Nest Protect overheating, blister on my hand

[jay_kayef]

I just got a low battery warning on one of my nest protect devices. Pulled out the energizer lithium batteries that the device came with, one was so hot that it burned my hand, and now I have a blister. I was fortunate enough to be close enough to my stove that I could drop the batteries, and could see the heat smoking up the glass surface on my stove. 

waiting on a callback to whatever “emergency escalation “ tier is available from Google. I tried the 855–469–6378 number on the back of the device, but got a recorded message that the support phone number is no longer in use, and I have to go to support.google.com .

Tried that, I had to login twice, enter my serial number twice, enter my issue twice, finally to get to Tier 1 support. Glad to see Google prioritizing customer support. 

both of my detectors are now out in the backyard with the batteries, and I’m sleeping without smoke detectors in my house tonight. 

less than a year ago, I had my nest thermostat replaced after it burned out the circuit board on my furnace. Google ended up replacing the thermostat, but it was a huge deal to get that to happen, and multiple days of me being in the cold of winter with no heat.

Throwing this stuff out in the morning.

[jay_kayef]

Still working through this with Google Support. My hope is to get both of my Nest Protects returned (not just the one that overheated) - they were bought at the same time and I don't know if the other one could be susceptible to the same issue. Looks like I'm not the only person to have had issues like this:
https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Protect/Issue-with-scalding-hot-battery-in-nest-protect/...

I'll update once I've heard back.

[jay_kayef]

Update: Google sent me a new Nest Protect, but I still don't know what failed, why it failed, or whether my other Protect (bought the same day in 2022) is at risk. I'm in the process of returning whatever Protects Google wants back, and will be disposing of the rest.

Both of these were bought at a local Home Depot in 2022. Google won't refund me, since I didn't buy direct from them. They offered a Google Store credit, but I can't imagine what I'd buy.

My official position based on my support experience is: "All Google Nest Products make me feel unsafe in my home."

It's a real shame. I was Customer #2 in my State for a (pre-Google) Nest Thermostat, ca. 2012. If they stop making me safer, though, nothing else is relevant.

[DanCoco · Accepted solution]

Don't let anyone at Google tell you thwy haven't heard of this issue or to act shocked. It's been a known issue for years now. I'd been recommending people go on saferproducts.gov and report the issues to the CPSC, but idk honestly if that'll do anything especially once DOGE gets around there. 

It's really a shame because these were good detectors at one point, but Google dropped the ball on maintaining development. 

I started my degoogle journey after the forced migration of Nest accounts to Google accounts and other issues with other products, and I'm feeling better every product i migrate away from.

[jay_kayef]

Oof! I guess I know why they weren't in a hurry to respond to the issue last week!

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2025/03/google-discontinues-nest-protect-smoke-alarm-and-nest-x-yale...
Google discontinues Nest Protect smoke alarm and Nest x Yale lock:
Google continues backing away from smart home hardware.