Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort of
idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running all
together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat. Just
nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting it to
do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for the
backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one breaker
serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be ok as
they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the time of the
event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring inside.

I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty left)
as I've learned that you may as well just call the company you expect
to install any replacement unit first because otherwise you will just
be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied to the price of
any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

wrote:
Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort of
idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running all
together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat. Just
nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting it to
do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for the
backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one breaker
serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be ok as
they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the time of the
event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring inside.

I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty left)
as I've learned that you may as well just call the company you expect
to install any replacement unit first because otherwise you will just
be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied to the price of
any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

Phil;

If the installation is less than 8 mos. old, it should still be under the
installation warranty. Call the installing contractor out and have him
correct the failure. This shouldn't cost you a dime. You already paid for
a quality installatiion, and obviously there's a problem.

--
Zyp

wrote:
Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort of
idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running all
together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat. Just
nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting it to
do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for the
backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one breaker
serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be ok as
they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the time of the
event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring inside.

I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty left)
as I've learned that you may as well just call the company you expect
to install any replacement unit first because otherwise you will just
be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied to the price of
any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

It could be the transformer in the furnace.

just be careful that you do not hurt yourself if you try to repair.

If you think it is under warranty then call out the ones who installed it or
last worked on it.
--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com

On Nov 5, 2:18 pm, wrote:

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.


As far as I know (caveat : I'm a software engineer, not an AC repair
guy, although I did fix my own heat pump a few years ago when the
relay that controls the reversing coil got sticky), the 24 volts that
powers the thermostat originates at a transformer in the unit. If
there is power to the transformer inside the unit, and no 24 volts at
the thermostat, then you've either got a bad transformer or an open
connection somewhere.

Without that 24 volts, you're not going to switch the main contactor
that turns everything else on.

Jerry

On Nov 5, 7:00 pm, Jerry wrote:
On Nov 5, 2:18 pm, wrote:

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

As far as I know (caveat : I'm a software engineer, not an AC repair
guy, although I did fix my own heat pump a few years ago when the
relay that controls the reversing coil got sticky), the 24 volts that
powers the thermostat originates at a transformer in the unit. If
there is power to the transformer inside the unit, and no 24 volts at
the thermostat, then you've either got a bad transformer or an open
connection somewhere.

Without that 24 volts, you're not going to switch the main contactor
that turns everything else on.

Jerry

Thanks for the input.

I reluctantly called the installer of the Heat Pump and he agreed to
come out but wants 84$ to check out the entire system because he
didn't install any of the interior parts of the system. All he
installed was a replacement Heat Pump 8 months ago and that is all
thats covered in parts and labor. He strongly suspects that the
problem lies in the Air Handler.

That is why I was trying to figure out what was broken. If its the Air
Handler in the attic, its ten years old and theres no warranty at all
with anyone anymore, so anyone could work on it.

I am currently suspecting that the problem might lie with the
thermostat's transformer. But I cannot find it. I am having a hard
time tracing the actual power line to the thermostat as I wanted to
check the transformer too. I guess my next step is to keep trying to
trace back to find the transformer...but I'm not sure where it could
be and was thinking it possibly was inside the Air Handler case, which
I really don't want to open unless I know what I'm looking for.

phil

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?



Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in there.
You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged filter.

Just my 2 cents!

Moe Jones wrote:
wrote:
Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort
of idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running
all together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat.
Just nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting
it to do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for
the backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one
breaker serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be
ok as they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the
time of the event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring
inside. I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the
Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty left)
as I've learned that you may as well just call the company you expect
to install any replacement unit first because otherwise you will just
be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied to the price of
any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

It could be the transformer in the furnace.

just be careful that you do not hurt yourself if you try to repair.

If you think it is under warranty then call out the ones who
installed it or last worked on it.
--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com

Moe;

Didn't he say *"Heat Pump"* and that there was an *"Air Handler"* in the
attic? Not a furnace?

And, couldn't the outdoor unit that was installed during the summer, have
been "mis-wired" by the installing conrtactor causing a low voltage failure
in the air handler?

