NCM-300 Control and Staging Issues

[westriver]

I have a NCM-300 control board on a 2 zone system with a Carrier 2 stage furnace.

There are times when the furnace does not seem to 'stage up' to the second stage. I notice this when the temp outside is low (-10 to 10) and my system doesn't seem to want to get up to the set point -- even after many hours. I noticed this recently on a rather cold night (-8). When I went to bed zone 1 was at 68 degrees. The set point was 71 degrees. I checked it right away in the morning. It never got there. The furnace didn't seem to run consistently and when it did, it ran at stage 1 speed (or at least the fan ran at the slower speed -- I don't know if there are other staging factors).

Questions:

Can the each zone stage up to the second stage independently? Or do both zones need to be calling for heat before the system will stage up? I read something about more than '50% of zones' need to call for heat for stage two to activate?. Ture? This was in your forums somewhere. I did test my Zone 1 independently (Zone 2 turned off) and Stage 2 did activate after the set timer interval ???

If the control panel indicator LED for W2 is on should I hear the higher fan speed coming from my furnace? I tested my Zone 2. LED W2 turned on after the set timer interval, but the furnace fan speed did not increase?

Does stage 2 always activate after the set timer (via the board pot) interval? What happens when the outside air temp is low (0-10)? Does the system always need to wait for the set timer interval to expire before the second stage will activate?

Once activated, shouldn't stage 2 remain active until the set point is reached? Again, stage 2 seems to deactivate early before the set point is reached?

I'm just trying to establish the specific Stage 2 behavior to see if my system is operating properly

These issues crop up when we hit the first low temps of the year. This happened last year and the local HVAC company determined that the controller board was 'bad'. Not sure this was the problem as the same thing is happening now. I'm not sure they even fully understand how your system works.

Does anything special need to be set on the furnace to make sure it is operating properly with your controller?

By the way, the zone valves always seem to be doing what they should and are always open when wither Zone 1 or 2 are calling for heat.

I'm confused. Any insight you can provide is appreciated.
jk

[Erik W.]

jk,
you need to take notice of what lights are illuminated on your zone panel the next time this happens. I understand it may be difficult but the best indicator of what may be going on is the LED lights on the board. With that information we will be able to narrow down what the problem could be.

Erik Wnoroski
EWC Controls, Inc.
385 State Route 33
Englishtown, NJ 07726
800-446-3110 ext 483

[westriver]

Thanks,
I'll try and take another look over the holiday weekend.
jk