Nest Gen 3 turns off and back on within a few seconds

[Engineer]

There are multiple recent threads regarding the Nest thermostat turning the air conditioning system off when it shouldn't and then back on within a few seconds. Have the people at Nest acknowledged this issue? I am running a C wire.

[BarnesR]

Finally cured our short cycling problem. Was blaming the Nest but it was the furnace all along. Intermittent problem seemed to get better after messing with Y1 or C wire, or mode setting. But short cycling would eventually start again. We found a loose connection in a wire connector where it plugs into the control board. It was the wire going to the flame sensor. It would only fail when the furnace was cold, after being off for an hour or more. Pulled the connection off the control board and twisted it around 360 degrees before plugging back in. This temporarily fixed the intermittent connection in the orange wire.

 

[Geezy26]

We just purchased a new Gen 3 stat this week and are having the same issue that everyone else appears to be having, so even the brand new ones aren’t working properly. Based on all of the above comments (and lack of feedback from Google) we will be returning it and going back to our old school stat. 

[Engineer]

Smart move!

[Pikis]

Hello,

I have been experiencing the same issue. However my AC is only 2 years old and it has been running without issue until recently I noticed that my ac compressor starts, then stops after 2 second, then it starts again after 7 mins due to a delay system I have installed. It does it randomly and yes I do have a C wire installed. Has there been any updates about this issue?

[Engineer]

There have been no updates or appreciable replies from Nest. It seems like most people who have been observant of these issues have replaced the thermostat with another brand.

[BarnesR]

Did you try removing the Y1 wire from the thermostat? If you AC still cycles without the Y1 connected at the thermostat, could there be something going on with the furnace or AC not related to the Nest?

I added some relays which only allow heat or cool  but not both at the same time. Also time off delay, to keep furnace running if Nest drops out. So far there has been no evidence the Nest is actually causing any of the problems we are having with our furnace.

[Aochoa]

My thermostat was working correctly past year, but now it works for 30 seconds and the it turns off for 3 minutes and then starts again.

[BarnesR]

If you have a gas furnace, try cleaning the flame sensor first. YouTube can show you how.

Our gas furnace had a strange wiring issue: We kept having this problem intermittently and tried everything. Eventually we ran a new wire from the flame sensor to the control board and it has been working fine ever since.

[ncrimea]

Is it possible to get connected with the customers service anyhow? Does it exist?

[Engineer]

Someone did post a phone number, but was not able to get any satisfaction. I've completely given up and moved on to a different thermostat. The damage that can be done to the air conditioning compressor is not worth the cost of a few dollars for a new thermostat.

[Ronstang]

This is definitely a software/firmware issue and as others have stated Google is absolutely useless with technical support....it should be renamed lack of support.  I have been working on AC systems for decades so it was frustrating for me to deal with "prompt readers" for so called technicians.

Considering it is still happening but totally random along with other weird issues I am having where it changes my temp like  it is using a schedule.....when I have all that turned off now to see if this issue goes away....this is absolutely a software issue.

I have checked and rechecked my wiring and that is not the issue.  Google simply pretends the issue doesn't exist but from this thread it obviously does.  I think it is time to throw this piece of garbage in the trash and get something that works properly.

Is there any way to revert to the older software?  If so that would be the best way to verify this is a software issue.  But something tells me Google won't allow that as it would show them to be liars.

[Ronstang]

OK...just for giggles I tried Google support again for this issue.  Their representative was eager to help but as usual was only capable of reading a computer prompt or being directed by a manager...so why have them at all?

I went over everything again and once again there is no solution and there is no way to revert back to the software that actually worked.  It appears as Google is just ignoring this because they are either just clueless or don't care.  I told the guy the simple solution was to re-issue the older software under a new number until they resolve the issue.....but they won't.  I guess they would rather just destroy thousands and thousands of compressors but act like it is not their problem.

Once the chatbot had exhausted all his resources his response was that I should just buy a new NEST thermostat since mine is out of warranty.  Are these people serious?  I told him if I had to replace my thermostat it would definitely not be one from Google to which he responded "I am sorry you feel that way"  

These people are hilarious.  All HVAC techs should immediately inform all their customers to stop using the NEST and install something different.  They should also refuse to offer any warranty on a new system if the customer insists on using a NEST.  I have spoken to all I know in the business and they all agree.

Google.....if you want to address this issue I beg that you do for all the millions of customers not savvy enough to notice or understand the ramifications of this issue...it will destroy their compressor over time.  Address this openly and I will make a new statement.....but knowing Google they will  likely just delete this post....or lock this topic.

