Heat stopped working

[Jsf721]

You guys may remember my asking about a service contract on the new heating system I has installed after hurricane sandy a few years ago?

Well I decided not to get it. Friday morning house was cold but it was cold in ny so I figured it was early and I turn the heat lower automatically from 12am-5am and figured it would be warming up before everyone else got going. Checked pilot and it was lit, thought all was well.

Wrong

Wife calls me house is cold and main level so she calls for service. Turns out the thermo went bad . Service call 120 plus tax and 45 bucks for a Honeywell programmable thermo.

They don't make stuff like they used to. How can I determine if a thermo is bad for the future. It was lit up, just wouldn't Activate the heat.

Thanks

 

[Heavy Metal Doctor]

Well, the repair was probably still cheaper than a service contract. I know my contract runs about 300 / year, but that's with emergency / holiday service guarantee, but I have never used it in the 3 years I have had it. I just figured that the first 10 years with no troubles meant I was pushing my luck and started the contract.....

If you get the install instructions for a thermostat, you could probably decipher the wiring connections (heck, it's probably online somewhere) so you could jumper the wires and trick it into operating the next time you need to verify good / bad t-stat.

 

[GirchyGirchy]

You could have checked the voltage on the 'heat on' output from the thermostat. Should have been sending 24V out to the main unit.

BTW, not really recommended, but you could have temporarily moved over the 'heat on' wire from its normal terminal to the 24V input into the thermostat from the main unit. This would have bypassed the thermostat and forced on the heat....you would have had to remove the wire manually later.

 

[TN_GARAGE]

Yo How can I determine if a thermo is bad for the future. It was lit up, just wouldn't Activate the heat.

Thanks

You can "jump" some of the wires together. I'm going to let the more experienced folks chime in about which ones, but I think connecting R to G should turn on the fan.

 

[firebox40dash5]

If it makes you feel better... My AC went **** up in my rental house in the middle of a nice heat wave in North Carolina summer a few years back... on Saturday morning. I woke up with a nice hangover, and the house was already 90+ inside at like 9am. The rental place "couldn't get anyone to show up until Wednesday," so we went out and bought a bunch of fans. Got home, and the power went out.

The culprit? An effin' $10 capacitor for the outside unit fan. I've been teaching myself HVAC electrical repair ever since. Last year it was a chewed up thermostat cable between the house and the outside unit at my current place, it was run unprotected and someone got it with the string trimmer.

At least it doesn't sound like they dinged you too terribly bad on the part, I'm used to more like 3-400% markup, that thermostat that's $30 at HD would've been another $120.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

If it makes you feel better... My AC went **** up in my rental house in the middle of a nice heat wave in North Carolina summer a few years back... on Saturday morning. I woke up with a nice hangover, and the house was already 90+ inside at like 9am. The rental place "couldn't get anyone to show up until Wednesday," so we went out and bought a bunch of fans. Got home, and the power went out.

The culprit? An effin' $10 capacitor for the outside unit fan. I've been teaching myself HVAC electrical repair ever since. Last year it was a chewed up thermostat cable between the house and the outside unit at my current place, it was run unprotected and someone got it with the string trimmer.

At least it doesn't sound like they dinged you too terribly bad on the part, I'm used to more like 3-400% markup, that thermostat that's $30 at HD would've been another $120.

Nothing wrong with learning the basics.

 

[Jsf721]

Guy the main thing in my bucket list right now is to learn more about the mechanic how to help myself in a emergency. Ever since the hurricane I realize being able to be self reliant is key. Plus it doesn't hurt to be able to do it now.

Coming from a family what the Dad want to handy, it's been a struggle.

Not even sure what to but to check voltage. Can someone link me an example. I don't expect to install HVAC just trouble shoot and fix basics.

Thanks

Well, the repair was probably still cheaper than a service contract. I know my contract runs about 300 / year, but that's with emergency / holiday service guarantee, but I have never used it in the 3 years I have had it. I just figured that the first 10 years with no troubles meant I was pushing my luck and started the contract.....

If you get the install instructions for a thermostat, you could probably decipher the wiring connections (heck, it's probably online somewhere) so you could jumper the wires and trick it into operating the next time you need to verify good / bad t-stat.

You could have checked the voltage on the 'heat on' output from the thermostat. Should have been sending 24V out to the main unit.

BTW, not really recommended, but you could have temporarily moved over the 'heat on' wire from its normal terminal to the 24V input into the thermostat from the main unit. This would have bypassed the thermostat and forced on the heat....you would have had to remove the wire manually later.

You can "jump" some of the wires together. I'm going to let the more experienced folks chime in about which ones, but I think connecting R to G should turn on the fan.

If it makes you feel better... My AC went **** up in my rental house in the middle of a nice heat wave in North Carolina summer a few years back... on Saturday morning. I woke up with a nice hangover, and the house was already 90+ inside at like 9am. The rental place "couldn't get anyone to show up until Wednesday," so we went out and bought a bunch of fans. Got home, and the power went out.

