Learn about Eco Temperatures, Auto Eco and how to change settings

 Your Google Nest thermostat can automatically switch to Eco Temperatures after it senses 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’re at home to help save energy.

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

How Eco Temperatures work 

• Your Nest thermostat can automatically switch to Eco Temperatures after it senses 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.
  Tip: In the Home app for Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen), the display will show “Auto-Eco” if it senses no one’s home, “Eco hold” if you’ve manually selected your Eco Temperature preset, or “Adaptive Eco” if you turned on the Adaptive Eco setting, which automatically adjusts your Eco Temperature preset. For more information about Adaptive Eco, refer to Adaptive Comfort and Adaptive Eco.
• You can also manually 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 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’ll 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 works differently. It’ll always switch out of Eco Temperatures at the next scheduled temperature change. But you can manually set your thermostat to hold the Eco Temperatures for up to 24 hours.
• Your thermostat can also automatically switch to Eco Temperatures if you manually switch your home to Away mode with the Nest or Home app.

How Eco Temperatures affect your system behavior

When your thermostat is set to Eco, your system might 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.
• If you have the Adaptive Eco setting turned on (Nest Learning Thermostat 4th gen only), your thermostat will keep your Eco Temperatures close enough to your Comfort Temperature to be able to return to it within an hour.

How to select Eco Temperatures that are right for your home 

Your Nest thermostat gives you a temperature range you can select from when you set an Eco Temperature. The Eco Temperature ranges you can choose from are: 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. We don’t have 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 might 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 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 not saving as much energy as you’d 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 a Heat to Eco Temperature a few degrees lower, or a Cool to temperature a few degrees higher than what you typically set your old thermostat to most of the time.

When you leave home, do you normally change your thermostat's temperature to save energy?
Try selecting a slightly lower heating temperature or higher cooling temperature than your old thermostat setting for when you leave your home. Your Nest thermostat only switches to the Eco Temperature when your home is unoccupied, so you might not notice the temperature difference.

• What do you think are the lowest or highest temperatures you’d be OK with?
  If you really want to focus on saving energy, try setting your heating and cooling for 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.

Considerations for choosing an Eco Temperature

Let’s say you have a heating-only system and prefer 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 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.

If you have the Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) you can also choose to use Adaptive Eco to moderate a more aggressive Eco temp depending on factors like the outdoor temperature.

Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)	Use the Eco Temperature preset to quickly adjust to energy-saving temperatures. Auto-Eco turns on when the thermostat senses that your home is empty or if you manually turn on the Away state in the app. When this happens, the Home app displays “Auto-Eco” as the thermostat’s current status. If you have the Adaptive Eco setting turned on, your thermostat will adjust your Eco Temperature to make sure the temperature in your home can return to your Comfort temperature within one hour. When this setting is active, you’ll see “Adaptive Eco” as your thermostat’s current status in the Home app. For details, refer to Adaptive Comfort and Adaptive Eco. To manually switch to your Eco Temperature preset, use the Hold function and select Eco. The Home app will show “Eco hold” at the thermostat’s current status. Eco Mode explained on Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)
Nest Thermostat	Use the Eco preset to quickly adjust to energy-saving temperatures manually or in its temperature schedule. When you manually set the Eco preset, it’ll be overridden by the next temperature set in the schedule. If you want to use Eco temperatures for longer without changing the temperature schedule, you can hold the temperature of the Eco preset.
Nest Thermostat E and Nest Learning Thermostat	Switch to Eco the same way as other temperature modes. However, there are some key differences in how your thermostat will behave in Eco compared to other modes: When you manually switch to Eco, your thermostat will ignore all scheduled temperatures until you manually switch it back to heating or cooling. If your thermostat automatically switched to Eco Temperatures because everyone was away, it’ll switch back to your normal temperatures when someone comes home.

 

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 Learning Thermostat (4th gen) or Nest Thermostat, you’ll need to set up Home & Away Routines to enable automatic switching.

If you have a Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen or earlier) or Nest Thermostat E, you’ll need to set up Home/Away Assist to enable automatic switching.

How to tell which Nest 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 automatically switch to Eco Temperatures.
  Note: Your thermostat might 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’ll 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 might 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 Nest thermostat you have

Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) and Nest Thermostat

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

1. Open the Home app .
2. Tap Favorites or Devices .
3. Touch and hold your thermostat's tile  tap Hold Eco .
4. Select an end time you then tap Start.

Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen or earlier) and Nest Thermostat E

When you set your thermostat to Eco Temperature manually, it’ll 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 Google Assistant, you can also tell it to switch your thermostat to Eco Temperatures.

• Nest thermostat temperature modes
• Use 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’ll 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 individually switch each of them to Eco Temperatures.
• 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 to Away 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’ll switch back to Home mode if your thermostat sees activity or 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 Temperatures for a short time to save energy while you’re at home. 

You’ll set temporary Eco Temperatures differently, depending on your thermostat. 

How to tell which Nest thermostat you have

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

Home app

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

1. Open the Google Home app .
2. Tap Favorites or Devices .
3. Touch and hold your thermostat's tile  Tap Hold Eco . 
4. Select an end time then tap Start.

You can also use a voice command with Google Assistant. 

Note: 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 Home app.

Nest thermostat temperature modes

Use 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’ll 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 individually switch each of them to Eco Temperatures.
• If you manually set your thermostat to Eco Temperature, your home won’t switch between Home or Away modes. So 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 to Away 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’ll switch back to Home mode if your thermostat sees activity or 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 (3rd gen or earlier) or Nest Thermostat E controls heating, you’ll see “Heat to.” If it controls cooling, you’ll see a “Cool to” setting. If you have a Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen) or 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 won’t 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 won’t turn on cooling while set to Eco unless your home reaches Safety Temperature.

Note: If your Eco Temperature is set to Off, your thermostat won’t 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 your pipes won’t freeze and your home won’t become damaged by excessive heat.

With the Home app

Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)

1. Open the Google Home app .

2. Tap Favorites or Devices .
3. Touch and hold your thermostat's tile.
4. Tap Settings .
5. Tap Temperature preferences Temperature presets Eco.
6. Tap the plus or minus sign next to the temperature you want to adjust.
    

Nest Thermostat

1. Open the Google Home app .

2. Tap Favorites or Devices .
3. Touch and hold your thermostat's tile.
4. Tap Settings .
5. Select the day of the week you want, then tap Eco.
6. Tap the plus or minus sign next to the temperature you want to adjust.
7. Change the start time if needed.
8. Tap Save.

Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd gen or earlier) and Nest Thermostat E

1. Open the Google Home app .

2. Tap Favorites or Devices .
3. Touch and hold your thermostat's tile.
4. Tap Settings .
5. Tap Temperature preferences Eco Temperatures.
6. Tap the plus or minus sign next to the temperature you want to adjust.

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

Nest app

1. Select your thermostat on the Nest app home screen.
2. Tap Settings  in the top right corner of the screen.
3. Select Home/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.
4. Tap Eco Temperatures to set the temperature range.
5. To adjust the range, drag the slider.
   Tip: The Nest Leaf  will appear to let you know you’ve chosen a temperature that can help save energy.

With your thermostat

1. Press your thermostat ring to open the Quick View menu.
2. Select Settings  Eco.
3. Select the temperature you want. If your thermostat controls heating you’ll see “Heat to.” If it controls cooling, you’ll also see “Cool to.”
4. Press the thermostat ring to select the temperature you want to change. Turn the ring to adjust, then press again to set.