The instructions depend on the thermostat model you have. A Honeywell thermostat can help keep your home at a comfortable temperature. Your Nest thermostat isn’t set up right. If there's a wire in the W1 connector, make sure it says, If there's a wire in the O/B connector, make sure it says. Discussion on Google Nest products, including installation and configuration. As we mentioned above, AUX heat usually costs up to 50% more than heat transfer, which means if your system is running on AUX heat when it shouldn’t be, your heating bill is likely going to be a lot higher than you’d like it to be. We are experiencing longer than normal wait times for support. My heat pump works pretty well as long as it isn't below 30 outside. Note: If Alt heat (not AUX heat) appears, your Nest Thermostat E is configured to work with a dual fuel system. Go to the first section of this article for steps on how to check. If it gets colder outside than the set lockout temperature, your heat pump will use AUX heat. You should rarely need to use Emergency Heat. If Emergency Heat isn't working after you’ve finished installation, or there's no Emergency Heat option for your Nest thermostat: If you’re sure your system has emergency heat, double check the Star  connector’s setting. Then from the thermostat itself, go to Settings/Equipment/Continue/Continue/Heat Pump/Press whatever is currently selected Now you come to the setting: "Use the heat pump compressor when the outside temperature is above" This is the compressor lockout option that you cannot set from within the app. Both of these wires are needed for Emergency Heat. It's the max temperature to allow AUX Heat to kick on. Our suggestion would be to reach out to a professional as soon as possible. When it gets quite cold out, my heat pump can do nothing but blow cool air unless Aux heat activates. Now though, there’s a swath of new devices like smart cams, smartphones, and smart wearables that can make your smarthome just a little bit brainier. You can manually adjust this in the app. Once you're sure, you can assume that the X is the auxiliary heat and should be inserted into the AUX/W2 connector on the Nest Thermostat Knowing the difference between your heat pump’s auxiliary heat and emergency heat will help address the question from above. My Nest 3 seems to ignore the aux lockout even with safety temps disabled. I've decided to get a Nest thermostat, and chatted with the folks at Nest … Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts, https://nest.com/support/article/What-is-Heat-Pump-Balance, https://nest.com/support/article/What-s-Emergency-Heat-and-does-Nest-support-it. If you have a heat pump, it is best to increase your heat setting by only two degrees at a time to prevent your auxiliary heat from operating. Doing this with the Nest, I was able to see how much my furnace still had to run at night to keep the heat at 60. If it’s 30 degrees outside, it is unreasonable to expect the system to maintain an indoor temperature of 78 without using the heat strips. You’ll find a picture of which wires are connected to your Nest thermostat and which function they control. However, aux heat always comes on during normal heat calls. Emergency heat is only compatible with Heat Pump systems. There are a few ways to tell if your system has Emergency Heat: When you’re installing a Nest thermostat, the app will guide you through installation and setup. Looks like you're using new Reddit on an old browser. It's still dead, but the guy is finally coming tomorrow with a neat HVAC unit (the warranty folks dragged their feet for two months, fun!). Leaky Refrigerant During hot weather, the refrigerant catches heat inside your home and sends it outside. turn on the fan and after a minute or two you should feel distinctly warm air coming out of the vents. EM heat is NOT the same thing as AUX heat: AUX heat signifies that your heat pump has automatically switched over to backup heating because temperatures are too low. In this video we go over the heat pump balance feature in the programming of the NEST thermostat. In case your heat pump isn't working correctly, you can select to always use alt heat.This video introduces 2 method to force alt heat to turn on.1. The problem is when the temp drops 2 degrees below the desired temp and the heat turns on, it simply blows cool air until that 4 degree spread is hit which then kicks on the Aux heat. The heat pump balance setting may make a difference: https://nest.com/support/article/What-is-Heat-Pump-BalanceOtherwise you may want to change the AUX heat connection to Emergency heat. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this time. First turn off Heat Pump Balance. It has been driving me crazy. HEAT" or "EMERGENCY HEAT". Important: Emergency Heat is usually expensive and inefficient. Open the Home app and tap your thermostat. It will then turn back on when the temp drops a few degrees below the set point. Which is 1.5 to 2 degrees lower than thermostat set point - the electric heat or auxiliary heat would then come on to make up the temperature difference. So while the heat does turn on at a 2 degree difference, it will blow cool air from that point until the 4 degree swing is met. Follow these simple tips to keep everything working correctly: Schedule preventative maintenance every six months. You’re a wonderful human being for sharing this. It should really be smart enough to realize that it isn't able to heat and immediately kick in aux heat when it knows it's so cold outside! I set this to 30, but I may lower it after some testing. Your heat pump’s manual or manufacturer says your model has it. Replaced the Ritetemp because touch screen went out. Your system doesn’t have Emergency Heat. On the Nest Thermostat: Push the Thermostat > Turn the outside dial clockwise to Mode > Push the Thermostat again to select to turn the heat on or off, depending on which setting it is on. Emergency Heat, also known as “auxiliary heat”, is the second stage of heat that your thermostat runs on when the temperature is too cold for your heat pump to extract heat