The culprit? An effin' $10 capacitor for the outside unit fan. I've been teaching myself HVAC electrical repair ever since. Last year it was a chewed up thermostat cable between the house and the outside unit at my current place, it was run unprotected and someone got it with the string trimmer.

At least it doesn't sound like they dinged you too terribly bad on the part, I'm used to more like 3-400% markup, that thermostat that's $30 at HD would've been another $120.

Nothing wrong with learning the basics.

 

[firebox40dash5]

Guy the main thing in my bucket list right now is to learn more about the mechanic how to help myself in a emergency. Ever since the hurricane I realize being able to be self reliant is key. Plus it doesn't hurt to be able to do it now.

Coming from a family what the Dad want to handy, it's been a struggle.

Not even sure what to but to check voltage. Can someone link me an example. I don't expect to install HVAC just trouble shoot and fix basics.

Thanks

Honestly... I google it. Pretty much every time, because I don't do it enough to remember. But it's pretty much all 220VAC (the heat pump/AC unit itself and the transformer that runs the thermostat) and 24VAC (the thermostat system). Start with the dumb ****... the place I'm in currently has an oil furnace for backup it was originally built with, and the heat pump was added about 28 years ago. Last winter the heat "died". Turned out someone had hit the emergency shutoff switch for the oil burner in the basement stairwell, and since the oil was there first, they had run the 24VAC transformer for the heat pump off of that... shutoff switch off = EVERYTHING loses power.

Google the wiring for your particular thermostat setup (they usually go by # of wires) and just start checking. Pretty much all I ever do outside the house is pull the cover on the heat pump to check inputs and outputs on the defrost board and contactor, and the capacitor(s).

 

[slice]

25 yrs owned company. Some stats that use batteries. When batteries are bad or low. They won't let heat come on. Strange. But.

 

[Jsf721]

This I know. Changed batteries. Still no heat.

25 yrs owned company. Some stats that use batteries. When batteries are bad or low. They won't let heat come on. Strange. But.

 

[dogdog]

You can check by identifying the wires and see which controls Heat which controls AC and FAN. dependent on what you have, and also through process of elimination. If you have just heat then will be just 2 wires maybe Plus the 24V C wire if your thermostat runs off that. For example my house heat only have R and W (i think) and C. I put them heat mode by jumping the two R and W wire (at thermostat or at boiler ).... if heat turns on. you have isolated the problem. if not probably some where else..... All dependents on what you have, LI think mostly have furnace forced air or hydronic systems I think. not much boiler steam systems. Usually on the thermostat there is a relay that you can hear click when thermostat logic determines it needs heat. unless you have those old mercury switch ones. If you have multi-zone systems, if other zones are triggering the boiler/furnace, then you can pretty much eliminate the boiler/furnace issue. and concentrate on the zone control / thermostat units. All dependents on what you have, just needed to get to know your system.... if it is something fairly recent, you can even download the manuals from the manufactures site.

http://www.how-to-wire-it.com/images/basic-thermastat-color-codes.JPG

 

[ttpete]

This is why I still have an old fashioned bi-metal/mercury switch thermostat. No circuit boards or batteries to mess up.

 

[mrodgers]

Guy the main thing in my bucket list right now is to learn more about the mechanic how to help myself in a emergency. Ever since the hurricane I realize being able to be self reliant is key. Plus it doesn't hurt to be able to do it now.

Coming from a family what the Dad want to handy, it's been a struggle.

Not even sure what to but to check voltage. Can someone link me an example. I don't expect to install HVAC just trouble shoot and fix basics.

Thanks

I'm the same way. My father may have been vice president of a small electrical contractor and has done bids on many places such as pretty much all the Giant Eagle grocery stores in the 90's and a lot of the casinos in Atlantic City, but he couldn't change a lightbulb without knocking the power out of the whole neighborhood.

I'm broke so I do all car repair and home repair work out of necessity. I have to wing most of it using Google and Youtube. I don't know anything about car repair, but I've changed the clutch no problem in my old truck, a head gasket in my old Honda, and have only gone to the shop twice since the early 90's for repair/maintenance.

My last home problem was also a furnace. It kept kicking on, running for a short time, and kick off just to kick back on again. I found furnace help online is very difficult to find. It seems there is some law the furnace repair folk have enacted that doesn't allow anyone to talk about furnace repair, unlike car repair where you can take an entire car apart and put it back together with Youtube.

I had to break down and call for service. The call cost me only $70 but he couldn't figure anything out. He adjusted something on the blower. Said if it was still problematic, it would be a "tier 2 service" for $290.

