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Thermostat temp sensor wrong

Macarthur2000
Community Member

DB812699-E229-4FA5-9C88-81B23D80E6B8.png

Nest thermostat reads wrong temp.

 

for instance, this morning temp in house was 15, nest showed 18, so the heating never came on, everyone in house cold. I’ve reset it countless times, nowhere near a window, insulated behind it. I’ve  even connected it to the garage wifi incase the wifi in the hose was too close. 

love  the thermostat, but this is really annoying.

its doing my box in.

64 REPLIES 64

CraigP
Community Member

I have this exact issue too

 

anyone know of any fixes….?

Greygeek
Community Member

When I first got my NEST Generation 3, I kept my old thermostat next to it for a couple of months and indeed, the NEST's temperature sensor always reported a different value (2-3 degrees Fahrenheit higher).  So I borrowed a more precision temperature sensor device from my neighbor who's an HVAC guy, and sure enough, the NEST reads high.  We've just adjusted our programmed set temperatures to higher number on the NEST, and we mentally subtract a couple degrees from what the NEST is displaying.  

The much bigger problem with the NEST makes it a terrible thermostat for Forced Hot-Air heating systems because it has a hard-coded wide temperature band before it turns on the heat.  (other posts on this forum complain about same problem controlling A/C as well).   Our home has been quite uncomfortable in cold weather since we installed the NEST Gen 3, and there's no way to change the setting of the too-wide temp range required to trigger heat or cool functions.    Dozens of posts / threads complain about this, but nothing has happened to improve the NEST firmware to fix it.  

My nest gent 3 has been reading 6 degrees F cooler than it really is according to 3 other thermometers and the nest remote room temp sensor we have.  I’ve not used the auto heat/cool feature ever because it’s hard coded 5 degree variance.   I bought an expensive smart thermostat that is less functional than the conventional one I replaced with it.  10 nest protect detectors and they’ve stopped connecting to nest externally 1 year after purchase so I have no idea if smoke detectors going off at home when not there.  I spent $5,000 on all my google/nest security, protect and thermostat 2 years go worst investment ever.

Ethereal_Leaf
Community Member

I have this issue as well. Just started it today after having used for years in the exact location.
The downstairs thermostat reads hotter than the upstairs one.

It’s reading 76 and the outside temp is 44. The upstairs is reading ~66. No way is actual temp near 80 and hotter than upstairs. 

GeoRy
Community Member

Having problems with Google products is one thing. What is pushing me to Amazon is the total lack of addressing these longstanding issues. My outside temp is 20 degrees low and the wide band temps in summer and winter uncomfortable. The wrong temp is only on Thermostat, My Hubs, Home app etc are correct at same address.

AJ6
Community Member

Same issues as everyone else and it's sad to see that the issue continues in 3rd gen thermostats as well... I'll probably switch to the EcoBee, I've had enough of googles horrible products and customer service

BootsWithDefer
Community Member

Having this issue as well. No fix?

Nope google doesn't care about these known issues they'll just tell you to buy a new one

CraigP
Community Member

Mine suddenly resolved itself after 2 reset - wasn’t Instant but it works ok again now 

thetizzo
Community Member

I'm having the same issue with my Nest thermostat.  It's reading the current temperature like 5-7 degrees F too high.  As a result the house is definitely chilly during the winter.  My older nest did not have this same issues so something has definitely changed.

AJ6
Community Member

I have the older 2nd gen and people with both 3rd and 2nd gen are reporting the same issue... It seems Google didn't bother to fix this issue that seems to affect a few units on their newer models either

Natewatson
Community Member

Ya what is total bull**bleep** is that they only kick you onto this thread to read about how everyone else has this issue. This thermo totally sucks. And the CS.

Jotorobi
Community Member

I’m having this issue as well. I have the temp set to 70. It’s 25 degrees outside and it will heat for a few minutes then turns off and says it’s 72 in the house . Then the temp it says never drops so the heat doesn’t come on until I go and manually reset . Once it turns back on it shows a temp of 68 and heat kicks on. Then it heats but doesn’t actually reach 70 degrees even though it says 72. I will try to do a factory reset tomorrow I guess . The thermostat has been in the same spot since it was installed around 5 years ago and worked great until now . 

