Any Home HVAC guys out there?

The Aux light was flash when it did this the other day. But, even if you turn the system Off on the Thermostat it continues to run. Only way to kill the system is by the breaker near the Heat pump or in this the main panel of the house.

 

Pretty much that. You have high voltage and low voltage. Low voltage is the hardest to diagnose because it’s intermittent most of the time. But as long as you can read a wiring diagram and know how to use a meter you are good to go.

 

If you are having to do this, then yes, it’s going to be a contactor.

 

A contactor is the same thing as a relay just bigger and looks a little different. Outside of automotive they normally have a lower voltage control wiring.

 

Any updates OP?

 

Yes, we put in a new “connector”.
To me it looked like an over sized relay.
It was located on the Heat Pump itself.
The old one was black and stuck at the time we removed it.
So far, so good.

I couldn’t tell you the exact name of the part.
A friend of the family came over and fixed.
I helped, by standing there a watching. Lol
I didn’t mess with high voltage electric, I don’t know anything about it.

 

Sure thing.

Describe "will not shut off sometimes" a little better.

Does the house keep getting warmer and warmer?

Or is the space temperature still below the thermostat setting when it "will not shut off"?

What kind of thermostat? Post a picture of the model number of the thermostat.

PHM
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Maybe this will explain it better.

 

A heat pump most commonly powers the yellow and orange for cooling. For heating it just powers the yellow. The O powers the reversing valve to make it cool. The design logic is "fail-safe to heat". ALTHOUGH . . . . some brands do it the opposite way - O powered for heat.

With the make and model number of the outdoor unit we can find out pretty quick.

PHM
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As of now. We have it fixed.
Or at least it’s operating as Normal.
Hopefully it stays working.

Thanks for the help.

 

Is the heat pump defrosting at all? Also, when you were using it in COOL mode over the summer, did it seem to be performing okay?

 

Yea to both question.
However, we didn’t use AC all that much.
And we have had this problem before, just not last summer.

By the looks of the old “contractor” it was likely the problem.
It was stuck. I smacked it on the ground a few times and it popped free.
It’s in the trash now. A new one has be installed.

 

I’m not an HVAC tech, but I know quite a bit about the topic and I’ve given out advice to other members. So you’re saying that the heat pump just runs constantly? Does it get the house to the desired temperature?

I have a slight feeling you might be low on Freon.

 

Yes, like 89 degrees. And kept getting warmer
It would NOT turn off.

 

So it keeps running even after it reaches the set temperature on thermostat?!?!

 

Yes, it did.

 

@TnShooter

Also, what brand is it? Carrier? Trane? Lennox?

The average service life for a residential air-source heat pump is about ten years, though most of the ones I’ve seen tend to last considerably longer than that; Oldest operational heat pump I’ve ever seen was a 1970s Carrier “spam can” and that was maybe three years ago.

The newest heat pump I’ve ever seen get replaced due to some sort of mechanical failure was an 11-year old Trane XE1000 (manufactured in late 1998, installed in the summer of 1999, failed in spring 2010).

 

Sounds like the problem might be with the thermostat, or thermostat wiring. Is the thermostat from 1997 as well?

 

It was, until I changed it.
And the same thing happened.

The thing we replaced looked like this.
Best I can describe it as is a big relay for 240v
It was getting stuck ON, and the heat pump would stay On.

 

Stuck in heat mode too? Also, what brand?!?!