Purchased home w/ Carrier Infinity system, have a few questions.


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Old 10-28-18, 06:14 AM
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Purchased home w/ Carrier Infinity system, have a few questions.

Purchased home w/ Carrier Infinity system, have a few questions.

Hi, I just purchased a house with a Carrier HVAC system. I am very hands on, although HVAC stuff is relatively new to me. Trying to understand what I have, what it can do, and also possibly if a thermostat switch to Nest/Ecobee/etc., or an upgrade to Carrier Infinity Thermostat, are options.

SYSTEM 1st FLOOR:
Condenser: 24ACB342A0030010
Coil/Air Handler: CNPVP4215ATAABAA
Furnace: 58CVA090-14116
Other (Thermostat): TP-PHP01 (these are wired at/behind the thermostat panel as follows: red wire from inside wall to V+ and V+ RED wire to thermostat front panel; and white wire from inside wall to Vg and Vg BLACK black wire to thermostat front panel.

SYSTEM 2nd FLOOR:
Condenser: 24ACB336A0030010
Coil/Air Handler: CNPVP3617ATAABAA
Furnace: 58CVA090-14116
Other (Thermostat): TP-PHP01

As I understand it my AC is a Carrier Performance line unit. My Furnace however is an Infinity line unit. The Coil/Air Handler also appears to be a Performance unit; although I frankly don't completely understand what a Coil/Air Handler actually does.

So my questions:
1. I've read about 1 and 2 stage systems vs. Variable Speed and Communicating systems. Given that my AC is Performance and by Furnace is Infinity, I'm guessing that the way the system is set up I am not able utilize the variable speed for the HVAC system?

2. Also, as the thermostat is the Carrier Performance Edge -- it is a non-communicating thermostat, and hence the whole system dumbs down to a non-communicating system?

3. What are my options?
a. Would buying a Carrier Infinity Thermostats make the system a communicating system (given that some of the equipment is "Performance" line eq)?
b. Would there by any benefit, and what would those benefits be, to upgrading to Carrier Infinity Thermostats, or is the answer no because of the question immediately above (i.e. some eq is "Performance")?
c. Are Nest or Ecobee thermostats an option for me? (I've read on here how much people tend to dislike Nest)
d. Would I lose any functionality or benefit I am currently receiving if I switch to Nest or Ecobee?

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
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Old 10-28-18, 12:02 PM
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Welcome to the forums.

I am not real familiar with the intricacies of the Carrier system. My forum partner should be.

However..... that IS a communicating thermostat you have.
A non-communicating thermostat would have 4-8 wires connected at the thermostat.
If you wanted to upgrade to a smart stat..... you'd need those 8 wires between the thermostat locations and the furnace. Check for them first.

Carrier TP-PHP01
 
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Old 10-28-18, 07:33 PM
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Yes, thanks. This is a communicating stat, at least I think it is. The part that’s attached to the furnace has the standard Rc-Rh (with jumper), W/W1, G, Y/Y2, C (which form some reason appears to have two wires a white and a blue connected to it). Most of these wires, all but two, seem to have been run to the stats, but are just sitting unused in the wall behind the stat back cover. So I’m theory I should just be able to wire them to a smart stat.

And given that from from what I think I understand that my system isn’t a truly communicating system, I am not sure if I’m giving up or loosing any features by going to generic smart stat.
 
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Old 10-29-18, 11:41 AM
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Your existing thermostat isn't doing anything that the Honeywell prestige IAQ could not do.

It can control a humidifier, a dehumidifier and a fresh air damper but if you are not controlling any extra equipment the Ecobee or nest could also do the same job.

The Carrier Infinity thermostat would give you added control of the blower and it would add heating diagnostics.
You can enter test mode and see the heating sequence of events.

You would not however get diagnostic capability of that 13SEER outdoor unit . You would just select the outdoor unit tonnage at the new stat.
 
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Old 10-29-18, 12:27 PM
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Thank you. I’ve got five wires in the wall total, only two being used. Is 5 enough or do I need 6? Is it as simple as taking off the receiving panel at the furnace and connecting the wires there and the corresponding wires on the nest/Ecobee? Is there anything else that needs to be done?
 
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Old 10-29-18, 05:11 PM
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It would be ideal if you could remove the cover of that EIM and post a picture for us.
How-to-insert-pictures

You need R, G, Y, C, W1 at the very least..... five wires.
We can tell from the picture if more are needed.
 
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Old 10-29-18, 05:47 PM
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Thank you so much for your help. On top of just wanting to switch to smart stats, today, one of the contractors removing wallpaper and painting, wet the crap out of one of the Carrier Edge stats and I’m not sure that thing will ever dry out and work fully again.