Phil;

Call out the original installing contractor.


--
Zyp

Jerry wrote:
On Nov 5, 2:18 pm, wrote:

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.


As far as I know (caveat : I'm a software engineer, not an AC repair
guy, although I did fix my own heat pump a few years ago when the
relay that controls the reversing coil got sticky), the 24 volts that
powers the thermostat originates at a transformer in the unit. If
there is power to the transformer inside the unit, and no 24 volts at
the thermostat, then you've either got a bad transformer or an open
connection somewhere.

Without that 24 volts, you're not going to switch the main contactor
that turns everything else on.

Jerry

Jerry;

All that's probably true, but without a meter to read, it's all a guess.
No?

Phil;

Call out the original installing contractor.


--
Zyp

On Nov 5, 8:01 pm, brian wrote:
On Nov 5, 7:00 pm, Jerry wrote:



On Nov 5, 2:18 pm, wrote:

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

As far as I know (caveat : I'm a software engineer, not an AC repair
guy, although I did fix my own heat pump a few years ago when the
relay that controls the reversing coil got sticky), the 24 volts that
powers the thermostat originates at a transformer in the unit. If
there is power to the transformer inside the unit, and no 24 volts at
the thermostat, then you've either got a bad transformer or an open
connection somewhere.

Without that 24 volts, you're not going to switch the main contactor
that turns everything else on.

Jerry

Thanks for the input.

I reluctantly called the installer of the Heat Pump and he agreed to
come out but wants 84$ to check out the entire system because he
didn't install any of the interior parts of the system. All he
installed was a replacement Heat Pump 8 months ago and that is all
thats covered in parts and labor. He strongly suspects that the
problem lies in the Air Handler.

That is why I was trying to figure out what was broken. If its the Air
Handler in the attic, its ten years old and theres no warranty at all
with anyone anymore, so anyone could work on it.

I am currently suspecting that the problem might lie with the
thermostat's transformer. But I cannot find it. I am having a hard
time tracing the actual power line to the thermostat as I wanted to
check the transformer too. I guess my next step is to keep trying to
trace back to find the transformer...but I'm not sure where it could
be and was thinking it possibly was inside the Air Handler case, which
I really don't want to open unless I know what I'm looking for.

phil

I found the papers for the air handler and the transformer is inside
the unit, which I'm sure you guys already knew.

There was also a 'Functional Parts List' which includes things like
Coil and Drain Pans, Capacitor, Filter, 5 amp fuse, Motor/indoor,
Relay/Time delay, Restrictor, tube assembly, Wheel/blower, and
TRANSFORMER. Which I thought was encouraging, hoping that it still
might just be a bad transformer which could possibly be replaced.

Transformer, 40 VA, 200/230V PRI, 24V,SEC...... Trane Part number
TRR01441

The unit is a Trane Model TWG036A140B0

Anyone know if this would be a fixable item, or how likely it would
possibly be to go bad after 10 years?

Thanks

phil

On Nov 5, 8:01 pm, brian wrote:
On Nov 5, 7:00 pm, Jerry wrote:



On Nov 5, 2:18 pm, wrote:

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

As far as I know (caveat : I'm a software engineer, not an AC repair
guy, although I did fix my own heat pump a few years ago when the
relay that controls the reversing coil got sticky), the 24 volts that
powers the thermostat originates at a transformer in the unit. If
there is power to the transformer inside the unit, and no 24 volts at
the thermostat, then you've either got a bad transformer or an open
connection somewhere.

Without that 24 volts, you're not going to switch the main contactor
that turns everything else on.

Jerry

Thanks for the input.

I reluctantly called the installer of the Heat Pump and he agreed to
come out but wants 84$ to check out the entire system because he
didn't install any of the interior parts of the system. All he
installed was a replacement Heat Pump 8 months ago and that is all
thats covered in parts and labor. He strongly suspects that the
problem lies in the Air Handler.

