Nest Will not Work with Forced Air

[badstartnest]

My home runs off of forced air which blows over a heat exchanger. The model of the assembly is a First Co. 30HBC-HWQ. The previous thermostat worked just fine turning on both the fan (G) and heat exchanger (W) to perform heating. When I test heat on the nest, it only turns on the heat exchanger (W). I have the heat type set to gas and forced air. I refuse to believe they designed a device as inept as to not enable this function, but I talked to support and they told me this was the case. Has anyone else run into this problem or anything similar?

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi badstartnest,

Thanks for reaching out. I'd love to know more about this. Could you share a photo of your current thermostat's wiring? 

Thanks,
Mel

[badstartnest]

The wiring hooked up to the nest is:

Y1 - Yellow/AC

W1 - White/Heat exchanger

G - Green/Fan

R_H - Red/Power

[badstartnest]

And their website apparently does not support picture uploads

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi badstartnest,

Thanks for those details. Do you have a cooling function in your HVAC system?

Best,

Mel

[badstartnest]

Yes, and it's low voltage control is attached to the Y1/Cool

[Markjosephp]

Hello folks,

I'm sorry for the late reply and thanks for letting us know, @badstartnest. I wanted to stop by and see how I could help.

For the Nest Learning Thermostat or the Nest Thermostat E, make sure that the fan settings are set to "always run." This will enable your system to run the fan while heating is activated. Set the fan to "Run every day" if you have the Nest Thermostat 2020. Please take a look at this article about the fan control settings and let us know if you need more help.

Thanks for assisting, Mel.

Regards,

Mark

[Markjosephp]

Hey there,

I wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help. Please let me know if you are still having any trouble from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Thanks,

Mark

[badstartnest]

So you are suggesting I run the fan on a set schedule every hour even when there is no need for heating?

[badstartnest]

So you are suggesting that I run the fan on a set schedule even when there is no need for heat, instead of petitioning Google to implement the fan running when the heat is turned on for a forced air system?

[Markjosephp]

Hello badstartnest,

Thanks for responding back. I appreciate your thoughts about this. As stated in the article I shared above, for forced air systems that don't have a separate fan wire, the fan would run automatically. If you have a G wire connected, you can use the fan when your thermostat is set to a temperature mode (such as cool or heat mode). To activate the fan while you're calling for any modes, you need to manually enable it by going to the fan schedule settings and choosing the options applicable depending on what Nest Thermostat model you have.

Let us know if you have more questions.

Regards,

Mark

[badstartnest]

Yes, I read the article months ago when I was installing the device. Once again, I state that it seems my choices are to either run the fan manually or to set it on a schedule.

This defeats the purpose of a smart thermostat. What needs to happen is to have it run in the exact same fashion as if the G (fan) wire were connected to the W (heat) wire, while retaining the ability to operate the fan independently.

Can I ask what your credentials are here? Do you work for Google or are you homeowner offering suggestions?

[Markjosephp]

Hi there,

We hear you, @badstartnest. I understand that you would want to run the fan at the same time that the heater is turned on. Nest Thermostats are designed to be efficient in separating the fan control settings to reduce energy costs, allowing you to program them at your preferred settings. We're always looking for ways to improve, and we'll take this as a feedback. So, please let our product team know about it by sending feedback.

Feel free to let us know if you have more questions in mind. Otherwise, this thread will be locked within 24 hours.

Thanks,

Mark

[badstartnest]

Before it is locked, I would just like it to be notated that I did contact support and was told that turning the fan on in conjunction with the heater in a heat exchanger system was not possible and that there were no plans to implement it, effectively disqualifying this product for homes which require the fan control to be run with the heat control.

[Markjosephp]

Hello badstartnest,

I totally understand your thoughts about this. Right now, the best option is to enable the fan schedule while running your system at the same time. I also want to encourage you to use the feature of sending feedback so our product team can collate it. Please be assured that our team is working non-stop to make it work flawlessly.

If there’s anything else I can help you with, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll lock this thread in 24 hours.

Best regards,

Mark