OMG I DID IT!!!! I was *terrified*…. I have never done anything like this before. Electricity and wires scare me so much! This was one of those things I would have happily paid a professional a hundred bucks to do, but I decided to just see what it was going on “under the hood.”. So I shut down the power main (I wasn‘t taking any chances!) and opened up my old thermostat. Then I unscrewed it from the wall, and sure enough, I had no “C” wire. UGH. I found your video, and it’s so thorough, I went ahead and disconnected the wires, and did exactly as you said, putting the “G” wire into the “C” port. The terrifying part was opening up the furnace (in the dark, with my phone as a flashlight while also trying to replay that section of your video over and over. It was comical…). I found the control panel, and did exactly what you said… I kept having to calm myself by saying “you can do this… people do this *all the time.” I literally felt like I was diffusing a bomb! Like if I did it wrong, the house would blow up once I turned the power back on! I closed up the furnace, and turned the power back on, expecting the worst. I went back upstairs, and the Nest was all lit up and ready to program! We ran through testing the A/C - and to my shock, it came right on, blowing cold air. I DID IT! I am feeling really proud of myself for stepping *WAY* out of my comfort zone!!! People, if I can do it, literally *anyone* can!!! This video is essential if you find you don’t have a “C” wire!!
I'll give that a year, maybe more before the stat head goes blank. I'm an HVAC tech as well. I don't use the word hate very often, but I hate the PEST. You want a good, reliable WIFI stat, go with an Ecobee.
I'm ok with the wiring if I could just find the C port and know its the right one. Not so excited about the notion of the house blowing up once I turn the power back on. Now if only I could step out of my comfort zone and go out and socialize more 😅
@@reedscuba I'm assuming thats a word play on Nest? Sorry not enough coffee this morning. I was talked into one of these with a rebate from my power company- even though the one they sent me looks like an Avon makeup case (its pink with a gold reflective top and "no Returns" of course). It looks like something that would be in Smurfette's house 😆. IDK I don't need to run my thermostat through my phone, my phone already has 10,000 trackers they don't need to watch my heating habits too lol. The only thing I like is the clear color display.... but that shuts off every time you walk away! So no seeing the temperature from across the room. Why do you hate them?
This is totally me!! I've replaced a dishwasher switch once but was scared to death!! This is even scarier but I'm going to do it. If you did it, I can do it! Thank you!!
The last solution solved my issue with my Nest install! I echo the other comments in regards to the video being easy to understand and being so clear. The visual of the circuit board in the presenters hands really helped communicate what needed to be done regarding the rewiring. Thank you for saving me the headache of running another wire throught he wall and not needing to try the Google NEST power connector device for $25!
Thank you very much! I have a 3-wire system and hooked up a Nest a couple of weeks ago. Was getting a N260 error. Batteries died quickly, was losing connectivity to my WiFi. After watching the video I put the g to c and immediately fixed my issue. I did not have to make any changes to the Phone app. Once I plugged the furnace back in and reconnected the Nest I was back in business. Thank you!!
Just had my first experience with the nest on a new furnace I just installed. The fan would run non-stop. Seems the power robbing caused the electronics to think there was a call for AC. Very frustrating - even taking the stat off the sub-base, still the fan stayed on. Threw me for a loop, until I removed the stat wires from the furnace and the fan stopped. ALLWAYS find a way to get a common wire to the stat - it will save you a nightmare later on. A note on moving the green wire over, then the fan switch on the stat will not function if one just wants to circulate air, but will let the AC and Heat work properly (Don't forget that jumper). Nice video - well done. 40 years in the trades seems like there is always a way they make things difficult on us.
Glad I watched your video before making an HVAC service call. My a/c has been short cycling this season (after installing a Nest thermostat last winter). After watching a couple of your videos, I bypassed the thermostat to test the a/c without the thermostat and the a/c didn't short cycle. Found that my thermostat wire had a common (blue) wire hidden back in the wall and followed the steps on your video to add it to my Nest thermostat and to my furnace control board. Problem solved! The a/c is no longer short cycling! Thanks!!
I changed G to C on both the control board and thermostat. I then jumped Y to G on the control board, removed batteries from by T-stat. I now have a common wire, thank you.
Wow... we bought Nest a year ago and for past couple of months it sudden decided to drain battery over and over. We ended up manually charge the Nest over and over, when we charge it, few minutes later it said to put it back in the base... then to drain again next day??? Very annoying and then this video saved us some headache! We switched G wire to C and that's it! Thank you!
