z-wave electric baseboard thermostat install - help needed
I am having some trouble wiring up my new zwave electric baseboard thermostats.
The thermostat has two black wires and is non-polar. I already installed one of them in my older part of my home easily. I just had to wire-nut the one red wire and one blue wire in my wall gang box to the two black wires.
I have a newer part of my home which has a thermostat with a gang box with two black and two red wires. With the original thermostat the wires are connected with red on one side and black on the other.
I am not sure how to connect the new smart thermostat up with the additional wires.
I believe there are two sets of wires because this thermostat is controlling heaters in two different rooms next to each other. I have a larger family room and a small office attached to it. There is one baseboard in my family room and one in the office. Thermostat controls both.
There are installation instructions but I am unsure how to read them for the 4-wire installation. Here is a picture of the only thing in the instructions on this.
The instructions indicate I should wire-nut two of them and not connect them to the smart thermostat. So if I am reading that correct, do I nut the two reds together and then connect the blacks tot he smart one (or visa versa)? Are electric baseboard heaters non-polar?
For the record the breaker is off on this unit, nothing is live.
Last edited by PJmax; 12-29-20 at 09:46 AM.
Reason: added pics from links
We can't tell how your heaters are wired. Your wiring looks like 240v line in 240v load out.
Two wires in and two wires out. That would mean if this thermostat runs two baseboard heaters.... they would be be combined at the baseboards. Also be sure to verify max wattage of heaters to not overload the thermostat.
You are using a two wire thermostat.
Wirenut the red wires together and connect the two black wires to your new thermostat.
I could not look at this the last couple of days and went to give it a go today and have another concern before I proceed. The original thermostat it turns out is on two different circuit breakers. Am I still good to proceed with wire nuts on the two red wires and then connecting the black wires to my new thermostat? Will it be a problem it being on two different breakers? 8.5.5
One of the breakers is a double 20, and the other is a single 20. Would that put the double 20 breaker at 240? I did not test which heaters the line is connected to. I just used my voltage tester at the thermostat when I was flipping the breaker. My breaker panel is not labeled so I am not sure exactly what goes where. I know both breakers have wall outlets on the same line. Is there a better way to test the heaters other than turning on the tstat and feeling for heat?
perhaps I tested my lines incorrectly when I had the stat cover off, maybe there was a live line causing a positive read which was not tied in to my stat. I will have to give it another test later this morning. Aside from how it should be, is it possible that my heaters are occupying two different breakers such as my setup (double 20 and single 20)?8.5.5
It is normal for heater to use a double pole breaker. They are usually 240 volts and that requires a double pole breaker.
It is not normal to use a double AND a single pole.
I feel (read: hope) there’s a simple solution here that I’m just not thinking of. This project is in Austin, TX.
I currently have a main panel that feeds a sub panel to supply everything for my house. I’d like to run power to a new shed/workshop - not much, just lights and outlets - but can’t just add a new breaker or two as the main panel is full.
The short term fix would seem to be a panel upgrade (or consolidating circuits, I suppose, if I even can). The twist to this particular challenge is that I’m planning an expansion (timeline TBD) that will require the main panel and meter be moved purely because they’re in the way of where the addition will go (and I’d like to move the main panel indoors since I’ll have the opportunity). As such, I’m wary of throwing money away to move the panel just to move it again later.
Bonus twist: I have an unused electrical pole a couple yards from my meter/main panel. It’s a long story but the short version is my neighbor hired a bad electrician and now we have two poles, one on either side of the property line, and mine has never been used for anything.
I'm thinking there’s a chance I could have the meter moved to the pole along with...something...maybe a new, small main? Then I could trench/suspend to both my existing main (which would then be a sub, really) and out to a new, small sub in/on the shed. It would then be an ostensibly smaller job to relocate my main down the road....just trench/suspend a new run to the relocated main and that’s that.
Would that work? And if so, what is the “something” I would have installed on the pole with the meter? Or are there meters with multiple breakers that would give me 2+ runs? Or is there some other more elegant solution I’m not thinking of here?
Appreciate the thoughts!
The motor just hums but will start if I crank it by hand. Then it runs no problem. I replaced the start capacitor with a new one with very similar specs but that didn't help at all. Did I wire it right? I soldered the new one in.
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12-29-20, 09:24 AM
