How to tell what type A/C heat unit I have at Havasu house.

[Dettom]

I bought a wifi programmable thermostat for the river house today. I want to be able to turn on the AC remotely, so when I get there, the house is cool. Most every AC unit I see there is on the roof.
I'm not out there now, but I'm not too sure how to hook it up. I'm afraid of cooking wires. My house is all electric and the instruction videos I see on You tube is for gas systems. Is there maybe a go- to HVAC guy on the boards who can PM me? maybe I should just have it installed? Is it a big job? I'm pretty mechanically savvy but electrical systems mystify me.

 

[wishiknew]

I bought a wifi programmable thermostat for the river house today. I want to be able to turn on the AC remotely, so when I get there, the house is cool. Most every AC unit I see there is on the roof.
I'm not out there now, but I'm not too sure how to hook it up. I'm afraid of cooking wires. My house is all electric and the instruction videos I see on You tube is for gas systems. Is there maybe a go- to HVAC guy on the boards who can PM me? maybe I should just have it installed? Is it a big job? I'm pretty mechanically savvy but electrical systems mystify me.

Riverbound He's the A C Know all !!! not the yahoo with the 50 something years of know it all :yikes

 

[Yellowboat]

if you're all electric you have a heat pump.

 

[Paul65k]

The only way you'll really know is to look at the unit and get the model number. It may very well be a heat pump, then again it might be a multi-stage heat-pump in which case the WiFi thermostat you bought probably won't work, however if you have a Multi stage Air Conditioner it may work....are you confused yet......also just remember for that thermostat to work with your system you'll need to have a "C" wire which sends a 24V signal to your thermostat via a dedicated wire also if your current thermostat uses batteries the WiFi thermostat may not work.:yikes

I'm being a smart-Ass but the answer to your question is if you are asking this question you may want to call a professional and make sure you get the right thermostat............don't ask me how I know these things:grumble:

 

[Paul65k]

Riverbound He's the A C Know all !!! not the yahoo with the 50 something years of know it all :yikes

This^^^^^^^^

 

[mjc]

Carey's can handle it when you are out there.

 

[Member: 71]

Silly question...Have you checked the manufacturers website? I installed the Nest, super easy instructions with detailed wire diagrams.

 

[Dettom]

The only way you'll really know is to look at the unit and get the model number. It may very well be a heat pump, then again it might be a multi-stage heat-pump in which case the WiFi thermostat you bought probably won't work, however if you have a Multi stage Air Conditioner it may work....are you confused yet......also just remember for that thermostat to work with your system you'll need to have a "C" wire which sends a 24V signal to your thermostat via a dedicated wire also if your current thermostat uses batteries the WiFi thermostat may not work.:yikes

I'm being a smart-Ass but the answer to your question is if you are asking this question you may want to call a professional and make sure you get the right thermostat............don't ask me how I know these things:grumble:

Holy shit..I should've known. The back story is I should have told you guys, my wife said " this is above your pay grade". Guess I'll be calling someone.

 

[Nordie]

Its super easy, I am no expert and installed the Honeywell wifi thermostat by myself...

I think where you could be screwed is if you have a 110v thermostat....

 

[VoodooMedMan]

I installed a Honeywell by myself as well. If you need it installed call Carey. River bound did respond to a question I had posted up or was going to but I figured it out first. I'll tell you the two issues I had which is likely what you'll run into. As already stated you likely have a heat pump. Look at your manual or google the model number.

Anyhow that is important. I'll tell you why in a minute.

First before you do anything shut off breaker to a/c.

Honeywell has little tag stickers to label wires with where they came off of old thermostat. Very important to use them. Red might not necessarily be on r from initial install. I just picked a color but you get the drift.

So once labeled and you have confirmed what type of unit (heat pump, refrigerant etc) then use the manual or online tutorial to figure out which wire goes where on new thermostat.

Turn breaker back on and if no fires you are almost there.

Fist problem I had. Thermostat didn't turn on. As Paul mentioned earlier you need the c wire. So if there wasn't one already attached to the old and you didn't hook it up to the new then you need to hook it up. It's most likely a particular color that's mentioned in the diagrams but best thing to do is shutoff breaker again. Then go to your heat pump unit and open the wire access box. Very easy. Look for the c or common wire hook up and see what color is hooked up. If one isn't hooked up then grab a free wire. Best to use the one in the diagrams but I think it might be brown. Go to thermostat and use same color to hook up to c. For some reason they use a bunch of cheap battery powered thermostats on heat pumps out there. Battery means they don't hook up common wire. Turn breaker back on.

That's almost it.

Only other issue now is the thermostat is defaulted to regular refrigerant type AC's. So follow directions in manual to go in and tell it on the menu that it's a heat pump. That where I got confused until I read about it because heat was coming out on cool or heat mode.

That's it. Actually easy since I just told you the two basic problems.

Last thing to do us buy me a beer since I just saved you a couple hundred on install.

