Spent 4 hours troubleshooting a thermostat that just needed a battery

I was swapping out a Honeywell unit in a house in Cleveland and the display wouldn't power up. Checked every wire, tested the transformer, even called tech support, only to realize the old batteries were dead and it wasn't pulling from the C wire. Anyone else waste a whole afternoon on something that simple?

2 comments

2 Comments

ruby5611mo ago

Oh man, I feel your pain on this one. I spent like two hours once trying to figure out why my furnace wouldn't kick on and it was just a dirty flame sensor. Those little battery deals are the worst though because you never think to check them first. Glad you got it sorted even if it took forever.

ruby5611mo ago

Yeah but I gotta push back on calling it "the worst" because honestly that's the kind of thing that separates a decent tech from a hack. You're supposed to check the basics first before tearing into the wiring. I've seen guys swap out control boards and transformers just to find out it was a dead 9-volt. That's embarrassing and expensive for the customer. Those batteries are literally the first thing on the diagnostic checklist for a reason. You learn real quick to check power sources at step one after you eat an hour of your own time like this.

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