Check out our new tool deals website! We've put a lot of work into it and built it to only show tools with the largest discount for *Knipex, Klein, Milwaukee, Dewalt, and Makita:* deals.benjaminsahlstrom.com/ Also, if you're interested subscribers get *$25 off the Sense Home Energy Monitor* by using code BENJAMIN at checkout: store.sense.com/discount/BENJAMIN

I was going to ask why the red wire from the outside unit was tied into the red, but then I realized it was just supplying 24 volts to the cooling. this was a really great video. I've impressed with your knowledge on all these different systems from older to newer. Great job, Ben!

I’m not even working on any HVAC project….and I found it very interesting. Thanks for all the hard work producing it. Great job.

The best and most helpful video on Nest ever. Was struggling with the wiring between the furnace, air handler and Nest. This video nailed all the ambiguities to the point. Thanks much!

Great job explaining the step by step, my son bought the Nest Thermostat with the mirror face, I’m going to set it up and wondered about the jumper wire and you explained it perfectly

Excellent video as always. I have a Nest 1st gen and a 3rd gen in same house. I liked Nest better when Nest was Nest and not Google. I think Nest has several design problems but the worst one and so easy to fix but they seem oblivious to the problem is when you turn the dial on the wall or in the app, it INSTANTLY heats or cools. There should be a 5 second delay before accepting the temperature change. This because it is easy to make a mistake and overshoot your intended temperature setting, especially using the app.

Wow as a designer I never noticed the similarities between the two devices, I've used the honeywell in a bunch of places and outside in the world but great job with the video! I think since this may be people coming in to look at the info and then bounce, it'd be good if you come up with a good way to tell people to subscribe, etc... so that it makes you different from your videos... just a constructive thought! good job again with the video, audio and video are 10/10!

Best explanation on how to replace and old Honeywell thermostat!

When I first installed my Nest 3rd gen, I had just the R/W/Y/G wires in the wall, and the Nest would regularly run out of power every few days. That was an annoyance in summer, when we could instead run some fans and open some windows, but it's dangerous to have that happen in winter. I knew that it was connected to the air handler in the attic, and that it had a 5-wire cable running to the t-stat. So I fished the cable out the wall, and sure enough, there was the C wire wrapped around the cable. I plugged it in to the plate for the Nest and solved the battery-discharge problem. Later, when I installed the Nest e (low-price version of the 3rd gen) for the first floor heat, I made sure to run a new 2-wire cable from the base to the wall, connected it to a 24V source at the boiler, and to the C connector on the Nest. I've had no problems with it since installation.

Very clear - great job.

Thank you for such an explaining what the color wires mean! None of the other videos showing up first did that.Helped very much for my installation.

Love the level of detail!

SO helpful. Thank you!

Thank you for this video. I’ve been trying to figure out how my thermostat was wired (same one as yours), and the RH wire kept throwing me off because mine was tied into R at the furnace just like this one. Amazing!

Thanks for all the details, good work.

Many thanks for your video! 😃

Great presentation! Thank You!

Good little vid Benji ... Thx for posting ...

Thanks! We need a new thermostat. I will definitely be showing this to my husband

Best explanation ever

Thanks for the video! This helped me out a ton!

nice haircut... 👍😎👍 I had to pull in another wire (ground or common) to hook up and power up the new thermostat

Thanks for the video. Very helpful. By the way, did you ever do the video about using a Nest with a minisplit system? I have a Daikan system that I'd love to use it with, but the techs I've spoken to about it say that they don't play pretty with one another.

WD-40 makes a lubricant for tools that supposed to protect them for a year. I've used it on some of my hand tools that were exposed to excess moisture, and laid them on a rag and sprayed them heavily and just let them soak for about 30 minutes and wiped them down. You'll be surprised with the outcome! I found some at Lowe's near me, but I'm sure other places like Home Depot and Ace Hardware probably carry it as well. they used to sell some stuff in a small bottle that you could put on rust and it would kill or convert it. I bought some from Home Depot and used it on some shovels back in the late 90's, so I'm not sure it they carry it still. Home Depot carries some Rust Oleum that has good reviews. It would probably make your Knipes needle-nose look new again from reading the reviews! it's 68 dollars for a 32oz. bottle.