1259978
Community Member

Having exactly the same issue as all of you, but my thermostat thinks it's 96 degrees in here. Actually 58. Since the temp is higher than you can set the thermostat, it is not heating my house at all. Sorry I got this thing.

5tratocaster
Community Member

I have been having an issue with my Nest thermostat reading a degree or so high for a couple of years, but recently it's got worse. I now have three other thermostats alongside the Nest, all reading 16 degrees C, while the Nest reads 18.5 degrees. I can accept a difference of a half to one degree if buying  cheap thermometer, but a two and a half degree error in a device costing close to £200 is just unacceptable. Nest have known about these errors for years and it's about time they issued an update to correct the problem. Saying it's because the stand or wall mount gets warm from the electronics in the stat isn't good enough. If they know that causes an error, why not re-calibrate the therrmostats to allow for it.

LukeDaniell
Community Member

The actual temperature may be in the 30s, but the temperature will display as being in the 70s. This is a known issue with current and prior generations of the thermostat.

 

It will never be fixed by Google. The reason why is that corporations who own apartment complexes are a HUGE source of Google's revenue, and not just for the thermostats but also other services like Google Fiber. These corporate landlords are bound by laws to provide adequate heat in the dwellings they rent out and can be fined heavily for not doing so. These landlords purchase and install Google thermostats knowing that they will never display an accurate temperature when it's unbearably cold. That way, when they are investigated or sued for not providing adequate heat, they can say "we didn't know there wasn't enough heat because the Google thermostat displayed an adequately warm temperature."

 

It's ingenious really, albeit devious -- both on the part of corporate landlords who want to save money by shirking their legal obligations, and on Google's part, who makes billions enabling this corporate landlord sociopathy.

I wonder why no-one from Google or Nest has commented on or responded to the points made in this thread. I would have thought it was quite an important subject for them.

Russvantine
Community Member

I have the same problem except my NEST shows an indoor temperature of about 10 degrees too cool which means I have to mentally subtract 10 degrees when setting the cooling. Is this “normal”????  Not acceptable!

I’ve been doing same since first day I installed our gen 3!  But ours shows temp 6 degrees F lower than it really is

KristenW
Community Member

Just added a sensor to the baby's room. His baby monitor is reading 66 degrees and it feels cool up there, but the sensor is reading 76 degrees. It is much warmer downstairs near the thermostat, but that is reading the same temp. Something is wrong with the sensor reading. I've reset once already but there has been no change to the reported temperature. Will be sad if all this effort was useless - I bought 2 nests already because the first one didn't work with the sensors but I was past the return window. Just trying to keep the baby's room within a temperature range!

Sackattack
Community Member

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 My gen3 is always showing a higher temp which is running the a/c too long. Sometimes on the hottest of days causing the coils to freeze. See picture as it can be 2-3 degrees higher. (The smaller number on the nest is current temp). I use multiple temp gauges simultaneous including very precise industrial sensors. 
This happened on my gen2 before it had problems with its battery. 
What is annoying is that even appliances like kitchen ovens have the ability to manual offset temp readings through a user interface. This would be a good feature for nest. Otherwise we all have to do the mental math and choose higher settings. But defeats the learning ability of the nest a bit and requires a comprehensive schedule. 

then again, using more precise temp sensors is ideal as well. I use the external wireless nest sensor and it typically disagrees with the main unit even if next to each other. Those are pricey just to correct a flaw. 

Kc65
Community Member

If I can’t get this thing corrected I’m just gonna buy an ecobee

Jhonleanmel
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks,

 

@Kc65, thanks for posting and sorry for the delay.

 

A few question:

  • What type of Nest thermostat do you have?
  • When was the thermostat installed?
  • Where did you install your thermostat? (in a room and on a wall or stand) 
  • Do you have other active Nest thermostats? If yes: Do they show the same issue?
  • When did the issue start?
  • How big is the difference between the readout of the Nest thermostat and your thermometer or other thermostats?
  • Have you tried any troubleshooting steps? If yes: Would you mind listing them?

