How To Set Eco Mode On Nest

Learn about Eco Temperatures and how to change settings

Your Google Nest thermostat can automatically switch to Eco Temperatures after it senses that nobody's home. You'll know Eco Temperatures are active when you see Eco on your thermostat and in the Nest or Google Home app. You can also set Eco Temperatures when you are at home to help save energy.

How Eco Temperatures work

Your Nest thermostat canautomatically switch to Eco Temperatures after it senses that nobody's home. You'll know Eco Temperatures are active when your thermostat says "Eco" on the display or in the Nest or Home app.
You can alsomanually set your thermostat to Eco Temperatures anytime, even when you're home. This can be useful if you want to try to save more energy while you're at home, and you don't mind it being a bit cooler or warmer than usual.
When you manually set your Nest Learning Thermostat or Nest Thermostat E to Eco Temperatures, it will stay in that mode and won't automatically switch back to heating or cooling until you manually switch it to one of those modes. Once you manually switch it to heating or cooling, your thermostat will resume automatically switching as people leave and come back home. Note: A Nest Thermostat will switch out of Eco at the next scheduled temperature change, but you can set a temperature hold at the Eco temperature if you want it for longer.
Your thermostat can also automatically switch to Eco Temperatures if you manually switch your home toAway mode with the Nest or Home app.

How Eco Temperatures affect your system behavior

When your thermostat is set to Eco, your system may still turn on in some cases:

If your home's temperature gets higher than the "Cool to" temperature you've set, your thermostat will turn on cooling until your home cools to the Eco Temperature you set.
If your home's temperature gets lower than the "Heat to" temperature you've set, your thermostat will turn on heating until your home warms to the Eco Temperature you set.

How to select Eco Temperatures that are right for your home

Your Nest thermostat gives you a temperature range that you can select from when you set an Eco Temperature. The Eco Temperature ranges you can choose from are large: 40-70 °F (4-21 °C) for heating mode and 76-90 °F (24-32 °C) for cooling mode.

Factors like your home's construction, local climates, heating and cooling system performance, and your personal comfort preference can vary widely. So we don't make specific Eco Temperature recommendations, but you'll find some general guidelines below to help you choose what's right for your home.

Quick tips

When you're choosing an Eco Temperature setting, the Nest Leaf will appear to let you know you've selected a temperature that can help save energy. The Leaf is only a general guide, so you may save energy even if you choose an Eco Temperature that doesn't have a Leaf.
If you choose "Off" for either the "Heat to" or "Cool to" temperature, your system won't turn on at all when your thermostat is set to Eco until your home reaches the Safety Temperature.
Try to set Eco Temperatures to a level that helps save energy, while making sure that people, pets and plants in your home will be comfortable, and your pipes won't freeze.
You can always change the setting if you're uncomfortable or if you're not saving as much energy as you like.

More help for choosing a temperature

These questions can help you figure out a good Eco Temperature to start with:

What temperature did you set your old thermostat to?

If you want to emphasize your comfort over energy savings, try aHeat to Eco Temperature a few degrees lower, or aCool to temperature a few degrees higher than what you typically left your old thermostat set to most of the time.
If you ever changed your old thermostat's temperature to save energy, what did you set it to?

If you want to try balancing energy savings and comfort, and you:
- had a programmed schedule for your old thermostat
- manually changed the temperature when you left home
Try selecting a slightly lower heating temperature (or higher cooling temperature) than what you set your old thermostat to to save energy. Since your Nest thermostat will only automatically switch to the Eco Temperature when your home is unoccupied, you may not notice the temperature difference.
What do you think are the lowest or highest temperatures that you would be OK with?

If you really want to focus on saving energy, try setting yourHeat to orCool to Eco Temperatures a bit more aggressively, but don't go beyond what you feel will be comfortable for you, other people, and your pets.

Tip: Eco Temperature settings are just one way your Nest thermostat can help you save energy. Learn more about how to improve energy savings.

