Aux light only comes on when unit is in emergency mode

[noryn]

Just one more quick question and I should be good to go :eek:

I had my first Amana heat pump installed today for the downstairs. My installer has been in business 35 years however the guys that installed were in their 20's which is fine. They did mention a problem trying to wire the thermostat to the indoor handler. I heard him mention to the contractor there were "5 diiferent sets of thermostat wires" and he had never seen anything like that.

Well we got everything hooked up and it was approx 30-35 degrees outside and the thermostat was placed in the high position--it is a manual thermostat and was placed all the way to the top I would guess 90 degrees F or so. When I saw the thermostat I was a bit concerned because the aux light was not on. It was 50 degrees or so in the house. The contractor said that is ok because the heat pump was doing all of the work and the air coming in the house was warm which it was but to me it didnt feel as warm as before.

So it does not matter what now the aux light will not come one in regular mode. It is now 20 degrees F outside and nothing. So just to make it interesting I put it in emergency heat mode and now both lights come on--the aux light and the emergency heat light--I never remember the aux light coming on with emergency heat however I only used emergency heat perhaps 1-2 times.

About 2 hours after the install (I know it takes time to get to set temperature) it was still rather cold downstairs. My thermostat is an older manual one so the temp is really hard to see but I would say the temp remained 50-60 degrees F. About 5 hours after the install my wife woke me up and told me it was freezing downstairs. So I went ahead and put it in emergency mode and now after about 3 hours it seems to be up to 70 F.

If you guys have any suggestions they would be appreciated. They have to come back in the am to install the top one and I just wanted to know if this is normal even though I am pretty sure it is not. I guess what concerns me the most is my aux light not coming on when I know it should--when the temp is 20 degrees outside and when the temp in the house is 20-30 degrees from the set temp.

Again thanks so much for your time and help. Also the heat pump still runs while the thermostat is placed in emergency mode--not sure if this is supposed to happen or not.

[scottg]

So the guys are comming back in the AM
I would not be too worried and let them finish the job in the morning.
I too have not had the time to finish jobs in the same day and just got things to give heat for the night and then return and fix it all up right.
Give them time really us guys are really good people and know that if a job is not right we hear it from you the customer until you are satisfied.
Once again don't worry.

[noryn]

They gave me a 10 years parts and warranty so I am not really worried and they are good guys. I just wondered if that was normal or if I should be trying to have them check it out before they leave.

To the best of my knowledge they will not be looking or doing anything else to this system which is downstairs. They will be putting in an air handler in my attic then connecting the other outside unit and that is it.

[mattison]

These are installers, not service techs. All you need to do is let them know it's not working properly and if they can't wire the stat properly then they will get a service tech to look at it. Sometimes things like this just need some fine tuning after the install.

[noryn]

I may have solved my problem although I dont want to take the thermostat off until they come so if something is wrong they cant blame me. Anyway the upstairs thermostat is off so I have looked at it.

white wire goes to w2--so that should be my second stage of heat

yellow goes to y--so that should be my compressor

green goes to g so that should be my blower

red goes to o so that should be my cool??

also another red goes to r which should be hot for transformer

blue goes to c which should be common for transformer

Anyway I was going to try to see that wiring diagram for the bottom thermostat even though it should be the same and the thermostat is kind of loose. When moved the aux light will briefly come on then goes right back off. Sounds like I have a bad connection or bad thermostat.

I am still concerned that the heat pump runs even when the thermostat is placed in emergency mode. My owners manual says it shouldnt.

[mattison]

You're smart in not messing with it. Something is deffinitly not right. The h/p should not run in e-mode.

The red wire that goes to "O" is the reversing valve in the heat pump. "Y" is what turns the compressor and outdoor fan on during heating and cooling the reversing valve changes the direction of refrigerant flow depending on what mode your in "heating or cooling". Usually this wire is not red so that it don't get confused with the 24v hot wire, normally it's orange or even blue.

[noryn]

Again I appreciate the help. The thermostat was not wired up correctly. They fixed it in about 30 minutes.

Part of my concern was I knew it wasnt functioning correctly yesterday and the owner I took it as shot me down saying "it is working fine." He was very hard of hearing so there is a good chance he just misunderstood me.

That is basically why I wanted some more advice because I knew something wasnt right and I would have felt better knowing for sure I was right in case they tried to argue. However they did a top notch job, took care of the problem as soon as I told them.

Thanks so much for providing help in this forum. Hopefully my heating and cooling woes will be over for 10-15 years at least. Kinda stressful but I did learn quite a bit in the past 2 weeks and I may be able to help people I know just a bit in the future. Thanks again and have a great weekend!

[mattison]

Hopefully my heating and cooling woes will be over for 10-15 years at least.

As long as you keep the filter changed and the maintenace up to date this can be a reality for sure.

Glad you are pleased with the install, and stick around on DIY we've got alot more topics in here that deal with just about any project or hobby you're into.