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View Full Version : Single or Multi-stage Conventional Electric Furnace


goton1160
Jan 16, 2009, 07:43 AM
I have seen many posts similar to my question, but most appear to be related to heat pumps. I have an electric furnace with air conditioning that is NOT a heat pump.

I have G, Y, W, R, W2 wires on my Honeywell RTH7400 thermostat. I would assume because I have wire W2 that I have a multi-stage heater. But would prefer not to “assume”.

Problem: My heater randomly quits working (no fan, no heat). Room temp will be several degrees below desired temp, but heater won't kick on. I can turn the fan from AUTO to ON and it will run, but still no heat. I have found that setting the desired temp to 4 or 5 degrees below room temp, waiting ~10 min and then resetting desired temp that... presto... heater will begin working properly... for another day or two. At which time I will need to perform this "reset" process again.

I discovered last night while "troubleshooting" that the System Settings of thermostat were configured for the following:
System Type = "Heat/cool: Gas, oil or electric heating with central air conditioning" (potentially correct)
Heating Fan Control = "Gas or oil heat" (not correct)
Heating Cycle Rate = "Gas or oil furnace" (not correct)

I changed the configuration to the following:
System Type = "Conventional multi-stage system: 2 heat stages (wires on W and W2),
1 cooling stage (wire on Y)" ***I changed this based on having W and W2 wires on stat.
Heating Fan Control = "Electric heat"
Heating Cycle Rate = "Electric furnace"

Just looking for thoughts/confirmation that I made the correct changes. I did notice the heater ran a LOT more than "normal" last night, but very difficult to determine anything based on this since it was also the coldest night we have had this winter.

Sorry for the "book", but wanted to provide as much info/detail as possible.

Thanks in advance for any assistance!

hvac1000
Jan 16, 2009, 08:12 AM
Looks like they are bringing the electric heat on in stages.

Set up looks good now.