Example for choosing an Eco Temperature

Let's say you have a heating-only system and like the temperature at 70° F (21° C) when you're home. If your home is well insulated and your system heats your home fairly quickly, you might decide to pick 56° F (13.5° C) as an Eco Temperature. You know your home won't take long to heat to a comfortable temperature after switching out of Eco. So you can try to save more energy while still remaining pretty comfortable.

On the other hand, if your home isn't well insulated and your system is slow to heat it, you might decide on 62° F (16.5° C) Since the Eco Temperature is closer to your preferred temperature, your home should take less time to become comfortable after your thermostat switches out of Eco.

Set Eco Temperatures to turn on automatically when everyone's away

Your thermostat can automatically switch to Eco Temperature when everyone's away and switch to a more comfortable temperature when someone comes home.

If you have a Nest Thermostat, you'll need to set up Home & Away Routines to enable automatic switching.

If you have a Nest Learning Thermostat or Nest Thermostat E, you'll need to set up Home/Away Assist to enable automatic switching.

How to tell which thermostat you have

Your Nest thermostat uses its own activity sensors, sensor data from your other Google Nest products, and your phone's location to tell when everyone has left or someone has come home.
When everyone has left, your thermostat will wait a short while to make sure nobody's coming back, then it will automatically switch to Eco Temperatures.
- Note: Your thermostat may wait up to 1-2 hours before switching to Eco temperatures if you're using device sensors to sense your presence in the home, and the sensors detect activity around the time everyone leaves. This longer wait time will happen even if you're also using phone location to help tell if you're home or not. To avoid this situation, use only phone location to sense presence and disable the other device sensors in your home's presence settings.
If your thermostat has automatically switched to Eco Temperatures, it will switch back to its regular heating or cooling schedule when someone returns home.
Your thermostat will also switch to Eco Temperatures if you manually switch your home to Away mode with the Nest or Home app.
Your thermostat will also leave Eco Temperatures and resume its regular heating or cooling schedule if you change the temperature with the Nest or Home app.

Set Eco Temperatures to hold for a long period of time

Sometimes you want Eco Temperature to stay on for a long period of time. For example, if you go on vacation, you may want your thermostat to maintain Eco Temperature the whole time.

You'll set up long-term Eco Temperature differently depending on your thermostat.

How to tell which thermostat you have

Nest Thermostat

You can set your Nest Thermostat to hold Eco Temperature in the Google Home app .

Open the Home app tap your thermostat Settings .
Tap Hold Eco .
Select the end time you want.
You can also select None if you don't want Eco Temperature to turn off at a set time.
Tap Start.

Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Thermostat E

When you set your thermostat to Eco Temperature manually, it will hold the temperature until you change it.

You can manually switch to Eco Temperatures whenever you want. To use the Nest or Home app or your thermostat, simply choose Eco on the screen where you switch your system's mode. If you've set up the Google Assistant, you can also tell it to switch your thermostat to Eco Temperatures.

Switch thermostat modes

Use the Google Assistant with Nest products

When you manually activate Eco Temperatures, your thermostat will immediately switch.

Behaviors when manually switching to Eco Temperatures

Your thermostat and system behaviors are different when you manually switch to Eco Temperatures compared to when it's automatically set:

It will maintain Eco Temperatures even if someone comes home.
It won't switch back to your regular temperature schedule until you manually switch it to a heating or cooling mode.
If you have more than one thermostat in your home, you'll have to switch each of them to Eco Temperatures individually.
If you manually set your thermostat to Eco Temperature, your home won't switch between Home or Away modes. So the other products in your home won't be affected. For example, your cameras won't switch on or off.
If you manually set your Nest home toAway mode, all your thermostats will automatically switch to Eco Temperatures. They'll switch back to heating or cooling when someone comes home or if they sense motion.
Your home's Away mode is always automatic. Even if you manually set your home to Away, it will switch back to Home mode if your thermostat sees activity or if a phone that's set to help with presence sensing enters the house.

