Nest reports

[cello456tiger]

Every month I receive reports telling me how much energy I have used that month. These reports bear no resemblance to the amount of energy I have actually used - they are completely random. I have checked this with Octopus, my supplier. I'm therefore not paying according to the reports.

It would be nice if they were accurate but is it safe just to ignore these them?

[zoeuvre]

Hi cello456tiger, 

Thanks for bringing this to our attention, and I'm sorry to hear about the situation. Let me take a look at this for you. 

Have you checked your Thermostat Energy History on the Nest app and determined if you have excessively used the thermostat, which might contribute to excessive use of power in your home? Also, to help us get a better picture of what's happening, do you mind sharing a screenshot of the report?

I'll look forward to your response. 

Best,

Zoe 

[cello456tiger]

[cello456tiger]

The above photo is an example of a strange nest report. My usage did not change between June and July - in fact I was  away for two weeks in July, so if anything it should be less not more.

I don't normally spend time looking at my history but I did look just now and the thermostat just says 'No usage'.

My questions are:

1) Does it matter if my Nest reports are wrong? (Will they affect my bill?)

2) How do I control the heat from gas in my house during the winter, if all the radiators are switched off (they all have new valves). Apparently the boiler fires away if I put the temperature on the thermostat up, even though they are all turned off. It seems that the thermostat is the only way to control how much gas I am using and if I turn the thermostat up, the cost is as if all the radiators are on. Turning radiators off makes no difference. It just means I am cold but still paying for the whole house to be heated.

The plumber tells me that this scenario is impossible but the gas leak men showed me that what I describe is correct.

Could there be a fault in the way the boiler was installed? If so, how come no one has noticed during servicing?

[Markjosephp]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to stop by and see how I could help.

I appreciate your help here, Zoe.

@cello456tiger, thanks for sharing your energy history data. In addition to what's being asked, we need to further isolate the data so we can better answer your questions. Can you also check your current energy history to see if there's a discrepancy between the detailed view and the summary view? Are there instances where your thermostat went through a non-orderly restart at some point in the day? A non-orderly restart simply means that it wasn't restarted properly by selecting it in the thermostat menu. This might happen due to a hard restart or a power loss.

Also, I did find a helpful article that might answer your second question with additional information about how radiator valves work with Nest Thermostats.

Best,
Mark

[cello456tiger]

Thank you MarkJosphp. I looked up the energy history on the thermostat. This gives just one week of history. For every day it says 'No usage' except for yesterday when it says '15 minutes of usage'. Where did that come from? Nothing has been any different. I haven't been able to find 'detailed view' and 'summary view', so can you tell me where they are?

The article is helpful. It says that the valves do not turn the boiler on and off, which seems obvious. They do stop hot water entering the radiators but the boiler still fires away when the thermostat is turned up. Should there be something inside the boiler that tells it when to stop firing, for example when all the valves are turned off? If I am paying a lot of money for the boiler to fire but not heat any of the radiators, how do I stop that from happening? I won't want to turn the boiler off entirely in the winter but I will want to control the amount of heat. The radiator valves stop the radiators getting hot but the bills are as high as if they were all turned on.

[RenzJ]

Hi everyone,

Thanks for the update, @cello456tiger. You can get a detailed energy history via email. Try the steps here:

1. Open the Nest app. 
2. Tap Settings on the app home screen.
3. Select Notifications.
4. Choose Nest Home Report. 
   • Note: You may need to scroll down to see this
5. Toggle the slider to turn Monthly Home Report emails on or off.

Regarding your questions about the boiler, it depends on the kind of boiler you have. Please answer the questions below: 

• What is the make and model of your boiler?
• Are you from North America or Europe?
• What type of Nest Thermostat do you have?

Thanks for the help here, Mark and Zoe.

Thanks,

Renz.

[cello456tiger]

Hi RenzJ

Thank you for your help. I found the history on the thermostat, which looks about right for this week but I don't think I am able to go back any further in time. The history show the times when I was using hot water or cooking, which is right. I am happy with the state of affairs right now.

My original question was about how to control gas usage in the winter. At this time, I will need to turn the thermostat up. However the effect of this, according to the gas leak men who came here, is to turn the boiler on constantly, even though all the radiators are switched off. So if turning off the radiators has no effect, is it only the thermostat that controls the boiler? Not according to the article to which I was referred. Is it the case that I might as well have all the radiators on because I will be paying the same?

I know that turning off the radiators has no effect because of the enormous bills I paid last year in spite of being freezing cold and having them turned off.

My boiler is a Vaillant eco PLUS. It's three years old. I'm in the UK. My Nest is a learning thermostat.