Fifth wire

Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
13
Reaction score
0
My HVAC thermostat is 4 wire system W,R,Y,G. I just bought a new thermostat that uses 5 wires, w/extra Common connection. I was considering running a 5th wire, no easy task. then i removed old thermostat and pulled the wires out of the wall and there is a 5th black wire that was not used. So, i go to the furnace in the garage and look at the control board and there are the same four wires hooked up to the board and the fifth black wire not hooked up. So, all i need to do is connect this wire to common or furnace ground, right?

Before i did that, I checked several things.

At thermostat end of the wires with the thermostat disconnected I get 28 volts AC between R and each of the other three, but between R and the black I get volts starting at 7, 8, or 9 volts then it climbs up rapidly at 1st then slowly and by the time it gets to 12.x it is increasing very slowly. Now i go to the furnace and I get the same 28 volts between R and each of the others, except black. Between R and Black I get zero.zero volts. Between the black and ground is also zero.zero volts.

ive gone back and forth several times and get the same.

How is this possible and what does it mean?

tks,
pa
 

Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments. After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.

Ask a Question

Top