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Nest Thermostat not holding temperature during the day

Todd_B
Community Member

While working at home, I am often in my office for hours at a time.  Even though I (and my phone) are in the house, if I don't walk past the thermostat periodically, the temp drops to uncomfortable levels.  Then, when I do get up and the Nest senses movement, the heat kicks on.  

I'd much prefer for the house to maintain a comfortable temperature range when I am home during the day without having to babysit the thermostat!

How do I get the Nest to maintain a comfortable temperature while I am in the house??

Update: 

I decided to turn OFF the Home-Away Assist feature to see if this was the culprit.  Since turning this off, the temperature has been much more consistent while I am home.  I believe the problem is that the NEST method of detecting the presence of my cell phone is not a good solution.  I believe it is monitoring my home network and checking to see if the phone is on the same WiFi network.  Seems like a solid idea - except when the phone goes into power save mode (and is not active on the network), the NEST interprets this as if I am not in the house.  This is not a good solution.  I love the concept, but NEST needs to find a better way to sense the presence of the cell phone if this is going to work.

Update 5/2/2033:

First, I want to say that I appreciate all of the feedback on this thread.  It's been helpful to know that I'm not the only one struggling with this!

I am happy to say that I believe I finally have my Nest Thermostat working the way I want it to now!  I have Home/Away Assist turned back ON and it seems to be doing its job correctly.  The one other change I made to the settings is turning OFF the Auto-Schedule option.  I believe this is feature that make this thermostat a 'Learning Thermostat'.  However, since my routine varies so much, it was constantly changing the schedule that I had programmed into the unit, which I found very frustrating!  Since turning this feature off, the thermostat has been performing just the way I want it to - When we are away for an extended period of time, the device goes in to ECO Mode, and then senses when we arrive back home and immediately begins heating (or cooling) to the temperature setting I have set in the schedule.

For Reference, these are my current settings:

  • Home/Away Assist:  ON
  • Auto-Schedule:  OFF
  • Time-to-Temp:  READY
  • Early-On:  ON
  • Cool to Dry:  ON
  • Sunblock:  ON
  • Leaf:  READY
  • Airwave:  ON
  • Eco Temperatures:  64 / 76
  • Safety Temperatures:  40
39 REPLIES 39

MikeH1
Community Member

Yes I have the exact same issue. It is so frustrating to have to monitor the thermostat for changes all day! You can set it to 'hold' but there is always a time limit so you cannot set it permanently. So frustrating and such a giant design flaw.

Todd_B
Community Member

I am thinking that the issue is with the Home Away Assist - I suspect that the Nest does NOT detect that my phone is "home".  Possibly when the phone is not active.  Shouldn't Nest detect my phone even if the phone is in screen saver/power save mode??

You should check the permissions for the Nest app to be sure it ALWAYS has location access, not just when the app is open.

Todd_B
Community Member

Good suggestion.  However, I have checked and the Nest app is allowed to access Location All the time.

Todd_B
Community Member

Update:  I decided to turn OFF the Home-Away Assist feature to see if this was the culprit.  Since turning this off, the temperature has been much more consistent while I am home.  I believe the problem is that the NEST method of detecting the presence of my cell phone is not a good solution.  I believe it is monitoring my home network and checking to see if the phone is on the same WiFi network.  Seems like a solid idea - except when the phone goes into power save mode (and is not active on the network), the NEST interprets this as if I am not in the house.  This is not a good solution.  I love the concept, but NEST needs to find a better way to sense the presence of the cell phone if this is going to work.

JTR
Community Member

I have my nest set on 72 in cool mode. For some reason it drops down to 70 making the house colder. I would think it would go up in temperature to save energy usage, so I’m confused as to why it won’t stay in the set temperature.

Mine is doing the same thing. We’ll have it set on 73 or 75 in the evening, only to walk by and see that it has dropped down to 69 repeatedly! We never set it that low, so it’s not “ learning” what we want properly at all!

It is frustrating and don't seem to get any help since Google took them over.  We have ours set to 72 and have scheduled it to be 72 three different times of the day only to see that it has put itself in ECO mode and the internal temp of the house is up to 79 when we arrive home.  I don't want to purchase another thermostat, but this one sure has some bugs that they won't address.

I have the nest thermostat that requires the google home app and it is worse than my original nest. time limit for hold! this is a second home with a geo thermal system that needs to have the temperature remain constant and I am babysitting this thermostat constantly

Keshiah123
Community Member

Thank you for this I’ve had the system since January 2022 and it drove me crazy over the summer I’d be upstairs and go downstairs after hours and it be 83 degrees in the house…smh

If you try turning OFF the Home-Away Assist feature, please post an update and let me know if that helps. I'm also curious if this is specific to Android or if the issue also occurs with iPhones. I am using an Android phone.

