Nest Thermostat Hot Water Help

Doozergirl

I'm not sure if I'm going to get any answers as I don't have all that much information, but my main client has two houses that we put Nest thermostats into and it seems he has the same problem with both houses now and so it has to be something he's doing with the Nest, but I have never used one and I've also always had a combi-boiler so know nothing about living with a system boiler.

I had a message saying that the hot water wasn't heating as it normally does. The engineer came out to do the annual service and told him to put the water heating on 24 hours, I think from the boiler, as it wouldn't overheat it and he'd always have hot water. He did this and it seemed to be okay but he went to house 2 within a couple of days and did the same thing in the house 2. Then I got a message complaining that he'd not had hot water at points, or run out. He then came home to house 1 and after a week is complaining that he has no hot water at the right times again. It's Friday night and he's now annoyed.

I'm at a complete loss as to what to say. I'm not going to get anyone out to him at this time on Friday unless I go, and I'm completely clueless so it's either Google or you lot.

I appreciate that I've not given you anything much in the way of info, but does it give anyone an incling as to what is going on?:o

alumende27

Not knowing any more about the system installation but is he sure it's an issue with the nest? The only times I've had problems with hot water in such an installation was when the motorised valve stopped working and needed replacing.

getmore4less

Chances are they have not been set up properly for his lifestyle.

might be an installation issue if the heating/water demand were not done right.

not a lot of help but I need to read the manuals first as I have a different system(OWL) and it would easy to get the same symptoms.

I will have a read...

just in case it makes a difference do you know which generation next that was installed?

getmore4less

OK

as far as I can tell gen 2 does not do hot water so should be working on the existing timer.

Gen 3 the first think to check is the water heating schedules and if the boost button works.

https://nest.com/uk/support/article/Learn-more-about-the-3rd-generation-Nest-Thermostat-s-domestic-hot-water-control

greenbee

The hot water programme on the nest has to be set - either on the thermostat or the app. It's not part of the learning mechanism. The default has (I think) a morning and evening programme that's the same everyday.

As long as its wired correctly, and turned on, it should heat. Maybe your client could send some screenshots from the app?

Doozergirl

Thanks. I think they're both third generation. They're both less than a year old.

My suspicion is that you are right. He tells me he's set them up to be on for 23.5 hours a day but I don't see how it could be the case. I think he thinks that it's heating randomly but I think it's set up slightly wrong and he's randomly running out.

He put Boost on yesterday and it heated the water.

getmore4less

Doozergirl wrote: »

Thanks. I think they're both third generation. They're both less than a year old.

My suspicion is that you are right. He tells me he's set them up to be on for 23.5 hours a day but I don't see how it could be the case. I think he thinks that it's heating randomly but I think it's set up slightly wrong and he's randomly running out.

He put Boost on yesterday and it heated the water.

That means the nest is controlling the on/off so most likely the timer settings in the app assuming it was the nest boost and not the old water boost.

Has he set the old timer to 23.4hr or the nest times?

setting the hot water schedules
https://nest.com/uk/support/article/How-do-I-change-my-domestic-hot-water-settings

does he use the away functions as that turns off the water?
https://nest.com/uk/support/article/How-Home-Away-Assist-works-with-domestic-hot-water

greenbee

Sounds like you want a screenshot of the hot water programme.

Although I use home/away assist for the heating, I leave he hot water on as normal while heating goes to Eco. This is partly because otherwise I may forget to tell it I'm on my way home and coming back to no hot water as well as a cold house after a long flight is miserable!

If your client is more organised than me he can switch the hot water on when he switches from Eco to Heat prior to arriving. Otherwise programme the periods he wants for hot water and leave it on all the time. If the tank is insulated and he's only away for short periods it won't cost much and will help keep the house above whatever the minimum temp he's set is.

Doozergirl

Thank you for the guidance. It's given me a bit more confidence to go and have a fiddle with it

greenbee

From the hot water perspective it's pretty much the same as any other timer... you just have the ability to control it from your phone (or the website). You could ask your client to give you access to their nest accounts (hopefully they can work that bit out... it's designed so that every phone in the household can be added to the account to a. control it and b. let it know whether anyone is home) so you can see whether they've actually programmed the hot water...

It took me a while to get my head round how it works, but now I've sorted it out (I have zoned the heating so have two - only one of which is wired to the hot water), the house is heating up properly when I need it to and I'm using a lot less oil. (The zoning and having the rads properly balanced may well help with that, but the fact that I'm not heating an empty house because I've decided to go out must help - I can also turn it on from my bed if I'm chilly )

getmore4less

As you seem to provide a full service to your clients if you are installing more of these types(not just nest) of systems it is probably going to be worth getting some on the team to have a copy of all the manuals installation notes and be up to speed on the systems so they can help with the initial setup for the client and do a bit of training if needed.