I was laying in bed this morning waiting for the alarm clock to go off. Having nothing better to do, I checked the cycle times of the geothermal unit. The units was on for 8 minutes and off for 5. It varied a little each time but not dramatically. When I finally got up I checked the thermostat and noticed that the Aux. Heat was running. Outside air temp was 19. I do not set back the thermostat at night. Its set for 69 degrees all the time.

Wouldn't it be more efficient for the unit to run continuously without the Aux. Heat than to have it cycle using the Aux. Heat? I realize 19 degrees is cold and much colder than normal but I can just imagine what this is doing to my electric bill.

Kip,


There is something wrong with the settings on your tstat or zone controller.  Aux heat should not be coming on in the situtation you described.  From your previous posts, I see  that you have a Honeywell Vison Pro 8000 with a zone controller.

  Looking at the zone controller info,  it might be that aux heat is being turned on based on the out side temp.

See attachment.

I am not familiar enough with your controls to offer any advice on how to fix the problem.   If all else fails,  you can disable aux heat by disconnecting the  " W " or "W2" wire  either in the zone controller or the heat pump.

Maybe the Zoning Help Hotline  can give you some tips.

The problem with all heat pump thermostats is none are designed for geothermal ( even the ones supplied by a geo  manufacturer )
I would recomend calling back the installer ( who did nothing wrong besides not being creative enough )
I suggest do NOT change the aux setting on the t-stat but instead add a 1 hour delay on make time delay relay to the aux heat wire.

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<script src="http://www.google-analytics.com/urchin.js" type=text/javascript> </script> <script type=text/javascript> _uacct = "UA-2096641-5"; urchinTracker(); </script> This will greatly reduce your aux usage . simply changeing the setting on the t-stat to a different setting will give you another set of short falls ( like kicking on your aux when you adjust the temp ) a problem you curruntly dont have . I would also have them double check a call for aux is turning on your heatpump , if there is not a after market rib relay to turn on your heatpump when your aux turns on, the currunt setting on the t-stat has a compressor lockout below 20 ( thinking you have air to air ) this must be over bypassed

I pulled this table from the Zone Control book (sorry about the formtting). If I set Stage Three Delay to 30 miutes or longer do you think that might prevent the Aux. Heat from kicking on? I assume Stage Three is Aux. Heat because its on whenever the t-stat shows that the Aux. Heat is on.

What do you think the optimal delay should be for Stage 2 and Stage 3? If this is in fact a delay timer for the AUX won't this accomplish the same thing as geofan's timer?

Table 5. Advanced Configuration.
Menu Name	Menu Title	Menu Options	Menu option description	Notes:
Stage 2 Timer	STAGE 2 TIMER	5 MIN > – < 60 MIN	5 minutes–60 minutes	Number of minutes to delay before engaging second stage.
Stage 3 Timer	STAGE 3 TIMER	5 MIN > – < 60 MIN	5 minutes–60 minutes	Number of minutes to delay before engaging third stage.

Thanks for your help so far.

Is this applicable to the Vision Pro 8000 series as a whole? (only with the zone control?)

If applicable to all the 8000 series, is there documentation that shows where these menu settings are located? I have the 8321U1006 version and the installers guide doesn't seem to show options like this anywhere? where do you (or can you) get into this advanced configuration on the honeywell stat? I haven't seen what kiphorn does (but funny enough, last night I was up at 4am doing the same thing!!! on 17 min, off 7 minutes, on 15 min, off 7..... :-) no aux,

The table I posted is from the Honeywell Zone Control. It apparently offers some setting adjustments that aren't available with the t-stat alone.

Is the panel the new TrueZone HZ432? if so it can controll your staging better then any thermostat , but the set up of those things can be tricky . In short if the board has time delays in them Yes they can be used it just might not be as simple as turning a knob, and if this is your only source of stage controll I say go to the max 1 hour each at least half each