Re-Connect Nest to Alexa

October 21, 2022 5:26 AM

I have Nest thermostat that was connected through Alexa to control the thermostat through routines via Alexa. All was working fine. Last year we had to disconnect the furnace for maintenance and it was without power for months as we waited on a part. Now that the furnace is all working again, the Nest won't sync back with Alexa. What am I missing?

The power to the furnace and the thermostat were turned off for several months. When it all was repaired and turned back on, I had to reset my Nest. I think coincidentally Nest had also become Google Nest during that time, and I had to link my google account to Nest when it was turned back on.

All fine, was able to get the Nest working by synching it to my google account, but ever since then, I cannot get my Alexa devices, including the Alexa app, to sync back with the Nest. The device shows up in the devices section of the Alexa app, and I have enabled the device and the "skill" that Alexa requires, but I get the message "Server is unresponsive" in the Alexa app when I look at Nest under Devices.

The Nest app is working fine and I can control the thermostat through the app, which is all good, but it's making me crazy that this worked before we had the furnace fixed. It's the same Nest device as before, the same Echo devices, the same Alexa app, it's all the same except for a mechanical part inside the furnace but something happened when it was powered down for so long and the Alexa App won't control the Nest now, when it was all working fine before.

I've done the troubleshooting of disconnecting the device from the Alexa app, deleting the skill and starting all over, letting Alexa re-discover the Nest as if it's new, updating all software, but it's still not working.

Is my next step to factory reset the Nest thermostat? This should be working -- Alexa is connected to Nest and sees the device -- but it's not controlling the Nest and my google search is leaving me frustrated.

I don't NEED Alexa to conrol the Nest, I can do that through the Nest app and I have the system on a heating schedule -- but as a problem solver it's making me nuts and as a person I just like knowing the technology I'm using is working properly.

posted by archimago to Technology (1 answer total)

I experienced similar issues with pairing my wireless cameras to Alexa. I finally contacted Amazon's customer service, and they were able to resolve it by talking me through the procedure. It's been over a year, so I can't remember what they did, exactly. I do remember it required a few steps and wasn't entirely straightforward (because I had already tried all the straightforward approaches).
posted by JD Sockinger at 6:16 AM on October 21, 2022