Give these steps a try:

 

  1. Go to Settings > Technical Info > Network.
  2. Check for the Signal strength value.
  3. Restart the thermostat
  4. Turn on Sunblock
  5. Check if the thermostat is near a heat source

Keep us posted.

 

Best

Mel

Hey there,

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 concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Thanks,
Mel

Can anyone help me?

My Nest is set to 68 degrees and it is reading an indoor temperature of 102. I’ve reset it performed a hard reset. Nothing has worked. Starting to regret buying this device 

Hi, I bought google nest learning gem 3 in April 2023. In two months time, the room temperature shows up as 76F where the actual room temperature is 69F. The location of nest is on corridor inside house and I also restated few times. Can you help to explain how to bring this back to normal. And also looks like several customers have similar issues, is there a software fix we should expect from google. 

Jake
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey all,

 

I wanted to check in and see if you had any questions from here. Please let me know, as I would be happy to assist, and answer any you may have.

Best regards,
Jake

Jake
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey all,


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

 

Best regards,

Jake

To be fair, I think the time to lock the thread is when you've solved the problem and there are no more complaints. 

I just have to live with the fact that my very expensive thermostat is incapable of reading the correct temperature. Or rather, the manufacturers of my expensive thermostat are happy to rest on their laurels and allow this fault to continue when they should be seeking a firmware solution that could be rolled out to existing customers. Locking the thread is the equivalent of sticking your head in the sand.

Jake
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey 5tratocaster,

 

Apologies for the confusion here. We lock the thread to keep content fresh when there is no activity being made on the thread. I found an article with more details why the temperature in your home could be different. Please let me know if that helps, or if you have any questions from here.

 

Best regards,

Jake

GeoRy
Community Member

My fix was use a different zip code for outside temp being 15 degrees difference from weather service and cheap outdoor thermometer. The inside problems are still there. I’m slowly moving on from Google. That’s the real fix.

Jhonleanmel
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi GeoRy,

 

We deeply appreciate you sharing your thoughts and experiences, and we'll take it as feedback. We hope we can change your mind in the future.

 

Best,

Mel

Considering I started working with Nest support about this issue 3 years ago with no resolution, obviously these products are following Nest Secure and a parade of others  to oblivion. Your scripted response is insulting. 

Jhonleanmel
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi GeoRy,

 

I'm sorry you find this insulting, and this has never been our intention. If you ever change your mind, we'll be here to help. 

 

Best regards,

Mel

BeLo
Community Member

Why can't you just enable a feature to set the temperature? Even the most basic electric thermostats have this, just not Nest.

Why won't Google add such basic functionality that has been requested by so many customers for so long?

fr2uk
Community Member

I have just installed a Nest Gen 3 in my home, and the temperature reading is way too high. It's 7°c outside, my home is poorly insulated, it's cold inside, and my old thermostat shows 17°c, Nest shows 20°c.

No radiators are on, the thermostat in not in a draft area.

This is the last problem I would have expected to have with a £200 thermostat.

Retroarcademan
Community Member

I just installed a nest gen 3 thermostat and it's definitely reading about 3 degrees (C) too high. I can manage this by setting the target temps to suit but that's not a great experience for a premium product.  Google need to allow users to recalibrate the sensor on the user menu. My old (and much cheaper) digital thermostat allowed me to do that in principle but it was always very accurate so I didn't need to. Please sort this out Google. 

leroywashere
Community Member

Same here. Nest reports 19c while I’m cold, and the good old thermometer reads 16.5. I asked for 20 but it doesn’t seem to think it’s any idea to start heating. 

And don’t start with the reset, draft, placement, sunblock ways of blaming it on me. cause it’s just reset, on an interior wall where there is never any sun. 

I really wanted this to work. 
and I know you can easily test this at your development quarters and confirm the problem if it already hasn’t. Meanwhile the bot answers are driving people insane

it was better before when Nest wasn’t actually a part of Do no evil corporation.