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Tell HN: Nest Software Update Failed and Now We're Freezing

21 points by drivingmissm ↗ HN
I have a Nest learning thermostat and a house with two infants. We're on the east coast and the outside temperature is 26 degrees with seven inches of snow on the ground. Several hours ago, this evening, our Nest began cycling "software updates" that turned off our heatpump. Nest support is overwhelmed-- apparently this is a system-wide problem related to an OS update that failed. We're freezing and are getting ready to go to a hotel.

The "Internet of Things" needs different standards than some Internet app-- this software failure is disrupting lives.

14 comments

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lobotryas
This makes me wonder if any startups have been responsible yet for the death or injury of people who use their software.

Personally I think it's only a matter of time.

tartehk
How come there is no way to manually override Nest and turn on the heatpump? Seems like a fairly obviously dumb design decisions from Nest. I wonder if this is way for them to "lock" in customers for to speak.
eurleif
How about unscrewing the thing from the wall and touching the furnace control wires together?
bmelton
Having had this happen with at least two plain ol' thermostats, my fix for those was to go down to Lowes, pick up a $10 thermostat until I'd gotten my more expensive models repaired.

I'm not personally familiar with the Nest, but is there some change to the architecture that precludes you from doing that as a stopgap?

dangrossman
No, it's just a normal thermostat, snaps on to a back plate with the same wires as they all do. You can swap your old thermostat back on in minutes.
t0
Did you keep your old thermostat? The wires aren't too complicated to hook back up.
a3n
Exactly. I replaced my original mercury switch thermostat with a $25 programmable, but I still have the old one just in case.
drivingmissm
Update: Just got through to tech, they are working late. Apparently our issue is an edge case but there are a bunch of problems with their OS update and automatic rollback. Here's the temporary fix: to reboot a Nest, press it for 10 or 15 seconds. Then, when the Nest is booting up, go into Settings and disconnect the Nest from the Internet so it doesn't try to software update endlessly. That has worked and we thankfully have heat again. I generally like my Nest and have found their support to be excellent, so I'm pretty patient, but it is definitely exasperating to hold a crying baby while calling tech support in the middle of the night because of a failed software update on my thermostat!
lstamour
Glad to hear it. Funny how the answer is along the lines of "have you tried unplugging it?" or rather, "disconnect and it will work," not used to hearing that online.

Perhaps the "Internet of Things" really should stick to being a "Network of Things" + local server for control. ;-)

Gigablah
Or better, an "Internet of Things with Sensible Failsafes and Manual Overrides".
theatgrex
It would be cool for things like this to ship with a dumb backup that can be easily replace if/when catastrophic failure occurs
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michaelmior
I feel like that wouldn't send a great message about the quality of the product.It would probably be better for Nest if they had some sort of reliable failsafe you could easily access to make it much dumber.
theatgrex
you are right from a marketing persepctive it would be bad . y built in failsafe would be a much better way to go.