A typical apartment size furnace, front view.
You might notice your furnace not kicking on when the temp drops in your home. I.e. The thermostat says that the heat is on yet the heat still does not work. Or the t-stat never calls for heat when this happens. In fact, a broken thermostat, incorrect wiring, tripped circuit breakers, blown fuses, problem with the gas supply, or a broken HVAC system could cause this. Here, we detail some of these causes, and then offer troubleshooting routines and advice to solve them. First, we look at what might go wrong in the furnace itself. Then we talk about thermostat issues that can also cause the the furnace not to kick on.
Dirty air filters can constrict airflow though the furnace’s heat exchanger, and cut the heat output to near zero. Clogged filters reduce how much the furnace heats. How so? Dirty filters and fan blades move air less well. Plus, they make more noise besides. Finally, they could restrict the airflow so much that protective circuits shut down the system so it no longer kicks on.
Dirty heat pump coils, again, slow airflow through the condenser outside, and the evaporator unit inside. Thus, dirt can interfere with the heating system’s efficiency. Dirty coils lowers the BTUs per hour that a heat pump can pump for example. That could mean that the system cannot keep your quarters as warm as your thermostat setting calls for. And once again, the system might shut down completely to prevent damage due to overheating.
Though the furnace turns on, you may notice that the heating elements such as burners, electric coils, or heat pump compressor does not come on as well. This can happen due to a loss of electric power to said elements due to tripped circuit breakers, failed heating elements, broken relays, or a faulty control board. Or in the case of gas furnaces, it could be a loss of gas supply or faulty ignitor (the device that lights the gas coming out of the burner when the t-stat calls for heat, and again, faulty wiring or broken control board.
If the furnace stopped kicking on when you installed a new thermostat, you may have made mistakes in how you wired it. Perhaps you’ve reversed the W and Y wires. This would run the cooling stage though the thermostat is actually calling for heat. Other symptoms may appear too. But these depend on which wires and how many of them you have connected to the wrong t-stat terminals.
Check for correct wiring at both ends of the thermostat cable. At the thermostat, attach all wires to the right terminals in the wall plate. Then, do the same at the furnace end. Get help from a professional heating system repairman if you feel insecure matching these wires up with the right terminals.
The solid copper wires in the thermostat cable can break if flexed too much. Or, perhaps the installer stapled the cable with excessive pressure or stapler misalignment, and unknowingly nicked the cable.
This issue normally shows up during new thermostat testing. But sometimes, it might not surface for years. Plus, settling of wall studs can flex these wires that installers often fasten to them. So, after decades, this flexing can wear wire coverings, causing faulty furnace heating operation.
Replace the cable between the thermostat and furnace. Avoid tightly stapling the wire, and don’t fasten it more than you must for a secure installation. Lay it loosely.
You can set thermostats way lower than current room temperature, and this would cause the furnace not kicking on when the indoor temp drops. E.g. You might set the heat temperature to 65 degrees, when the room is already 70 degrees. In this case, the furnace would not kick on, even if the room temperature were to fall another few degrees.
As should be clear, the Honeywell thermostat not heating up problem in homes has many causes. Plus, most of them lie beyond the thermostat. A poorly insulated home, a furnace that’s too small, leaky windows and doors also contribute. All of these make the HVAC system work too hard to heat your home. In many homes there’s little coolness to spare due to poor HVAC sizing. Sadly, the fix for this often costs a lot. Why? Because it means replacing windows and doors, or adding more insulation. Or you may need to upgrade your furnace or add more supplemental heaters to your home.
But we hope that now, you know what might cause the Honeywell thermostat not heating up your home issue. Knowing the causes often helps in choosing the right fixes. Even though the best fix may cost the most, at least now, you have the data in front of you. Good luck, and choose the fixes wisely.
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