[Akin1]

Funny you mention HVAC. I recently set up my annual cleaning and mentioned this on/off AC problem and their first question was if I had a Nest. I said yes and they said it was a common problem and they recommended getting a different brand. I gave up on Nest. Not a great "fix". 

[Gniccum]

Well I'm on this forum because I had a nest for 4 years. 2017-2021 and it worked great. There was a 2 year dead period when I moved and couldn't install a nest. Then again this year I moved and installed the same nest from 2017-2021. It began doing what everyone is describing. Running and then kicking off and right back on. Except I have a C wire and that doesn't matter. What I ended up finding that worked for me, was to disable the Air wave setting. It causes the blower motor to kick off at the end of the cycle, and it kicks right back on to "spread the remaining cool air throughout your place, saving cooling costs. I'm not entirely sure why they think this is a good idea when it's going to cause a significant amount of wear and tear on multiple pieces of these units very quickly. If this didn't solve it, i was going to double check the c wire location on the board for the HVAC and see if it's even plugged in correctly. Because initially I didn't have the c wire connected and the system wasn't charging. Soon as i connected it, it started charging again. So I figured that was working correctly. Hopefully the airwave setting solves your problem too! and I hope it continues to solve mine...

[Yehanma]

Hi Gniccum, I have the same experience as you. By disabling the Air Wave, it does reduce the amount of short cycling, but it still happens. I am living in the dessert, so the AC will be on for a long time. If the AC keeps running for more than one hour, short cycling happens. If the running time is like 20 mins, then it will be OK. If you look at the history, you can find when the short cycling happens, so this is definitely commended by the Nest thermister.

At this moment, I have lost all confidence in this Nest Theromister, and I will not get any Nest products. I think they are going out of service and market anyway. Will return to old-school control after this summer.

[Gniccum]

I live in the desert too. El Paso TX. It’s 105 today. I haven’t noticed any short cycling after I disabled air wave last night. 

[Engineer]

By disabling the airwave feature, is it the house circulation fan that is not cycling as frequently or is it the compressor?

[dpalmer79]

I disabled airwave on both of our units and both short cycled today. 

[Engineer]

I would not wait until the end of the summer. Each time the compressor short cycles, it does cumulative damage to the windings and the relay.

[dpalmer79]

Hi all, I'm having the same issue. I'm going to ditch my Nests (I have two). What brand did any of you use? Did you find a smart thermostat that doesn't need a C wire?

[Pete_H]

I too am experiencing this issue since last year's firmware update. Never happened with my previous Gen 1 Nest and did not initially happen with the replacement Gen 3 until the 6.2-27 update. I too have a C wire, have reset the device, turned off Airwave, Cool to Dry, Early-on, Auto-schedule, and disabled/removed the remote sensor.

Now going to try turning off Home/Away Assist but I'm not expecting this to work either. Hugely frustrating since it doesn't happen on every cycle. Try harder Google, this is shameful. 

[dpalmer79]

I bought a Honeywell T4 programmable. Smart thermostats just aren't there yet, and apparently Google doesn't care. 

[Ronstang]

I think I solved my issue.  I was paying attention to when it happened and it's frequency and it was not happening that much but when it happened multiple times in a short period it was always in the middle heat of the day period.  If it happened at other times it was usually early morning before the sun was up or just after.  So I started thinking these were times of high humidity and cool to dry was conflicting reaching the correct temp....since usually after the AC came right back on it would only run a minute or two.

I checked and cool to dry was ON....even though I have never run this EVER in the 7+ years I have had this NEST so the software update must have turned it on.  I turned it off last week and I have not heard it come right back on after shutting off since.  Fingers crossed.

Even if this works I wouldn't suggest anyone buy one of these pieces of junk now.  The NEST does not seem to listen to me, it does what it wants.  I have scheduling turned off since I select temp changes based on need and it is not consistent ever day....but if I lower the temp at night because it gets stuffy it automatically goes back to my normal temp in the morning, even though I have that feature turned off.

The latest software for these thermostats has turned them into garbage.  If you can't get this issue solved quickly then throw it away before it ruins your AC compressor.  It is obvious that Google won't even acknowledge this issue to avoid liability but not correcting it by now is criminal and incompetent and just shows the arrogance of the useless tech sector.  They are more interested in turning our young people's brains to oatmeal.

[dpalmer79]

I just checked my setting for the humidity and ours is off, so unfortunately that's not what it was on ours. I'm replacing them with old school T4s from Honeywell. I'm done with the "smart" stuff. 

[WorkPlayDrive]

Got excited reading this, but found my cool to dry is turned off already.  