That is why I was trying to figure out what was broken. If its the Air
Handler in the attic, its ten years old and theres no warranty at all
with anyone anymore, so anyone could work on it.

I am currently suspecting that the problem might lie with the
thermostat's transformer. But I cannot find it. I am having a hard
time tracing the actual power line to the thermostat as I wanted to
check the transformer too. I guess my next step is to keep trying to
trace back to find the transformer...but I'm not sure where it could
be and was thinking it possibly was inside the Air Handler case, which
I really don't want to open unless I know what I'm looking for.

phil

I found the papers for the air handler and the transformer is inside
the unit, which I'm sure you guys already knew.

There was also a 'Functional Parts List' which includes things like
Coil and Drain Pans, Capacitor, Filter, 5 amp fuse, Motor/indoor,
Relay/Time delay, Restrictor, tube assembly, Wheel/blower, and
TRANSFORMER. Which I thought was encouraging, hoping that it still
might just be a bad transformer which could possibly be replaced.

Transformer, 40 VA, 200/230V PRI, 24V,SEC...... Trane Part number
TRR01441

The unit is a Trane Model TWG036A140B0

Anyone know if this would be a fixable item, or how likely it would
possibly be to go bad after 10 years?

Thanks

phil

On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in there.
You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

On Nov 5, 10:20 pm, "Zyp" wrote:
wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

The system had been in heat mode for probably 3 weeks, but it was
somewhat colder the night/morning it went out..not a tremendous amount
colder though.

....for whatever thats worth.

phil

On Nov 5, 10:20 pm, "Zyp" wrote:
wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Zyp,

As it now stands, the installer of the new heat pump is coming out to
look at it. I went with him because that's the only source i would
have for any warranty work if the new heat pump had gone bad (or
possibly had been miswired). But if had been miss-wired wouldn't the
problem have occurred within the 3 weeks its been running periodically
for heat?

phil

Zyp wrote:
Moe Jones wrote:
wrote:
Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort
of idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running
all together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat.
Just nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting
it to do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for
the backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one
breaker serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be
ok as they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the
time of the event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring
inside. I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the
Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty
left) as I've learned that you may as well just call the company
you expect to install any replacement unit first because otherwise
you will just be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied
to the price of any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

It could be the transformer in the furnace.

just be careful that you do not hurt yourself if you try to repair.

If you think it is under warranty then call out the ones who
installed it or last worked on it.
--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com

Moe;

Didn't he say *"Heat Pump"* and that there was an *"Air Handler"* in
the attic? Not a furnace?

Furnace or Air Handler they both put out heat. Generally I associate Air
Handler with cooling only with some sort of a duct heater.

And, couldn't the outdoor unit that was installed during the summer,
have been "mis-wired" by the installing conrtactor causing a low
voltage failure in the air handler?

Yes, but most likely when a good installer replaces a heat-pump he will
check the new equipment in both modes (Cooling & Heating) to make sure all
is good.

Phil;

Call out the original installing contractor.

--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com

On Nov 6, 8:48 am, "Moe Jones" wrote:
Zyp wrote:
Moe Jones wrote:
wrote:
Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort
of idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running
all together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat.
Just nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting
it to do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for
the backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one
breaker serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be
ok as they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the
time of the event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring
inside. I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the
Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty
left) as I've learned that you may as well just call the company
you expect to install any replacement unit first because otherwise
you will just be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied
to the price of any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

It could be the transformer in the furnace.

just be careful that you do not hurt yourself if you try to repair.

If you think it is under warranty then call out the ones who
installed it or last worked on it.
--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com

Moe;

Didn't he say *"Heat Pump"* and that there was an *"Air Handler"* in
the attic? Not a furnace?

Furnace or Air Handler they both put out heat. Generally I associate Air
Handler with cooling only with some sort of a duct heater.

And, couldn't the outdoor unit that was installed during the summer,
have been "mis-wired" by the installing conrtactor causing a low
voltage failure in the air handler?

Yes, but most likely when a good installer replaces a heat-pump he will
check the new equipment in both modes (Cooling & Heating) to make sure all
is good.