Same here... all of a sudden the Nest battery would drain twice a day (while negative 15deg outside!). I used the common wire swap, and found a length of wire from an old landline phone wiring and set up a jumper. Thanks again this was a huge time and money saver!!
I’ve moved from an ecobee to Nest, had 4 wires and a 4 to 5 wires adapter in the furnace. Whether I run Heat or Cool mode, both AC and Furnace used to run at the same time. I’ve removed the adapter and followed option 3. Now everything is running perfectly. Thank you so much for the video.
You’re a real lifesaver! The way you explain and your reasoning are straight forward and easy to understand. You just saved me from returning this thermostat. Thank you so much!
This was so helpful. My AC condenser kept shutting off when the house was not cold yet. Hooked up the C connection at both ends and we have constant cool air, got lucky extra wire was there. Your Capacitor troubleshooting and replacement saved us last week. Thanks for the excellent videos.
I was doing research on the lack of a C wire on my Nest thermostat since I noticed the battery is always low and thank god I watched this video because I also had the C wire wrapped around the rest of the wires behind the thermostat and didn't realize it. I was getting ready to take apart my furnace and buy one of those adapters! Thanks man!
Nice video. I originally thought I had only four wires on my old Honeywell thermostat. I checked my HVAC/central air and saw another wire. Went to where the Nest thermostat was and pulled more wire out of the wall and there it was wrapped around the main wire. Problem solved. Hooked both up to the C and it works fine. I hope more people see this and it helps them also. Thanks again.
The 3rd method worked for me. My brand new house (when it was built in 1994) had two lines of two wires each for a total of 4. I was going to just run a "C" wire and bind it to the other two lines, but I decided it wasn't worth the trouble if the 3rd method would work. Thanks for the very helpful video.
Holy Sh!t, that worked. And so, so easy to understand. Thank you for breaking it down to the lowest level. And here I thought HVAC repair was so complicated and required a technician. Excellent work my man.
Awesome video!!! The 3rd method worked perfect for me. I have a 3-wire furnace (Heating only system) (R, W, G) and I simply re-purposed the Green wire to a C wire per the video and Viola! I then had to remove and re-add the Nest Thermostat within the Home app and then tell it I now had R, W, C wiring. Before this fix I had even installed Nests "C-wire Power module" inside my furnace which didn't work and ended up tossing it with this fix. Thanks a ton!!!
Thanks for this. I initially changed my G wire to the C. Then I noticed that there was an unused Blue wire. I switched the G back to G, connected the Blue to G on both and voila, it worked. Thank you!
@4:45 NOT REQUIRED, COULD BE HAZARDOUS... here is why... Fan is unaffected with a gas furnace (dual fuel system). The fan speed (usually max) for cooling (Y) is predetermined, and comes on upon energizing the Y terminal. The fan speed for heating (W) is also predetermined (sometimes med/low or med/high) and is set based on your required temp rise. The predetermined fan speed for heating will engage the fan aprox 1 minute after the burners warm the heat exchanger on your gas furnace/air handler. Y fan speed is set based on temp split and the air conditioner's air flow requirement. W fan speed is set based upon temp rise and the furnaces heat exchanger's air flow requirement.... shorter answer, heating will not be affected... and for this reason I find the authors advise of adding the jumper from Y to G unnecessary. Most furnaces will override the G call created by the jumper and run the blower at the required (usually max) speed for AC anyways. A call for fan (G) is often a different speed than a call for AC (Y). Additionally if the furnace had a fan switch mounted on the side of it in the mechanical room or hallway as i often see placing the jumper between G and Y would cause nonstop continual air conditioning if the fan switch were to be engaged. this would likely freeze up the system, cause extreme energy usage and could even damage the equipment if left unnoticed. Don't insert a jumper from Y to G, totally not necessary! All other info in the video was informative and accurate though. Thanks for your videos and efforts, truthfully you are appreciated, I'm just trying to help.
Thank you and thank you. The 3rd option you mentioned in the video is what I used in fixing the problem and my system is up and running well without any issues. Thank you for saving me the money to call in a HVAC professional and the whole process of fixing the problem is not more than 10minute
Brother you are a life saver. I just got my nest and I did not have the c wire. I went down to the panel and I see the extra wire was there but it was not pulled up to the thermostat. I switched the g to the c and jumped the y and the g and boom! Everything is working great. thank you so much.
If you use the green or fan wire as the common wire, then it isn’t possible to have the fan running to recirculate air without the heat or the air conditioning on correct? How about with the adapter? Is it possible to run the fan to recirculate if the heat or conditioning isn’t running?