I like the haircut. Also great video. Super informative.

hey ben can you explain theory behind a main house panel having a 200 amp service(breaker) while the 30 or so individual breakers add up to well over 200 amps Not sure if I explained myself correctly

Thanks for the video! I also have a nest but I just need it to be configured to the AC unit. Would I just have to move the wires so this would work?

Hello, I have a question about installing a sub panel.. I have a 125amp sub panel that has a copper bus bar.. but I'm using 2 2 2 4 aluminum wire, can I connect with just the oz compound? So aluminum wire straight to copper bus bar

Great vids!! Did u run your gas piping in copper?

is the third generation like you installed compatible with the wireless mini splits that have the USB drive to connect it? My Mr. Cool gave out on me last January, so I'm needing to replace it, but I'm thinking about getting 2 12k btu units instead of the 18k like I had, so I can put one at the back of my trailer and one in the living room. I thought it was super efficient, but for some reason the compressor gave out. I think it was the freon charge, but since it was still under a year and the full replacement warranty was almost up, I didn't want to chance it being the compressor. Any suggestions on a reliable mini split?

Hey Ben. great video as usual. Hoping you can help with probably a basis issue. Switching old thermostat to a nest. First have a gas furnace with baseboard heat. I only have a red and white wire, low voltage. I didn't turn my furnace off when changing out the thermostats which hopefully isn't causing any issues. In addition the nest is suggesting I use a nest power connector. Not sure if this will work or if my system is compatible. Any suggestions I would appreciate.

Great video .... Just moved into a new house which has a 2nd gen Nest. I'm going to replace it with Gen 3. The house has what seems to be a HVAC system with many bells and whistles (YORK TM9Y100C16MP11A furnace). Currently the 5 wires connected to NEST are as follows: Y1 ..yellow; G ... green; Rc ... red; W1 ... white and W2/aux ... blue. It's not clear to me whether or not I put the wires in the same places on Gen 3 or if I have to change any wiring in the air handler to fully benefit from the 2 stage and ECM fan motor. Can you advise? thank you

Good video ☺️

Thank you for posting this. I am going almost exactly the opposite direction. I went out of my way, and way out of my budget, to get a thermostat similar to the one you removed, from The E-Bay. The older, in my experience, is more reliable and precise. True, I can't control it with a smart phone, and the government, company, and utility company can't collect data, build their dossier, and sell it to brokers, which is a good thing. I can get out of my chair and walk to the thermostat and twist a dial until I am comfortable. (If I can afford it. But that's a different story.) The thermostat I am installing has terminals for BGORW, which I assume are blue, green, orange, red, white. but the thermostat I am replacing only uses 4 wires, then it splices into a mess in the basement at a few different points. Probably going to have to get someone out here anyway. I have 7 wires total, 4 at thermostat, 3 are not used, to a rats nest in the basement in 2 different places. Hope it works using what I have.

I like the high and tight. Leroy Jethro Gibbs would be proud of you.

Hi Ben, my thermostat has only blue, yellow and red wires. should I just go by colours while nest installation? can you please guide? Thank You 😊

Very good. How do i know if my heater is a heat pump? Thx.

Should the Y1 wire which mine is blue. At the unit in the basement should that be hooked to the Y/Y2 or the Y1 ?

I went with the Honeywell WiFi Smart Touchscreen thermostat. It has all the same features as the nest for about $100 less than the nest. Plus I do not need a hub to connect to it while away from home. Just pull up the app on my phone and control the thermostat from anywhere!

Looking to install the new 4th gen to replace a Honeywell thermostat. There are 4 wires, one of which is K, and that runs to a module attached to the furnace. Can you just switch the K wire to the Y in the new thermostat??

Nest has two very nice features - 1 - it can obtain as many as 6 skips across a lake if you sling it just right 2 - Wrapped in electrical tape it makes a great street hockey puck

I want to add a Wi-Fi thermostat but my system is only a gas fired boiler/radiators. No AC. Everyone tells me it’s a waste of money but I want to be able to control it anytime, anywhere. Any recommendations?

I would love to see a video on two stage heating/cooling.

