Nest Thermostat Weather Data Source

[jgummeson]

My nest thermostat is pulling weather data that can be 5 - 10 degrees Fahrenheit different from ground truth (small weather station placed outside, matches temperature pulled from my Apple Watch).  I’ve entered my address including zip code into the settings.

A couple of questions:

1. If this is off by 7 degrees, will this affect any “smart” features of the thermostat? I would imagine it could if Nest is trying to determine insulation coefficient given difference between home temp and outside weather conditions.

2. Where does Google get weather data and is it configurable somewhere in my account? I’d imagine the weather station must be pretty far away given that default Apple weather tracks conditions outside my home pretty accurately.

 

 

[zoeuvre]

Hi jgummeson, 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, and I'm sorry to hear about the situation. A few questions: 

1. When was the thermostat installed?
2. Do you have other active Nest thermostats? If yes: Do they show the same situation?
3. When did the situation start?
4. Have you tried any troubleshooting steps? If yes: Would you mind listing them?

For thermostats with incorrect ambient temperature and/or humidity readouts, do the following steps:

1. Go to Settings > Technical Info > Network.
2. Check for the Signal strength value. The signal strength has a maximum value of 100. A signal strength
   of 75 is considered strong, while a value of 36 or lower is considered
   weak.

Also, if the thermostat's ambient temperature not reading corretly then, it can cause your system to turn on and off at the wrong times, leading to your home becoming too hot or too cold as it is not reaching the temperature you've set it to reached and the learning features will be affected. As long as your Nest Thermostat is online, it will get its weather data through https://goo.gle/3aOeso7. 

Keep us posted. We're happy to help.

Best,

Zoe

[Cowhousetunes]

I have this issue too. Based on my postal code V0R2G0 in Canada the nest always thinks it is 5 degrees colder outside than it is in the winter. This forces my heat pump to stop working when it thinks it is too cold. If I update my postal code to a town near by it works better but often it is too warm there as we are about 500 ft higher in elevation. Most frustrating!  

[jgummeson]

Perhaps I wasn't clear in my post above (same problem Cowhousetunes describes). The ambient temperature inside the house is fine, but the weather data can be significantly different than actual conditions at my house's location. My zip code in the USA is 01007, but it looks like it is probably pulling data from the weather station at Westover Air Force Base in Chicopee MA. This isn't a bug, but looks like whatever the weather data source is has poor spatial resolution. Does this actually impact the operation of the thermostat at all or is it just a 'nice to know' thing that appears on the thermostat display? It would be great if a different source could be specified, since all of my Apple products (for example) have good weather data that reflects my actual location. I believe that Apple now uses Dark Sky).

The temperature difference I highlighted above is actually pretty significant for thermal comfort!

[Markjosephp]

Hello everyone,

I know it's been a while, and I wanted to chime in to see how I can help.

Thanks for the help here, Zoe.

I understand the inconvenience this has caused to both of you, and I know it's important to know the weather information accurately to determine the lockout temperatures, multi-stage systems, or cut-off devices. But I'd be happy to shed some light on the situation here.

Please verify the zip or postal code under Home Info in the app or in the thermostat Settings > Location. The zip of the postal code should match where the home is located. Then, verify the current weather by using Google Weather. You can complete this by going to https://goo.gle/2K5DhQB and typing the zip or postal code in, followed by the weather (example: 12345 weather). A screenshot of both the Nest app, the web, and https://goo.gle/2K5DhQB would help us if there are still inconsistencies.

I'll look forward to hearing from you.

Regards,
Mark