@@WordofAdviceTV If you use the green or fan wire as the common wire, then it isn’t possible to have the fan running to recirculate air without the heat or the air conditioning on correct? How about with the adapter? Is it possible to run the fan to recirculate if the heat or conditioning isn’t running?
Brother I need you to do this in my house. AC guy quoted me 350 to 400 to add this C wire. Says electrician will charge 500. You save me bunch of headaches. To me, the g wire n jumper seems viable. God bless you.
Thanks. My AC unit is Duncane made by Amana. When the unit was installed three years ago we got the NEST 2nd gen, a few hours later started making some bang loud noises. We replace the NEST for a regular Thermostat and the problem stoped. A moth ago the old Thermostat was bad and was time to get a new one, we got the NEST 3rd Gen, and again the bang loud noise came back. I went across your video, I did the option of green going into C wire with the jumper of the Y and G at the unit. So far I haven’t heard any more bang loud noise. One more time, thank you.
For the Nest thermostats that I have installed the "power stealing" feature has worked fine. Good to know about the potential issues associated with systems that don't have a common wire.
@Mario G I just for the first time in this house that we moved into 3 months ago tried to run the furnace this AM with the Nest I installed and it's making the furnace short cycle. No common wire but it worked fine with the old "dumb" thermostat. I guess Nest thermostats are just particularly sensitive to this? It's been able to run AC unit just fine.
Whenever I use the power stealing ive found that the thermostat act irregularly and can even cause the unit to short cycle after a few months. This is likely due to the flocculation of current through the fragile controls of the nest thermostat.
Can not thank you enough for all you sweat in your attic and gained knowledge that you so kindly shared. We just had this happen and you fix worked like a champ. Yes we had water in the tube, shopvaced out the water and now we have AC again. Thank you thank you kind sir.
THANK YOU!!! I thought I could use the extra black wire (method #2) and since my electrical knowledge can fit in a dixi cup (half full, not half empty) you saved the day for me. I would have just hooked up the extra black wire, thinking it was a common and called it a day.
It doesn't matter if your unit is Heat or AC or both. The Nest (and other WiFi thermostats) are designed to work better with a C (Common) wire connected. They need to be supplied with power (that circuit is completed by the C wire) to operate their WiFi and other electronic circuitry.
Please keep making HVAC videos. I know everything else except this and welding and I understand it the way you teach it. Thank you for making these videos.🤘
Thank you for the explanation. After watching your exceptional instructional video I was able to run a C line from the thermostat to the source and now my system works perfectly. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Thanks a million your video and information are just GREAT. I did it by myself. I was having issue the nest thermostat didn’t have power and I just follow your instructions connecting the C cable that wasn’t connected to the Honeywell. 🎉🎉🎉😅
My furnace does not have a C terminal but I had unused wires in the thermostat cable. It does have a terminal labeled “24V” and after some research I found I could add the C wire there. Everything is working great. Thanks for the video!
Thank you very much for a quick and clear overview of the wires, purpose and how to add the common C. Luckily I had the fifth wire tied with the stem so that I did not have to move the G to C, nor run any additional wire. You saved me money and from a biting cold night. Happy holidays!
Bro I really have to say, this was one of the best and concise instructional videos I’ve ever watched. I felt the need to comment and applaud you for making such a high quality, easy to follow video 🤜
Excellent. Your explanation is succinct yet comprehensive to solve this problem. BIG THANK YOU.... I changed the wiring per your instructions to have power circuit using C wire. Not having separate fan control was not important to me. My Question if you can answer: On my furnace I found additional wires two wires connected. I believe they are connected to the Air Conditioning compressor. i did not change anythng there, just did exactly what you suggested including jumper from G to Y so AC when turned on will turn the fan on as well.. MY Q is did I do this fix correctly? I would appreciate your answer. Thank you in advance.
Nice try! I found a blue c wire behind the the thermostat so was wondering if I could find a blue as well connected to the furnace chipboard, but I didn’t see one like it. Then I stripped off the wire wrap that covers all other wires. When I cut the wrap down a bit and noticed there was a blue wire wrapped with other wires but underneath the wrap. I then connected it to the C terminal on the chipboard. This works. My nest thermostats now have the power from The blue C wire all the time!
It depends on the length of the cycles. The battery won't charge without a difference of potential across the coils of the control relays when they are not in use if you don't have the "C" (common) wire. That isn't enough if the thermostat is also energizing the relays in the furnace for long cycles. The adapter didn't work for me. The batteries in the thermostat still died after a few days. I ran a new 5 conductor wire from the furnace to the thermostat. It has been working ever since. I wish I had seen this video sooner. It would have saved me the trouble of running the new wire. Using the G wire for a C wire is a good idea. You only give up the blower on constant feature, which we rarely use anyway.
