First, I've done some programming, on an as needed basis, but I'm not a programmer.
But I'm very frustrated with my Nest thermostat, because it keeps going into "Auxiliary Heat" mode, and using electricity that I don't need to use.
The thermostat has a "Heat Pump Balance" setting that has "Max Savings," "Balanced," and "Max Comfort," that seem to dictate whether the thermostat tells the heat pump to turn on for heating, "Heat stage 2" (which seems like it's running the equipment extra hard and potentially shortening the life of the heat pump) and "Auxiliary Heat" which is like a big hair dryer, i.e. a 10 kW resistance heater that completely undermines the energy savings of the heat pump.
I'd like to change the function of the thermostat so that the Aux NEVER comes on, unless the heat pump can't heat the house, either because it's so cold that the heat pump at full blast can't keep up with heat loss, or because the heat pump compressor is broken or something. I'd like to write a script that checks to see how long the heat pump has been running and whether the temperature has gone up, or down. The Aux would come on only if the heat pump has been running, but the temperature inside the house is still dropping. Similarly, I'd like to change the controls so that Heat Stage 2 doesn't come on so often. I'm perfectly ok with a more gradual heat up after the temperature has been setback for the night time.
So my question is: is this something that can be done through home automation? Or would this need to be something that Nest Programmers would need to design into the thermostat itself?
