Having a smart thermostat in your home provides you with unmatched convenience when you want to change the temperature. However, they can also become a nuisance when they don’t function correctly.
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If your Nest thermostat keeps turning off by itself, it could be because your home/away assist settings need to be adjusted, the wire connections are loose or shorted, or you need to update the Nest software.
In the rest of this article, I will explore each potential issue in detail. I’ll also explain how to troubleshoot each issue and how each problem can cause your nest thermostat to shut down randomly.
Read: Nest Thermostat Not Following Schedule
1. The Home/Away Settings Need To Be Adjusted
The Nest thermostat has a feature that will use your phone’s location to determine whether or not you are at home. If the thermostat determines that you are not home, it will go into eco mode to save energy, which means it will shut itself off.
In eco mode, the thermostat will not cool or heat the home, which is a very useful feature when it functions correctly as it can save you money on your energy bill. However, many users report that their thermostats will go into eco mode even when they are home and their phone’s location is on.
This can be incredibly annoying during the middle of summer or winter when you rely heavily on heat or air conditioning to regulate your home’s temperature.
How To Fix?
- Make sure that your phone’s location is accurate. A VPN on your phone could cause the thermostat to think you are not home, even if you are.
- Don’t share your log-in information. If anyone else is logged into your Nest account, the app may use their location instead of yours and mistakenly think you are not home.
- Check that your phone is connected to your home wifi and cellular data. Also, check that your phone has enough battery power.
- If you were talking on your phone as you arrived home, this might keep the thermostat from realizing you are home.
- If you’ve tried all these solutions and the home/away assist is still not functioning correctly, you can simply turn the setting off in the Nest app.
- You can turn the setting off by opening the Nest app on your phone to turn off the home/away assist feature. Go to settings in the app and locate home/away assist. Tap on ‘what decides if you’re home’ and select your nest thermostat
- Change the setting from enable to disable to prevent the thermostat from being controlled by the home/away assist.
Read: Why Is House Thermostat Reading The Wrong Temperature?
2. Faulty Wiring To Nest
Your Nest thermostat could also be turning itself off because of faulty wiring, shorted connections, or a wire with a loose connection. This also could be the reason if your Nest doesn’t turn on when it should.
This is something you can check yourself but you should turn off the electricity to your Nest thermostat by flipping the switch in your fuse box.
To check that all the connections are intact, you can remove the thermostat from the wall and visually inspect it. Check that all the wires are correctly and fully inserted into the thermostat, and make sure that all the connector buttons housing the wires are pushed down, creating a secure connection. You should also check to see if any wires need to be re-stripped.
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Check each individual wire for any burn marks or melted plastic. If you can notice a burnt plastic smell and see burn marks on any of the wires, you have a short-circuited wire, which will need to be replaced.
You should also check that your C wire is connected correctly. The C wire is where the thermostat draws its power, and if the C wire connection has deteriorated, this will affect the thermostat’s ability to stay turned on.
The integrity of the C wire connection is essential for the thermostat to function correctly. If it is not connected properly, the thermostat will shut down randomly because it is not receiving enough electricity.
If your home’s heating and cooling system does not have a C wire, the thermostat will not function properly. You will need to have a professional HVAC technician install one that you can connect to your thermostat.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to have a technician install a C wire, you can purchase a Nest power connector and have the technician install it for you. This is best done by a professional HVAC technician because of the intricate wiring involved.
Installing a Nest power connector may seem expensive, but it is actually more economical than having a professional install a C wire on an HVAC system. If you can follow the installation instructions and install the power connector yourself, you can do it yourself. Just remember to turn off the power to the thermostat before you begin to work.
It is also vital to ensure that your home’s HVAC system is compatible with a Nest thermostat. A Nest thermostat connected to an incompatible system will behave in odd ways, including randomly shutting off.
Read: Why Thermostat Is Clicking?
3. Update the Nest Thermostat Software
One thing that differentiates smart thermostats from traditional thermostats is that they require software to work. If the software is out of date, this may cause the thermostat to turn itself off randomly.
You can check what version of the software is installed on your Nest thermostat through the Nest app. Checking the software version is simple, only takes a few seconds, and you can use this information to decide if you need to update the software.
Read: Nest E24 Error – Troubleshooting Guide
How to check the software version:
- On your phone, open the Nest app and tap on your Nest thermostat.
- Tap on the settings icon and select the ‘technical information’ option.
- You should see the current version of the software installed on your Nest thermostat next to ‘Software.’
Compare the version of the software installed on your nest thermostat with the most current version of the software available. You can find the latest version of the Nest software by Googling ‘Nest thermostat latest software version.’
If the latest version of the software available is a newer version than the one currently installed on your nest thermostat, then it’s time to perform a system software update. This is easy enough to do, but it may take a while for the update to finish.
How to update the software:
- From the home screen of the Nest thermostat, tap on settings.
- Navigate to the version option under settings.
- Select update and give the thermostat some time to download and install the update.
Usually your Nest thermostat should update automatically, but if it is not receiving enough power, it will not perform automatic updates, and you will need to follow the steps above to have the thermostat update the software manually.
The thermostat will also neglect to update itself if the internet connection is often interrupted. If the thermostat turns itself off and stays off for an extended period of time it can lose its internet connection.
When the thermostat turns off it loses its WiFi connection and the connection will need to be re-established. If the thermostat cannot re-establish its connection to the WiFi network, it will not be able to update itself and the updates will need to be performed manually.
Read: Temperature Thermostat Problems
4. Allow the Nest Battery to Recharge
A common problem causing Nest thermostats to turn off by themselves is a drained battery. If you have recently updated your Nest thermostat’s software, a bug in the updated software could cause the battery to drain.
How to Fix?
Recharging your Nest thermostat’s battery is, thankfully, easy to do. Simply turn your thermostat off completely, leave it for a few minutes, and then switch it on again. Restarting it will recharge the battery, and it shouldn’t randomly turn off by itself again.
Read: Benefits Of A Programmable Thermostat
Conclusion: Why Nest Thermostat Keeps Turning Off
Having your thermostat turn itself off randomly is an annoying problem. This problem can be magnified if you live in an area with an extreme climate.
Luckily if your Nest thermostat is malfunctioning and turning itself off randomly, it is simple to solve the problem. You can change the home/away assist settings or turn the feature off altogether. Alternatively, update the Nest software, or check the thermostat’s wiring.