It wasn't fixed. Still did the exact same thing as soon as he left. So I was down in the furnace with a screw driver to pull some stuff to get at it with a meter. I bumped into something, heard a click, and it was fixed. Turned out what I hit which I didn't know before was the relay that was stuck. $20 later
after running to a hole in the wall shop in the middle of nowhere and all was back to normal. That $20 relay would have cost me $290 if the service guy could have figured it out to begin with the 2nd time since he seemed to know as much as I did the first time.

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

You can check by identifying the wires and see which controls Heat which controls AC and FAN. dependent on what you have, and also through process of elimination. If you have just heat then will be just 2 wires maybe Plus the 24V C wire if your thermostat runs off that. For example my house heat only have R and W (i think) and C. I put them heat mode by jumping the two R and W wire (at thermostat or at boiler ).... if heat turns on. you have isolated the problem. if not probably some where else..... All dependents on what you have, LI think mostly have furnace forced air or hydronic systems I think. not much boiler steam systems. Usually on the thermostat there is a relay that you can hear click when thermostat logic determines it needs heat. unless you have those old mercury switch ones. If you have multi-zone systems, if other zones are triggering the boiler/furnace, then you can pretty much eliminate the boiler/furnace issue. and concentrate on the zone control / thermostat units. All dependents on what you have, just needed to get to know your system.... if it is something fairly recent, you can even download the manuals from the manufactures site.

http://www.how-to-wire-it.com/images/basic-thermastat-color-codes.JPG

R/W/G
R-power to stat
W-call for heat from stat
Y-Call for ac from stat
G-fan
Twisting red and white wires together should bring on heat if its a stat issue.
Twisting red and blue or yellow(whichever is on y)and green should bring on ac on non heat pump .

 

[zmaxmotorsports]

I'm the same way. My father may have been vice president of a small electrical contractor and has done bids on many places such as pretty much all the Giant Eagle grocery stores in the 90's and a lot of the casinos in Atlantic City, but he couldn't change a lightbulb without knocking the power out of the whole neighborhood.

I'm broke so I do all car repair and home repair work out of necessity. I have to wing most of it using Google and Youtube. I don't know anything about car repair, but I've changed the clutch no problem in my old truck, a head gasket in my old Honda, and have only gone to the shop twice since the early 90's for repair/maintenance.

My last home problem was also a furnace. It kept kicking on, running for a short time, and kick off just to kick back on again. I found furnace help online is very difficult to find. It seems there is some law the furnace repair folk have enacted that doesn't allow anyone to talk about furnace repair, unlike car repair where you can take an entire car apart and put it back together with Youtube.

I had to break down and call for service. The call cost me only $70 but he couldn't figure anything out. He adjusted something on the blower. Said if it was still problematic, it would be a "tier 2 service" for $290.

It wasn't fixed. Still did the exact same thing as soon as he left. So I was down in the furnace with a screw driver to pull some stuff to get at it with a meter. I bumped into something, heard a click, and it was fixed. Turned out what I hit which I didn't know before was the relay that was stuck. $20 later
after running to a hole in the wall shop in the middle of nowhere and all was back to normal. That $20 relay would have cost me $290 if the service guy could have figured it out to begin with the 2nd time since he seemed to know as much as I did the first time.

Im not sure what he adjusted on the blower unless it was a belt drive,or maybe he just kicked it up from low to medium for the heating.
But if blower wasn't coming on that wouldn't of made much difference.

 

[dogdog]

R/W/G
R-power to stat
W-call for heat from stat
Y-Call for ac from stat
G-fan
Twisting red and white wires together should bring on heat if its a stat issue.
Twisting red and blue or yellow(whichever is on y)and green should bring on ac on non heat pump .

That or use an alligator clip jumper right at the thermostat.... and wire color is not always the color code sometimes...... but what ever is marked at your thermostat R W G Y RH C etc should be referenced....

 

[xyster101]

That is not a bad price for calling someone out. In the future to test it, just turn up the thermostat. If the heat stays of then it is bad.
My stuff always breaks after I leave and the wife is home alone.

 

[hockey88fan]

If it makes you feel better... My AC went **** up in my rental house in the middle of a nice heat wave in North Carolina summer a few years back... on Saturday morning. I woke up with a nice hangover, and the house was already 90+ inside at like 9am. The rental place "couldn't get anyone to show up until Wednesday," so we went out and bought a bunch of fans. Got home, and the power went out.

The culprit? An effin' $10 capacitor for the outside unit fan. I've been teaching myself HVAC electrical repair ever since. Last year it was a chewed up thermostat cable between the house and the outside unit at my current place, it was run unprotected and someone got it with the string trimmer.

At least it doesn't sound like they dinged you too terribly bad on the part, I'm used to more like 3-400% markup, that thermostat that's $30 at HD would've been another $120.

Yeah, my last thermostat replacement cost $300 with labor. I looked up on amazon the cost of the thermostat and it was like $50. So yeah, they mark them up.