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Can’t change safety temperature from default settings in nest app

rgaila
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Disclaimer: This thread was migrated from our previous version of the Google Nest Community. You can continue to receive updates on your thread issue here or simply ask, browse or more in the new Google Nest Community.

Original Poster: User 7007047860859713927 

 

Cannot change safety temperatures from default settings in nest app
 
56 REPLIES 56

SUE6441
Community Member

My nest went offline for 2 months while I was away. The safety temperatures kick in then. Came home to 90 degrees in the house because I live down south and the safety temperature which overrides when offline can not be set lower than 95!! This is bs outrageous

Seri
Community Member

We were using ECO mode. When it figured out we were not home, it shifted to the safety temps on its own.

Murf
Community Member

makes absolutely no sense why you’re not able to adjust temperatures 

Kz399
Community Member

Has this been resolved?

Seri
Community Member

Nope.

Spooley6
Community Member

Not resolved, and it is likely going to stay that way. Seems to have been abandoned by the company unfortunately.

THenry
Community Member

I don't see how that would be a solution.  The safety temperature is meant to be a setting that the Nest will attempt to achieve even if it is turned off, or disconnected (from the internet).  A 3rd-party control would require internet connectivity, at which point you could also just set the temperature via normal Home controls.

Now, that's not to say, a 3rd-party integration wouldn't add value in things like notifications when a particular temperature is reached or better integrating home/away controls.

THenry
Community Member

It's a solution for now.

As a matter of fact, so far it's the only solution posted. 

If you want to be notified beyond the current safety settings what else can you do?

Let me explain the scenario that happens where Safety Temperature is pertinent and then you can explain how this would be a solution:

  1. Your cabin is deep in the woods, but usually has power and internet much of the time.
  2. The power and internet go out for more than a day, such that the Nest's batteries become exhausted and it shuts down (and thus doesn't remember what it's preview setpoint was).
  3. Power is restored.  Internet is not (maybe there's still too much snow on the satellite uplink, maybe the cable was taken out by an avalanche, maybe the internet provider's routers blew up).
  4. The Nest will come back on and bring the temperature up to the Safety Temperature.   That is what the purpose of the Safety Temperature is.
  5. Several days later, internet is restored and the Nest can now be programmed as usual.

So what's wrong with a 45° F Safety Temp you may ask?   Well, in my case, it's highly likely that the power will go out again in such a scenario (usually happens multiple times a year).   Since the Nest was only able to bring the temp to 45°, the next time the power goes out, the cabin goes below zero and all the pipes freeze and burst.  Whoops!   Over the last 35 years of owning my cabin, I've determined that based on construction, insulation, the heating system, the average time to restore power, etc, that 55° is the ideal "safety temp".    What I have to do instead, is if the power goes out, I normally monitor for how long, when it's restored, I then have to monitor whether the internet comes back.   Many times, the internet is out for a few more days.   That then means I have to make a 2 hr each-way trek just to reset the frigging heat setpoint to 55° (instead of the safety temp of 45°).

If you read other posts, they talk about having to evacuate due to a hurricane (or something similarly drastic) and leave behind certain pets, like say, lizards or snakes.   Once the Nest's batteries become depleted and the Nest shuts down, it will not remember the previous setpoint temperature when the power is restored but the internet service has not been restored.  The Nest will simply maintain Safety Temperature.  They want their Safety Temperature to be set to something like 68° so their reptiles won't die while they can't return - even though power has been restored, but not their internet service.

So, please explain to me how this 3rd-party integration is going to magically connect to the Nest without internet and change any of that?

It's NOT a solution to this problem!   I think you are missing the point, we don't care about being notified - we already know the power was out and the internet is dead.   What we want is the Nest to independently maintain a particular temperature without being told what that temperature is (rather it is programmed into the Nest locally).   What we are complaining about is that Google doesn't let you program it above 45°F!

Note: the 3rd-party integration might be able to help with this one:

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Thermostats/Safety-Temperature-Alert/m-p/261773#M53042

Though, again, the Safety Temperature is most relevant when the Nest is operating offline and after it lost what the previous setpoint was.   So, still not sure the integrated app would help as that would still require internet... 

IMO, Safety Temperature is completely irrelevant when the device is connected to the internet because you can generally just change the setpoint.

Seri
Community Member

The problem is that we CAN’T change the set point. Google did an update and changed it so that we cannot set it. For example, I went on vac in January, did not have vacation setting on, and it independently decided to switch to the safety settings. It was 45° in the house when we got home, and that was only because it had been a sunny day. 

THenry
Community Member

Perhaps wiring one of these in parallel with your furnaces R to W would do.

Set it for whatever temperature you wish to override the nest as a redundant thermostat.

https://www.grainger.com/product/JOHNSON-CONTROLS-Remote-Bulb-thermostat-1H-38Y062

 

Edited to add I would mount the device on the furnace and run the bulb up the return duct.

Now, that IS technically a solution!  😁   Though I do feel it is really kind of silly to have to buy an old analog thermostat to be a backup to your thermostat...

Thanks for thinking of that old-school solution!   I might just have to do this.  Though I probably won't go with the remote bulb but perhaps something as simple as a snap disc.   This https://www.selcoproducts.com/products/oa-60-wob closes at 40F and opens again at 60.   So, it would basically force the temp up to 60 after it drops below 40F.

 

THenry
Community Member

Youre welcome, Good call on the snap disks, much cheaper.  Im going to go with one that closes at a higher temp  maybe 55 and off at 65. and leave the nest safety as the safety of last resort.

Cheers

Seri
Community Member

And it doesn’t fix the problem remotely. It is just a notification. As it is, we went with a thermostat that I can adjust entirely remotely, and that doesn’t have hard coded settings that will kill my pets. Google/Nest should really have left it entirely programmable as it used to be.

Dvb
Community Member

I am having a problem I can’t fix. When I set my heater,at night to 70°, the temperature fluctuates radically, in the night ,between 55 and 70° . It does not maintain the 70° temperature which I selected. How do I set the thermostat so that it holds the degree I selected , rather than creating such a broad crazy range? Thanks for your help?