I have been using nest since the first one was released without issue until last May's update. the Of/on happens a few times a day and sometimes the compressor does not kick back in, so the system runs for hours without cooling.   I've got the C-wire kit from Nest, going to see if this helps

[Engineer]

Me and a bunch of other people have the C wire and it does not help.

[Ronstang]

The C wire requirement is and always has been a lie.  I have never had one and my nest worked fine until the latest software last May.  They started propagating this lie to obfuscate what is going on to make is seem as this is your fault when it is theirs.

[Pete_H]

Turning off Home/Away Assist made no difference, I had a restart yesterday within a few hours.

This morning I completely destroyed my Nest and Google Home accounts and rebuilt with just the default settings. We'll see how that goes.

Hello Google?!?!

[Ronstang]

I think you may be on to something with zeroing out everything account wise and starting over but I would also suggest not using the default settings in the nest.  I think you should turn everything off except home/away and see what happens.  If the problem is resolved then turn one thing on at a time that you desire your nest to do and check the results.

At this point since no one is having exactly the same set of circumstances and the same results from changing things in an attempt to alleviate the issue I think this software bug is at the system level and the conflict can happen with different settings being used together being the culprit so there are possibly several or many combinations that cause the issue.

[Mpac7]

Just want to say - I am another one having this issue where the ac condenser turns off and immediately starts up again. I had my HVAC company out and they don’t see any issues, but suggested to replace the nest with something else.  My nest has been working fine, and it’s not that old. Is there any updates on this issue? For those that went with a new thermostat, did that cure the problem? 

[Engineer]

A non-Nest thermostat cured the problem for me. Of all the things people have tried, this appears to be the only solution.

[dpalmer79]

Same here. Good old Honeywell did the trick. See ya Google. 

[Oldsalty1]

Changing out the Nest with an inexpensive thermostat fixed my issue.

[Mpac7]

Thanks all for confirming! I decided to go ahead and pull out the nest and have a new thermostat installed as of yesterday. So far have not had the stop/start issue last night. I’ll try to report back here to confirm after it’s been in for a while. 

[LGA5562]

Do not buy, stay away.

I just blew up my brand new 10 000 system. Now I need a new compressor. The thermostat would stop calling for cooling for a very short period of time (when it shouldnt), and then call for colling again... The compressor would turn off, and try to restart right away.

DO NOT BUY.

STAY AWAY FROM COMPUTERIZED THERMOSTATS.
GET A REAL THERMOSTAT.

Now, will google pay for my sealed system repair? I had 3 opinions from 3 licensed experts, and they all said the same thing. Common issue.

You want to destroy your AC system? Buy the NEST garbage thermostat.

[Jenelyn_O]

Hi everyone, 

Thanks for reaching out and sharing your thoughts and experiences. I'm sorry for the trouble this has caused you. I understand the frustrations. We would like to take a closer look at it and see an option. Could you please send us the diagnostic file from your HVAC technicians for us to see what are the troubleshooting steps that have already been exhausted to avoid repeating those and to save your time as well?

Please be advised that if your Nest Thermostats are still in warranty then find that the device is the one faulty, we can process a replacement.

You can visit this support article for more information.

Best,

Jenelyn

[dpalmer79]

For the love of God Jenelyn, read the thread. This isn't a per unit basis. Every unit is faulty. It's the firmware. Stop running in circles. You're making us dizzy!! 

[Engineer]

Thank you for your reply. You were far nicer about it than I was going to be!

[Ronstang]

Nobody at your company listens....I have to assume it is by design.  I have called your support twice about this issue and I am a person very experienced with HVAC.  The last time I contacted Google it was with Chat because I am out of patience for your company as a whole, an hour of back and forth and "let me investigate this further" and the final answer was....."we recommend you go buy a new Nest Thermostat"......I about blew a gasket as I had already explained that this was definitely a FIRMWARE issue and all current Nests suffer from this issue.  I am tired of complaining about something that has slowly been destroying every HVAC system that is using your useless product.  I used to love my Nest until this issue started exactly when the firmware updated last May and that is not a coincidence.  You have botched software.

I have already told your Reps what to do immediately and is is simple.  Take the previous firmware that WORKED properly, give it a new number, and deploy it immediately until you software engineers figure out the issue. 

I doubt Google will do this so at this point I can only assume you are intentionally trying to destroy all the HVAC systems that use your product and it will  and sadly the overwhelming majority of people who have your product have no clue that what is happening ins not only WRONG....but DESTRUCTIVE.

[Engineer]

Has everybody noticed that anybody that replies is titled a Community Specialist? That's because they are not product specialists! I suspect they get paid for each answer they give, regardless if it's helpful or not. They're probably not even employees of Nest or Google.