Recently bought a house. It has forced hot air and I want to replace my old honeywell stat with a new honeywell stat. the wire has four colors red,black,yellow and green. I've never seen anything like this before. Usually the wire has 3 or 5. so I thought it was going to work, but the stat has only 3 connections. Well I wired it anyway. Now the heat doesn't shut off until I shut the switch for the emergency shut off. The heat just runs and runs. :confused:

If it is a furnace, you may be lucky and the furnace and the thermostat have the terminals labeled the same, connect the red wire to the R or RH terminal at both ends. If it is a heat pump, make sure the thermostat is suitable for one.



Usually there is a 24 volt AC transformer in the furnace with the secondary winding connected to a red wire running to the thermostat and a blue wire, common, to the gas valve, A/C relay, and fan relay. From the thermostat there will be white wire to the gas valve, yellow to the A/C, and green to the fan. The thermostat is wired to switch the power from the red to the white, yellow, and green as needed with the blue completing the circuit. Most thermostats and furnaces have the contacts labeled R, B or C, W, Y, and G for the corresponding wire colors. Many have RH and RC to allow separate transformers for heating and cooling. With just one red wire, jumper them. It may be wired to have the A/C control wires return to the furnace and its controls and then a second wire goes to the A/C unit. Internal wiring may replace the green wire if the thermostat does not give you the option of fan only or continuous fan. Digital or programmable thermostats may need the blue wire connected to them.

I would folow the convention except for connecting the black to W.