 

[Riverbound]

I bought a wifi programmable thermostat for the river house today. I want to be able to turn on the AC remotely, so when I get there, the house is cool. Most every AC unit I see there is on the roof.
I'm not out there now, but I'm not too sure how to hook it up. I'm afraid of cooking wires. My house is all electric and the instruction videos I see on You tube is for gas systems. Is there maybe a go- to HVAC guy on the boards who can PM me? maybe I should just have it installed? Is it a big job? I'm pretty mechanically savvy but electrical systems mystify me.

You have a heat pump.

 

[Nordie]

Actually that Riverbound guy is awesome! He's helped me on the phone many o times...I don't care what fo sitty says about him!

 

[Dettom]

I installed a Honeywell by myself as well. If you need it installed call Carey. River bound did respond to a question I had posted up or was going to but I figured it out first. I'll tell you the two issues I had which is likely what you'll run into. As already stated you likely have a heat pump. Look at your manual or google the model number.

Anyhow that is important. I'll tell you why in a minute.

First before you do anything shut off breaker to a/c.

Honeywell has little tag stickers to label wires with where they came off of old thermostat. Very important to use them. Red might not necessarily be on r from initial install. I just picked a color but you get the drift.

So once labeled and you have confirmed what type of unit (heat pump, refrigerant etc) then use the manual or online tutorial to figure out which wire goes where on new thermostat.

Turn breaker back on and if no fires you are almost there.

Fist problem I had. Thermostat didn't turn on. As Paul mentioned earlier you need the c wire. So if there wasn't one already attached to the old and you didn't hook it up to the new then you need to hook it up. It's most likely a particular color that's mentioned in the diagrams but best thing to do is shutoff breaker again. Then go to your heat pump unit and open the wire access box. Very easy. Look for the c or common wire hook up and see what color is hooked up. If one isn't hooked up then grab a free wire. Best to use the one in the diagrams but I think it might be brown. Go to thermostat and use same color to hook up to c. For some reason they use a bunch of cheap battery powered thermostats on heat pumps out there. Battery means they don't hook up common wire. Turn breaker back on.

That's almost it.

Only other issue now is the thermostat is defaulted to regular refrigerant type AC's. So follow directions in manual to go in and tell it on the menu that it's a heat pump. That where I got confused until I read about it because heat was coming out on cool or heat mode.

That's it. Actually easy since I just told you the two basic problems.

Last thing to do us buy me a beer since I just saved you a couple hundred on install.

Beer it is. I'm indebted. Thanks.

 

[Paul65k]

I installed a Honeywell by myself as well. If you need it installed call Carey. River bound did respond to a question I had posted up or was going to but I figured it out first. I'll tell you the two issues I had which is likely what you'll run into. As already stated you likely have a heat pump. Look at your manual or google the model number.

Anyhow that is important. I'll tell you why in a minute.

First before you do anything shut off breaker to a/c.

Honeywell has little tag stickers to label wires with where they came off of old thermostat. Very important to use them. Red might not necessarily be on r from initial install. I just picked a color but you get the drift.

So once labeled and you have confirmed what type of unit (heat pump, refrigerant etc) then use the manual or online tutorial to figure out which wire goes where on new thermostat.

Turn breaker back on and if no fires you are almost there.

Fist problem I had. Thermostat didn't turn on. As Paul mentioned earlier you need the c wire. So if there wasn't one already attached to the old and you didn't hook it up to the new then you need to hook it up. It's most likely a particular color that's mentioned in the diagrams but best thing to do is shutoff breaker again. Then go to your heat pump unit and open the wire access box. Very easy. Look for the c or common wire hook up and see what color is hooked up. If one isn't hooked up then grab a free wire. Best to use the one in the diagrams but I think it might be brown. Go to thermostat and use same color to hook up to c. For some reason they use a bunch of cheap battery powered thermostats on heat pumps out there. Battery means they don't hook up common wire. Turn breaker back on.

That's almost it.

Only other issue now is the thermostat is defaulted to regular refrigerant type AC's. So follow directions in manual to go in and tell it on the menu that it's a heat pump. That where I got confused until I read about it because heat was coming out on cool or heat mode.

That's it. Actually easy since I just told you the two basic problems.

Last thing to do us buy me a beer since I just saved you a couple hundred on install.

That's a good summary....I remember when you were going through that last year:cool

I ran into a unique situation when I was putting in the same Honeywell unit (the ones they sell at Home Depot and Lowe's) and this is.........it won't work with a multistage heat pump....it will work with a multi-stage Refrigerated system with gas fired or electric heater but it won't work with a multi-stage heat pump....I needed to find a "Professional" model which had the option for my unit. I was able to find it on Amazon but I went through hell finding what i really needed.....so if you have a newer, efficient unit you may need one of those :yikes

Not trying to scare you.....just sharing the things that cause me frustration for quite a while last year

Good luck.....it is awesome to be able to monitor the house when we're not there and more importantly turn on the AC while enroute (even if it is only across the lake in the boat) so it;s nice and chilly when we get there.

PS..........another thing which can be even more critical is turning the AC back up if you forgot to do it before you left for home......don't ask me how I know about this:grumble: