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Nest thermostat set to 60 degF (C) Daniel FriedmanNest™ Learning Thermostats Home Page

Nest™ Heating, Heat Pump, or Air Conditioning Thermostat Install, Set-up, Use, Repair

  • POST a QUESTION or COMMENT about Nest™ Room Thermostats for Air Conditioners & Heating Systems or heat pumps: thermostat operation, wiring, adjustment & repair procedures

Nest Learning Thermostats used to control heating & cooling systems or whole house humidification systems:

Nest™ learning thermostat home page at InspectApedia.com. This article series describes the Nest™ learning thermostat product series, giving photo-illustrated detailed guides for the mounting, wiring, set-up and use of Nest thermostats.

This article series explains selection, installation, use, setting, and adjustment of Nest Learning Thermostats - heating or cooling system room thermostats or "wall thermostats".

InspectAPedia tolerates no conflicts of interest. We have no relationship with advertisers, products, or services discussed at this website.

- Daniel Friedman, Publisher/Editor/Author - See WHO ARE WE?

The Nest™ Learning Thermostat: features, installation, wiring, programming, home automation features

Nest thermostat

Nest Learning Thermostat Installation & Use Article Series

"The Nest Learning Thermostat" is an electronic device that can control room temperatures and possibly other components connected to or installed as part of a home automation system.

[Click to enlarge any image]

While the installation instructions included with Nest products, including the Nest learning thermostat are clear and easy to follow, and though Nest also provides a for-fee in-home concierge service that will send an expert to install your Nest thermostat for you, still we find that the additional Nest thermostat installation photographs and explanation given in this article series can help an average homeowner move quickly and confidently through the installation procedure.

We have installed three of these in our test building as well as installing Nest thermostats in New York, Chicago, and other cities. In addition to guiding you through Nest thermostat mounting, installation, wiring, and setup we report on ease of installation, programming, and use as well as using and adjusting the Nest thermostat remotely from your cellphone, computer, or tablet.

Photo: the Nest® Learning Thermostat on demonstration display at a Home Depot store in 2013. [Click to enlarge any image]

Adapting data from the Nest™ company's website:

Nest learns your schedule, programs itself and can be controlled from your phone. Teach it well and Nest can lower your heating and cooling bills up to 20%.

[The] Nest [smart room thermostat] works with 95% of 24V heating and cooling systems, including gas, electric, forced air, heat pump, radiant, hot water, solar, and geothermal and includes these common thermostat control wire connections: Rc, Rh, W1, W2/AUX, Y1, Y2, G, O/B, Common “C”, and also Nest - a connector that can accept one of: W3, E, HUM or DEHUM. [2]

Nest Smoke & Carbon Monoxide detector at Home Depot - InspectApedia 2013

The Nest® Learning Thermostat also communicates wirelessly with Nest's Protect® shown at left, the company's carbon monoxide detector & smoke detector released in 2013 (CO DETECTION OPTIONS).

Really?: this smart thermostat is very appealing but in our OPINION it is a bit pricey at $250./ per thermostat plus $119 for concierge installation of one unit, more-so in buildings with multiple heating zones each of which requires control by an additional individual thermostat. The good news is that most consumers probably don't need to hire a concierge service to install the unit.

Nest learning thermostat showing programming mode - InspectApedia.com at Home Depot display

Photo above: the Nest Learning Thermostat in programming mode with a red display indicating a programmed temperature and time.

Using a Nest Learning Thermostat for building freeze protection & remote control of heating or cooling

There is no question that the Nest® learning thermostat is a beautiful and clever product.

We purchased the three Nest thermostats that would be required to test and review the product and to try controlling our three heating zoned building temperature by cellphone from another country. We have been testing the performance, reliability, and convenience of the Nest learning thermostat in our lab building since early in 2015 and have found the thermostat reliable, easy to control remotely by smartphone or computer, and an added source of peace of mind when a building is in a freezing climate.

More details about our experience in installing and using the Nest learning thermostat will be reported here. [Article in process]

Separately at NEST CAM INSTALLATION & USE we describe installing and using Nest cams (security cameras) or drop cams for both home security monitoring and for remote monitoring of a building for leaks, loss of heat, water or ice damage, or for intrusion or security issues.

More about how to protect a building from freeze-damage is at WINTERIZE - HEAT ON PROCEDURE

What about the promised savings on home heating costs when a Nest learning thermostat is installed?

Needing three thermostats for the test building we felt that the more than $1100. price will be a stumbling block for some consumers. How long will it take to earn-back the cost of multiple costly thermostats by savings on heating fuel? In our OPINION the promise of a 20% reduction in heating costs is probably an up-to number that will only be reached if you are not already using a programmable room thermostat that permits night and weekend temperature setbacks.

The legal definition of up to in advertising law states roughly that 10% of any product or product installation (not just this one) using the term up to in advertising should meet the up to claim.

However we have found that the convenience of remote control as well as the convenience of making use of the "Away" feature to automagically put all of the building thermostats at their set-back position has indeed led to more consistent temperature set-backs in our building and thus some heating cost saving.

In addition, the ability to check on the building remotely to see what its actual indoor temperature is at any time allowed us to set the away-temperature or set-back temperature to a lower number (50 deg F) than we had courage to try previously.

By watching the actual range of indoor temperature across days of little sun and of very low temperature we can fine-tune the set-back temperature while worrying less about frozen-burst pipes.

If you want to use building temperature sensing or time of day to automagically control additional building components such as programmable LED lighting, the value of the Nest® is increased accordingly.

See LED BULB & LIGHTING TYPES for notes on programmable or controllable LED lights in buildings.


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