Hello all - I appreciate any help you can give. I'm new at this stuff, so you might have to explain it without the technical talk, if it can be done! :p

I have a Weil McLain gas furnace. I had an old Honeywell dial with mercury thermostat, which I switched out for a Honeywell digital. It has controls for both heat and cold, but I hooked it up according to directions just for heat. Last spring, the old one didn't seem to be "clicking" on, so that is why I switched it out last week. We lit the pilot light for the furnace and it came on last night. Woke up this morning and no heat. I did the following:
Checked that the pilot light was still on. Turned off and then on the breaker to the furnace. Rechecked the thermostat that seems to be working. I read somewhere on Google about "jumping out the R and W". I have no idea how to do that, but I'm all for it. I'm assuming that means the wires that I labeled for the thermostat hookup? One is R and the other W. My question is, how do you "jump" them out? :confused:

Thanks for any help you can give!

Connecting R to W will make your furnace come on. That's what the thermostat does, so it's a way of eliminating the stat or the wiring depending on where it it done.

1. at the furnace
2. At the stat

The fan is controlled by the furnace in the gas heat mode.

Thanks for the answer, but please excuse my next question. I'm understanding that I'm connecting the R and W, but can you be more direct? Let's say I do this at the thermostat - am I joining them and leaving them joined? And if so, then where do I put them in the thermostat, i.e. connect them while they are together? Or, can you explain how to do it at the furnace? I'm lost. Thanks for any explanation you can give. I'm pretty sure I can get it, I just need explicit instructions on how. :o

Turn power off to the furnace.

Make a small piece of wire.

Connect that wire to R & W. Leave the terminals where they are connected. You will then have 2 wires connected to R and 2 to W.

Turn on the furnace.

The furnace should come on.

Doing this at the furnace eliminates the furnace as a problem.

Doing this at the thermostat eliminates the wiring as the problem.

If the furnace comes on when jumped in both locations, then the thermostat is suspect.

TLHunter,
Please understand that this is only a way to check for proper operation of the stat and is not meant as a permanent fix.