The Nest thermostat is one of the top-selling smart thermostats you can buy. And for good reason. It learns your temperature preferences and develops an energy-efficient schedule to match. And by geofencing with your phone, the Nest Learning Thermostat and Nest E know when you’re at your house or gone and can adjust settings to help you save even more.

The Nest can be used with a wide range of 24-volt heating and cooling systems, but it’s always a wise idea to use the Nest thermostat compatibility checker before installing one. Don’t forget to talk with your energy provider for valuable rebates, because you may be able to get a Nest for free or close to it.

Once you’ve confirmed it’s compatible, you can either hook it up on your own or contact a HVAC pro like Paniccia Heating & Cooling. If you’re installing it yourself, you’ll notice a terminal for the C-wire, or common wire. This wire is just used for powering your thermostat. If your residence or HVAC system is older, you might not have one of these wires. Most of the time, Nest says this isn’t a problem as the thermostat can pull enough power from other heating and cooling wires.

Sometimes, your heating and cooling system may have to have that C-wire. And here’s why.

Why Your Nest Keeps Losing Power and Other Problems

The Google Nest Thermostat is an improvement from outdated programmable thermostats that have a combination of wiring and AA batteries for power. It uses a rechargeable lithium-ion battery and wiring to sync with Wi-Fi, power its digital display and turn on your heating and cooling system.

8 Common Nest Thermostat Malfunctions

If it can’t get adequate power, Nest says you could have some of these problems:

  1. Bad battery life.
  2. Thermostat motion sensing is disabled.
  3. Your thermostat sometimes disconnects from Wi-Fi.
  4. Your system suddenly turns on or off, or won’t shut off.
  5. Your system is creating weird noises, including chattering, stuttering, clicking or thumping.
  6. Heating or cooling is short cycling, or constantly turning on and off in a short period of time.
  7. There is a delay notice on your Nest thermostat’s screen, such as “heating is delayed for 2:30 minutes.”
  8. The system fan is always running, won’t switch on or turns off and on rapidly in a short period of time.

You might believe something is suspect with your heating and cooling system, but if you just started using the Nest, we recommend you start with your thermostat initially. This is especially timely if the weather is mild, and you haven’t been using your heat or air conditioning much.

Our Professionals Can Resolve Nest Thermostat Issues

If you’ve gone through Nest thermostat troubleshooting on your own but can’t fix the issue, a smart thermostat pro including one from Paniccia Heating & Cooling can assist you. We can determine the issue and install a C-wire, if needed.

Smart thermostats including the Nest are made to make your life easier, with automatic energy-efficient programming and the opportunity to keep an eye on temperatures while you’re out. It’s an annoying experience when yours won’t run properly, but our heating and cooling specialists at Paniccia Heating & Cooling can fix the issue fast.

If you’re running into unexplained heating and cooling behavior with your new Nest, reach out to us at to request your appointment right away.