I did turn off home away assistant and it worked immediately temperature has stayed at 72 degrees since I turned it off

I’m using an iPhone

JTR
Community Member

I have an iPhone, which I don't think matters. I did turn OFF the Home/Away Assist and I believe that helps this issue. I basically have everything OFF, which kind of negates having a "smart" thermostat. Auto Schedule is off, Early-On is off, Cool to Dry is off, Sunblock is off, Airwave is on and my eco temp range is 45 & 70.

Todd_B
Community Member

Thanks the reply. I have some of those features turned ON, because I am convinced that the issue is due only to Home-Away Assist. I agree that it is disappointing that this 'smart' thermostat doesn't work as advertised. I find it interesting that my thermostat DOES automatically go into ECO mode when I am away from home for a while, and the automatically goes OUT of ECO mode and begins cooling/heating as soon as I get home. This appears to work as if Home-Away Assist is on and working, but I have that feature turned off.

I've actually thought about going back to my old programmable thermostat, but I do like the other features of this device, including the behavior described above and the ability to make adjustments through my app even when I am not home.

I agree but my new Nest doesnt have the Home-Away-Assist feature

33midhet
Community Member

I am having the same issue, also when I leave for a few hours the temp drops and when I come home it takes 2 hours to heat up. How do I get the temp I want right away rather than waiting for the 2 hours??

Todd_B
Community Member

This sounds like it is working as designed, but not sure why it would take a full 2 hours to heat up. It may be due to the difference between your programmed "Home" temperature and your "ECO" temperature. When you are not home, the Nest will drop the temp to your ECO setting to save energy. When you return home, the Nest will then return your setting to the "Home" temperature, based upon your schedule.

I would suggest trying 2 things:

1) If your ECO temperature is significantly lower than your "Home" setting, you could try raising your ECO temp so the difference is not a great. This would minimize the time it would take for your system to return to your comfort temperature. However, this will also impact your energy savings, since it would be keeping your house wormer when you are not at home.

2) You could use your Nest app on your smartphone to set your Nest to the 'Home" status before your actually return home - this would give your system a "Head start" to begin warming before your arrive.

EdwardT
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks,

@Todd_B, thanks for letting us know the steps that worked for you. We appreciate people who are keen on sharing with us their thoughts. We're always looking for ways to improve and we'll take this as feedback.

@33midhet, You may want to look at the Early-On feature. Whenever somebody’s home, your Nest thermostat can use Early-On to start heating or cooling early so that your home reaches the scheduled temperature on time. You can click on this link to learn more about this.

Thanks,

Edward

Todd_B
Community Member

Hi @EdwardT - Thanks for the info! However, I believe @33midhet's complaint is that it takes too long to reach their desired temperature when they return home after being away for a period of time. Based upon the description of the Early-On feature, I don't think this will help solve their issue.

Best,

Todd

EdwardT
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi Todd_B,

Thanks for the response. I'm sorry for the confusion. We appreciate your help on answering other users'questions on this thread. Let us know if you have other questions and we'd be glad to assist.

Thanks,

Edward

aatienza
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to follow up to see if you still need our help. Please let us know as we would be happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thanks,

Archie

aatienza
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey there,

Just checking in to make sure that you've seen our responses. Please let me know if you have other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours if I won't hear back from you again. Feel free to start a new thread and we'll be happy to help.

Thanks,

Archie

JTR
Community Member

Archie,

Why do we have to turn off Home/Away Assist to keep our temperature from getting way off schedule?

Think we resolved the issue after we realized there was some background schedule that had been set up initially running in the background. Thank you for following up!

Not sure that is accurate. I am convinced the Home/Away Assist does not work as described and the only way I can keep my temp constant while I am home is to turn OFF Home/Away Assist.

I would love to have someone provide a detailed explanation of what is happening and why Home/Away Assist is not working as expected.

Todd_B
Community Member

Hello @aatienza,

I am still convinced that the Home/Away Assist does not work as described and the only way I can keep my temperature constant while I am home (and not in the room where my Nest Thermostat is located) is to turn OFF Home/Away Assist.

I would love to have someone provide a detailed explanation of what is happening and why Home/Away Assist is not working as expected, when I (and my cell phone) are in the home.

Thanks,

Todd

VP86
Community Member

I have the 3rd learning model, installed on a modern ATAG Open Therm combi boiler. I want to hold the home temperature all the day with lower water temperature to radiators and minimum boiler power. But the thermostat modulate partially: i've setted the maximum temperature of the heating water temperature to 45°C, but when the heating system reach the set point, the system turns off, instead to modulate water heating temperature to lower values to mantain the ambient set point. I purchased this thermostat because i was searching a wireless open therm thermostat, but for now i'm not completely satisfied. After all it's only a missing software implementation...

Are there any chances that this option will be available in the near future?

P.S. i've already turned off auto-schedule, Home/Away, and Eco temperature function.

Jenelyn_O
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Chiming in — I'm sorry for the late reply. I just want to confirm if you're still encountering the issue. Please let me know if you still have any questions or concerns. 

 

Best,

Jenelyn

VP86
Community Member

HI,

meanwhile I found that my boiler needs a silly little circuit to adjust the power signal level to properly communicate with the thermostat in OT mode.