Set Eco Temperatures temporarily when you're at home

You might want to set your thermostat to Eco Temperature for a short time to save energy while you're at home.

You'll set temporary Eco Temperature differently depending on your thermostat.

How to tell which thermostat you have

Nest Thermostat

You can set your thermostat to Eco Temperature in the Google Home app .

Open the Home app tap your thermostat Settings .
Tap Preset Eco .

You can also use a voice command to Google Assistant.

Nest Thermostat will resume your normal schedule when the temperature is next scheduled to change. Or, you can manually adjust to a more comfortable temperature at any time with the thermostat or the Home app.

Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest Thermostat E

Switch thermostat modes

Use the Google Assistant with Nest products

When you manually activate Eco Temperatures, your thermostat will immediately switch without any delay.

Behaviors when manually switching to Eco Temperatures

Your thermostat and system behaviors are different when you manually switch to Eco Temperatures compared to when it's automatically set:

It will maintain Eco Temperatures even if someone comes home.
It won't switch back to your regular temperature schedule until you manually switch it to a heating or cooling mode.
If you have more than one thermostat in your home, you'll have to switch each of them to Eco Temperatures individually.
If you manually set your thermostat to Eco Temperature, your home won't switch between Home or Away modes. So the other products in your home won't be affected. For example, your cameras won't switch on or off.
If you manually set your Nest home toAway mode, all your thermostats will automatically switch to Eco Temperatures. They'll switch back to heating or cooling when someone comes home or if they sense motion.
Your home's Away mode is always automatic. Even if you manually set your home to Away, it will switch back to Home mode if your thermostat sees activity or if a phone that's set to help with presence sensing enters the house.

How to change which temperature Eco heats or cools to

Before you begin

If your Nest Learning Thermostat or Nest Thermostat E controls heating you'll see "Heat to." If it controls cooling, you'll also see a "Cool to" setting. If you have a Nest Thermostat, its heating settings will be orange in the Home app, and its cooling settings will be blue.

Heat to: Your thermostat will turn on heating if the temperature in your home drops below this temperature. A lower setting will let your home get cooler, but can save more energy. You can also choose "Off." If you do, your thermostat will not turn on heating while set to Eco unless your home reaches Safety Temperature.
Cool to: Your thermostat will turn on cooling if the temperature in your home gets higher than this temperature. A higher setting will let your home get warmer, but can usually save more energy. You can also choose "Off." If you do, your thermostat will not turn on cooling while set to Eco unless your home reaches Safety Temperature.
Note: If your Eco Temperature is set to "Off." your thermostat will not turn on your system to heat or cool your home while it's set to Eco unless your home reaches Safety Temperature. Your thermostat will still follow your fan schedule (if you have one) and will maintain Safety Temperature, which helps ensure that your pipes won't freeze and that your home won't become damaged by excessive heat.

With the Nest or Home app

You can change Eco Temperature settings in the Home and Nest apps, depending on which thermostat you have.

With the Home app

Note: If you've set up Home & Away Routines, you can use the Home app to select if your thermostat will use Eco Temperatures while you're home or away.

Change Home & Away Routines settings

With the Nest app

Select your thermostat on the Nest app home screen.
Tap Settings in the top right corner of the screen.
SelectHome/Away Assist.
- At the top of the screen you can disable automatically switching to Eco Temperatures.
- You can also select if your thermostat will use Eco Temperatures while you're home or away.
Tap onEco Temperatures to set the temperature range.
To adjust the range, drag the slider.

Tip:The Nest Leaf leaf icon will appear to let you know you've chosen a temperature that can help save energy.

With your thermostat

Press your thermostat ring to open theQuick View menu.
SelectSettings.
SelectEco.
Select the temperature you want. If your thermostat controls heating you'll seeHeat to. If it controls cooling, you'll also seeCool to.
Press the thermostat ring to select the temperature you want to change. Turn the ring to adjust it, then press again to set it.
Tip:The Nest Leaf will appear to let you know you've chosen a temperature that can help save energy.
SelectDone to save your changes.

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