Thermostat for garage

[George38]

I'm looking for a wifi thermostat for a garage.  I have read here that previously, the thermostat cannot go below 50 'F:
https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Thermostats/Use-nest-for-Garage-need-35-degree-temp/m-p/...

Has this improved any in the last 2 years?

My garage is heated (geothermal, i.e. electric not gas).  I am also on a variable rate electricity plan where there is a different price for electricity each hour.  In the winter, I set my $20 Honeywell RTH221 programmable (but non-Wifi) thermostat to heat my garage to 42 °F between the hours of 10PM and 4AM when the electricity prices are the lowest.  After 4AM, the thermostat is programmed to set the temperature lower to effectively turn off the heat, but currently 40 °F is the lowest my thermostat will go. Ideally, I'd like a thermostat that is programmable and can be set to 35 °F if possible.  This allows slightly more margin and also the ability to take advantage of daytime solar heating a bit more.

Would any of the Nest thermostats be able to function like this.

[Markjosephp]

Hello George38,

Thank you for taking the time to let us know about your inquiry. I'd be happy to shed some light on the situation here.

If you set the thermostat too low, it strains the AC. This leads to air conditioning malfunctions and costly repairs. The reason why the Nest Thermostats have temperature limits is that they allow you to set parameters on the temperature range from the Eco Temperature and Safety Temperatures instead of forcing the AC unit.

Let me know if you have more questions.

Best,
Mark

[George38]

@Markjosephp 

This is in a garage, and there is no AC, only heat.  I'm not trying to cool it, I'm only trying to heat it in the winter.

The use case is that I just want to keep the garage slightly above freezing in the winter, so setting the temperature low in this case does not strain the AC, in fact, setting the thermostat low, say to 35'F, means that the HVAC system works far less and thus uses less energy than setting the heating up at 50'F for example.

[RenzJ]

Hi everyone,

@George38, I know how important this is for you. While setting the thermostat to 35 °F is not yet available, we appreciate people who want to share their thoughts with us. We're always looking for ways to improve, and you can Share feedback about Google Nest as detailed.

Thanks for the help here, Mark.

Cheers,

Renz