Is there ANY way to turn this Gen 4 "Auto-Eco" when away BS off permanently????

[NXR]

We just came back to a cold house AGAIN. I have the Eco temp set to 70F, the highest it will go, I did NOT grant the Gen 4 thermostat permission to use Presence Sensing yet it keeps turning the temperature down when we're away.

I have Thermostat -> Gear -> Nest sense -> :
Smart Schedule - OFF

Seasonal Settings - Inactive

Natural Heating and Cooling - OFF

Adaptive Comfort and Eco -> Adaptive Comfort - ON

Adaptive Comfort and Eco -> Use Adaptive Eco - OFF

Early On - ON

Airwave - ON

Humidity Helper - OFF

Sunblock - OFF

Automations - When everyone is away -> Use Presence Sensing -> Family Room Thermostat - OFF 

See the bold-face above? The Home app is using Presence Sensing for the thermostat when it should not.

We're old. We don't regulate temperatures as well as young people. We also have birds which are very temperature sensitive and this ****** thermostat keeps trying to kill them.

I don't really care about saving pennies anymore. I am not going to live long enough for that to make a difference in our finances. My Gen 2 thermostat did not have this problem. 

Saving The Planet (tm)? No. When we get back the furnace has to turn on Stage 2 heating to catch up so it actually uses MORE gas than simply maintaining temps with Stage 1 heating.

Is there any option besides trashing this thing?

[Aurora_Webb]

Totally feel your pain! Sadly, Gen 4 Auto-Eco can’t be fully turned off—disabling presence and Eco settings helps a bit, but it still overrides sometimes. Frustrating for comfort and pets!

[NXR]

When I checked Automations -> Away -> When everyone is away -> Use Presence Sensing

I found Family Room Thermostat - ON but I never turned it on. We only rely on the phones. I turned it off but that did not help. It's still using Presence sensing to change the temps. Not good.

[ByronP]

Hi NXR,

Thank you for posting in the community. I see you're having trouble with the "Auto Eco" temperature mode dropping to 70°F using the Presence Sensing features on your Nest Learning Thermostat 4th Gen. It sounds like this setting was not requested initially and you're unable to turn off completely using Automations in the Google Home app. I understand how frustrating this must be. I appreciate all the troubleshooting efforts in this situation and for your assistance, @Aurora_Webb. Help's here.

To assist you better, please answer the following questions:

• What type of Nest Thermostat do you have? (Here is a helpful article to confirm the model of Nest Thermostat).
• When did the situation start?
• Did you create a Custom Automation in the Google Home app to turn off the Presence Sensing feature?
• How many members are in your Google account that have access to the Nest thermostat?
• Is the location enabled for all the Google account members?
• Did you set up the Eco-Temperature using the Nest thermostat itself or the Google Home app?

Please keep me posted on your findings.

Regards,

Byron

[NXR]

What type of Nest Thermostat do you have?

My post clearly says Gen 4 in the title. The first person to respond to me also mentioned 4th generation.

When did the situation start?

When I was forced to upgrade from my Gen 2 thermostat which did not have this problem.

Did you create a Custom Automation in the Google Home app to turn off the Presence Sensing feature?

No. I need Presence Sensing to work for the cameras only.

How many members are in your Google account that have access to the Nest thermostat?

Two. The other person does nothing with their phone except text. The Home app is installed solely for presence sensing.

Is the location enabled for all the Google account members?

Yes, that's needed for the cameras to work properly with Presence Sensing.

Did you set up the Eco-Temperature using the Nest thermostat itself or the Google Home app?

It's not possible to set up Eco temps from the Gen 4 thermostat itself unless that's a hidden menu. So yes, the Home app was used. But I cannot set the Eco temp any higher than 70F so that workaround is not possible.

[ByronP · Accepted solution]

Hi NXR,

Thank you for your prompt reply. I appreciate the detailed information.

Based on your answers, please follow these recommendations:

Your Nest Thermostat can automatically switch to Eco Temperatures after it senses nobody’s home. You’ll know Eco Temperatures are active when your thermostat says “Eco” on the display or in the Google Home app.

You can also manually set your thermostat to Eco Temperatures anytime, even when you’re home. This can be useful if you want to try to save more energy while you’re at home. Here are the steps:

Google Home app instructions:

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Tap Favorites or Devices.
3. Touch and hold your thermostat's tile.
4. Tap Settings.
5. Tap Temperature preferences and then Eco Temperatures.
6. Tap the plus or minus sign next to the temperature you want to adjust.

Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) instructions:

1. Press your thermostat ring to open the Quick View menu.
2. Select Settings, and then icon Eco.
3. Select the temperature you want. If your thermostat controls heating you’ll see “Heat to.”
4. Press the thermostat ring to select the temperature you want to change. Turn the ring to adjust, then press again to set.

Note: There is no option to turn off the Eco Temperature completely as it was designed to save energy, however it can adjust to the desired temperature.

Please let me know how it goes.

Regards,

Byron

[NXR]

Note: There is no option to turn off the Eco Temperature completely as it was designed to save energy, however it can adjust to the desired temperature.

So the only solution is to put this thing in the trash because there is no way to disable Auto-Eco and the Eco temps can be set no higher than 70F when our desired temperature is 74F because we're old and we get cold easily because old people have less ability to regulate their body temperatures.

At our age we do not care about saving energy or the pennies that turning the thermostat down will save. As I wrote in my original post, we also have pets that do not do well in colder temperatures. The pets don't care about saving energy either.

I've been a Nest customer since the 1st Generation thermostat and I started with Dropcam Pros and now have close to a dozen cams and several Protect 2's

But all good things end when one party thinks they can cripple their product, remove the features that caused people to buy them, discontinue products when it suits them, and impose their values on their customers.

Thanks for confirming that the Nest Gen 4 thermostat is using Presence Sensing even though I never granted that permission and I cannot revoke that permission. I worked in cybersecurity and I have strong beliefs about not using products that violate our privacy, like tracking our presence. I foresee an FTC complaint in the near future.

Thanks for your replies. I think we're done here.