I am not in the house. This is not a good solution. I love the concept, but NEST needs to find a better way to sense the presence of the cell phone if this is going to work.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

JTR — Thu, 23 Jun 2022 12:51:20 GMT

I have my nest set on 72 in cool mode. For some reason it drops down to 70 making the house colder. I would think it would go up in temperature to save energy usage, so I’m confused as to why it won’t stay in the set temperature.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

SouthEastBeth — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 04:20:55 GMT

Mine is doing the same thing. We’ll have it set on 73 or 75 in the evening, only to walk by and see that it has dropped down to 69 repeatedly! We never set it that low, so it’s not “ learning” what we want properly at all!

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

JTR — Thu, 18 Aug 2022 14:47:52 GMT

It is frustrating and don't seem to get any help since Google took them over. We have ours set to 72 and have scheduled it to be 72 three different times of the day only to see that it has put itself in ECO mode and the internal temp of the house is up to 79 when we arrive home. I don't want to purchase another thermostat, but this one sure has some bugs that they won't address.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Keshiah123 — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 16:31:36 GMT

Thank you for this I’ve had the system since January 2022 and it drove me crazy over the summer I’d be upstairs and go downstairs after hours and it be 83 degrees in the house…smh

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 18:46:19 GMT

If you try turning OFF the Home-Away Assist feature, please post an update and let me know if that helps. I'm also curious if this is specific to Android or if the issue also occurs with iPhones. I am using an Android phone.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

JTR — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 20:32:49 GMT

I have an iPhone, which I don't think matters. I did turn OFF the Home/Away Assist and I believe that helps this issue. I basically have everything OFF, which kind of negates having a "smart" thermostat. Auto Schedule is off, Early-On is off, Cool to Dry is off, Sunblock is off, Airwave is on and my eco temp range is 45 & 70.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 21:01:49 GMT

Thanks the reply. I have some of those features turned ON, because I am convinced that the issue is due only to Home-Away Assist. I agree that it is disappointing that this 'smart' thermostat doesn't work as advertised. I find it interesting that my thermostat DOES automatically go into ECO mode when I am away from home for a while, and the automatically goes OUT of ECO mode and begins cooling/heating as soon as I get home. This appears to work as if Home-Away Assist is on and working, but I have that feature turned off.

I've actually thought about going back to my old programmable thermostat, but I do like the other features of this device, including the behavior described above and the ability to make adjustments through my app even when I am not home.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Keshiah123 — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 21:56:58 GMT

I did turn off home away assistant and it worked immediately temperature has stayed at 72 degrees since I turned it off

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Keshiah123 — Fri, 18 Nov 2022 21:57:30 GMT

I’m using an iPhone

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

33midhet — Sun, 20 Nov 2022 13:23:57 GMT

I am having the same issue, also when I leave for a few hours the temp drops and when I come home it takes 2 hours to heat up. How do I get the temp I want right away rather than waiting for the 2 hours??

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 13:28:58 GMT

This sounds like it is working as designed, but not sure why it would take a full 2 hours to heat up. It may be due to the difference between your programmed "Home" temperature and your "ECO" temperature. When you are not home, the Nest will drop the temp to your ECO setting to save energy. When you return home, the Nest will then return your setting to the "Home" temperature, based upon your schedule.

I would suggest trying 2 things:

1) If your ECO temperature is significantly lower than your "Home" setting, you could try raising your ECO temp so the difference is not a great. This would minimize the time it would take for your system to return to your comfort temperature. However, this will also impact your energy savings, since it would be keeping your house wormer when you are not at home.

2) You could use your Nest app on your smartphone to set your Nest to the 'Home" status before your actually return home - this would give your system a "Head start" to begin warming before your arrive.

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

EdwardT — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 05:39:46 GMT

Hi folks,

@Todd_B, thanks for letting us know the steps that worked for you. We appreciate people who are keen on sharing with us their thoughts. We're always looking for ways to improve and we'll take this as feedback.

@33midhet, You may want to look at the Early-On feature. Whenever somebody’s home, your Nest thermostat can use Early-On to start heating or cooling early so that your home reaches the scheduled temperature on time. You can click on this link to learn more about this.

Thanks,

Edward

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B — Wed, 23 Nov 2022 13:25:10 GMT

Hi @EdwardT - Thanks for the info! However, I believe @33midhet's complaint is that it takes too long to reach their desired temperature when they return home after being away for a period of time. Based upon the description of the Early-On feature, I don't think this will help solve their issue.

Best,

Todd

Re: Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

EdwardT — Thu, 24 Nov 2022 02:50:59 GMT

Hi Todd_B,

Thanks for the response. I'm sorry for the confusion. We appreciate your help on answering other users'questions on this thread. Let us know if you have other questions and we'd be glad to assist.

Thanks,

Edward