Phil;

Call out the original installing contractor.

--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texaswww.EnergyEqualizers.com

Just wondering. If it was mis-wired for heating (it has cooled fine
for months) what might have triggered a failure after about 3 weeks of
heating use? Could part of its various stages not have been triggered
to run until it had to operate at a colder temp outside? Its not even
gotten below freezing outside here, and I believe it was in the 40's
the morning it all stopped working.

phil

On Nov 6, 9:44 am, brian wrote:
On Nov 6, 8:48 am, "Moe Jones" wrote:



Zyp wrote:
Moe Jones wrote:
wrote:
Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort
of idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running
all together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat.
Just nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting
it to do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for
the backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one
breaker serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be
ok as they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the
time of the event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring
inside. I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the
Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty
left) as I've learned that you may as well just call the company
you expect to install any replacement unit first because otherwise
you will just be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied
to the price of any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

It could be the transformer in the furnace.

just be careful that you do not hurt yourself if you try to repair.

If you think it is under warranty then call out the ones who
installed it or last worked on it.
--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com

Moe;

Didn't he say *"Heat Pump"* and that there was an *"Air Handler"* in
the attic? Not a furnace?

Furnace or Air Handler they both put out heat. Generally I associate Air
Handler with cooling only with some sort of a duct heater.

And, couldn't the outdoor unit that was installed during the summer,
have been "mis-wired" by the installing conrtactor causing a low
voltage failure in the air handler?

Yes, but most likely when a good installer replaces a heat-pump he will
check the new equipment in both modes (Cooling & Heating) to make sure all
is good.

Phil;

Call out the original installing contractor.

--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texaswww.EnergyEqualizers.com

Just wondering. If it was mis-wired for heating (it has cooled fine
for months) what might have triggered a failure after about 3 weeks of
heating use? Could part of its various stages not have been triggered
to run until it had to operate at a colder temp outside? Its not even
gotten below freezing outside here, and I believe it was in the 40's
the morning it all stopped working.

phil

Well, the case for the air handler appears to be sealed with goo, so I
didn't open it up to look around inside. Too bad.
I at least wanted to look inside to see what was what in there.
Phil

On Nov 6, 9:44 am, brian wrote:
On Nov 6, 8:48 am, "Moe Jones" wrote:



Zyp wrote:
Moe Jones wrote:
wrote:
Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort
of idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running
all together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat.
Just nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting
it to do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for
the backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one
breaker serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be
ok as they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the
time of the event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring
inside. I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the
Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty
left) as I've learned that you may as well just call the company
you expect to install any replacement unit first because otherwise
you will just be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied
to the price of any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

It could be the transformer in the furnace.

just be careful that you do not hurt yourself if you try to repair.

If you think it is under warranty then call out the ones who
installed it or last worked on it.
--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com

Moe;

Didn't he say *"Heat Pump"* and that there was an *"Air Handler"* in
the attic? Not a furnace?

Furnace or Air Handler they both put out heat. Generally I associate Air
Handler with cooling only with some sort of a duct heater.

And, couldn't the outdoor unit that was installed during the summer,
have been "mis-wired" by the installing conrtactor causing a low
voltage failure in the air handler?

Yes, but most likely when a good installer replaces a heat-pump he will
check the new equipment in both modes (Cooling & Heating) to make sure all
is good.

Phil;

Call out the original installing contractor.

--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texaswww.EnergyEqualizers.com

Just wondering. If it was mis-wired for heating (it has cooled fine
for months) what might have triggered a failure after about 3 weeks of
heating use? Could part of its various stages not have been triggered
to run until it had to operate at a colder temp outside? Its not even
gotten below freezing outside here, and I believe it was in the 40's
the morning it all stopped working.

phil

Well, the case for the air handler appears to be sealed with goo, so I
didn't open it up to look around inside. Too bad.
I at least wanted to look inside to see what was what in there.
Phil

On Nov 6, 9:44 am, brian wrote:
On Nov 6, 8:48 am, "Moe Jones" wrote:



Zyp wrote:
Moe Jones wrote:
wrote:
Before I decide who to call on my problem I'd like to get some sort
of idea what the problem is...

