Nest Thermostat wont turn on fan

[never_here]

so before we go into the electricals, this was installed by a pro, and has been working for the whole summer just fine.

 

BUT, now that its been cooling down these days, due to fall, i noticed the scheduled fan, and manual turning on the fan, will no longer function.

 

During summer, we'd do 30 mins, every 1 hour, from 3pm to 9am to help circulate the air as needed, with AC keeping the house to max 27C during the day, so our guinea pigs dont get cooked, and usually down to 24.5 around bed time, and back to 27 around 1am.  

This worked perfectly, and due to the fan scheduling, it just helped push cool basement air to the top floors which worked great.  All tested, worked fine.

 

Now that its cooled down, the fan wont turn on, UNLESS, AC is on with it.  I dont know why this is the case.  I can't have any air circulation since temps dropped under 24C average.  Its like because the home is too cool or something, it doesn't feel the need to turn on.  But i need it on for number of reasons.  Air circulation, prevent humid areas staying humid like washrooms, and to help filter the air in general with the HVAC filter installed.  

I can't even manually turn it on like before, and i've even dropped the temp down to 25 when it was 24.5C to see if it would turn on at that point, and it never did as well.  

Why is this happening?  Why is Nest preventing me from doing what i want?  

PS, my current settings and current situation,

inside humidity 59%,

Outside Temp 17C,

inside temp 24C, thermostat set to 27C,

Home/Away Assis is off,

Auto schedule Off, 

Time-To-Temp ready

Eary-On - off

Cool to Dry - Off

Sunblock - On

Leaf = Ready

Airwave - On

fan schedule - everyday 30 mins per hour, 3pm - 7am

 

Next Thermostat E - 1st Generation

wiring - Y1, G, R, W1 (cool, fan, power, heat)  C & O*B is not connected

 

I searched online, and nest doesn't seem to really give must support to this.  I actually sent in a ticket a couple months ago about a login issue but never got a response either.  

 

[Needfuldoer]

30 minutes ago, never_here said:

so before we go into the electricals, this was installed by a pro, and has been working for the whole summer just fine.

Was the fan running fine all summer by itself, or was the fan coming on when the thermostat called for cool?

 

Make sure the green wire is making good contact on the Nest mount and the furnace/air handler.

 

If it is, try connecting the red and green wires. That's all a thermostat does to run just the fan. If the fan runs, your problem is the thermostat. If the fan doesn't run, the problem is elsewhere.

 

If the fan doesn't run when you connect red and green at the thermostat, try connecting them together at the furnace or air handler's control board.

 

 

 

[never_here]

4 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

Was the fan running fine all summer by itself, or was the fan coming on when the thermostat called for cool?

The fan was running fine by itself all summer.  I had the fan scheduled on, and worked fine.  Also did a few manual runs as certain days were particularly more humid too.  Can say i stood by it for the 2 hour manual runs i did, but seemed fine.  

 

This is the odd part.  Despite it COULD be the wiring issue, i doubt it.  the install was from a pro, and i did over watch it, dont think it would be a wiring error, or lack of contact.  I could take it apart later, but i'd prefer not to, as it was working. 

The issue i also have is that, there are MULTITUDES of similar issues posted online, but, Nest support never posted an actual solution.  They just close the topic as more and more people posting the same situation. 

 

I'm wondering if anyone on the LTT forums by chance went through a fix.  The issue is, the BEST solution that was ever given in Nest's support forums was a work around, that allowed the fans to turn off, by basically turning off other smart features.  I already did that anyway, so it didn't matter to me, but in my case, those work arounds didn't work for me either. 

 

So hoping a community member here has a nest, and may have potentially gone through the process of finding the solution that worked.  

 

 

[Needfuldoer]

20 minutes ago, never_here said:

Despite it COULD be the wiring issue, i doubt it.  the install was from a pro, and i did over watch it, dont think it would be a wiring error, or lack of contact.  I could take it apart later, but i'd prefer not to, as it was working. 

