1 wire short

[wheelman]

Kind of like being a few fries short a happy meal or something.....I just purchased and installed a Hunter programmable thermostat from Lowes. It is the model specific for a heat pump--which I have. I followed the instructions to the letter, but I've run into a problem that's not covered in the instructions. There's no "L" wire in the bundle coming into my thermostat location. I even split the cover several inches farther back and still no L wire. Now that I've spend nearly $100 on this thing, without the L wire will it not switch from heat to cool automatically? Very frustrating! How do I correct this problem? I'm no HVAC tinkerer at all. Changing the thermostat is about as involved in HVAC as I get.....HELP!

Thanks!

Hal
Kentucky

 

[glennjanie]

Welcome to the Forum Wheelman:
It sounds like the easiest thing to do is buy a new cable with enough wires in it and maybe 1 or 2 extras. Tie the new cable to the end of the old one and pull it through the same route, then make your connections. I think you can get and eight wire cable. Make sure you don't make a knot larger than the cable when you make the tie because it may not want to go through the holes.
Glenn

 

[tooltime]

The old wire could possible be stapled down. I doubt that it would be in the walls if it was put in more recently than the contruction process. It may be tacked along joists or something before it enters the walls. So I'd at least take a look for those before you start trying to pull it, might save ya a bit of agrivation.