27 installing a thermostat.pdf

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section 23 Now that we’ve taught you how to pro-gram a thermostat, we should teach youhow to install one, just in case you don’thave one yet.

Warning: Do NOT install a

programmable thermostat if your

heating system is electric. You couldelectrocute yourself.

How to know if you have electric

heat

Generally each room in your home will

have low square baseboards along thefloor, each with its own thermostat. You

will also probably have no furnace orboiler in the basement and you will get awhopping huge electricity bill in the win-ter.

If you have gas or oil heat, then youdon’t need to worry about electrocuting

yourself by using our directions to installa programmable thermostat. In this casethe thermostat has DC current or onlyabout as much electrical current as is intwo AA batteries.

installing a

programmable

thermostat

See our photos showing how to

tell if you have electric heat.

http://www.heetma.com/content/how-tell-if-you-have-electric-heat

http://www.heetma.com/content/how-tell-if-you-have-electric-heat



How to install a programmable thermostat

• Energy savings per decade: Up to $953and 9,468 lbs. CO2 assuming youuse the new thermostat to lowerthe heat 10° for 8 hours per nightthroughout the winter

• Level of difficulty: Moderate

• Cost: $25 to $50

• How long it takes: 20 minutes to 1hour

• Tools & materials: Needle nose pliers, very small flathead screwdriver,Phillips head screwdriver, program-mable thermostat, pencil, drill, a 3/ 16th drill bit, hammer, paper clips.Possibly also wire stripper or knife,batteries that fit the thermostat,screws, drywall anchors

We give you these directions becausesometimes thermostat-installation instruc-

tions can be fairly cryptic, translated badlyfrom Urdu and may assume you’re anHVAC professional. However please ig-nore our directions if they disagree withthe installation directions of your particularthermostat. If you’ve lost those directions,you can download new ones from the

Internet by searching for the thermostatname and model.

Tip: Please don’t start this project Friday

night after 5 PM during the winter. If some-

thing does go wrong, you won’t be able to

reach an HVAC professional until Mondaymorning.

Remove the old thermostat

1. Turn off the heating system (it’s proba-bly in the basement). Normally there’sa switch on the side of the furnace orboiler that looks like a red light switch.

Click it off.

2. Go back upstairs to where the old

non-programmable thermostat is.

3. Unsnap the old thermostat cover fromits base.

4. Remove the screws holding the ther-mostat mechanism to the thermostat

base.

5. You can now see the flat base of thethermostat with the wires connectedto different screws in it. These are thewires that connect your heating sys-tem to the thermostat. Take a photo or

draw a picture of the wires and whatscrews they go to. That way, if you getin any trouble, you can at least re-attach the old thermostat.

Tip: If the wires are the same color, then

put masking tape on them and label each

in a way that explains which screw the

wire was connected to.

6. Unscrew and remove the base of thethermostat from the wall.

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Hold onto the wires as you do so. Se-cure the wires around a paper clip,

pen, or other similar object to weighthem down enough so they don’t slipbackwards into the hole in the wallnever to be seen again.

7. Stuff a few paper towels into the hole

in the wall behind the thermostat. (This

will protect your new thermostat fromcold drafts so it doesn't crank the tem-

perature up every time the windblows.)

Install the New Thermostat

1. Take the new thermostat out of itswrapping and unsnap the new thermo-stat from its base.

2. Unfurl the pen or other object youhave used as a weight from theheating-system wires and push thewires through the hole in the new base

so that they emerge under the terminalblock (the area with all the screws forconnecting the wires).

3. Reattach the weighted object to holdthe wires in place.

4. Place the base against the wall. Try toline up the base with as many of thescrew holes from the old thermostatas possible so you have less screwholes to drill. When you have the ther-mostat where you want it—holding itfirmly in place—use a pencil to markthe location of each new screw hole.

5. Remove the thermostat base from thewall.

✴ If the wall is drywall, you will needto use anchors. In this case use a3/16th drill bit to drill the neededholes and then insert one anchor

into each of these holes. Use ahammer to knock each anchor

lightly into the wall until it is flushwith the wall. (Both anchors and

screws are normally included withthe thermostat.)