One morning while in Heat mode my Heat Pump simply stopped running
all together, not even a temp readout was on the digital thermostat.
Just nothing. I could not get the Air Handler fan to blow by setting
it to do so at the thermostat.

There is an 10 year old air handler in the attic and a 9 month old
heat pump outside.

No circuit breakers were tripped. I am able to get to the attic air
handler and can see that its two breakers were not tripped either.

I checked out at the heat pump and there seems to be power going to
the unit, (verified by a non-contact voltage probe) yet the small
green "Power" light inside the Tempstar unit isn't lighting up.

There are 2 breakers serving the Air Handler, I suppose one is for
the backup heat strips, the other for the fan motor. There is one
breaker serving the Heat Pump outside. All these circuits seem to be
ok as they leave the Main circuit box. They never tripped at the
time of the event.

That is about all I can decipher at this time as I really don't want
to open the sides of the Trane Air Handler to check the wiring
inside. I am just stumped at what it could be, especially as the
Honeywell
thermostat simply reads blank (its a 24 volt, no battery). I tried
using a small lamp tester across all the contacts inside the
thermostat contacts but non of them seem to be 'hot'.

The heat pump is a new replacement, 8 months old. The Air Handler is
about 10 years old.

Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

What seems strange is the blank Thermostat and the Blank Heat Pump.
The 'who to call dilemma' is between the Installer of the new Heat
Pump and the company who installed the Air Handler (no warranty
left) as I've learned that you may as well just call the company
you expect to install any replacement unit first because otherwise
you will just be wasting a 100$ service call which won't be applied
to the price of any new equipment installed.

I just am looking for some sort of clue as to what might be wrong
before I call them. The house has an older heat system (elec
baseboard) so there is no huge rush.

Thanks

Phil

It could be the transformer in the furnace.

just be careful that you do not hurt yourself if you try to repair.

If you think it is under warranty then call out the ones who
installed it or last worked on it.
--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texas
www.EnergyEqualizers.com

Moe;

Didn't he say *"Heat Pump"* and that there was an *"Air Handler"* in
the attic? Not a furnace?

Furnace or Air Handler they both put out heat. Generally I associate Air
Handler with cooling only with some sort of a duct heater.

And, couldn't the outdoor unit that was installed during the summer,
have been "mis-wired" by the installing conrtactor causing a low
voltage failure in the air handler?

Yes, but most likely when a good installer replaces a heat-pump he will
check the new equipment in both modes (Cooling & Heating) to make sure all
is good.

Phil;

Call out the original installing contractor.

--
Moe Jones
HVAC Service Technician
Energy Equalizers Inc.
Houston, Texaswww.EnergyEqualizers.com

Just wondering. If it was mis-wired for heating (it has cooled fine
for months) what might have triggered a failure after about 3 weeks of
heating use? Could part of its various stages not have been triggered
to run until it had to operate at a colder temp outside? Its not even
gotten below freezing outside here, and I believe it was in the 40's
the morning it all stopped working.

phil

Well, the case for the air handler appears to be sealed with goo, so I
didn't open it up to look around inside. Too bad.
I at least wanted to look inside to see what was what in there.
Phil

On Nov 5, 10:50 pm, wrote:
On Nov 5, 10:20 pm, "Zyp" wrote:





wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Zyp,

As it now stands, the installer of the new heat pump is coming out to
look at it. I went with him because that's the only source i would
have for any warranty work if the new heat pump had gone bad (or
possibly had been miswired). But if had been miss-wired wouldn't the
problem have occurred within the 3 weeks its been running periodically
for heat?

phil

Is it possible that when it stopped working you went to "emergency
heat" which would be likely an electric resistive element in the
transformer? That would be one explanation as to why it worked fine
on regular heat for a couple weeks and then suddenly failed. Did it
get significantly colder in your area immediately prior to the
failure? That would explain what you describe, and also point to
something shorted that would only show up when the thermostat called
for the auxiliary electric heat to kick in.

