Nest Thermostats switch out of Eco mode when they shouldn't

[Mateohoward]

I use a routine to make sure the thermostat in my 2nd home is set to Eco when I’m “Away”.  This keeps the house at a low temperature but above freezing when I’m gone.  This works fine most of the time, but periodically, the home thermostat switches out of Eco mode by itself even though I'm still Away.   The Home App knows that I am "Away" and indicates as such, but it runs my schedule as though I'm "Home" (i.e. Comfort mode).

Maybe coincidence, but it seems like this happens on/near the 15th and 1st of the month.   I am guessing this is a bug that has to do with software updates messing up the state of the routine.  I can reset everything manually when it happens, but this means I have to keep checking the app. It is supremely annoying and expensive since I’m paying for heating that isn’t needed when this happens!!!!   Does anyone know how to deal with this? 

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi Mateohoward,

Thanks for posting ― let's get this sorted out.

A few questions: what Nest Thermostat do you have? Check this link to know what thermostat you have. Since when has this been happening? Also, what troubleshooting steps have you done so far?

Best,
Mel

[Mateohoward]

Hi Mel,

There are two "Nest Thermostats" in the home (for two different heating zones).  The first time I noticed this happened was in late October or early November.  Here is a rough history:

• On Nov 17, I first posted to this Forum ("Routines stop working to control temp schedule") and had some interactions with experts but that thread got Closed because I failed to respond quickly enough on one of the posts.  
• Since then the issue has happened periodically.  I've not thoroughly tracked the issue each time it has happened, but looking back at my activity history, I'm pretty sure it happened on these days:
  • Monday, Jan 9 (last night)
  • Sat Dec 31
  • Wed Dec 14

In terms of troubleshooting:

- This does not seem to be a problem with Presence Sensing.  Looking at my history, the Presence Sensing seems to be accurately registering and maintaining my "Home" and "Away" status. 

- That said, to fix the problem manually, I can toggle my status from "Away" to "Home" and then back to "Away".   This seems to reset some aspect of the overall system and put the thermostat properly back into Eco mode (per the Routine I have configured). 

Matt

[Markjosephp]

Hello folks,

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

Thanks for assisting, Mel

@Mateohoward, I'm sorry for the late reply, and thanks for letting us know more about this.

Clearing the Eco temperature on the schedule might help so it won't randomly switch into Eco mode when you're away. Also, you can check the "Temperature Preferences" and remove Eco as one of the presets. Please have a look at this article for more and let me know if that helps.

Regards,

Mark

[Mateohoward]

Hi Mark,

I don't think you understand the problem.  My thermostats switch OUT of ECO mode when I'm "AWAY" (which is often for long periods of time).  The result is that the furnace turns on and cranks up when no-one is there.  Unless I'm constantly manually checking the status to see if this has happened, the heat might be on "Comfort" settings for days or weeks at a time when it doesn't need to be.  This is a tremendous waste of energy and VERY expensive.

I'm quite certain this is a defect in the system.  I need either for Google to fix the bug or for someone to give me a workaround so I don't have to check every day whether my "smart thermostat" is actually working.  If someone can't help me with this I"m inclined to go back to a dumb system or buy a different "smart thermostat" that might actually work.  Sorry for being snide, but it's quite frustrating that I have to wait for days and weeks for responses from a community forum.  Google doesn't seem to have a direct support line that actually helps their customers.

[Mateohoward]

I am trying to use a routine to make sure the heat schedule in my second home is set to Eco schedule when I’m “Away”. This keeps the house at a low temperature but above freezing when I’m gone. When I’m “Home” the comfort schedule is activated and the heat goes to higher temperature. This seems to work fine most of the time. But every so often, the routine just stops working. Nest knows that I am “Away” but it runs the Comfort schedule.

I am guessing this is a bug that has to do with software updates messing up the state of the routine. Does anyone know how to deal with this? It supremely annoying and expensive to me since I’m paying for heating that isn’t needed when this happens!!!!

[EdwardT]

Hi Mateohoward,

Thanks for reaching out. I'm sorry to hear that you're having an issue with the routines of your Nest Thermostat. I'd love to know more about this and I have a few questions:

• What type of Nest Thermostat do you have?
• How often does this happen?
• Are you using both your phone and thermostat for presence sensing?

Looking forward to your response.

Thanks,

Edward

[Jake]

Hey there,

I wanted to check in and see if you managed to see Edward's post. Please let me know if you have any questions from here. I would be happy to assist, and make sure you are good to go.

Best regards,
Jake

[Jake]

Hey there,

I wanted to check in, and let you know that I will be locking the thread in 24 hours.

Best regards,

Jake

[Mateohoward]

Hi Jake, thanks for following up.

• According to the device information in my app the next is Model: Thermostat-1.4, Software Version: 1.1-11
• The problem seems to happen every few weeks. In fact, I just checked my app and it seems to have happened again this last Tuesday... Tuesday the 29th during the 12-1AM hour.
• I'm have presence sensing on for both phone and thermostat. No one has been at the house for the last several weeks.

Does this have to do with automated firmware updates causing the thermostat to reset in the wrong state? Here is what I am thinking:

1) my routine triggers a shift to ECO when Home/Away status changes from Home to Away

2) if the thermostat resets (perhaps during a software update) and turns to "Comfort" without also setting the Home/Away status "Home", there is nothing to trigger the routine to make it go back to ECO.

3) NOTE: By toggling status from Away to Home and back to Away, the nest will go back to ECO setting

though I'm away, there is nothing to trigger the routine to trigger

[Mateohoward]

Jake, did you get this response?  Any idea how to fix this?

[Jake]

Hey there,

Sorry for the late reply. I wanted to follow up. 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. 

Best regards,
Jake

[Mateohoward]

Yes. I am still having the problem.  I also opened up a new thread since I thought maybe this one is closed.  Is there a way to do this chat that would provide faster communication loop?

[Markjosephp]

Hello everyone,

I’ve duplicated this thread to the main one here. You’ll receive all updates on this issue on the main thread and we recommend updating and checking this thread when needed.

Regards,

Mark

[Markjosephp]

Hey there,

I'm sorry for the delay and the confusion. There are things we can consider as to why the Nest Thermostat deactivates the Eco mode unexpectedly.

If you switch off your thermostat from helping with Home/Away Assist but use phone location, your thermostat will only switch its behavior when the Nest service determines that a phone is in your home. Are you signed in with other devices that contribute to Home and Away, or any of the invited home members? If you don't have one, make sure that there are no temperature schedules created that would trigger the system to automatically adjust the temperature to activate it.

Thanks,

Mark

[Markjosephp]

Hi Mateohoward,

I wanted to see if you still needed help. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Thanks,

Mark

[Markjosephp]

Hello Mateohoward,

It has been a few days since your last reply, and we're going to lock the thread within 24 hours. If you have any questions, please feel free to create a new post.

Regards,

Mark