The Nest thermostat has one great function, It makes a cool explosion when put in the burn pit! Buy an Ecobee, best thermostat ever

I haven't seen a thermostat like that since I was a kid. 💯

Hi there! Im trying to connect my nest thermostat but its telling me no power coming into y1. When i look at the motherboard i see that the y1 is connected to the blue common and not the y1 terminal. Any idea why that would be?

Hello i have a ptac LG unit with the option to add a thermostat. It has a plug in with wires labeles C R Y W O GH GL. Is it possible to hook up a google nest with these wires? Thank you

My old Lennox thermostat doesn’t have the green wire connected at the wall. Should I leave it disconnected to the nest 3rd gen also? I have single stage heat and air. Thanks

What does it mean if your heat went out. You have a gas furnace and your AC quit working does it mean that your thermostat went bad because I try to replace it and I can't figure out which one's my 24 volt which I know now what it is. But the only thing I can't figure out is why my fan is constantly going

Will the nest work with 8 wires? Y, T, R, W, B, G, O, X2 I just can't figure out what the T=grey wire, OOrange wire, X2= Black wire are for. I have a heat pump and Emerg heat option.

My system has just 2 wires going to the thermostat. But there’s a circuit board mounted to the side of the furnace that has wires going to all sorts of stuff. Heat pump, NG furnace, temp sensor outside, whole house humidifier, and the powered air filter on the return. It’s a Honeywell thermostat too - touch screen with a frankly ridiculous number of adjustable settings lol

I have the 4th gen but I have RC and RH on my thermostat. So it's not compatible?

i have radiators and don't have a/c ... can i still use a nest?

HELP! I'm confused. There's only 3 wires coming out of the wall to hook up in my case. A red, a yellow, and a green. I have both a gas furnace and central air unit both new 3 yrs ago. Two years ago when my Nest Learning thermostat was installed in the same house and spot I am in now there was no picture taken by the contractor that installed it so I'm not sure where the wires go on the base. If I had to guess I would say the red wire goes to either the Rc or Rh terminal, the green goes to the G terminal, and the yellow goes to the Y1 terminal. Is this correct or can you please tell me the right placement of the wires so I can get some heat in the house. I would appreciate it very much.

Will the 4th gen Nest work with an old Goodman gmp100-4 furnace?

I'll stick to manual $20 that you "set and forget"! As a kid in the 60's, I lived in: White Bear Lake, MN. Do you live in the St. Paul, MN area?

As a kid in the 60's, I lived in: White Bear Lake, MN. Do you live in the St. Paul, MN area?

I just hooked mine up first gen. The W wire will not recognize says it is empty. I am switching back to my old thermostat tomorrow. I will need heat.

My yellow wire run is attached to the Y and W at the same time! Don’t know what to do!

I set everything up. Thermostat light up and even turns on the boiler. But it turns right off and on repeatedly after a few seconds. If I turn the heat on. If I turn the thermostat knob down the boiler shuts off completely. Can you explain why please

If i add wires in RC ist Enough, becuse i have just 3 wires?

Your Way better then the last guy if you call him that he had it on fast forward i yelled at him mercury (kills)

OK, now for my comments! I own 2 houses, 1, I live in, built 1970 with a gas Burnham boiler, 2 wires. My son lives in, built 1941 with a old Lennox forced air with 2 wires. So , no AC in either! Now what? Need to add, the furnace that is in my house for the son, was installed in the late '70's, still works like a champ, and does well! Plus the gas bill are not bad!!!

I have no green wire and two red wires and for some reason im unable to get the HVAC system to turn on to get cool air. Im just getting air. Any help with this?

Nice haircut Ben!

Hi! I got mine the wire only 1-2-3 and giving me a problem

Great video....always very informative. Knipex make great tools, but the name is pronounced Ka nip ex.....not kidding...lol

my thermostat is off by 3 degrees. how do i correct it?

emerson sensi is a good lower cost wifi unit and the simplest of the lot, works without a common when there's a straight cool setup. 3 year warranty. i would not recommend nest, for advanced expensive stat would be ecobee full/non-lite or honeywell vison pro with honeywell being preferred for being less gimmicky.

What color/Alphabet representative auxiliary/emergency heat?

Sorry, not clear on the need/use of the common wire? The 24 volt wire also powers the thermostat? No batteries.

