Compressor lockout, Aux heat, heat pump balance, defrost cycles, oh my

[JJe]

Hello, thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

First, I have spent a lot of time looking for answers and didn't find anything. The answers I do find are, frustratingly, always about the nest learning thermostat and not the nest non-learning thermostat. Note to google, it's a good idea to give things more unique names because when they are named so similarly it's virtually impossible to find help on them.

Preamble on the system I have. It's a new tempstar heat pump with resistive strips as aux heat. 14 seer so nothing particularly special but according to the spec sheet it will put out useful heat down to about -5 degrees; beyond that I probably would want to shut it down and use aux exclusively. I'm in new tight construction so it doesn't take a large amount of heat to warm the place.

Anyway, on to the questions!

1. On this thermostat is there any way to set a compressor lockout? I've determined that below about -5 degrees my heat pump will almost definitely not be running efficiently enough to bother with it. Can I set that lockout in the nest thermostat or must I do that manually with emergency heat?
2. I do not see heat pump balance on my thermostat OR in the Home app. I have tested everything extensively and the heat, the aux heat, the cooling, are all working perfectly so I'm certain it's wired up correctly. Is heat pump balance simply not an option on the non-learning version of nest thermostat?
3. Since I don't see heat pump balance as an option I've set the aux heat to "never use alternate heat". Mostly because I don't mind waiting and the heat pump does just fine as long as I'm willing to wait an hour to move a couple of degrees. The question is will the aux heat still turn on when the heat pump is in defrost mode? I assume that may be outside scope if that is something determined by the board on the heat pump itself. Would the nest thermostat know the heat pump itself has turned on aux (even though I have it turned off) and display that to me?

Thanks again. A side note, I do notice the indoor temp dips below my set point sometimes and I do wonder if that's during defrost cycles and if the aux is, in fact, NOT turning on during defrost cycles but I'll need to go inspect the heat pump next time this happens to see if it is in a defrost cycle.

[Corkymitchell]

Jesus!  You didn't get a reply????WTF! I have similar questions. I'm really bothered by these systems. I had the infamous Geek squad do all my Google stuff 2 years ago and I have yet to find any Geek who can explain anything. So...Hey Google"  how about making your stuff simpler instead of trying to be cute? I feel like I wasted thousands of dollars on you guys. I feel for the person who asked this question. How about shaving 10 percent of your CEOs pay to actually train people on your products. They don't know Jack in Virginia. And I gave up my Google TV for stupid cable because Comcast was less stupid. I'm old enough to remember you could simply turn things on and they worked just like the last time. Now to find a TV station you have to program and do several steps to find what you want. Why not "last channel" with the power button? KISS please!

[zoeuvre]

Hi folks, 

Thanks for chiming in, @Corkymitchell. I deeply understand your frustration. If you have questions or concerns in the future, feel free to start a new thread, and we'll be happy to help.
 

@JJe, thanks for posting here. Here are the answers for your following question: 

1. Nest Thermostat does not provide a built-in option to set a compressor lockout specifically for your heat pump. If you want to prevent the heat pump from running below a certain temperature, you would need to manually switch to emergency heat mode or shut down the heat pump and rely solely on the auxiliary heat when needed. Read more about this here in the Heat Pump Balance article.
2. What type of Nest Thermostat so you have? You can change Heat Pump Balance settings from the Temperature Preferences on your Home app.
   • Open the Google Home app.
   • Tap Favorites or Devices.
   • Select your thermostat.
   • Open Temperature Preferences.
   • Select a Heat Pump Balance setting.
3. The “never use alternate” must be switched on, and then the Nest Thermostat should not provide any form of AUX heat during normal heating that may also include the defrosting of the heat pump. However, the thermostat might not be aware that the heat pump has activated the auxiliary heat during its defrost cycles. In some cases, you will have to look at the heat pump with your own eyes or refer to its documentation in order to understand whether the heat is working in a heated-defrost mode.

The indoor temperature dips might be associated with the periods of time when the heat pump goes into defrost mode, where its function is to melt any accumulated frost or ice on the coils of the unit. During defrost cycles, the heat pump might not be providing direct space heating and could, therefore, result in an intermittent drop in temperature. However, if you observe the heat pump during the defrost cycle, it will assist in determining whether this is what causes the temperature dips.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

Best,

Zoe 

[JJe]

I have a nest thermostat.

"Which nest thermostat"

A nest thermostat.

Who's on first, I don't know is on second and what is on third! lol, the naming of this thermostat is a disaster. I have a Nest Thermostat. That is the official name of it. The fact that i have to clarify it has a mirror finish and is non-learning is absurd, and very frustrating.

I do appreciate the help of course 🙂 I do not see heat pump balance. Either it doesn't exist on Nest Thermostat With Mirror Finish and Non-Learning Version or my Nest Thermostat With Mirror Finish and Non-Learning Version is broken.

[zoeuvre]

Hi JJe, 

Thanks for confirming. Did you check for the heat pump balance settings of your thermostat through your Google Home app instead of the actual Nest Thermostat? If not yet, open your Google Home app and tap Favorites or Devices. Select your thermostat, then open Temperature Preferences, andthen select a Heat Pump Balance setting.

Let us know how it goes.

Regards,

Zoe 

[JJe]

Hello, with the cold weather in the midwest I did finally focus enough time on this to solve it. When I originally set up my heat pump I set it up as dual fuel because I assumed the electric strips in my air handler were a separate fuel sources. This was wrong, I should have set it up as a single fuel source because the heat pump and heat strips are all part of one integrated system.

I reset the Nest, selected single fuel source in the setup, and now I see heat pump balance at long last. Fun fact, if people set this up incorrectly, as I did, the Nest will treat aux heat as an entirely separate system and will completely turn off the heat pump when aux is turned on, this is bad.

Anyone coming across this thread and has a standard heat pump with integrated heat strips you need to set it up as a single fuel system or it will not work well at all in cold weather. If you set it up as dual fuel then when aux kicks on it will completely turn off the heat pump which is very bad for efficiency.

[lmkaufman]

OMG this has happened to me as well and I just went thru 4 days of 15-20 degree temps and all that ran was the aux.  We are just now getting to 32 degrees tonight finally and I was wondering if I should completely reset this.  I have noticed that my outdoor pump has not been running at all.  I thought it was because i had set the aux to come on at 28 degrees but I assumed it would be "as needed" not all the time.  How do I "reset"

[dddjr67]

Your number 1 is not correct concerning the learning thermostat.