UT-3000 / CTK03 Thermostat Issue

[Mr. T]

I've got a newly installed (May of this year) Amana 96% propane furnace / 16-seer 2-stage heat pump with a UT3000 board, 3 zones and one CTK03 thermostat on Zone 1 and H/C stats on the other two. UT3000 has v1.16 firmware installed.

Everything worked fine all summer long, but now that it's heating season, there's an intermittent issue that has me baffled.

Once in a while (every few days, sometimes a few times in a day) I'll notice the Zone 1 with the (CTK03) is cooler than it should be. A check of the thermostat shows the temp a couple of degrees below the setpoint, "Heat On" and equipment status shows both first and second stage heat pump are active. On the UT3000, however, it shows no call for heat from Zone 1 and the heat pump compressor is not running. There are no faults shown on the CTK03.

Additionally, I've noticed on several occasions that the thermostat will say "Waiting for Equipment" and then a couple of minutes later "Auxiliary Heat On" - but when I check the UT3000, Aux is 000 but the heat pump compressor is (usually) running in low stage.

The only way I've found to "fix" the proble is to power cycle the furnace which resets the thermostat. The problem goes away and then comes back a few days later.

I haven't contacted my HVAC company yet but will do so if I can't figure out the problem on my own.

Is this something you've seen before and do you have any suggestions on where I should look to find the source of the problem? Defective CTK03? Wiring issue?

[Erik W.]

When the CTK03 demands auxiliary heat the UT 3000 is still in control of the staging. If the stat demands auxiliary but the heat pump can still achieve the the temperature set on the UT 3000 for heat pump target, than it will continue to run the heat pump until the heat pump can no longer keep up with the target you have set for it.

[Mr. T]

Doesn't explain why or how the CTK03 can be calling for heat while the UT3000 shows no call for heat from that zone. And that's the more pressing problem.

[Mr. T]

Any ideas or suggestions?

[Erik W.]

The issue you're having is to detailed to handle through the forum. If you could give us a call on our technical support hotline 800-446-3110 and a tech will assist you directly over the phone.

Erik Wnoroski
EWC Controls, Inc.
385 State Route 33
Englishtown, NJ 07726

[bdev]

I'm having exactly the same problem. Everything works fine except heat calls from the CTK03 on zone 1 don't show up on the UT-3000.

[Mr. T]

After spending quite a bit of time working with the folks at EWC (and they're great to work with, BTW), the bottom line is that the CTK03 is not compatible with the UT3000, due to some assumptions Honeywell made when they designed the CTK03 - essentially, it wants to be the single source of control in the system and gets "unhappy" when the equipment isn't doing exactly what it was asked to do (i.e., the CTK03 calls for HP but the UT3000 switches the system to dual-fuel based on zone demand or other settings -- CTK03 gets mad that the HP isn't running like it asked it to and shuts everything down.) Last I heard, Honeywell has no plans to address the issue, rendering the CTK03 essentially useless in this configuration.

I have replaced my CTK03 with a Honeywell Prestige 2.0 which preserves the RedLink functionality (ability to set temps remotely via RedLink gateway to the internet) but gives up the full communicating functionality that I wanted. Other options are to install a CTK01 or CTK02 instead of the CTK03.

[Erik W.]

Mr. T.
Thank you for the explanation that is the exact same answer I would have given.

[bdev]

Has there been any change on this issue? I notice there is now a CTK04 thermostat, and I even see a couple of references to a CTK05 thermostat. Will either of these work in a dual-fuel system with the UltraTalk 3000?

The HVAC contractor who installed the system went out of business. The builder (who is responsible for the fix) has brought in an HVAC contractor who is unfamiliar with ComfortNet products, so I'm pretty much on my own if I don't want them to just tear out everything and put in a legacy-style system.

[Paul Z.]

I would say if your contractor is unble to help call us between 8-5 Mon - Fri 1-800-446-3110 X462