What is effect of installing with stranded wires? Others in building have done it. Any danger?

[rgaila]

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Original Poster: Zfty 

Electric company agent came over and said he wasn’t allowed to install it but I could. I did and it works though intermittently  (no C wire and N260 error). I want to know if it’s worth getting the converter, or stranded wire makes it impossible as Google states. Others in building have Nests.

[rgaila]

Hi Zfty,

Thanks for reaching out to us and welcome to our community. We're happy to hear you're considering Nest for your home! I'm happy to take a deeper look into whether you can install your thermostat in your apartment.

Did your electric company agent explain why he could not personally install it, but you could? This might be a potential liability issue, as the Nest thermostat does not support stranded wires. If your low voltage wires are stranded (each of the wires is a bundle of smaller wires), reinstall your previous thermostat and contact a local pro to have your thermostat wiring replaced or adapted with solid core wire so it can work with Nest thermostats and provide a continuous charge.

Some other references you can check are the Compatibility Checker to see if your system is compatible as well as this article to help identify the different wires.

Let us know if you have any further questions for us.

-From Garrett DS, Community Specialist.