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Nest thermostat delay for compressor protection - can it be adjusted

hshlevin
Community Member

Nest thermostats also have a built-in delay, like many other thermostats. This is to help save energy and also prevent system wear, especially for systems that don’t automatically delay turning on. This delay is commonly called the maintenance band, deadband, differential, or temperature swing

My question is can this delay be adjusted by the user ?  

The other day following a brief power glitch during a thunderstorm, our system compressor went awry and seemed to exhibit signs of "running backward"   The HVAC tech suggested the delay following outages or power glitches may not be set long enough and hence the question.

Thanks

10 REPLIES 10

EdPhx
Community Member

when you said "This delay is commonly called the maintenance band, deadband, differential, or temperature swing" the short answer apparently is no. And it seems crazy that google doesn't let the user change it, see e.g.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Thermostats/Anybody-from-Nest-Please-make-the-temperatur...

My nest (3rd gen not learning model), IMHO cycles my compressor too frequently (4X an hour?) -- but it's not an issue for damaging the compressor, just that it's going shorten my system's lifespan with all the starting.

But I'm not sure that's what you really want to know... what you really want to know is if the compressor shuts off for whatever reason, and then immediately calls for cool (or heat) say because somebody turned the setpoint down (or up, for heat)... how long will it wait; or rather will it wait long enough to protect the compressor?

somebody asked a similar question not long ago -- i wasn't really happy with the answer "I am certain that the maintenance band on your Nest Thermostat is enough to keep your HVAC system on a safe and good running condition in addition to your HVAC system's own delay system."

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Thermostats/Does-Nest-Thermostat-have-a-HVAC-delay-featu...

my system (my compressor) does not have any built-in delay, it relies on the thermostat. My old programmable (Lux from 1990s) had a 5 minute delay.

hshlevin
Community Member

I want to know particularly in the case when there is a rapid power glitch that shuts down the compressor but the thermostat calls for cooling and then the compressor tries to restart.  The other day it did this and got stuck in a reverse compressor mode which required an HVAC tech to come out and fix.

Ryan_G
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi everyone,

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts here in the Google Nest Community.

 

The built-in delay on the Nest Thermostat doesn't have settings that we can manually adjust. It is depending on the HVAC capability to heat or cool and how long will it take to reach a certain temperature.

 

We'll take this as feedback as we are looking for more ways to improve our product and services.

 

Thanks,

Ryan

hshlevin
Community Member

I do think 2 min is too short a delay.  In event of a power glitch/surge where compressor goes off... it needs to be off from 4-5 min before being allowed to restart.   If too short, then you run the risk of the compressor running in reverse ... Most thermostats make this adjustable and have a 4-5 minute delay as a default.  Nest should do the same.

Ryan_G
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi hshlevin,

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

We'll take this as a feedback. You could always check out this Google Nest Community Forum and our social channels to be updated on latest product and features.

 

Regards,

Ryan

EdwardT
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi hshlevin,

 

I wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help. Please let me know if you are still having any trouble from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

 

Thanks,

Edward

EdwardT
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi hshlevin,

 

I'm just checking in to make sure that you've seen our response. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours.

 

Thanks,

Edward

Ryan_G
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks,

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

Best regards,
Ryan
 

EdPhx
Community Member

The delay is 2 minutes, by the way -- at least on my Nest (3rd gen not learning). The home app just says "delayed", and the thermostat display shows a count down "cooling starting in ...."

5 minutes seems "normal" compared to other brands of thermostat but i have no idea if 2 is too few, or if 5 is over-doing it ?

hshlevin
Community Member

Thanks.  Can you please advise where to find the current setting and how to adjust it ?  I think it should be 4-5 minutes based on what used to be the case before we got the Nest thermostat (learning)