✴ If the wall is wood, you don’t usethe anchors. In this case, use adrill bit a fraction skinnier than thescrews that came with the thermo-stat to drill the needed holes intothe wall.

6. Place the thermostat base onto the

wall and line it up with the holes.Screw it in. The holes in the base forthe screws are a little elongated soyou can shift the base around a bit toget it just where you want it, beforeyou screw it in tight.

7. Follow the directions on your particu-

lar thermostat for where to connectthe wires. If they are incomprehensi-ble, then in general, you should dothis:

✴ Loosen the tiny screw marked Rhand the screw marked W.

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✴ With needle-nose pliers straightenthe two wires that were con-nected to the old thermostat and

insert the red wire into the holemarked Rh and the white wire into the hole marked W.

Tip: If the exposed part of either wire is

too short, you may need to pull off a bit of

the plastic coating to expose more wire. A

wire stripper is best for this. You place the

wire into a wire stripper hole, give the strip-

per a bit of a turn to cut the coating and

slide the coating off.

Tip: If your wires have no color, try the left

one with the RH screw and the right one

with the W screw. Complete the last steps

of these directions and then check that

the thermostat works (as described be-

low). If the thermostat doesn’t work to con-

trol the heating system, then switch the

positions of left and right wires and test

the thermostat again. If you have a central

cooling system, there might be more than

just three wires. In this case, check the

directions on the thermostat.

✴ Then tighten the Rh and Wscrews so each wire is betweenthe back of the thermostat and

the head of the screw and istightly held there. Make sure thebare part of each wire has a goodcontact with the metal of eachscrew.

8. Install batteries if they are needed.

9. Snap the front of the thermostat ontothe base. Snap the top in first andthen the bottom. Sometimes there is ascrew at the bottom that must be tight-ened.

Check New Thermostat

1. Slide the Heat-Off-Cool switch toHeat. Sometimes the switch to do thisis along the bottom of the thermostat.

2. Press the Up arrow on the thermostatuntil the thermostat read-out is asking

for a temperature that is way over thecurrent temperature inside the home(90° or so).

3. Turn the furnace/boiler back on (usingthat switch you turned off on the sideof the furnace/boiler down in the base-ment).

4. Stand by the furnace/boiler in the base-ment and listen. If you did everythingright, the furnace/boiler should go on

within three minutes. Listen for thewhoosh of the flame going on. If youaren’t sure the heat has gone on,lightly touch the metal flu above thefurnace. Be careful; it could be hotenough to burn you.

5. After the heat goes on, go back to the

thermostat and press the Down arrowuntil the thermostat is set to a reason-able temperature.

6. Program the thermostat to the tem-peratures and times you want. (Seethe earlier chapter, “Program your

Thermostat,” to do this).

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Note: Make sure to bring your oldthermostat to a recycling center orhazardous materials center afterward.Each old thermostat contains enough mer-cury to poison a small lake and many hu-mans. Don't just throw it in the trash.

If the heat doesn’t come on after five

minutes

1. Check that the switch on the furnace/ boiler is on.

2. Check that the temperature on thethermostat readout is higher than thecurrent temperature of the home.

Tip: Click the Up arrow and it will showthe temperature the thermostat is asking

for. After a moment, it will return to show-

ing the current temperature of the room.

Make sure the first number is higher than

the second.

3. Check that the red wire and white wireare in the correct holes and that the

screws are tightened all the way.

4. Make sure the bare part of each wireis in tight contact with the metal of itsscrew. If necessary—using wire strip-pers—strip off a little more of the plas-tic casing on the wire, then re-screw

the wire into the contact, making surethat the wire is held tightly against themetal of the screw.

Note: If the heating system does not goon, this is usually where the problem is.

5. Confirm the Heat-Off-Cool switch ison Heat.

6. See if the heating system is on now.

7. Repeat if necessary.

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