Learn about your thermostat's maintenance band

When your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system turns on and off frequently, it can use more energy and increase wear on your system. To help prevent this, your Nest thermostat will wait before it turns your system on or off.

This delay is commonly called the maintenance band, differential, or temperature swing. Many thermostat brands and models also use the maintenance band to help prevent system wear.

Understand how the maintenance band works

• The maintenance band allows the temperature in your home to change by a few degrees before it turns your system on or off. You may notice a difference, but you should still be comfortable.

  • For example, when you set your thermostat to cool your home, your target temperature might be 70°F (21.1°C). If the maintenance band is 1°F (0.5°C), the thermostat will cool your home to 69°F (20.6°C) and then turn off your air conditioning. It will wait until your home’s temperature reaches 71°F (21.7°C) before it turns the air conditioning back on.

• When you manually change the target temperature with your Nest thermostat or with the Google Home or Nest app, your thermostat may turn on your system right away. However, it may wait to switch your system on when the room temperature is 1°F (0.5°C) away from the set temperature. It’ll then run your system until the temperature is slightly beyond the target temperature that you’ve set.

• The color of the screen shows if your Nest thermostat is set to turn on your system. For example, if the screen is orange, your thermostat will turn on your heat, while if it's blue, cooling will activate. You'll also notice the temperature screen change color in the app.

• Your thermostat learns over time how quickly your home heats and cools. It automatically adjusts the heating and cooling maintenance bands to balance your comfort and system wear.

Adjust maintenance band settings on Nest Learning Thermostat (4th gen)

1. Open the Google Home app.
2. Tap Home  Climate  your thermostat.
3. Tap Settings Equipment Advanced configuration.
4. Adjust the "Heat temperature difference" and "Cool temperature difference" as preferred.

Related resources

• Nest thermostat temperature modes
• Learn about Nest thermostat displays