I have a Janitrol heat pump system and I want to replace the thermostat with a RiteTemp digital model 6025 thermostat. My problem is in identifying what kind of wiring I have so that I can pick the right wiring directions for the new RiteTemp thermostat.

My Janitrol Heat Pump thermostat has the following connections (Colored Wires and Markings):
Y (Yellow)
G (Green)
R (Red)
O (Orange)
W2 (White)
E (Black)
C (Blue)

I am not interested in using the heat pump to heat the house. We has a gas furnace and prefer to heat with that. The Janitrol thermostat has an Emergency switch with is suppose to engage the gas heat. We keep that on during the winter months and off the rest of the time.

The RiteTemp directions are complex for a non-technical person like me when it comes to heating and A/C. I don't know if I have a 2, 4, 5 or whatever heat pump wiring system. This makes it hard to select the right wiring arrangement. To complicate matters, jumpers must be changed depending on what kind of wiring system my unit uses. The wiring manual is 15 pages consisting of many variable wiring arrangements. I don't want to damage my system or new thermostat by wiring it wrong.

I have tried a couple of times to wire it but the system does not seem to work correctly. I would appreciate someone knowledgeable in this system to advise me on how to wire the new thermostat. I can call RiteTemp, but I am sure they will want to know more information than I will be able to furnish.

Can anyone advise me on the correct wiring or what information I will need to tell RiteTemp? My system works fine now but the temperature varies too much with too wide of a range. I can set the temperature on the thermostat and the temperature can vary 10 degrees or more without making any changes with the thermostat. My current system uses mercury switches which are not very reliable, it seems to me.

Just so we a re on the same page you have a gas furnace and a heatpump it the same system and you want to just use the heatpump as a ac and use the gas only for heat?

Yes, that is true.

I am not against using the heat pump, but we have never been successful in getting the thermostat to switch automatically when the temp goes too low for the heat pump to work efficiently.

Do you have a relay box down at your furnace for the t-stat wires. (a fossel fuel kit) that is supposed to switch for gas to heatpump? Or was the t-stat just supposed to be doing it?

I'm not really sure. I had always understood the system would automatically switch but that could be incorrect. It may have always been a manual switch over. This system is about 11 years old.

You have what is called in my area a "Duel Fuel Heat Pump".

The Right Temp thermostat is a very good thermostat but is very hard to understand and read the display. And as you already know it is very hard to do the wiring connections.
First you are going to have to know if your
Ac unit switches the reversing valve on the always open or always closed. I have only connected two and it took me several hours and that is my business.

You might try connecting the Yellow White Red and Green to the lettered terminals ion the thermostat to see if this would give you gas heat and AC only.

I have the Yellow, Red and Green but no White Red. I assume the Red and White Red are the same. I will give that a try and see what happens. Do I leave all the others disconnected? Surely not. I may give RiteTemp a call to see if they can at least tell what additional information they might need.

I appreciate all your advice.

Why did you decide on the ritetemp? Yes leave the others disconnected to see if that much is going to work to start with. Depending on how old your heatpump is you may be running in heat mode when you switch to ac.

The white red is two different wires.

The White wire connects at each end, ( At the thermostat and at the furnace terminals ) To the W terminal. The Red wire to the R terminal The Green to the G terminal and the Yellow wire to the Y terminal, also there will be two wires ( or even several more ) that come from the outdoor unit to the furnace, choose two of those and connect one to the Y terminal with the yellow, use the other of the two you choose and connect to the C or Com, terminal. Now go to the out side and make sure that the two low voltage wires you choose are connected to the low voltages wires at the outside unit, if not switch them to the ones you choose inside.

why did you decide on the ritetemp? yes leave the others disconnected to see if that much is going to work to start with. depending on how old your heatpump is you may be running in heat mode when you switch to ac.

I decided to go with RiteTemp because it was one of the few that appeared might actually work with my system and it had a very agreeable price. I got side tracked due to some medical problems and I am just now getting back to working on it. I purchased this one about a year ago.

I really appreciate all your help and advice. It is certainly deeply appreciated.

After making the hookup again, it looked to me like it still was not working the way I wanted or expected. So, I contacted RiteTemp in hopes that I could get additional support. To my surprise they were very helpful and quick to respond. I think the problem turned out to be one of three possible errors. One jumper that I did not have installed (Jumper eight) or a reset button step used to accept the new settings which I did not perform. Additionally, I had connected the white wire which they advised not to use. I suppose any one or all of these errors could have been my problem .

Here is RiteTemp's response to my inquiry (maybe this will help someone else as well):

Y (Yellow) to Y
G (Green) to G
R (Red) to RH
O (Orange) to O
W2 (White) not used tape off and put in the wall
E (Black) to W2
C (Blue) to C

The jumper settings for your system are as follows:

Jumper one (12 hour or 24 hour clock) set to 12 hour
OPEN/No jumper
Jumper Two (Fahrenheit/Celsius) Set to Fahrenheit)
Open/No jumper
Jumper Three (Gas heat)
Open/No jumper
Jumper Four (electric Heat)
Closed
Jumper Five (Heat pump normal operation)
Closed
Jumper Six (Emergency Heat only) – See note below on emergency heat
No jumper
Jumper Seven (single source power or 2 source power) set for single source
Closed
Jumper Eight (gas – oil – propane auxiliary /emergency heat or electric auxiliary/emergency heat) set for Gas – oil - propane
Closed

Once jumpers are set press the reset button to accept the settings.
The thermostat will automatically activate the Auxiliary heat as necessary to warm the facility.

How to get the thermostat into emergency heat mode for very cold days:

Take the top cover off and remove jumper number 5 (heat pump normal operation) and put it over jumper number 6 (emergency heat only) replace top cover.

To put it back into normal heat pump operation remove top cover off and remove jumper number 6 (emergency heat only) and put it over jumper number 5 (heat pump normal operation) replace top cover.

I believe for mild days the heat pump is more efficient than the gas furnace. But once the temperature drops below 35-40 degrees it is best to use the gas furnace. See above for how to put it into emergency heat.

As far as the temperature swing is concerned you have an option to adjust that with the swing control. Explanation below:

The swing works as follow in a setting of 1 if the set temperature is 70 degrees the unit will not turn on the heat until the temperature reaches 69 degrees and it will stay on until it reaches 71 degrees.

Setting What it does (all temperature are approximate)
.25 .5 degrees on either side of set temperature
.50 .75 degrees on either side of set temperature
.75 .85 degree on either side of set temperature
1 1 degrees on either side of set temperature
1.5 1.5 degrees on either side of set temperature
2 2 degrees on either side of set temperature

To set swing:

Open front cover
Press the time arrow pointing right (right hand column 2nd button down)
To increase swing press the time arrow pointing right (right hand column 2nd button down)
To decrees swing press the time arrow pointing left (top right hand corner button)
When done press the Home button (left hand column 2nd button down)


Rite Temp
877-505-2353

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Again, thanks so much for your help in solving my problem.