Friday, January 15, 2016

American Standard (Trane) Heat Pump / Air Handler / Thermostat not wired correct

Hello all,

I just had a new American Standard (same as Trane I think) system installed:


Gold 17 heat pump, 2-ton (AKA Platinum XM or Trane XR17 I think)
TEM6 air handler
Gold 824 thermostat (AKA Gold XV control or Trane XL824 I think)

Unfortunately I do not believe the installer knows how to wire or set up the system correctly. I'd like to understand how this system should be wired and set up (at the thermostat) so that I can direct the installer if necessary and also to confirm it has been done correctly. I do not want to "do this myself", but I do want to confirm that the system ends up being installed and operating as it should. I would be very grateful for any help that you pros can provide.

Please note that the manual for the 824 thermostat does not have a wiring diagram for the TEM6 air handler. There are other wiring diagrams, but it is unclear which (if any) apply to the TEM6. I asked the technician which wiring diagram he used and he said "none of them - I wired it according to inside industry knowledge." If a wiring diagram exists for the 824 / TEM6 combination, I'd love to just give this to my installer and insist that it be done according to spec. Does such a wiring diagram exist?

Here are the wiring / setup issues that I've identified:

1. In order to use the on-board humidistat and variable fan control options in the 824 thermostat, I believe the system needs to be wired in a particular way, and I don't think this has been done at all. I think I can verify this by using the "system test" area in the installer menu. In the blower sub-menu, I can choose either 50% or 80%, but the fan blows the same, low flow rate for both tests.

After a lot of reading, I think the correct wiring is as follows. Can someone please confirm and/or correct me?

I believe the BK wire from the air handler should be connected to the BK terminal on the thermostat, but right now the BK wire on the air handler is capped. Also, the manual seems to state that the jumper wire between R and BK should be cut, but I can't locate this jumper to confirm what has been done (I assume it has not been cut yet). Also, the manual states that for "BK enabled comfort control", Y1 and Y2 should *not* be connected at the air handler, but both Y1 and Y2 are currently connected from the Heat Pump to the air handler to the thermostat. Can someone clarify exactly how the BK, BK/R jumper, and Y1 / Y2 should be wired for this system?

2. The dip switches for the "cooling off - delay options" (switches 5 and 6) are set at the default (1.5 minutes at 100%). Should this be set to "none" (both switches off) so that the thermostat controls the "off delay"?

3. The dip switches for the airflow settings on the air handler are all at the defaults listed in the manual. I have a 2-ton system. Shouldn't the dip switches be set for a 2-ton system rather than the default 3-ton system?

3. In the installer setup menu, the thermostat defaults to a "two compressor, two stage" system. When I pointed this out to the installer, he changed it to a "single compressor, two stage" system, which is what I believe the Gold 17 / XR17 heat pump is. However, after applying the change, the thermostat reverts to the "two compressor, two stage" system setting. Why is this happening? Is it related to the above wiring issues?

Thanks for reading, and any help you can provide!

Air Handler wiring (white w/black "BK" wire shown is just capped):



Air Handler wiring / control board / dip switches:



Thermostat wiring:

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