2.5 hours later and ended up returning Nest Thermostat

[ChuckG73]

I have always wanted to replace my thermostats with Nest and yesterday I finally bit the 250+ dollar bullet. I thought I was being smart by having an HVAC expert do the install. I have a boiler and radiators for heat and central air for cool. He hooked everything up and the boiler kept clicking like it was trying to light when calling for heat. So I called Nest Support...who spent and hour with the HVAC technician troubleshooting the Nest Thermostat and hook up. They did everything, unhook this, unhook that...plug this config in, let me escalate you to senior support.....at the end of it all the NEST support staff said hey it mus be the Nest Unit, we will ship you a new one and return us the one you purchased....

And so I said screw it, returned the NEST and just put back on the old Honeywell which had no problems and still works like a champ. Nest offered to refund me the install cost if I would try again and use a Nest Pro installer. I have already sunk a ton of money on an install that ended up going nowhere. I told them send me a Nest unit and I will pay for the install, that I feel is fair since I could have purchased two and attempted the install myself for what I am ending up paying for having nothing in the end....:'''(

 

[Aquila]

Can't say I blame you. I installed my own last summer when we bought a new furnace and A/C and it was a little bit difficult but worked out in the end.

 

[Almeuit]

Yeah I can't blame you either.. I have a very easy system though (forced air / heat pump) so nothing fancy. Just a few wire hook ups and it has been working like a champ since.

It sucks that happened though. I love my Nest.

 

[maduro78]

That was an expensive mistake

Moto X 2014

 

[ChuckG73]

Can't say I blame you. I installed my own last summer when we bought a new furnace and A/C and it was a little bit difficult but worked out in the end.

Update:

Took the dive and went to Best Buy and used tax refund to purchase 4 Nest Thermostats. I easily hooked up three of them and replaced the old Honeywell's. I saved the one downstairs for last and started yesterday morning around 8:00 AM with the install. I had received an updated wiring map from Nest so I went ahead and got everything hooked up and powered up the house..........

Same problem with the Boiler making a clicking noise, like it is getting too much amperage and then releasing and trying to reload the boiler. Two hours I spent on the phone with Nest Specialist doing everything we could figure out.

Hooked wires up for C/A only: worked
Hooked up wires for boiler only: worked
Hooked both up together: did not work

By 10:15 I caved and decided to use their offer and called a professional Nest installer, that arrived at 3:45 PM. He checked and all the wires and hooked everything up and.....poof......same issue. I had done some research between 10:15 and 3:45 and found where someone was having a similar issue and used a 'peanut relay' to remedy the issue.

I decided to call Nest again and while we waited for the specialist to get on the phone I told the Nest professional about my research and he said "that might work". So he went out to his truck and got a relay and hooked it up between the boiler and air handler and......poof.......same issue, no difference. Boiler still clicked. Man I was really bummed!!!!!

After some head scratching he decided to take out the power for the (Rh) boiler and just use the (Rc) to power the relay and disconnect the (Rh) wire from the Nest. Thereby allowing the power source for the AC to power both and......poof.....IT WORKED!!!!!!

So $577 later and 4.5 hours with a Nest Specialist we got it working. Get Excited!!!!!!!

After I paid and got my invoice, I scanned the receipt and sent it on to Nest, who is paying for the second installation by a Pro Nest Installer. Overall not the best experience but I will say Nest was always available and willing to work with me as a customer and treated me right. I now have 4 Nest Thermostats all hooked up and working and working together.

 

[n1nj4Lo]

Since we're talking bout deals I just got a Nest Thermostat and installed by a old high school friend who is now in the HVAC business, everything for 80 bucks with a 1 year warranty.

Anybody know how long it takes to charge hooked up to a common ground cable basically trickle charging?

 

[Fred Smith9]

Update:

After some head scratching he decided to take out the power for the (Rh) boiler and just use the (Rc) to power the relay and disconnect the (Rh) wire from the Nest. Thereby allowing the power source for the AC to power both and......poof.....IT WORKED!!!!!!

I created a login on this site to thank you for posting this update. I had the same issue and this solution works.

I had a 2nd Gen Nest that worked fine with both an A/C and boiler. I added a new zone to my home and moved my 2nd Gen to the new zone, and put a brand new 3rd Gen in the original more central location. Installation of the 3rd Gen Nest introduced the clicking at the relay, with the call for heat constantly clicking on and off every second for several minutes, and then nothing for some time, and then it would resume. It occurred at random times, but could be induced by turning the heat on then off by raising and dropping the thermostat temperature. My configuration was unchanged for either the 2G or 3G Nests : Y, G, Rc, C to the A/C, Rh, W to the boiler. Same as above, disconnect the A/C the boiler was fine, but when both were connect the clicking return.

Having just now wired both the Rh and Rc to the Rc appears to work (or at least cant be induced by turning on and off the heat.)

A long post just to say thanks and hopefully help others out there. Every post about relay clicking suggests a common wire is needed, but when you already have a common wire and still have the problem, this may be the solution.

 

[ChuckG73]

Glad I could help