I'm looking for the circuit but it's not easy to find. I have to contact the manufacturer.

However, I'm curious to know if anyone else has solved it and if generally the thermostat gets to reduce the boiler power based on the heating request.

For now I continue to run in on-off mode, limitating the maximum water temperature.

I have also another question: tipically the thermostat read the external temperature from probe or weather services? It take in consideration this information for heating managment?

Thank you.

Kind regards
Paolo

Jenelyn_O
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey VP86,

 

Thanks for the update and I appreciate you being a step ahead of us. The Nest Thermostats don't have outside sensors. It gets the outside temp by connecting to an internet weather service. In order for it to know where your home is, you have to specify your location properly during your Google account and Nest setup. 

 

Best,

Jenelyn

VP86
Community Member

Ok, one my doubt is that Nest really considers the external temperature value in the calculation algorithm to determine the heat demand from the boiler, rather than just showing it as information. Today I saw a certain modulation on the flow temperature: between the afternoon and midnight it increased by 4°C. It might work as I intend! But when the room temperature is reached, it should reduce the flow temperature to maintain the room setpoint, without switching off the boiler.

gmarco
Community Member

We have been so frustrated with our Nest and haven't been able to figure out a solution. We have the Eco temp set to 66 for the winter. When we leave and come home, we routinely find that the temp in our home has dropped to the high 50's. We feel it immediately when entering.

 

A couple weeks ago, we left for ~ 36 hours. We arrived home to an indoor temperature of 47 degrees! We have a kitty that was home. We would never leave it that cold for her. I wondered how low it would have dropped had we not returned. Would we have ended up with frozen pipe issues?

I have turned the Home/Away Assist function off. Any other advise is welcome.

Todd_B
Community Member

Update 5/2/2033:

First, I want to say that I appreciate all of the feedback on this thread.  It's been helpful to know that I'm not the only one struggling with this!

I am happy to say that I believe I finally have my Nest Thermostat working the way I want it to now!  I have Home/Away Assist turned back ON and it seems to be doing its job correctly.  The one other change I made to the settings is turning OFF the Auto-Schedule option.  I believe this is feature that make this thermostat a 'Learning Thermostat'.  However, since my routine varies so much, it was constantly changing the schedule that I had programmed into the unit, which I found very frustrating!  Since turning this feature off, the thermostat has been performing just the way I want it to - When we are away for an extended period of time, the device goes in to ECO Mode, and then senses when we arrive back home and immediately begins heating (or cooling) to the temperature setting I have set in the schedule.

For Reference, these are my current settings:

  • Home/Away Assist:  ON
  • Auto-Schedule:  OFF
  • Time-to-Temp:  READY
  • Early-On:  ON
  • Cool to Dry:  ON
  • Sunblock:  ON
  • Leaf:  READY
  • Airwave:  ON
  • Eco Temperatures:  64 / 76
  • Safety Temperatures:  40

 

kenquick
Community Member

Did your solution work if you want the temperature to stay at 71?  Thanks for taking the time to write your details.

Todd_B
Community Member

Hi Kenquick,

 

Yes, it still works fine during the Air Conditioning season.  I happen the keep my system mode set to Heat/Cool.  Currently my 'heat' temp is set to 69* and my 'cool' temp is set to 73*.  It works fine but if I temporarily set my cool lower (ex: 71*), it also lowers my 'heat' setting temporarily... I believe this is due to a necessary spread of 3*-4*.  Otherwise, my Nest is working great!  

Keep in mind that there is a minimum 'span' of 3* between the lower (Heat) threshold and the upper (Cool) threshold.  I also believe that the threshold for activating the system is permanently set to 1 degree. i.e. if your lower threshold (for heating) is 69*, then it should kick in around 68* - same for the upper (Cooling) threshold.  Having said this, it is not 'immediate' - I've seen my system register the current temperature at 74*  for several minutes (while my cooling target temperature is set to 73*) before the system kicks on.  However, I've not seen it vary by more than the 1* without triggering the system.

SnAH07
Community Member

I am having this issue with my ac. I have it set for 68 and it gets up to 74 before kicking on! Then it's takes 2 hours or more to cool. My electric bill is ridiculous. I've turned off Eco mode and home/away. Nothing seems to get it to hold the temp. Very frustrating. 

Markjosephp
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hello SnAH07,

Thanks for reaching out. It appears that you are experiencing a power-related issue. But I'd love to know more about this.

Could you tell us which Nest Thermostat model you have? Are you getting any message codes or wiring reports? Gather the power readings in the Technical Info settings or in the Equipment settings, depending on the thermostat version you have. Also, does it have a Common wire installed? If there's none, please check out this article about how the Common wire helps to constantly deliver power to the thermostat.

Regards,
Mark

Jenelyn_O
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

Chiming in — I just want to check if you managed to see the response above. Please share with us the needed information, as it will help us to move forward.

 

I appreciate the input, Mark.

 

Best,

Jenelyn