Does anyone have a Nest that they can't figure out?

[SaladBowlsAndBasinsAndBuckets]

Please come and talk to me! I've had it 3 years now and while it's always been annoying now I'm wfh it's driving me nuts!
I'm sure it is user error but I just can't figure out how to use it. I've googled how to reset it and use it manually but it still seems to have a mind of it's own. Is it just me? It turns itself on randomly. If I'm cold and want to turn it on it just ignores me. I have to turn it up and go from blanket over my knees to window open in about 20 minutes

I hate ours too and will follow with interest. I’m a bit of a Luddite and don’t “get” it although my husband seems to be able to use it without problems... hmm

I loathe and detest ours and constantly moan that I wished we just had a normal thermostat.

God knows how the little fucker works I spin it to the temp I want and it does exactly what it wants. Don’t even start me on the app.

You can set it so it learns how you like your settings. Never worked very well for us so I switched it off. If you go on the app. Then into settings and choose your thermostat (mine was at the bottom). You need to turn off the learning option.

Glad it's not just me Misbeehived. I was on a thread on here a year or so ago where everyone was saying how great it was!

I turned the learning bit off very quickly, it kept coming on at silly times! Now I just have it coming on at 18 in the morning, then turning up to 19 in the evening. It's linked to my Alexa so if I'm too hot or too cold I just tell her to turn the temperature down or up.

This thread is very timely. Ours has been driving us mad for the last few days. Spent hours watching Youtube videos to work out how to get it working again after DH managed to accidentally set a pin on the thermostat that he now can't remember, and for some reason the thermostat isn't showing on the Nest app any more, apparently we need to scan a qr thingy to reinstate it, but we can't find one anywhere. Now we have booked someone to come and deinstall the wretched thing and replace with a more traditional control. The stress of it all has actually given me a headache.

@exiledfromcornwall

The QR code is on the back of the control unit. Do you have it on a little stand that’s plugged in via USB? Just pull the round unit off the stand and the QR code is on the back.

I love our Nest. The learning is a bit random but you can turn it off / override it using a schedule, and there is nothing like being able to turn on the heating when you’re out to come home to a lovely warm house - or turn it off without having to get out of bed.

Nest customer support is also amazing - ours developed a fault after a couple of years and when they couldn’t fix it, they sent us a new unit and paid for the installation. Try giving them a call / using the chat function.

I turned off the learning mode , we just have it set on the schedule, on, off , morning , evening , I’m not very patient with tech stuff but I find it very easy to control with the app or just turning the dial to work it manually.

thatonehasalittlecar Thank you, we have now found the QR code as per your advice, however we are then supposed to look for a key on the thermostat display, and this is still locked with the pin my DH has forgotten (triple sigh)!

Hi OP.
According to the online help, using the Nest app you can unlock the thermostat without needing the pin.
You can then set a new pin with the app.

I didn't know you could turn off the learning mode! This may be a game changer. Unfortunately, the thermostat is cosy in a cupboard so it always thinks it is warmer than it is in the rest of the flat so I can't get it to come on when I'm cold.

Yours is in totally the wrong place in a cupboard, you need it to be in a more central place , usually downstairs hallway is a good place

Don't you just turn it up when it's cold? (clockwise)

OP
Buy a cheap thermometer and leave it in the room you spend most time in.
When you’d like the heating to be on, compare the temp on the simple thermometer to the Nest.
Say it’s 16 compared to the Nests 18 for example.

If you want the heating on at 7am and you want that room temp to be 20C, you have to set the Nest schedule to 22C for 7am.

Ideally move the Nest thermometer but it might have been hard wired into the boiler ?

Yes, it is hardwired into the boiler so I can't move it. When it was installed I was told the hub (?) was the thermostat.

@QuothTheSlothNevermore

Don't you just turn it up when it's cold? (clockwise)

No, because the thermostat tells it what temperature the room (cupboard) is and you can only increase the temperature above that. So because it's in a cupboard which is warm it gives a false reading.

Sorry, that didn't make sense. Yes I can turn the temperature up. But because it's in the cupboard it's giving an incorrect reading. Say it's 15 in the lounge, 18 in the cupboard, I have to turn it on to 19 so have to turn it off again before it gets too hot. Say, because I only want it at 17. It's complicated...

It sounds like it’s been incorrectly installed. Our thermostat is on a little stand in the living room (bought separately for about £20). Really, contact customer care - they’re so helpful and will talk you through it simply

The heat link is hardwired, the thermostat is movable & you can put it anywhere. Use the app to change the temp. I sit in bed adjusting it...

So, to be clear - there is a small white box hardwired into the boiler plus a round shiny thermostat that lives on a stand in our living room. The round thermostat came with the white box and we bought the stand separately. This allows the thermostat to be placed anywhere without being hardwired in.

support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9274678?hl=en-GB

Can you post pics and we may be able to suggest a solution?

It’s possible to have the thermostat itself ( to be clear, the round , metal edged, glass fronted device ) hard wired to the boiler.
Sounds like this is the case for the OP.

We have the ‘heat link’ hard wired to the boiler and though we bought the Nest stand ( £35 these days! ) , we have the thermostat on a wall in the hall, with a long usb lead supplying power.

I don’t see what the problem is using the thermostat OP.
You’re already aware of the difference between cupboard temp and how you want a room, let’s say 3 degrees using your example.

Create a schedule using the app, but set the schedule temperature 3 degrees higher than you need in reality.

By the way , with the Nest schedule, you can create as many ‘temperature points’ as you like in 24 hours.
Forget the old style ‘on and off in the morning and evening’ settings from the older programmable thermostats.

Omg I hate mine too. I woke up sweating in the night and the bugger was randomly pumping out heat at 2pm.

I just want it to come on at 7am for an hour or so and then again at 4pm. That's what I set in the schedule. Randomly comes on all over the place.

@dalrympy
Ours was on a lot more than we expected , particularly during the daytime.
We turned OFF ‘True Radiant’ in the Nest app.