Thank you so much for this video, easy to understand and straight to the point, just bought the gen 3 for my sister and was successfully able to wire it in because of this!!! So we both are grateful for such an awesome educational video! And she can now contol her ac away from home and couldnt be happier!!! Thanks broski! 🤙🤙🤙
Thank you so much for this video. My nest has been working fine but out of nowhere it will give a low power signal and it will stop working and out of nowhere it will start working. Luckily my c wire was wrapped around just like you showed on the video in my furnace.
Hey this video alone worth the whole UA-cam! This is the only video I found after more than a dozen I watched which explains briefly and easily what is what and what we should do. Great Job!!
So I just replaced my first gen nest with a third gen our central air broke years ago so I left that wire unplugged at the thermostat. I assume if I plug it into C at the thermostat and control board it might fix my issues.
Jay, your videos are very informative and correct thank you for sharing. After many attempts to fix my hard starting problems I followed this video, connected the C wire and problem solved. This was the solution all along despite Google saying the C wire is not needed.
3:07 this was what happened to me! I was so worried I would have to run a whole new wire up but saw a spare wire down there and in the wall behind my thermostat.
Great insturctions, thank you. In my case I have a 2 wire coming from my gas boiler (R, W) and a 3 wire coming from my central ac air handler (R, G, W), any suggestions on how I might hook the nest up for heating and cooling?
You're welcome! Are you asking how to wire all the wires or how to connect the common? If you don't have an unused wire, I would try adding a jumper wire between Y and G. That way when there is a call for cooling, the indoor fan will automatically come on. And then use the wire that was in G for common (C). Also switch the wiring at the air handler, G to C. I do want to mention though that I have not tried doing this on newer models of the Nest. So there's a chance that the thermostat will be "too smart" and throw out some error code because of the jumper but most likely it will work fine.
I have central air conditioning and after reviewing my wires I do not see a jumper wire from Y and G. Will I still need to install that jumper wire? The blower fan comes on whenever the AC turns on without the jumper wire
Thank you! I appreciate you making this video! My Trane furnace had blue wire disconnected, but it also had a Honeywell three zone device for three thermostats in home. I had to connect the blue wire to the B/C terminal in Trane xv80 furnace, AND also connect the blue wire to the C terminal in the Honeywell mini-zone box too.
Hey Mike. I have two thermostats one up stairs and one down stairs for a zoned system. I have a 4 wire only to both zoned thermostats. Well my heating and cooling have been terrible ever since. Any ideas?
I have a two wire vintage heating system and no board in the old heater! I will buy a 24 volt plug in transformer and hook one side to the red wire and other one to the C position which should power the thermostat and not let it's battery go dead! Fortunately, i have power in my attic along with six light bulbs running the full length at the flip of a switch and the thermostat wire is going down from attic in wall easily accessible from only a few feet away otherwise I would be sunk! Just took the heater system apart and cleaned out pilot supply tube with a vibrating jewelry cleaner, a high pressure nozzle hooked to my air compressor, wire brushed all the burners and adjusted the flames individually as well as the pilot light! New filter in place and adjusted the fan off time to 60 seconds! My guest house is ready for visitors now!
E79 error! House built in 2006. On my HVAC circuit board, there are terminals on both sides. On the left are the five wires that feed the thermostat. Disconnecting the C wire at the thermostat results in quick power drain. Hooking it up gets me the E79 error. There is also a Ch terminal. It is connected to another C terminal on the other side of the circuit board under a "XFMR" stamp. Which solution in your video would you recommend? And which C terminal should I use (Cc or Ch)? And will it fix the rapid fan on/off cycling? Thanks!
SO interested to hear thoughts on this, I have 2 AC/furnace units,. 2 Nests, during the recent Texas freeze and powercuts, one of my furnace restarted, when it did the heater part never fired. I got the HVAC specialist in and he deducted by bypassing my nest that the furnace was working fine. I went through the normal , software, reboot, upgrade stuff and then finally went out and got a new NEST. Alas the same, the HVAC fans kick in but the heaters never fire the furnace. I am living by hotwiring/bypassing the Nest at this point, but am very keep to resolve. As per this video I have ran a C wire from the furnace as my HVAC engineer advised that may help, but alas. Further thoughts and ideas welcome.
