OT - Heating & Air question

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm about to snap on my dumbass, over-charging, local yokel heating & air contractor. Maybe one of you can save his life.

New H/A unit. Dual stage furnace, electric heat pump until it's really cold, gas furnace kicks in below 40 degrees.

The current problem (aside from the install taking double the quoted time) seems to be with the thermostat.

Set it on 73 (had cold-natured in-laws visiting). Wake up to find temp at 70, unit not running. Problem is, the heat pump doesn't have any sort of automatic "downtime", basically its supposed to run until the thermostat is satisfied & then kick back on when it isn't met. But it's not doing that. It's as though it'll get to 70 and then stop no matter what.

Thermostat has been calibrated & re-calibrated, so ... WTF?

Why does this unit keep stopping without ever reaching the desired temp?

I'm open to expert opinion or, since my "experts" here don't seem to have a f'n clue, wild ass guesses will also be considered.

[wbonnell]

I don't have any advice for you, but I have a similar- but opposite- problem: my unit won't shut off because, according to the apparently incorrect thermostat, it hasn't reached the proper temperature.

[CraigSca]

Have you tried to speak to the manufacturer of the heat pump directly?

[oykib]

Kill the contractor.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I'm leaning toward oykib's suggestion more than anything else.

While that remains to be determined, the latest attempt at fixing the problem is to re-calibrate the thermometer for the 3rd time.

[Subby]

Any chance the thermostat is just flat-out broken and needs to be replaced?

[JonInMiddleGA]

Subby, that was among my first questions this morning ... their reply was that "well, it doesn't seem to be" and since we don't stock them, we really can't swap it out to check !

Village idiots I tell ya, I'm dealing with the f'n village idiots here.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally posted by JonInMiddleGA
...I'm leaning toward oykib's suggestion more than anything else...

...Village idiots I tell ya, I'm dealing with the f'n village idiots here... Note to self: Do NOT hack off Jon today...

[JonInMiddleGA]

SkyDog - generally speaking, that's always a good choice :)

Especially don't do it when amounts of $10k+ are involved.

[Two Thirds Rectal Trout]

I know you have had the thermostat calibrated and recalibrated but, is the home temp really at 70? (Use some other temperature gauge in the middle of the room). If you turn up the thermostat from 73 to say, 76, does it kick on?

If you are using the calibration in the thermostat, thermostat could still just need to be replaced. I'd definitely manually check the room temp first. Also, make sure that you aren't heating or cooling off your thermostat with something (fans, heat lamps, etc..).

Of course, completely unsure of what your layout is so, just throwing SWAGs out there.

[Glengoyne]

Originally posted by JonInMiddleGA
SkyDog - generally speaking, that's always a good choice :)

Especially don't do it when amounts of $10k+ are involved.

Your Heating/AC unit ran $10k? :eek:

You(or your contractor) can buy a <$25 thermostat at any Home store, that should help you verify if it is broken.

Does it activate the heater at the correct temp?

Does it indicate the current state(on/off) of the heater?

[Glengoyne]

Dola,

IMO the cheaper the thermostat the better for testing things.

If you have a fancy thermostat, you may have 'programed' it not to come on during certain times.

[Fido]

Some digital thermostats have built in "buffer zones" to keep the heat from constantly cycling on an off. I think ours at home is 3 degrees, so it runs until it reaches the temp then shuts off andwaits until the temp drops to less than three degrees below what you have set before turning back on again.

Try turning it up a few degrees and seeing what that does - ie does it turn on and stay on until th eset temp. is reached?