It’s too bad Nest hasn’t licensed the Carrier Infinity protocol. I can’t use a Nest thermostat as a result.

Nest is one of the highest failure rate of all the smart thermostats. After 2-4 years very problem prone

What if there's 6 wires. Ok my nest thermostat 3rd does not work it states hvac

I have a Honeywell digital thermostat, but it's not wifi. I don't need any more devices spying on me :-)

the mercury tube is covered with dust lol. I can see it somewhat moving but I see mostly dust haha

You failed to mention how the nest protect has motion sensors to help guide the thermostat in deciding between home and away modes. With a house full of nest protect your thermostat will have a high accuracy to know when you are home or not.

Usually code,at least in my state of NJ

Why doesn't nutting the red to the blue, as done previously, create a short circuit?

I’m upgrading my antiquated system, I have two wires out the wall and into thermostat The Sen-si system is requiring a common wire in order to save the batteries. HELP the existing furnace has two wires only also. My system is furnace only not HVAC

Don't use nest with mini split. Most mini splits are variable speed drive. If you use nest or any other wi-fi stat your disabling variable speed, system will run 100% all during heat/cool demand. MFG like Mitsubishi have wi-fi modules for extra cost that will not disable variable speed.

PS, not sure why the wire colors are the way they are. It makes more sense if red is heat, blue is AC, green is fan, and any other color like yellow, brown, or white for common. But that's just my opinion. It would just make more sense.

I have 5 of them wires (r, y, b, w & g) but I also have a orange wire…

One thing I don’t like about the nest is that it doesn’t clearly display two numbers for temperature. I expect to ALWAYS see both room temperature and set temperature. And I expect to see an up and down arrow for adjusting it. If that is not there it presents a learning issue for elderly users.

I had a Nest and I hated it. I had it taken out and replaced with a “normal” thermostat. Would never have a Nest again.

My favorite thermostat is the Emerson Sensi. It’s a lot less money than the nest. In the future I’m considering trying the Wyze thermostat but not sure if it will do everything I want it to do.

A couple of thoughts. First, liquid metallic mercury does not readily absorb through skin tissue. This is known now as it was known in the 60s when this design was first implemented. It requires days of continuous exposure for even the possibility of dermal passage. Second, mercury switches are passive, they require no electrical connection beyond the low voltage switch controller current. These new switches must be powered and are therefore capable of faults. Third, the raising and lowering of temp during the cooling and heating season in order to save energy...ie allow the ambient temp to rise or fall outside an acceptable comfort range...is a fallacy that can be proven by simple duty cycle calculations. You are better off setting the cooling temp a few degrees higher and the heating temp a few degrees lower and leaving them alone. This will will maximize cost savings and fuel consumption, and reduce the hones carbon footprint.

Ever since Google bought Nest the the innovation has left with it. Nest protect is literally still left on the second generation.

if you don't want to use a drill, just hit fast forward and input a drill sound lol

My thermostat only needs to do two things. Turn on when I turn it on and turn off when I turn it off. It doesn't need to access my smart phone, the internet or anything else. It definitely doesn't need to send information back to Google.

What happens if you have a Google Nest thermostat installed and your WIFI goes out ? Does that mean no heat at my house ? Lol

Why buy a "Smart" thermostat? Seems like the old one worked just fine. Why replace something that is working, & it is something you know how to work... i.e. why fix it if is isn't broken? I do like your videos, so, Thank you :-)

Ben great video per usual, I've been following your electricial videos which are A+. I didn't realize your were a hvac tech, which I'm interested in. Another hvac forum that I follow hates NEST. The pros on that forum indicate NEST is responsbile for alot of anomalies. My nephew just installed a NEST (unknow what gen) with 4 wires not 5. It's working ok so far just wondering if that 4 wire setup will cause problems in the long run. I appreciate your thoughts. Take care.

Never liked the nest is unstable

I’m an electrician and more often than not, usually we install thermostats, not the hvac guys

The absolout worst thermostat ever made is the Nest.

C = Cyan

Code requires a REDswitch cover

Any hvac tech knows how much nests suck. Whatever makes the customer happy is what I live by though.

Brother Blue is C because it's the color cyan 🤣 that it's is actually blue