I am replacing a honeywell mutlistage thermostat with a programmable one. All of the wire designations seem pretty clear, except that the programmable unit does not have a designation for location w2 (this is a blue wire that's being used with the current thermostat.. do I put w1 and w2together and terminated them at the "w" location that's provided on the programmable thermostat?

No if you do that 2nd stage on your furnace will run all the time when your thermstate calls for heat. Sounds like your new stat is for 1 stage of heat not 2. is your furnace 2 stage or one. On your new stat what is all of the hook ups (r,y,w,c,g,w1,w2,y1,y2)

Thanks for responding... the hookups on the programmable thermostat are: y, g, rh, rc, w.

What about the old on. Sounds like you have the wrong t stat

On the old thermostat the hookup is: y, g, rh, w1, w2


(rh and rc locations are bridged on new thermostat)

Rh 24 volts for heat and rc 24 volts for ac.keep them jumped. The old t state is a 2 stage heat the new one is not if your furnace is 2 stage then you need new t stat that does 2 stage.check your furnace and find out what is hooked up to what.

... just read paperwork with new thermostat--- "not conpatible with multi-stage systems" which is what I seem to have. I'll have to get the right one. Thanks for your help!