nate

On Nov 6, 4:40 pm, N8N wrote:
On Nov 5, 10:50 pm, wrote:



On Nov 5, 10:20 pm, "Zyp" wrote:

wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Zyp,

As it now stands, the installer of the new heatpumpis coming out to
look at it. I went with him because that's the only source i would
have for any warranty work if the new heatpumphad gone bad (or
possibly had been miswired). But if had been miss-wired wouldn't the
problem have occurred within the 3 weeks its been running periodically
for heat?

phil

Is it possible that when it stopped working you went to "emergency
heat" which would be likely an electric resistive element in the
transformer? That would be one explanation as to why it worked fine
on regular heat for a couple weeks and then suddenly failed. Did it
get significantly colder in your area immediately prior to the
failure? That would explain what you describe, and also point to
something shorted that would only show up when the thermostat called
for the auxiliary electric heat to kick in.

nate

It was a little colder that morning and I think someone else may have
kicked the temp up 2 degrees some time before it went out, but I can't
be sure if the events coincided exactly. The exterior temp was
probably in the low 40's that morning, which was colder than it had
been for the 3 weeks it had been running ok. I had turned it up 2 degs
about 1 hour before it was kicked up its last 2 degs. 68 to 70, then
70 to 72.

Thanks for all the tips and diagnostic speculating. Its all very
helpful info.

Phil

On Nov 6, 4:40 pm, N8N wrote:
On Nov 5, 10:50 pm, wrote:



On Nov 5, 10:20 pm, "Zyp" wrote:

wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Zyp,

As it now stands, the installer of the new heatpumpis coming out to
look at it. I went with him because that's the only source i would
have for any warranty work if the new heatpumphad gone bad (or
possibly had been miswired). But if had been miss-wired wouldn't the
problem have occurred within the 3 weeks its been running periodically
for heat?

phil

Is it possible that when it stopped working you went to "emergency
heat" which would be likely an electric resistive element in the
transformer? That would be one explanation as to why it worked fine
on regular heat for a couple weeks and then suddenly failed. Did it
get significantly colder in your area immediately prior to the
failure? That would explain what you describe, and also point to
something shorted that would only show up when the thermostat called
for the auxiliary electric heat to kick in.

nate

If this is a miswired thing, and the company that may have miswired it
is coming out to check the system, and the 8 mo old heat pump they
installed, then I'm worried if they will try to 'cover up' the
miswiring and say it was something in the air handler instead.

I should probably take a pic of the wiring at the heat pump before
they get out here today.

I just don't trust people anymore, its sad.

Phil

On Nov 6, 4:40 pm, N8N wrote:
On Nov 5, 10:50 pm, wrote:



On Nov 5, 10:20 pm, "Zyp" wrote:

wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Zyp,

As it now stands, the installer of the new heatpumpis coming out to
look at it. I went with him because that's the only source i would
have for any warranty work if the new heatpumphad gone bad (or
possibly had been miswired). But if had been miss-wired wouldn't the
problem have occurred within the 3 weeks its been running periodically
for heat?

phil

Is it possible that when it stopped working you went to "emergency
heat" which would be likely an electric resistive element in the
transformer? That would be one explanation as to why it worked fine
on regular heat for a couple weeks and then suddenly failed. Did it
get significantly colder in your area immediately prior to the
failure? That would explain what you describe, and also point to
something shorted that would only show up when the thermostat called
for the auxiliary electric heat to kick in.

nate

If this is a miswired thing, and the company that may have miswired it
is coming out to check the system, and the 8 mo old heat pump they
installed, then I'm worried if they will try to 'cover up' the
miswiring and say it was something in the air handler instead.

I should probably take a pic of the wiring at the heat pump before
they get out here today.

I just don't trust people anymore, its sad.

