Gen 4 - Cannot Set Safety Temp above 45 Degrees - ECO has no temp setting anymore

[nestsimonm]

I loved the simplicity of the Nest App, I had a Heat temp, and an Eco temp. Now the Gen 4 is always trying to second guess me. I previously had Heat temps at 69 during the day and 64 at night, and had Eco at 58. This was so that the house didn't get too cold when I was away, which causes condensation from windows and will rot out wooden sills.

The Gen 4 Safety mode will only go to 45 degrees and  Eco now looks to the motion detector to see if you are home BUT you cannot set a low temp for Eco. I don't live with a regular schedule so how am I supposed to set an Eco Temp as I did before? I want to save energy manually. When I leave I want the house to have no heat on unless temp goes to 58 degrees. I have an extremely well-insulated home.

Don't know why Google has complicated everything that was so simple with the Nest app.

Hope someone can explian how to simply set an EXCAT ECO low temp.

[EduardoN]

Hi @nestsimonm,

Thank you very much for contacting this community! I understand your frustration and your preference for the simplicity and manual control offered by the Nest app with previous generations. The Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) has changed its approach, moving more towards automation and "guessing" your preferences, which can be counterproductive when you have specific needs like maintaining a minimum temperature to prevent condensation and deterioration in your home. Don't worry, I'm here to help you!

To verify this information, I'd like to invite you to use "Home/Away Assist" to lower the temperature when you're away, but you cannot set a specific low threshold like your 58°F for that mode.

To replicate your settings:

• Delete the entire thermostat schedule in the Google Home app.

• Disable or adjust Home/Away Assist so it doesn't override your manual changes.

• When you leave: Manually lower the temperature on the thermostat (or in the app) to your 58°F.

• When you arrive home: Manually raise it to your comfort temperature (e.g., 65°F).

This way, you maintain manual control and your desired minimum temperature when you are away. The "Safety Temperature" (45°F) is not for your energy-saving purpose.

Please feel free to share any additional details you think might be relevant.

Best regards,
Eduardo

[nestsimonm]

Eduardo, thank you for responding to my inquiry but the suggested manual approach is completely illogical. We are no looking for manual. Right now we have a schedule which raise the temp in the winter from 64 while sleeping, to 69 during the day, back to 64 at about 9:30 PM.

We leave our home on different days and need to be able to “turn the heat” on to go back to a set schedule. You are suggesting that we throw this away and remember to lower the sleeping temp to 64 each night.

as described, the Home Away assist looks to put in place a learned schedule, which might work for families where everyone leaves for school/work by 8 AM and everyone is home by 5 PM.

As a trained software designer with a degree in Computer Science Google has ruined and exceptional user experience that we had in the Nest app, with an app that tries to second guess our every move, and use AI to “fill in the gaps” which IMO is nonsensical, read my thought leadership article on this. https://www.river-road-consulting.com/the-shiny-object-syndrome

why doesn’t Google just allow a user to set higher min temps, what the downside, that we do exactly what we want?

please explain if there is a way to set a temp for the new ECO process, it shouldn’t be this difficult to maintain a set temp while we are away. We have two homes which unfortunately I upgraded to the Gen4 thermostats when forced to by Google.

[EduardoN]

Hi @nestsimonm,

I understand you have different ideas regarding the suggested schedule, and in relation to what you shared about your knowledge in various fields of technology—which we can all learn from. For this reason, I would like to invite you to fill out this Feedback form where you can share more on this topic. This will help us improve our services and provide the best possible experience.

Keep me posted.

Best regards,

Eduardo

[nestsimonm · Accepted solution]

Eduardo

Thank you for the link to the feedback module.

I don’t mean to sound argumentative, but it seems that, as with many highly (overly) engineered solutions, the Home app has become so complex that even experienced users may not be fully aware of all its capabilities.

After spending some time reviewing the various settings, it’s clear that what I’m trying to achieve — maintaining a detailed schedule while setting a single, reasonable temperature when I’m away — is indeed possible.

Follow this path

• Open the app and go to the device
• Click on the "HOLD" button to the right of the Mode button
• In Hold, then select the ECO button (I have set this for my desired 58
• Now select the time period, I will choose INDEFINITE.

This feature was available 20 years ago on my "dumb" GE non IOT thermostat where I had schedules and used Hold when I left one of my residences.

I am not able to insert screenshots but I have this functionality on both my iPhone and iPad apps.

Simon

[EduardoN]

Hi @nestsimonm,

I understand what you mean about how there can be many solutions that work well for some people but not for others. That's why thank you for taking the time to review each of the functions to see which one best met your needs. Because of this, it's good to know that the feature to Hold the temperature on your thermostat is working for you.

Best regards,

Eduardo