Saving money and energy when heating and cooling your home has never been more important. Fortunately, using a Nest thermostat is a great way to make your home more energy-efficient. This system saves money on heating and cooling by intelligently adjusting the temperature based on your location in the house, who’s home, and when. Wondering how to program your Nest thermostat for maximum efficiency? Even if you’ve never used it before, this guide will show you how!
Nest Thermostat Basics: How to Program Your Nest Learning Thermostat
The Nest thermostat quickly became popular for good reason. It effectively saves money on heating and cooling bills, has a sleek and modern look, and is easy to use. But using any home heating and cooling system for the first time can be overwhelming, no matter how intuitive it is. The following guide breaks down how to program your Nest thermostat as well as how to use its best features and resources.
How to Control Temperature Manually
Controlling your Nest thermostat manually is as simple as turning the ring around its perimeter to your desired temperature. Turning it to the right increases the temperature, while turning it to the left lowers it.
How to Control Temperature With App
What makes the Nest thermostat so convenient is the ability to control the temperature via its easy phone app. Simply open the app and, if you have multiple Nest systems, tap on the one you want to control. Use your finger to drag the circle to your desired temperature or tap the arrows to increase or decrease it.
How to Change from Heater to Air Conditioner Manually
When you want to switch from heating to cooling, press the ring around the thermostat. This brings up the various Nest functions around the perimeter of the center screen. Turn the ring to the heating and air conditioning icon and press the ring. Turn it again to your desired mode and press it to set the function.
How to Change from Heater to Air Conditioner with App
To change between heating and cooling functions, tap the Heat icon on the bottom left-hand corner of your screen. Doing so brings up a brief menu of modes from which to choose. Tap on heating or air conditioning to set your desired mode.
How to Schedule Temperatures Manually
Your Nest thermostat enables you to set specific temperatures for certain times of the day. The thermostat saves these settings and changes the temperature automatically according to your set preferences.
Here’s how to program your Nest thermostat manually from the device:
- Press the ring to bring up the Nest functions.
- Turn the ring to the calendar icon, or Scheduling mode.
- Press the ring to select Scheduling mode.
- Scroll to the time of day you’d like the temperature to change.
- Press the ring and select the New button to create a new change.
- Scroll to your desired temperature and press the ring to set your selection.
How to Schedule Temperatures from App
Scheduling temperatures from the Nest phone app is just as streamlined as using the device.
How to program your Nest thermostat from the app:
- Open the app and select your desired thermostat.
- Tap the Schedule button on the bottom of the screen.
- Select the day you’d like to schedule a temperature change.
- Hit the Add button on the bottom right corner to add the change.
- Tap the screen at the time and temperature you’d like to set.
- Times can be changed by dragging them up or down, while temperatures can be changed by dragging them left or right.
- Settings can be removed by pressing the Remove button on the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
How to Find Settings on Thermostat
Your Nest thermostat has other settings that include locking the device, setting reminders, and adjusting the brightness on the screen. To access the Settings menu, press the ring and scroll to the gear icon. Press the ring again and rotate it to scroll through the various settings until you reach your desired function.
Best Nest Thermostat Features to Save You Money
In addition to these heating and cooling settings, the Nest thermostat uses other functions to improve efficiency. Here’s how the Energy History, Auto-Schedule, and Auto-Away features enable you to save energy.
Energy History
This feature displays a history of how long and how often your heating and cooling system runs. When a particular day is selected, orange bars indicate the times the heat was used, while blue bars show air conditioning usage. It also indicates why the heat or air conditioning turned on and displays a leaf for the days you saved energy. This information helps you make informed choices about your heating and cooling schedule and preferences.
Auto-Schedule
When Auto-Schedule is enabled, your Nest thermostat will actively learn and remember your heating and cooling preferences. It then creates its own schedules for heating and cooling your home based on these preferences. This feature automatically saves energy without you having to program particular days and times for heating and cooling.
Auto-Away
Enabling the Auto-Away function allows the Nest thermostat to sense when you leave your home. It does this by sensing your phone’s signal strength or using the thermostat’s activity sensors. It then automatically adjusts your home’s temperatures to their Away modes without you having to do so manually or via the app.
Important Nest Guides and Resources
Do you want to start using your Nest thermostat’s basic functions ASAP? Perhaps you need assistance finding and downloading the app. Your Nest thermostat makes both of these options easy with helpful guides and resources.
Install the Nest App
This resource offers assistance on how to install the Nest app by bringing you directly to the install start button. It also provides brief descriptions of Nest thermostat functions and capabilities.
Google’s Nest Thermostat User Guide
When you want to start using your thermostat immediately after installation, this Nest Thermostat User Guide illustrates how to use its basic functions. It includes how to set temperatures manually and via the app as well as how to set up heating and cooling schedules.
Still have questions about how to program your Nest thermostat and use its various features? The team at Dependable Heating & Air are your Nest experts. Call us for all your home heating and cooling concerns.