Phil

On Nov 7, 7:40 am, brian wrote:
On Nov 6, 4:40 pm, N8N wrote:





On Nov 5, 10:50 pm, wrote:

On Nov 5, 10:20 pm, "Zyp" wrote:

wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Zyp,

As it now stands, the installer of the new heatpumpis coming out to
look at it. I went with him because that's the only source i would
have for any warranty work if the new heatpumphad gone bad (or
possibly had been miswired). But if had been miss-wired wouldn't the
problem have occurred within the 3 weeks its been running periodically
for heat?

phil

Is it possible that when it stopped working you went to "emergency
heat" which would be likely an electric resistive element in the
transformer? That would be one explanation as to why it worked fine
on regular heat for a couple weeks and then suddenly failed. Did it
get significantly colder in your area immediately prior to the
failure? That would explain what you describe, and also point to
something shorted that would only show up when the thermostat called
for the auxiliary electric heat to kick in.

nate

It was a little colder that morning and I think someone else may have
kicked the temp up 2 degrees some time before it went out, but I can't
be sure if the events coincided exactly. The exterior temp was
probably in the low 40's that morning, which was colder than it had
been for the 3 weeks it had been running ok. I had turned it up 2 degs
about 1 hour before it was kicked up its last 2 degs. 68 to 70, then
70 to 72.

Thanks for all the tips and diagnostic speculating. Its all very
helpful info.

Phil- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Wow I just noticed a massive typo (well, not really, is it a braino?)
in my original post, I meant "air handler" when I said "transformer."
Hopefully you figured out what I was getting at.

nate

On Nov 6, 4:40 pm, N8N wrote:
On Nov 5, 10:50 pm, wrote:



On Nov 5, 10:20 pm, "Zyp" wrote:

wrote:
On Nov 5, 8:31 pm, "Bumpy" wrote:
Any ideas about what could have gone so wrong, so quickly?

Follow your thermostat wires and they will probably go
into the air handler, if your have power to the air handler, then
you will probably have to open it up. The themostat wires go
into a circuit or panel to pick up the 24v, and there might be a
fuse in there that popped, or you might see the bad transformer in
there. You might even have a thermal ckt breaker trip on youre blower
motor, which might have tripped from overload due to a clogged
filter.

Just my 2 cents!

In reading the schematic it does show a 5 amp (auto type) fuse, which
I also would definitely think might be bad too, no idea why it would
have gone bad though.

phil

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is blown,
you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running to your
new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable. If the
installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the transformer
on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost cycle wiring.
When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the indoor unit to
energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your installing
contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't charge you
until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Zyp,

As it now stands, the installer of the new heatpumpis coming out to
look at it. I went with him because that's the only source i would
have for any warranty work if the new heatpumphad gone bad (or
possibly had been miswired). But if had been miss-wired wouldn't the
problem have occurred within the 3 weeks its been running periodically
for heat?

phil

Is it possible that when it stopped working you went to "emergency
heat" which would be likely an electric resistive element in the
transformer? That would be one explanation as to why it worked fine
on regular heat for a couple weeks and then suddenly failed. Did it
get significantly colder in your area immediately prior to the
failure? That would explain what you describe, and also point to
something shorted that would only show up when the thermostat called
for the auxiliary electric heat to kick in.

nate

If this is a miswired thing, and the company that may have miswired it
is coming out to check the system, and the 8 mo old heat pump they
installed, then I'm worried if they will try to 'cover up' the
miswiring and say it was something in the air handler instead.

I should probably take a pic of the wiring at the heat pump before
they get out here today.

I just don't trust people anymore, its sad.

Phil

"Zyp" wrote in message
news:47ydnaqhTof3QLLanZ2dnUVZ_tCrnZ2d@championbroa dband.com...

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is
blown, you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running
to your new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable.
If the installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the
transformer on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost
cycle wiring. When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the
indoor unit to energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your
installing contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't
charge you until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Transformers (and inductors) do not wear out and are among the most reliable
of electrical/electronic components. They most often fail from overheating
due to excessive current draw or from lightning or other high voltage
surges, but they are not immune from inherent failure by themselves. As in
many other component failures, it is often caused by a manufacturing defect
such as poorly soldered connections, misplaced insulation, sharp edges
puncturing the insulation, breakage of too tight wires, etc..

