This video is very simply how to install a thermostat now some of these things, you might not have to do from scratch, because you may be replacing an old thermostat you'll notice that i'm not saying how to replace a thermostat, but we're going to start from scratch. Installing a thermostat, if all you've got, is a wire sticking out the wall before we even get started with this. I want to remind you, you need to know what you're doing and you need to read the manual for the thermostat you're installing as well as know what type of equipment is being installed on. One of the most common errors we see is people will buy a thermostat and they'll, maybe it'll, say heat pump, but it doesn't have enough stages of cooling or heating or they don't set it up properly.

On the installer setup, once they're done installing the thermostat and that results in problems, previous people who have serviced the equipment have maybe used different colored wires, uh in between the thermostat and air handler or air handler and condenser. These are all things you have to look for before you even get started with doing this, so know that you have the right, thermostat read the manual for the thermostat and know what type of equipment you're connecting to before you even start. As always, we suggest that this sort of thing be done by a professional step. One make sure the power is off to the air handler or furnace, and the only way to do that is to shut off the breaker pull the disconnect.

Some of them will have a switch that looks like a light switch but then actually check with a meter, so you'll notice right away that, although some people will probably watch this video and attempt to do it themselves. This is the sort of thing that should be done by a professional. If you want to make sure you have a good result, one of the most common problems we see when homeowners try to install their own thermostats. Is they don't fully shut off the power to the indoor unit and it results in a blown low voltage fuse? We see it all the time step, two make sure that your wire is extending.

Generally speaking, we suggest at least six inches out of the wall. Although a little more doesn't hurt and then you want to strip back the outer jacket without damaging any of the wires underneath so you'll notice, you do not do this by circling around the jacket with your electrical wire strippers or using side cutters or anything like that, Because it's very easy to nick the wire, if you do want to circle around the wire, you can do it at the tip and then peel it back enough that you can get the string or use one of the conductors that are unused to strip back the Jacket and then you can cut off the part that you cut into it's a good general practice, but you want to make sure that there are no nicks or anything in any of these conductors inside of that jacket. Normally these will be eight wire, but sometimes you may see less than that. Next you have to install the thermostat back plate.

If you're going into drywall or wall board, then you want to use anchors of some sort. They go by a lot of different names, but you don't need to have anything super fancy, just something that's going to anchor well into the wall. If you're going into a stud or something solid, then you can just generally drive the screws directly into the wall itself. You want to use a level to make sure the thermostat's leveled this used to matter more with mercury bulb thermostats.

Those are the older thermostats, because the level would actually throw off the calibration of the thermostat with modern thermostats. It basically is just an aesthetic thing, but you know level your thermostats now you want to identify each of the wires, and this is another thing that comes up a lot with folks who are trying to do this as homeowners. There are some standard colors that are used, green, being blower, blue, being common red, being 24 volt, constant power white being your heat source or auxiliary heat in the case of a heat pump, yellow being the compressor, contactor or cooling mode and a heat pump, we would Call a compressor contactor in a straight cool unit with a gas furnace or electric heat only we would call it. The cooling call would generally be yellow and then orange is generally reversing valve.

But there are some exceptions to this, one of them being. If you have root or ream equipment, they will often use a heat mode call on the reversing valve as blue instead of orange, which is often confused with a blue common and that results in a short circuit. If somebody connects a blue that was designed for the reversing valve to common, or vice versa, you can have all kinds of problems that result from that. So you need to know the piece of equipment you're connecting to before.

You start also keep in mind that the colors don't actually mean anything it matters what they connect to on the other end, so it's very possible that somebody could have used a completely substandard color code, in which case you're going to have to open your indoor unit And your outdoor unit and see what they're connected to on the other ends. You could use completely different colors if you wanted to, and it would not matter so long as everything connects together as it goes down the line. But again, these are some of your most common standard color codes, and this is for a standard, 24 volt, thermostat, quick, caveat, modern controls like the carrier, infinity control as an example and many others are communicating controls and the color codes will be completely different because they're, Not using 24 volt controls they're using some form of communication. This comes up all the time when somebody tries to purchase a modern thermostat, like maybe a nest or an ecobee, to put it on an existing communicating system that will not work.

You have to use a manufacturer specified communicating control if what you have is a communicating system. So that's always something to look for another quick note: when you make your connections into your thermostat, you only want to strip back the end of the wire. As far as you need to in order to make a proper connection, you do not want any bare wire sticking out. If you open up that thermostat and you see bare wire, that's a problem, but also keep in mind.

You have to strip it back far enough. So that way, the contact points that you're connecting into are connecting to copper. If they're, crimping, down or screwing down onto the insulation, then you're not going to get a good connection so stripping back the insulation on the individual conductors before you connect it to the thermostat. The right length is important, also keep your wires and everything nice and square where they go in.

You know you don't want to have a bunch of loops or anything like that. You can give a little extra by folding the wire back in behind the thermostat. If you want so that way, you've got a little extra to work with that's perfectly fine, but keep everything neat and square just as a best practice whenever you're doing any kind of wiring. Once you get done, making all your connections and you've confirmed that they're correct.

All the way down the line, then you want to use a little bit of putty. We often use thumb gum is common, some people will use caulk or silicone, or maybe even foam tape to cover the hole, but you just want to make sure that you're not going to get air coming in behind that thermostat from the wall cavity oftentimes wall cavities Can be hotter or colder than the room? That's measuring and it can throw off the thermostat and it can also affect humidity measurements as well. So if you see a thermostat, that's measuring you know abnormally in terms of its humidity measurement. That is always something to look for once you get done with that, then carefully insert the thermostat body onto the base plate.

So your actual face of your thermostat, the actual thermostat itself onto the base plate, making sure that any pins are connecting well in behind the thermostat, so pay attention to those pins. I've seen a lot of people bend over pins on the back of thermostat controls when they're mounting them on the base plate or sub base. That's always something to watch for then turn the power back on make sure to program. Your thermostat, where applicable, follow the manufacturer.

Installation manual, many modern thermostats have installer setups that you have to set up for whether it's a heat pump, all the staging and all that, and so you really have to follow the manual once you get done doing all of this one of the most important things You do is test all of the modes. We didn't even talk about multi-speed equipment or equipment that has variable speed, blowers. You have to test every mode, so let's say you have a system that is a three stage: heat pump where you have stage one heat stage. Two heat and then auxiliary heat.

You need to check all three of those modes to make sure it actually works. Many systems have a test mode that you can go through to test each particular mode, and that can be a time saver. But at the end of the day you have to make sure that this thermostat is going to do the thing that you set it up to do and there's many things that you can. That can go wrong with it.

You could have wired something wrong. You could have set up the installer setup incorrectly and so testing is the final test to make sure that everything is working properly. So that's it make sure that you do not nick the wires when you are pulling the outer jacket off the conductors, make sure you strip the wire ends off properly and that they're connected to the proper terminals for the type of equipment that you are working on. All the way down the line from thermostat to air handler or furnace out to the condensing unit seal behind the thermostat make sure you set up the installer setup and, in general just always know the type of equipment you're working on and take your time going through.

The manual when you're doing it - that's all i've got on this. Hopefully that's helpful, we'll catch you on the next video thanks for watching our video. If you enjoyed it and got something out of it, if you wouldn't mind hitting the thumbs up button to like the video subscribe to the channel and click, the notifications bell to be notified when new videos come out, hvac school is far more than a youtube channel. You can find out more by going to hvacr hvacrschool.com, which is our website and hub for all of our content, including tech tips, videos, podcasts and so much more.

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