Why Is My Nest Thermostat Reading The Wrong Temperature?

Nest thermostats are one of the most popular smart home devices on the market. Nest is a company that prides itself in designing high-quality, user-friendly products. But sometimes the Nest thermostat can read the wrong temperature. Why does the Nest thermostat show the wrong temperature?

The Nest thermostat shows the wrong temperature because it can be adapting to the home it is in, and it may not know the seasons yet in terms of how cold and warm the house gets. Also, the Nest could be wrong because the temperature readout can be confusing. And the Nest thermostat could be mounted in the wrong place.

This post will discuss why your Nest thermostat can display the wrong temperature and what you can do to fix it! Keep reading to learn about your Nest thermostat’s temperature issues.

Why Is My Nest Thermostat Wrong?

The Nest thermostat is designed to learn about your heating and cooling patterns, so it knows exactly what temperature you like. Because the Nest has learned how warm or cold you like your home, sometimes there will be a discrepancy between what Nest thinks the temperature is versus what the actual room temperature is.

The Nest thermostat can be wrong because you:

• Recently installed it
• Changed the temperature recently
• Read the wrong temperature by accident
• Mounted your Nest in a bad location

Was Your Nest Recently Installed?

If your Nest thermostat was recently installed, like after moving house, it may take a couple of days for Nest to learn your heating and cooling patterns. If you just installed Nest, it is best to wait 48 hours before worrying about if the thermostat is reading the correct temperature.

If after two or three days, your Nest thermostat still is not reading the temperature correctly, Nest recommends holding down the Nest button for five seconds. This will reset your Nest thermostat and it should fix any problems you are having.

If your Nest Thermostat is too old, you might have other problems.

Did You Recently Change the Temperature?

Sometimes we expect things to happen instantaneously and that can’t be the case with a thermostat. It can take Nest a couple of moments to adjust the temperature.

Nest recommends that you wait 15 minutes after changing the temperature before assuming Nest isn’t working correctly.

If you recently changed the temperature, Nest will need a few minutes to make this adjustment and it may not appear as though there is any change on your Nest thermostat screen.

The temperature can also change if the power in your home goes out for too long, depending on the season.

Are You Reading the Wrong Temperature?

The other issue could be the fact that you are reading the wrong temperature read-out on the Nest thermostat. Nest has two different thermostat read-outs.

On the Nest thermostat there are two different temperatures listed on the interface:

• The actual temperature – Located on the right side of the dial in small font
• The target temperature – Located in the center of the interface in large font

If you are reading the temperature in the center of your Nest thermostat this may not be the actual temperature of the room. This is especially true if you changed the temperature recently.

What Is Behind Your Nest Thermostat?

Sometimes improper temperature readings can be because your Nest thermostat was installed on a warm wall. If the wall is warm this can cause Nest to read a higher temperature than the actual room.

Your Nest thermostat must be installed in an area where it will not be affected by heat from appliances or direct sunlight. Nest has been known to have trouble reading temperatures accurately when mounted on metal surfaces as well so make sure you mount your Nest thermostat:

• Away from appliances that release high levels of heat
• Away from drafty areas in your home
• Not on a metal surface

Another thing you may do is have your Nest thermostat posted near your entranceway where drafts can come in and change the Nest’s display temperature.

You should also ensure that your Nest Thermostat is securely connected to the WiFi.

How to Fix Your Nest Thermostat

To fix your Nest Thermostat from having the wrong temperature displayed you can do a few different things. Nest is known to take up to 24 hours for the Nest Thermostat temperature sensor to update, but it can happen as quickly as five minutes or as slow as two days.

To fix all of the problems we listed above we could do the following:

• Change Nest’s location in your home to somewhere free from drafts or move the sensor
• Mount Nest on a different surface
• Wait 15 minutes after changing the temperature to see if there is a problem

These problems can be annoying but Nest is a good product and you can fix these Nest Thermostat problems with some trial and error.

Final Thoughts

Many Nest thermostat owners have been experiencing a frustrating issue with their Nest Thermostat reading the wrong temperature. But sometimes it is simply a user error. Other times it may be the Nest getting used to your home. If neither of these things is the case, it can be that Nest is near a warm or cold spot in your home.

No matter what causes the Nest thermostat to have an improper temperature reading, there are ways to fix it!