Son broke switch at heater


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Old 05-06-14, 04:37 AM
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Son broke switch at heater

Long story short, my son was in the furnace room mopping and fell backwards into the switch that turns it off. He somehow manage to crack off the toggle handle clean off.

His dad went to change the switch. But noticed that one of the wires is way to short and it needs to be replaced with a longer wire that originates in the unit....

We didn't have a chance to open it yet but are thinking this might be a different type of connection there directly to the board or something, perhaps we need a special part or an HVAC tech.

Does the feed from the switch into the furnace usually connect with wirenuts or a different type of connection?

Is this a DIY fix?
 
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Old 05-06-14, 04:48 AM
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You can just splice a short peice of wire of the same gauge onto the wire from the furnace to the switch in the box ,it's hard to believe there wouldn't be enough slack inside the furnace to pull out for the switch,check for tht first.
Geo
 
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Old 05-06-14, 04:55 AM
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Actually looking closer this morning, the installer used a very short piece of wire from the connection inside the furnace to the switch. Its very short on both ends. In the control box for the furnace it connects with wirenuts. In fact the installer also used black THHN for both the hot and neutral... could be easy to get polarity reversed.

Inside the unit, the high temp. wire in the furnace is also kind of short from the manufacture... I can make another splice of it I think but anymore would need more slack.
 
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Old 05-06-14, 06:40 PM
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What color are the wires going to the switch? The neutral should not be going to the switch,How many wires are in that box?a pic might help.
Geo
 
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Old 05-06-14, 06:58 PM
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The neutral isn't going to the switch. The installer used black wire to extend into the furnace.:NO NO NO:

You can use additional THHN wire to extend the wiring if needed.
 
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Old 05-07-14, 04:13 AM
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The neutral isn't going to the switch. The installer used black wire to extend into the furnace.

You can use additional THHN wire to extend the wiring if needed.


Exactly. into the switch box not the switch of course... neutrals are just wirenuted together albeit the installer used black for both feeds.

There is a small junction box inside of the unit where my husband connected new thhn to the furnace wires. The furnace wires are kind of short, as if the installer trimmed excess off. If we had to remake the splice I think definetly we would be undoing a bunch of wire ties looking for a little slack.

We were going to buy a replacement high temp wire harness kit if there was such a thing to extend the wires. Unfortunetly from the small junction box where it connects with wire nuts the other end does have a harness but to replace it would entail completely disconnecting all the wires from the control board etc.

If a HVAC installer needed to extend the power wires would he be looking to replace all the wires connected to that harness (which means pretty much totally redoing all the connections) or would he mearly splice on pigtails?

And if he were to splice pigtails, I assume they need to be in a box to shield from heat.

Also where does one get high temp (I believe 105 deg. wire 16AWG wire)?
 
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Old 05-07-14, 05:28 AM
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Probably would not change the harness,sounds like what you have done is fine,I wouldn't be to concerned about the 105c wire although you maybe able to find it at an electrical supply house .
Geo
 
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Old 05-07-14, 09:04 AM
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One thing that is screwy. The manufacture bundle the wires together in the cabinet with mini zip ties. We clipped one off to give some slack and they reef down on them so hard that the insulation is very indented. Its not split where you see copper but it looks kind of mangled. We wrapped the indented portion with Scotch 33. Is that sufficient? Or something I should be concerned about?
 
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Old 05-07-14, 01:20 PM
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The wire ties are cinched up and cut with a special "gun" tool that applies a specific tension before cutting. The "indenting" of the wire insulation is not a problem. I have applied literally thousands of these ties with a tensioning gun and never had a failure of the insulation.

This was the first tool I used: Cable Management | Cables, Ties & Wire Fasteners | Ty-Rap WT193A Heavy Duty Handtool For Nylon Cable Ties | B784040 - GlobalIndustrial.com

This is my current tool: Panduit GS4H Cable Tie Tensioning and Installation Tool
 
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Old 05-07-14, 02:05 PM
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I was thinking that the indention isn't an issue when the tie is insulating the insulation but once the tie is removed, the insulation now can break down.... is that a fair assumption?
 
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Old 05-07-14, 06:13 PM
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I would not be concerned.
 
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Old 05-07-14, 08:20 PM
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I agree with PC, nothing to be concerned about.
 
 

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