Nest airwave is an advanced thermostat feature that helps you save energy by optimizing the use of your HVAC air conditioner within your home.
What is Nest Airwave?
Nest airwave is a built-in energy-saving feature on your Nest Thermostat. It automatically shuts off the compressor in the connected air conditioner just before the room reaches the optimal temperature.
This feature can help you save up to 10% on your HVAC bill every month.
How it works and how it reduces energy consumption?
Nest Airwave works as a buffer for your air conditioner. Every air conditioner has two integral parts – the compressor, and the fan. The compressor works to generate the temperature you want, and the fan distributes the temperature throughout your room.
The compressor turns off once it reaches the desired temperature. Then the fan keeps on running to evenly flow the air from your Air Conditioner to every corner of your home.
Where does the Nest airwave come in?
The compressor in your air conditioner can keep on producing the same level of cold air for 5-10 minutes after it shuts off. So technically you can turn off the compressor 5-10 minutes before reaching the desired temperature.
This is where the Nest airwave comes into play.
It will automatically shut down the compressor before reaching the desired temperature, thus saving you a little energy every time you turn on your Air Conditioner.
How to configure Airwave
The Airwave feature is a great way to reduce energy consumption, thus saving you money. This feature is supported on Nest devices that have Air Conditioner control from an HVAC system (Split System or Packaged HVAC).
Depending on the humidity in your room, Airwave might or might not turn on. If you haven’t yet activated this feature, you can do it using the Nest app or directly from your Nest Thermostat.
After you activate the Nest airwave feature, your Next thermostat will calculate for how long the compressor on your air conditioner can keep producing bursts of cool air after you turn it off. Once it has this information, it will automatically shut off your compressor before hitting the target temperature.
- On your Nest Thermostat, hit the ring to open the Quick View menu.
- Now navigate to Settings >> Nest Sense >> Airwave
- There you will see two options, Airwave On, Airwave Off
- Turn on the Airwave
- You will see a green checkmark appear beside it after it is activated
- or From your Nest App, open Settings
- Select your Thermostat
- Select Airwave
- Toggle the button to turn it off/on
- When the Nest airwave feature is active, you will see a blue swirl icon on your thermostat’s display
What humidity level triggers Airwave
As mentioned earlier, the Airwave feature might turn off or on depending on the humidity level in your apartment. If the humidity level in your home is high, the Nest Airwave feature will remain dormant.
What is that humidity level you ask? Your Nest thermostat calculates the level that is optimal for the surroundings. When the humidity falls below that level, the airwave feature will turn on. So the humidity level at which the airwave turns on will vary from household to household.
Outside Humidity
Your Nest thermostat considers the humidity on the outside as well. If you just moved into a brand new apartment, or if your home is well insulated, the Nest thermostat will turn on if the humidity outside is higher.
If the humidity in your home stays above the optimal humidity level, Nest will keep the compressor on your air conditioner running for the entire duration to lower the humidity.
Does the Nest Airwave save you money?
Every air conditioner can be divided into two distinct parts – the compressor, and the fan. The compressor requires higher power to function. Your Air Conditioner bill accumulates and increases over time, and this can be attributed to the compressor. On the other hand, the fan requires very little energy.
Nest airwave helps you save energy by shutting off the compressor when your Air conditioner is 5-10 minutes away from hitting the desired temperature. As the compressor can keep on producing the same level of cool air even 5-10 minutes after it is shut off, you can save money every time you use the air conditioner, and have to make no compromise with the temperature.
You will find the Nest airwave feature to be highly beneficial during summer days when you have the air conditioner running at all times. If you have a Nest thermostat, you can save energy costs during the summer, when all your neighbors around you are struggling to keep their electricity bills low.
What is Nest Seasonal Savings?
The Nest Seasonal Savings feature learns about your home and your temperature habits over time. In early winter and summer, with these insights, it tweaks your schedule. It also accounts for energy cost peaks during the day and automatically tweaks the schedule to focus on saving energy during these times.
Likely, you will never notice these tweaks as the changes are subtle and may only result in changes of 1°F or 1°C. You will still get the benefit from these changes with a slightly reduced energy bill.
Smart Home Recipes with Nest Thermostat
Speaking of saving energy, did you know users can use the popular App IFTTT with your Nest thermostats?
Of the 40+ recipes, there are two built for saving energy with a Nest Thermostat. The first allows you to set your Nest to a certain temperature when the outside temperature goes above a certain level. While the other, allows you to set a temperature if the outside temperature drops below a specific threshold.
Visit the IFTTT app to learn more – https://ifttt.com/nest_thermostat
About Nest Thermostat
Nest is a popular brand for smart home appliances. You can control your Nest thermostat with your voice via Alexa or Google Assistant or by using the Nest App. Along with setting a preferred temperature schedule for your home, the Nest thermostat can also help you save money with its Geofencing and learning algorithms.
The Verdict
In this article, we looked at the Nest Airwave feature that will work on any Nest thermostat capable of controlling the central cooling system at your home.
If you have a model that supports the Nest Airwave feature, we hope now you know how to toggle it on and save energy every time you turn on your air conditioner.
If you have any questions, please leave a comment below!