Smart thermostats are increasing in popularity as more and more homeowners look for ways to reduce their energy bills. These devices can be programmed to conveniently regulate the temperature of your home in line with your day-to-day schedule. They also have the capacity to learn your preferences over time. As a result, you can spend less on your energy bills by ensuring that your home is only heated or cooled when you need it.
Google’s smart thermostat is the Nest, and plenty of homeowners are pleased with its features and overall efficiency. But one feature–the Seasonal Savings program–is making trouble rather than improving your HVAC system. Lasting issues are forcing homeowners to research how to shut off this feature. We’ll review the trouble some people are having with Seasonal Savings and offer instructions for how to opt out of the feature.
Many Homeowners Argue the Seasonal Savings Program Isn’t Working Well
Google built the Seasonal Savings program to help homeowners improve their energy efficiency. Around peak HVAC use in the summer and winter, it can automatically adjust the thermostat to satisfy your preferences with energy efficiency. The program is intended to run without disrupting your sense of comfort, implementing the biggest changes when you’re away or sleeping. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for many people enrolled in the program.
Alternatively, there are accounts that the program is contradictory and irritating to use. Homeowners are concerned that the program is really increasing their energy bills instead of shrinking them. And when they try to disable or opt out of Seasonal Savings, they’ve discovered the way to do so is difficult to find or outright missing. In various cases people have even noticed it being turned back on after it was disabled.
Smart thermostats are designed to improve the efficiency of your HVAC system. While automatic temperature corrections are a common feature in smart thermostats, it shouldn’t bypass your preferred settings. If your Nest won’t work with your comfort preferences, opting out of the Seasonal Savings option is the right move.
But First, Why Is This Going On?
Homeowners are concerned that the Seasonal Savings setting was activated on their Nest thermostat without their permission. Why should a smart thermostat you operate brush off your settings and opt in for the program? It may be because of an energy-efficiency agreement you registered for with a utility company.
These agreements help you raise your home’s energy efficiency. They will sometimes come with rebates on new equipment or special offers for renewable energy products. But many people are shocked to hear they also allow your utility company remote access to your thermostat. If the power grid is experiencing a heavy load, the utility company can control your thermostat and raise the temperature. You may well be having problems with the Seasonal Savings program because a utility company is making use of this remote access.
But what if the setting is faulty or just dismissing your preferences? Whatever the reason could be, you don’t want a feature to increase your energy use without your approval. We’ll take you step-by-step through how other users have switched off the Seasonal Savings program.
How to Disable Your Nest Thermostat’s Seasonal Savings Feature
A number of people have reported trouble disabling the Seasonal Savings feature. While the location of this setting may be different depending on your specific Nest model, other users are worried that Google is intentionally making it tougher to turn off Seasonal Savings. To make sure you can opt out no matter what, we’ll describe the ways other users have found success.
- Overriding Seasonal Savings: Manually setting the temperature should override the Seasonal Savings program, but quite a few users have observed this isn’t the case. If you notice your Nest repeatedly undoing your changes, you’ll probably prefer to shut off the feature completely.
- Opting out of the program from the Nest app: Your phone or tablet’s Nest app ought to have a History option and a Settings option. Google points users to their History to disable Seasonal Savings, but other people have found this option in Settings. Once disabled, the feature is temporarily off until the next summer or winter.
- Disabling the program from the Nest thermostat: Your thermostat should also feature a History option where you can disable Seasonal Savings, but many homeowners claim the disable option is gone.
- Opting out before the program begins: The Seasonal Savings program is only available in summer and winter. Your smart device is supposed to be sent a notification when the program is about to launch, offering you the opportunity to opt out.
When Seasonal Savings is running, your Nest should feature a small yellow symbol of a leaf. If your Nest is experiencing issues and the Seasonal Savings icon is missing, your predicament may be with yet another setting entirely.
Sometimes the Problem Isn’t Seasonal Savings but Another Setting or Program
Alternative settings on Nest smart thermostats aside from Seasonal Savings can result in unwanted temperature changes. If these features are active during Seasonal Savings, even opting out of the program may not stop the thermostat from making alterations. Thankfully, these settings can be disabled. You’ll also have options if the issue is a third party like a power company.
- Switching off Auto-Schedule: The Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat both give you the Auto-Schedule feature, using their capability to understand your preferences to set the best possible schedule. Going into Settings and shutting off Auto-Schedule should stop other automatic adjustments such as Seasonal Savings.
- Disabling auto switching: Nest thermostats can still swap to eco temperatures if you have an auto-switching feature like Home & Away Routines or Home/Away Assist. These functions automatically regulate the temperature when the thermostat detects that no one is around.
- Leaving the utility company’s energy agreement: Considering your energy provider may be remotely controlling the Nest thermostat, opting out of the agreement should get rid of remote access. You can find the full details of these agreements with your energy provider.
- Calling Google support: If all else fails, contacting Google’s technical support may be of help. Staff can direct you to resetting the Nest or determining the proper setting to disable Seasonal Savings.
If the Problem Continues, Your Thermostat May Be Faulty
There’s always the possibility your Nest smart thermostat is just malfunctioning. Electrical problems or software bugs can result in all sorts of trouble, including an aggravating Seasonal Savings program. If you think the problem is isolated to your personal thermostat, an experienced technician will be able to help. After all, smart thermostats remain a beneficial investment for your home’s energy efficiency.
If you prefer local service for your smart thermostat in Elkhart, get in touch with the HVAC specialists at BW/Cook Service Experts. They can help you find out the ideal way to stop an uncooperative Seasonal Savings program on your Nest thermostat.