Anyways, here’s a quick and dirty pic I had on my phone from before; can and will post better ones—actually living in tomor.

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Last edited by PJmax; 10-30-18 at 10:57 AM. Reason: added pics from links
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Old 10-29-18, 07:39 PM
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Sorry for the Dropbox links. Only have an iPhone today so not much option for posting links on the quick and dirty.

Ive got most of this figured out but I’m a little puzzled by why there are two vires on the Y/Y2 and the C connection. The rest of it looks clear-ish enough to me. (I am very hands on and a huge techie, and my father is a contractor, but I kind of hit a wall at electric wire stuff :-(
 
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Old 10-29-18, 09:54 PM
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Your outdoor unit is also connected to Y/Y2 and C.
 
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Old 10-30-18, 02:12 AM
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Aha...so what do I do, remove this connection board off the furnace, splice the wires at the point of this board, and then connect them to match how they’re connected to this board but at the new thermostat?

And is it ok to splice the indoor door and outdoor unit C wires together and connect them to one C on the new stat? I guess same question for Y/Y2?

is it as simple as that or is there more to it.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HELP!
 
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Old 10-30-18, 09:41 AM
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Yep, it is as simple as that.
 
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Old 10-30-18, 07:36 PM
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@Houston204 Thank you. Just moved in today. Going to give it a try in the next week or two. Unlike what others say, I will post an update about how it turned out. Wish me luck.
 
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Old 10-31-18, 09:01 PM
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Remember to turn off power to the furnace before replacing the thermostat to avoid popping a low voltage fuse.
 
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Old 11-01-18, 08:55 AM
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@Houston204 and anyone else who could help. Last question(s).
Just spoke to Ecobee support, they confirmed that I should be good to go with their thermostat, but made two comments.

1) they believe I would lose the Variable Speed of the Coil/Air Handler: CNPVP4215ATAABAA -- I understand that I would lose the Variable Speed aspect, but I am embarassed to say that I don't 100% understand what the Coil/Air Handler is in the first place -- could someone be kind enough to enlighten me?

2) ecobee support also questioned whether my Furnace model 58CVA090, which is a Two Stage furnace, is actually currently hooked up as a two stage (there is only one white wire going to W/W1 and no second wire going to W2; so they questioned whether the Carrier Edge stat is doing two stage heating via one wire and is controlling which stage is activated somewhere inside the furnace itself, or via the Edge stat, or what. So the questions are, am I currently hooked up for two stage heat? Does anyone know which part is controlling the two stage? And how that would work if I put an ecobee in?

(Attaching picture of the diagram of the Equipment Control Module (ECM)) for reference.
 
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Old 11-01-18, 08:21 PM
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The coil has no fan. You have a 58CVA gas furnace with a variable speed blower motor.

You will not lose the advantage of a variable speed motor by switching from the Edge to and Ecobee thermostat. It will still have the ability to deliver the desired cubic feet per minute of airflow between .2 and 1 inch water column of external static pressure.

The only way to get more from that furnace is to get the Carrier Infinity WiFi thermostat.
It still would not be giving you more variable speed function, after setup, but it would give you setup capability from the stat instead of from the dip switched on the furnace control board. The Infinity thermostat would give you diagnostics.


That furnace has 4 banks of dip switches. The largest bank has 8 dip switches. ( SW1)
if the number 2 dip switch ( SW1-2) is turned off your furnace will energize stage 2 heat of the furnace using a timed signal as apposed to 24 volts to the W2 terminal.
 
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Old 11-02-18, 06:33 AM
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@Houston204 THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR HELP.

I called Carrier yesterday, lets just say that was a waste of time.

Then I finally got a call back from the carrier dealer that installed and services the system at our house. Spoke to a very nice tech who confirmed for me that I can indeed install the Ecobee and that I wouldn't lose any functions (didn't ask him about the variable speed), that the way I figured out to do it, is in fact the correct way. He also told me that they typically don't hook up W2 for second stage heating and instead allow "the board on the furnace to control that by itself." He also told me that he installs a lot of Ecobee thermostats as well as the Core thermostats, and recommends both of those, and strongly dislikes Nests.

I had to re-read your last paragraph a few times, before I even remotely begun to understand it. When I get home tonight, I'll take a look at the switches on the furnace. Now, just going to wait till Black Friday to buy the thermostats. Thanks again. I'll come back with an update after the install (or worse, with a question along the way
 
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Old 11-13-18, 06:11 PM
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Wanted to give everyone an update. Installed the two Ecobee4 units last week. Even with needing to take the ECM out of the equation by wiring directly around the ECM, the whole process probably took me 20 min per thermostat. Everything works great.

Really appreciate the the help of everyone who offered advice along the way!
 
 

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