I was replacing a standard mechanical thermostat in my house with a programmable electronic one, but there were more wires attached to the old t'stat than the new one accepts. Specifically, I have a B and an O wire that don't attach to the the standard R, G, W, Y terminals on the new t'stat. I tried just capping them off and installaing as if they weren't there, but the furnace wouldn't start after this. I know the standard thinking is that B and O wires have something to do with a heat pump system, but I think my house just has a standard oil furnace and central air conditioning system in a two-zone configuration. Another source tells me that the B and O wires control the electric heating and cooling dampers, which makes more sense. The t'stat is a cheapo Lux TX500, but even the more expensive ones I looked at didn't have B and O terminals. Is this a common problem, and is there a way to wire this so that my system will work correctly? Any help would be appreciated.

Electric heater still won't blow warm air. Changed thermostat. What else is there to do? Circuit board maybe?