Smart thermostats are increasing in popularity as more and more homeowners look for ways to cut down on their energy costs. These systems can be programmed to automatically adjust the temperature in your home based on your weekly schedule. They also have the capability to memorize comfort preferences over time. For this reason, you can make big savings on your energy bills by ensuring that your comfort system is only running when you need it.
Google’s smart thermostat is the Nest, and lots of homeowners are happy with its features and overall efficiency. But one feature–the Seasonal Savings program–might be stirring up trouble rather than improving your HVAC system. Persistent issues are forcing homeowners to research how to shut off this feature. We’ll present the issues some people are having with Seasonal Savings and provide instructions for how to opt out of the feature.
Many Homeowners Allege the Seasonal Savings Program Isn’t Working Well
Google developed the Seasonal Savings program to help homeowners improve their energy efficiency. For maximum HVAC use in the summer and winter, it will automatically adjust the thermostat to match your preferences with energy efficiency. The program is designed to run without disrupting your sense of comfort, setting up the biggest changes when you’re away or in bed. Sadly, this isn’t the case for lots of people participating in the program.
Instead, there are accounts that the program is contradictory and frustrating to use. Homeowners are complaining that the program is actually increasing their energy bills instead of reducing them. And when they try to disable or opt out of Seasonal Savings, they’ve discovered the option to do so is difficult to find or entirely missing. In many cases people have even noticed it being switched back on after it was disabled.
Smart thermostats are designed to boost the efficiency of your HVAC equipment. While automatic temperature adjustments are a common feature in smart thermostats, it shouldn’t ignore your favored settings. If your Nest refuses to accommodate your comfort preferences, disabling the Seasonal Savings feature is the best move.
But First, Why Is This Happening?
Homeowners are claiming that the Seasonal Savings setting was activated on their Nest thermostat without their approval. Why should a smart thermostat you operate dismiss your settings and opt in for the program? It might be because of an energy-efficiency agreement you signed up for with your utility company.
These agreements help you enhance your home’s energy efficiency. They will sometimes come with rebates on new products or special offers for renewable energy products. But most people are alarmed to learn they also grant your utility company remote access to the thermostat. If the power grid is under a heavy load, the utility company can override your thermostat and turn up the temperature. You may well be having problems with the Seasonal Savings program due to the fact that a utility company is making use of this remote access.
But what if the setting is faulty or just ignoring your preferences? Whatever the reason could be, you don’t want a feature to increase your energy use without your permission. We’ll walk you through how other people have shut off the Seasonal Savings program.
How to Disable Your Nest Thermostat’s Seasonal Savings Feature
A number of people have experienced trouble opting out of the Seasonal Savings feature. While the location of this setting may be different depending on your specific Nest model, other users are alarmed that Google is purposely making it harder to opt out of Seasonal Savings. To ensure you can opt out no matter what, we’ll include the ways other users have had success.
- Overriding Seasonal Savings: Manually adjusting the temperature should overrule the Seasonal Savings program, but numerous users have observed this isn’t the case. If you note your Nest constantly ignoring your changes, you’ll probably opt to turn off the feature entirely.
- Disabling the setting from the Nest app: Your phone or tablet’s Nest app should have a History option and a Settings option. Google points users to their History to turn off Seasonal Savings, but other users have located this option under Settings. Once disabled, the setting is temporarily off until the subsequent summer or winter.
- Disabling the program from the Nest thermostat: Your thermostat should also display a History option where you can disable Seasonal Savings, but some homeowners state the disable option is missing.
- Opting out before the program begins: The Seasonal Savings program is only accessible around summer and winter. Your smart device is supposed to be sent a notification when the program is about to begin, offering you the time to opt out.
When Seasonal Savings is on, your Nest should feature a small yellow symbol of a leaf. If the Nest is struggling with issues and the Seasonal Savings icon is not visible, your predicament might be with a different setting entirely.
Sometimes the Source Isn’t Seasonal Savings but Another Setting or Program
Additional settings on Nest smart thermostats apart from Seasonal Savings can cause unwanted temperature changes. If these features are active during Seasonal Savings, even opting out of the program may not prevent the thermostat from making changes. Thankfully, these settings can be turned off. You’ll also have options if the issue is a third party like your power company.
- Turning off Auto-Schedule: The Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat both extend the Auto-Schedule feature, using their capability to study your preferences to establish the best possible schedule. Going into Settings and shutting off Auto-Schedule should prevent other automatic changes including Seasonal Savings.
- Disabling auto switching: Nest thermostats will still switch to eco temperatures if you use an auto-switching feature like Home & Away Routines or Home/Away Assist. These functions automatically change the temperature when the thermostat thinks that everyone is out of the house.
- Opting out of the utility company’s energy agreement: Because your energy provider could be remotely controlling a Nest thermostat, cancelling the agreement should get rid of their access. You can obtain the complete details of these agreements with your energy provider.
- Reaching out to Google support: If nothing else works, reaching out to Google’s technical support could be of service. Staff can lead you to resetting the Nest or determining the proper setting to switch off Seasonal Savings.
If the Problem Continues, Your Thermostat May Be Faulty
There’s always the possibility the Nest smart thermostat is just malfunctioning. Electrical issues or software bugs can trigger all kinds of issues, including an inconsistent Seasonal Savings program. If you think the problem is isolated to your personal thermostat, a skilled technician might be able to help. After all, smart thermostats continue to be a beneficial investment for your home’s energy efficiency.
If you’d like local support for your smart thermostat in Austin, call the HVAC professionals at Strand Brothers Service Experts. They can help you figure out the easiest way to shut off an uncooperative Seasonal Savings program on your Nest thermostat.