Nest Thermostat Integration with HVAC Outdoor Sensor and Aux Heat Mode

General
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Hello fellow smart home enthusiasts! I recently upgraded my HVAC system and encountered some compatibility issues with my older Nest thermostat. After some research, I decided to invest in the latest Nest thermostat (4th generation) to see if it resolves the problems I faced before. Let me share my experiences and questions to get some insights from the community.

Previously, my setup relied on the Nest thermostat to control my HVAC system, but I ran into two main issues:

  1. Outdoor Temperature Sensor Compatibility: My HVAC system comes with a built-in outdoor temperature sensor, which I believe provides more accurate readings specific to my home’s environment. However, the older Nest thermostat relied solely on zip code-based weather data, which sometimes didn’t reflect the actual outdoor conditions at my house. This discrepancy affected how my HVAC system decided to use the heat pump versus the LPG burner.

  2. Auxiliary Heat Mode: Another frustration was the inability to manually switch to the auxiliary/emergency heat mode directly through the Nest thermostat. When running on generator power, I wanted to ensure the heat pump wouldn’t operate, but the old Nest wouldn’t allow me to make this adjustment. My HVAC installers mentioned that the system should automatically failover if the house temperature didn’t rise, but this feature didn’t work as intended.

Now, with the new Nest thermostat, I’m curious to know if these issues have been addressed. Specifically, does the latest model support integrating with my HVAC’s built-in outdoor temperature sensor instead of relying on internet weather data? And most importantly, can I manually enable the auxiliary/emergency heat mode through the thermostat settings or the Nest app?

I’m hopeful that the newer generation of Nest thermostats has improved compatibility with such HVAC systems, but I want to ensure there are no hidden hiccups before making the switch. Any experiences, tips, or troubleshooting advice from those who have gone through a similar setup would be invaluable!

Looking forward to hearing from your experiences and insights!