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NEST "SAFETY" TEMP 45 DEGREES

aj12
Community Member

I found out that there is no way to raise the minimum safety temperature above 45 degrees. Someone explain to me how 45 degrees is "safe" and how there is no way to change this on a $200+ device?!! Google, WTF? I live in a cold winter climate, and all the HVAC experts say not to let your thermostat drop below 55-60 or you risk frozen pipes. I've been gone on vacation and found out my house has been at 40 degrees for days now. This is absolutely unacceptable. 

10 REPLIES 10

Zouf
Community Member

That’s indeed a weird idea. It’s 7 deg C, for reference; if it’s -20 C outside, that’s really not a “safety” setting. I would have put it at 15 C… and I really don’t see what is gained in functionality by capping that setting so low. 

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey aj12,

 

I appreciate the input on the safety temperature setting. With freezing happening at 32 degrees, the 45 degree setting gives you plenty of margin between freezing and where your HVAC system will run. These settings are not able to be changed due to the possibility of users settings things outside of parameters that will keep things safe for their home. Safety temperatures will only engage if your Nest thermostat is turned off in most cases as your set minimum temperature should be much higher than the 45 degree setting.

 

I can, however, pass your feedback along to our internal teams that you would like to see a wider range of control on that setting. Aside from passing that along, is there anything else I could help you out with here?

 

Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey, all.

 

I think to clarify, the thermostat will not let your internal home temperature drop below the safety setting. Your set temperature is independent from that. The safety setting is a fail safe, and your minimum setting should be much higher than that in mostly every situation. Even so, I have passed the comment along about the concern that the safety setting trigger is too low.

 

Thanks,
Jeff

aj12
Community Member

Jeff, it sounds like you live in a warm weather climate. Good for you. For those of us who live in Northern climates where it drops below 0, all HVAC specialists I have talked to recommend keeping your thermostat at 60F at the very bare minimum. This is because your house is full of nooks and crannies where your pipes are that do not heat consistently with the rest of the house, and can be 20 degrees+ colder than other areas. Therefore they recommend 60 as a failsafe.

The safety temperatures are actually super important, some of us rely on this fail safe. My thermostat kicked into "eco" mode while I was gone for 5 days, totally unbeknownst to me, and the eco temperature had been set to my minimum safety temperature, 40 degrees. I never received a single notification when my house dropped below the ACTUAL safety temp of 60, and there's no way to do that on the Nest. I also never received a notification when my house dropped below 40 degrees and the thermostat finally kicked on. I talked to two HVAC people after this incident and they said I'm incredibly lucky I didn't have frozen/burst pipes from having my house sitting at 40 for multiple days. They all recommended I ditch the Nests for Ecobees, and I will likely be doing so. That failsafe is incredibly important for those of us who live in winter climates and who travel for work, and having that minimum at 45 makes it not a failsafe at all, but a disaster waiting to happen. I was also really disappointed at the lack of notification settings in the app.

Please do relay this to the teams who clearly have probably never spent a day in winter in their life.

Zouf
Community Member

I suggest you send your colleagues who think 7 deg C is « plenty of margin » to visit us over the next few days. -22C forecasted this coming night, -32C tomorrow night. It’s not « plenty », even more so in older houses that are not as well insulated as newer constructions. Setting a thermostat at 10C is considered highly risky here. 

Zouf
Community Member

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aj12
Community Member

Stay warm!

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey again, aj12.

 

I'm actually in a pretty cold area myself, so I understand the concerns. We had temps around at near 0 last night and my heat ran hard to keep things warm inside. What I would suggest is that you use the feedback function in the Google Home app to send your comments in as well. Those comments are read and reviewed by internal teams. It might be good to include the feedback you have been given by local professionals and their opinions on safety temperature settings. 

 

Thanks,
Jeff

Jenelyn_O
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi aj12,

 

Thanks for reaching out, I saw your post and wanted to chime in.

Please let me know if you are still having any other concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

 

Thanks @Jeff for your help.

 

Best,

Jenelyn

Jenelyn_O
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi aj12,

 

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within 24 hours. If you need assistance or want to discuss topics, feel free to start a new thread.

 

Regards,

Jenelyn