Don Young

Guy came out for service call. Replaced the 5 amp fuse and said I want
my check. I was happy it was running but really expected more of an
analysis of what might have caused the fuse to blow. He didn't even
wait for it to cycle through a full on-off-on heating cycle.

Next time I'll just replace the fuse myself...which I would have done
if the panel for the air handler wasn't sort of sealed. Now I know
better.

My concern is whether the fuse blew during a defrost cycle and that it
might simply do it again.

Anyone know how often or what triggers a defrost cycle?

The weather here has been highs in the 50's and lows in the mid-30's.
I'll feel happy after it stays running through a defrost cycle but
have no idea when one would occur. He mentioned that they trigger
during colder temps and I was thinking it might take a while until one
got triggered.

thanks

-Phil


Don Young wrote:
"Zyp" wrote in message
news:47ydnaqhTof3QLLanZ2dnUVZ_tCrnZ2d@championbroa dband.com...

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is
blown, you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line running
to your new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the cable.
If the installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the
transformer on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the defrost
cycle wiring. When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the
indoor unit to energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to your
installing contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he shouldn't
charge you until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Transformers (and inductors) do not wear out and are among the most reliable
of electrical/electronic components. They most often fail from overheating
due to excessive current draw or from lightning or other high voltage
surges, but they are not immune from inherent failure by themselves. As in
many other component failures, it is often caused by a manufacturing defect
such as poorly soldered connections, misplaced insulation, sharp edges
puncturing the insulation, breakage of too tight wires, etc..

Don Young

wrote in message
oups.com...
Guy came out for service call. Replaced the 5 amp fuse and said I want
my check. I was happy it was running but really expected more of an
analysis of what might have caused the fuse to blow. He didn't even
wait for it to cycle through a full on-off-on heating cycle.

Next time I'll just replace the fuse myself...which I would have done
if the panel for the air handler wasn't sort of sealed. Now I know
better.

My concern is whether the fuse blew during a defrost cycle and that it
might simply do it again.

Anyone know how often or what triggers a defrost cycle?

The weather here has been highs in the 50's and lows in the mid-30's.
I'll feel happy after it stays running through a defrost cycle but
have no idea when one would occur. He mentioned that they trigger
during colder temps and I was thinking it might take a while until one
got triggered.

thanks

-Phil

Some units defrost on a regular timed basis and some have a more
sophisticated system which tends to defrost only when needed. It is
certainly possible but not real likely that the fuse failure will occur with
each defrost cycle. It could have been due to a power surge, a fuse defect
influenced by heat or vibration, corrosion of the fuse contacts, or probably
lots of other things. A single fuse replacement without obvious cause is
generally not reason for extensive troubleshooting. If it does it again
fairly soon, then look for the cause.

Don Young

Don Young wrote:
"Zyp" wrote in message
news:47ydnaqhTof3QLLanZ2dnUVZ_tCrnZ2d@championbroa dband.com...

Phil;

Control transformers do not go out on their own. Somthing must short
out
the connection and cause a failure. Check the 5 amp fuse. If it is
blown, you've got somthing that may be shorted. There is a line
running
to your new outdoor unit that should have from 5 to 7 wires in the
cable.
If the installer mis-wired the control board, he could have smoked the
transformer on the call for heat. Or, he could have mis-wired the
defrost
cycle wiring. When the outdoor unit called for defrost, it signals the
indoor unit to energize the auxilary heat. So you should mention to
your
installing contractor that maybe there's a problem and that he
shouldn't
charge you until it's decided what the actuall failure is.

--
Zyp

Transformers (and inductors) do not wear out and are among the most
reliable
of electrical/electronic components. They most often fail from
overheating
due to excessive current draw or from lightning or other high voltage
surges, but they are not immune from inherent failure by themselves. As
in
many other component failures, it is often caused by a manufacturing
defect
such as poorly soldered connections, misplaced insulation, sharp edges
puncturing the insulation, breakage of too tight wires, etc..

Don Young