Pros screw up too.

 

If you don't want to take it down, look in the furnace for the other end of the cable. It should end up at a bunch of screw terminals. Jumper the red and green together like in the video and see if the fan kicks in. If it doesn't, the problem is your furnace. If it works, the problem is your thermostat or its wiring.

 

Sorry I can't help you with specifics, but I have a heat pump and each zone has a wireless remote. 

[Zomeguy]

What mode are you set to? Heat, Cool, Heat + Cool or Off?

 

 

[dalekphalm]

On 9/26/2023 at 10:50 AM, never_here said:

The fan was running fine by itself all summer.  I had the fan scheduled on, and worked fine.  Also did a few manual runs as certain days were particularly more humid too.  Can say i stood by it for the 2 hour manual runs i did, but seemed fine.  

 

This is the odd part.  Despite it COULD be the wiring issue, i doubt it.  the install was from a pro, and i did over watch it, dont think it would be a wiring error, or lack of contact.  I could take it apart later, but i'd prefer not to, as it was working. 

The issue i also have is that, there are MULTITUDES of similar issues posted online, but, Nest support never posted an actual solution.  They just close the topic as more and more people posting the same situation. 

 

I'm wondering if anyone on the LTT forums by chance went through a fix.  The issue is, the BEST solution that was ever given in Nest's support forums was a work around, that allowed the fans to turn off, by basically turning off other smart features.  I already did that anyway, so it didn't matter to me, but in my case, those work arounds didn't work for me either. 

 

So hoping a community member here has a nest, and may have potentially gone through the process of finding the solution that worked.  

 

 

Unfortunately, as part of troubleshooting, you need to eliminate as many variables as possible.

 

Eliminating the wiring variable is by far the easiest, and you really should do this first before attempting any software solutions.

 

As @Needfuldoer suggested, go to your furnace, find the wiring board, and Jump the Red + Green wires together (You can use a small strip of wire to do this, or there are more creative ways that I won't get into). See what happens. If it works, then go to the Thermostat, take it off, and jump the Red + Green wires there and see what happens. If it still works, you've now eliminated wiring and the furnace itself as the issue, and you now know with 100% certainty that it's the Nest.

 

At that point, you need to work through the warranty process.

 

However, if you jump the wires and it fails, the Nest is likely not even involved in the problem, and you need to call a Service Tech to come out and check your furnace system.

 

Ignoring the possible wiring issue is very likely just wasting your time, since it's so easy and quick to check and test.

[never_here]

21 hours ago, Zomeguy said:

What mode are you set to? Heat, Cool, Heat + Cool or Off?

 

 

cool atm, hot days coming again, and even on colder evenings, my house never goes below like 23.  guinea pigs could die over 28C, so i leave it at 27C Cool.
 

20 hours ago, dalekphalm said:

Unfortunately, as part of troubleshooting, you need to eliminate as many variables as possible.

 

Eliminating the wiring variable is by far the easiest, and you really should do this first before attempting any software solutions.

 

As @Needfuldoer suggested, go to your furnace, find the wiring board, and Jump the Red + Green wires together (You can use a small strip of wire to do this, or there are more creative ways that I won't get into). See what happens. If it works, then go to the Thermostat, take it off, and jump the Red + Green wires there and see what happens. If it still works, you've now eliminated wiring and the furnace itself as the issue, and you now know with 100% certainty that it's the Nest.

 

At that point, you need to work through the warranty process.

 

However, if you jump the wires and it fails, the Nest is likely not even involved in the problem, and you need to call a Service Tech to come out and check your furnace system.

 

Ignoring the possible wiring issue is very likely just wasting your time, since it's so easy and quick to check and test.

Ya, haven't had the time go to through that atm.  We put a guinea pig cage infront of the thermostat because it was the best place for it, as it would also keep the temperature regulated for the pigs, without additional hardware, and was able to remote in the thing for adjustments.  But i'll be doing my checks as winter is approaching and best to get this dealt with.  Thanks