from the outside. Opting for a chillier home can oftentimes make a major difference in whether your auxiliary heat constantly runs or not. You all helped me a few months back when my heat died. If your house is never getting much past the target it may think it needs to keep heating. The home temperature raises to a point just short of the thermostat set point and then the auxiliary heat turns off as soon as possible. Press the thermostat ring to bring up the. I saw some setting about when the outside temp reached X degrees, start using Aux heat. Recently replaced my Honeywell stats (split system) with Nest stats (upstairs/downstairs) System: Heat Pump 2 Ton/all electric/with aux heat - location North Carolina Having at least a perceived problem with upstairs system and the Nest operation. When ice accumulates on the outside of your water heater, you will need to unfreeze it. Double check your wiring diagram and that the wires are in the correct connectors on your Nest thermostat. Difference Between Auxiliary Heat and Emergency Heat. Aux heat still doesn't start until the difference between set temp and current temp is 4 degrees. I'd like to just set it 3 degrees higher to 61 and let the heat pump raise the temp without the aux heat. Go to the troubleshooting section below for the correct settings. If you there are no wires in the O/B connector or W1 connector, make sure they haven’t come unplugged. I frequently set the Honeywell TH8000 from 58 to 61 degrees at random times and to keep the aux heat from kicking in I have to setup the thermostat up 1 degree at a time. The site may not work properly if you don't, If you do not update your browser, we suggest you visit, Press J to jump to the feed. Get an answer from an expert on the Google Home Help Forum. In either case, you should have a professional assess the situation. Select your thermostat below. Tell us more and we’ll help you get there, Your current thermostat has a switch or a button labeled “Emergency.”. Therefore, a heating system stuck in AUX heat will run up an energy bill. The Nest Thermostat is pretty easy to use, but it isn’t so apparent how to turn off the thermostat when you don’t need heating or air conditioning on.. RELATED: How to Install and Set Up the Nest Thermostat Sure, you could just set the Nest to “Away” to stop it from heating and cooling, but that won’t work very well if you have Home/Away Assist enabled. Check in Settings  Equipment. For the most part, you can stop the auxiliary heat from coming on by making a few lifestyle changes in your daily routine. Nest tries to heat a couple degrees past the set point and then shuts off. If the home temperature goes down one, or sometimes two degrees, this causes the thermostat to bring on the auxiliary heat for a very short boost to supplement the heat pump. But that didn't seem to have the desired effect. Then you can can have Nest in Emergency mode that skips the heat pump. If you there are no wires in the O/B connector or W1 connector, make sure they haven’t come unplugged. The Nest itself lights up red, indicating that it's aware that it should be using emergency heat. After chatting with an online rep who had no clue what he was doing, and assured me this was not the setting I was looking for, I did it anyway and it does exactly what I wanted. First turn off Heat Pump Balance. heat pump balance doesn't seem to do anything other than raise the outside temp level that the aux heat is able to kick in. Bless you kind person. Some heatpumps can take longer than others to warm up and finally start giving heat. Once it gets close to the actual setpoint, the aux heat de-energizes and the heat pump mode of the system remains operating to generate heat and will shut off if the temperature is satisfied. So, if I want to minimize aux and maximize normal heat, I should set the compressor lockout to always use, and set the aux lockout to a low number? Add a few layers to your outfit or sleep with an extra blanket to keep your furnace from working so hard. Then click Done/Done/Scroll to the end and exit settings. Types of AUX heat (and why it matters) Heat pumps have 2 forms of AUX heat: Electric resistance (default) Gas furnace; The electric resistance option is like the electric coils you see inside your toaster. Temps right now are around 20 at night and 30-31 during the day. Ice has accumulated on the outside of your heat pump This is another reason why the auxiliary heat maybe going on. The app will ask you to enter the wires on your current thermostat. Always follow this diagram to connect the Emergency Heat wire to the right thermostat connector. Your current thermostat has a connector labeled E, and there’s a wire in it. This is the AUX lockout temp that is controlled by Heat Pump Balance. EM heat is an option on your thermostat that you can manually turn on to activate backup heating. 3. Now you see this option: "Use the heat pump auxiliary heat when the outside temperature of below". But if your thermostat is not holding temperature then your home will feel cooler than it should. Next, open the Home app and tap on your thermostat. Check to make sure that your O/B wire is fully inserted. Auxiliary Heat. You should verify that the X wire on the old thermostat is not a common wire. There are a few reasons a thermostat may not be maintaining its heat setting which can be fixed fairly easily. The correct settings depend on your Nest thermostat model: Pull off your thermostat’s display to check if there’s a wire in the Star. The default is always use. But the house just doesn't warm up until it gets above freezing, indicating that the emergency heat is never coming on. The minimum is -25, and you can adjust it up to 32. Your Nest thermostat will use Emergency Heat to reach your set temperature as needed until you manually turn it off. It shuts off the compressor and uses only AUX heat when the outside temp is below this number. Last year I also had a Rite Temp t-stat that did not use the aux heat nearly as much as the current honewell. If there's a wire in the W1 connector, make sure it says AUX heat.