Air Conditoning?

Question

Yesterday my air conditioning was running. I accidently ripped the electronic thermostat off the wall. When I tried to put it back on without turning off the electricity; it appeared to remain dead. I bought a new thermostat, but the unit still did not kick on. I have a dual unit upstairs and downstairs. downstairs is working fine. Furnace seems to be operating normal. Inspected the furnace, but didn't see anything wrong and the other unit is running fine off of it. The fuses outside the air cond. itself is working fine because i tried it in the unit that was working. I really don't know what else to do or try prior to having a tech come out. Would really appreciate any and all help possible. Thanks,Steve

Answer 1

It is possible that you damaged the transformer for the low voltage needed for the thermostat. Or may have damage the wires in the wall.

It may have happened when you put the wires back to the old thermostat.

So the first thing you need to do is follow the low voltage wires from the furnace to an electrical box with the transformer. Do both units use the same transformer. Then there is no problem here.

Then test a cross both contact points to see if there is juice.
16 to 24 volts is the usual.

No juice then you need check if there is juice to the box.
It would be good if you had one of those testers that you touch the wire & it will tell you if there is juice there (They shouldn't cost much more than 10 -15 dollars.

If this is all OK then the problem is the wires at the thermostat are hooked up wrong. It is easy to get the wires crossed in a case like this. By looking at the directions that came with the new thermostat & the old working thermostat maybe you can figure out how it should be hooked up.

Or you can make a list of all the different possible combinations of wire hook ups & try them all.

The thermostat will have markings for the different wires by color. Its just that when it was hooked up new the wiring colors were different. Check the old thermostats (Both)

Answer 2

Your thermostat is 24V. If you shorted out the wires going to the stat then you may have larger problems that just a new thermostat.

The facts are your old thermostat is most likely good.

If you indeed shorted out your thermostat wire, (this can be done by installing a new stat with out turning off the furnace power) then you have a couple choices.

If your equipment is new enough then you may have just blown a fuse which is located on the circuit board of your indoor furnace. It might look like a car fuse but it is rated at a much lower amperage. Replace this fuse and your system should work.

If your equipment doesn't have a fuse you may have ruined your 24V transformer. If you did then you should call a serviceman to replace it. You can do it yourself , depending on your abilities, but if you have no experience it could be tough and you may still have to call a serviceman.

P.S. I do except email.

Answer 3

If you are not an electrician or a trained HVAC technician, call an A/C repairman before you make the problem worse.
Doc