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Someone else seems to have control of my thermostat

Robarm
Community Member

Does anyone else have this trouble. We can be sitting in our living room and some times our heat turns up or down on its own. It has even come on on its own when we are not at home and we come home to find the house very warm. It wastes a lot of oil and it’s not cheap at the moment. I am extremely disappointed in this thermostat. How can I stop this happening. I had to unplug it all summer but I can’t do that now.

17 REPLIES 17

CBFox
Bronze
Bronze

First, for troubleshooting, you want to make sure that Presence Sensing (or Home/Away Assist, depending on your model) is turned off.  Now the Nest should behave like an ordinary programmable thermostat.

You didn't say how you're trying to control the Nest.  Do you have a schedule set up?  Even if you didn't set one up, there may be a default schedule in there.  Edit the set points to whatever times and temperatures you want.  You can override the schedule by moving the temperature up or down on the unit or in the app, but that's only temporary.  The Nest will revert to the schedule at the next set point.

Robarm
Community Member

Home and away is turned off. I don’t have a schedule set on it. I usually control it manually or from my phone. 
for instance I have been at home all day today because I have been unwell and the thermostat has turned itself up and down several times. It’s useless I would be safer going back to the old manual system 

Have you looked at the Nest's schedule to make sure that's not the reason for the temperature changes?  The Nest seems to be designed to work best on a schedule rather than manually, so it may have a default schedule even though you didn't set one up.  Having a schedule in there would be the best explanation for why the Nest is changing target temperatures on you.

 

This article explains schedules, including how to see if you have one:   https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9243487#zippy=    (You have to choose the section for your model, Learning or E or just plain Nest Thermostat.)

If you prefer to control the thermostat manually (on the device itself or on your phone) rather than having it follow a schedule, you can, but first you have to find and modify any schedule(s) that it already has.

EdwardT
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks,

 

@CBFox, thanks for the help!

 

@Robarm, thanks for reaching out. How's it going with your Nest Thermostat? Still need our help?

 

Thanks,

Edward

EdwardT
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi Robarm,

 

It's me again. I wanted to check back in to see if you have other questions and concerns. Feel free to let me know if you do. 

 

Thanks,

Edward

Robarm
Community Member

I’m still having all the same problems it’s a nightmare and a waste of energy. I was speaking to someone who was selling one on GumtreeUK and they are taking theirs out for the same problem as we are having. It’s a useless piece of kit.

We heard our heating come on the other day and turn up to 23 in the middle of the day and we didn’t do it. The house was warm enough for us, we have a wood burner that was lit at the time.

EdwardT
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi Robarm,

 

Thanks for the response. To isolate the issue, please check the Nest Energy History to see the reason why the Nest Thermostat is changing the target temperature. You can click on this link to learn more about reading your Nest Energy History.

 

Thanks,

Edward

Robarm
Community Member

Since checking the history I am even more convinced it is being controlled by someone else nearby. I have ask my close neighbours and none of them use nest. I can see from the history that the heating has been coming on at times even when we are not at home. It is a waste of energy. I think my only option is to remove it and fit something else. I thought it would be great for my wife is disabled. It has proved to be unreliable. No one seems to know how to fix it.

Markjosephp
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi there,

 

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

 

Thanks for the assistance, @EdwardT.

 

@Robarm, I appreciate you've exerted efforts to ask your neighbors if they do have a Nest device. I'd be happy to take a look into this for you.

 

To be more specific, could you please tell us which Nest thermostat you have? Here's your reference. Also, is this a random change in the temperature or does it have a pattern or certain time it changes?

 

Looking forward for your response.

 

Best regards,

Mark

Hello Robarm,

 

I'm just checking in to make sure that you've seen my response. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns.

 

Best regards,

Mark

Hi folks,

Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.

Thanks,
Mel

Robarm
Community Member

I have tried all you have suggested and it is still switching on on its own when we are not at home and it turns the heat up or down when we are at home without our input. Is there no one from nest who can sort this out. It seems like they are running and hiding because they know there’s a problem with these

CBFox
Bronze
Bronze

If it is true that someone else is controlling your Nest, the way to get rid of them would probably be to log ALL users and devices out of your account, and then log back in and change your password.

However, it's more likely that the problem is internal to your own Nest.  The place to start is by looking at whatever schedule may be in your Nest, even though you didn't set up a schedule yourself.  I suggested this in my replies two weeks ago, and you said that you've tried all suggestions, but you didn't report back on what you saw when you looked at your Nest's  schedule.

(Nobody is "running and hiding"  --  not yet, anyway  --  just hoping for more specifics from you.  For example, @Markjosephp asked which model you have; without knowing that, nobody can provide specific instructions for anything because the models are so different.)

If I were having the problem you report, I would go into Settings and build a schedule that approximates the times and temperatures that I think I'll probably want.  You can always override those temperatures manually, so it would be reasonably similar to the way you're using the Nest now.  Then, if there is still this crazy behavior, I'd know that there was something really wrong and I'd probably try a factory reset before giving up completely.  However, I am not any kind of expert; just a fellow Nest owner.

Robarm
Community Member

The thermostat is a third generation. It took me a while to find that out and as it’s screwed to a bracket.

I have tried deleting the whole history and that didn’t help.

I disconnected all our phones and iPads and deleted the app and it still worked on its own.

I’m not very technical, this was fitted because my wife is disabled and it meant she could control the heating from her chair. But that idea is not working any more as it seems to have a mind of its own. 
I seem to be annoying some of you but I’m totally frustrated with it. 
I have spoken to some people who are trying to sell theirs on gumtree and when I explain what is happening to mine they have told me they were having the same problem.

I can’t set a schedule because we do not have a set pattern much because of appointments that my wife must attend. So setting a schedule is pointless for us.

I’m now looking for something more reliable that will work remotely from my wife’s phone.

Markjosephp
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hello there,

 

@Robarm, I'm sorry for the delayed response. We appreciate you trying to find a fix. Let's find out more about what happened.

 

Please fill out this form with the needed details and let me know once you're done.

 

I appreciate your help here, @CBFox.

 

Regards,

Mark

EmersonB
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi everybody,

 

I wanted to follow up and see if you were able to fill out the form? Let me know if you have additional questions.

 

Thanks for lending a hand, Mark, CBFox, Edward and Mel.

 

Regards,
Emerson

EmersonB
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hello Robarm,

 

We got your form — thanks for filling it out. Our team will reach out to you via email to further assist you. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to create a new thread as I will be locking this thread after 24 hours.

 

Thanks,
Emerson