I don’t have a common wire, and my house has central cooling and forced heating. A ComEd representative came to my house and recommended I use the G wire for C like you do in the video. However, they didn’t say I need to have the extra jumper connecting Y to G like you did in the video. Is this true?
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Hi there, I just returned a Nest E, and I think it’s because of the common C wired. Can I convert RH and W, into RH, W and C?
Thank you for this video. I Installed the Google nest and the ac unit immediately started flickering so followed your instructions and did step 3. So far so good!
My current Honeywell mercury switch has a jumper between Rh and RC. Do I need to mimic that jumper if I have central air and heat? I have an unattached blue wire in the cable, but I'm a little hesitant to go into the furnace and "try it out". I have 4 wires, green, yellow, white, and red jumped Hr to Hc hooked up to the Honeywell. Can I make it work with just those 4 (assuming I'll only get heat and no AC?). If I want AC, I'll need to jump RH to RC?
Whenever there is a call for cooling Rc all thermostat energizes both Y and G. Y sends 24v to the contactor coil in the outdoor unit starting the refrigeration cycle, and G sends 24v to the indoor fan relay coil starting the furnace blower motor on the highest speed which is usually reserved for cooling. On a call for heat Rh energizes W sending 24v to the integrated ignition/ fan control board starts the ignition sequence. Once the trial for ignition is proved the board turns the fan on the heat speed after the designated delay. The heat motor speed is determined by checking the delta-T so as to meet manufacturers spec. for heat rise through the heat exchanger. If either Rh or Rc energize G (ie. FAN switch on thermostat moved from AUTO to ON) then G is energized. Only the indoor fan relay coil is energized and the fan goes to high speed without cooling. The yellow jumper at the control board is used to make the connection from Y to G so that both cooling and high speed fan operation occur simultaneously on a call for cooling in the event the G wire is substituted for Common.
Jim Barron Thank you for your explanation, however I am not clear on how you turn ON fan ONLY in the case when G wire is substituted for common, there will not be wire on a G terminal of a thermostat to send a signal to the fan, or am I missing something? Thank you.
I found my Nest did not have a C wire attached yet there was one present in the thermostat wire. I stripped and connected the blue wire, went to the furnace found the C wire wiring block location and hooked up the wire. Problem Solved! Thanks!
Jay Love the videos,, question have only a two wire forced air furnace in my garage, only two wires from the 24 volt regulator, going to the thermostat, couldnt i just jump the W1 white wire to common in the stat ? it is a ground neutral right Thanks Greg
Called my AC guy. Wanted $79 just for showing up. I had a blue wire and it was not connected. Looked at the control board and there was another set of wires added and a white one connected to the common. So I unrolled the blue that was just sitting there and put it with that other white one too. So far, it seems to be working. Waiting to see if the clicking starts in the unit again. Thank you for this video.
Regarding the G wire to C wire workaround. Other sites say you don't need a jumper at the Furnace Control Panel between Y and G. However you and one other site say you do. This is confusing. Can you confirm why?
@@ytutul4022 I don't know for sure. I ended up playing it safe and doing the jumper on the control panel and everything works fine. There is no harm trying it both ways though. If the fan does not switch on then just add the jumper like I did.
I have a york AC with all spliced together wires. Would i be able to connect the y1 and an extra blue wire together? Putting the blue as C on the nest and the yellow as Y1?
Great video. We installed 2 Sensi smart thermostats in our Church. There are only 4 wires. Called Sensi, they said to add the Sensi C Wire Maker Kit. It looks just like the Add a Wire Kit that you show. The thermostats are still working off the batteries. The outside condensing unit is wired into the C terminal at the unit so there is power to it. When I call Sensi they can tell that there is no power to the C in the stat. Sensi says that it works some of the time. The units are not the same age but neither one works. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. We need to program the fan to run. Trying to keep mold down. Thank you
Superb! 3rd method works well, thanks so much 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Question? My unit is wired ok but I call for cooling and the condenser gets a bit but never runs. I check for the 24v. We do have the 24
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OMG I DID IT!!!! I was *terrified*…. I have never done anything like this before. Electricity and wires scare me so much! This was one of those things I would have happily paid a professional a hundred bucks to do, but I decided to just see what it was going on “under the hood.”. So I shut down the power main (I wasn‘t taking any chances!) and opened up my old thermostat. Then I unscrewed it from the wall, and sure enough, I had no “C” wire. UGH. I found your video, and it’s so thorough, I went ahead and disconnected the wires, and did exactly as you said, putting the “G” wire into the “C” port. The terrifying part was opening up the furnace (in the dark, with my phone as a flashlight while also trying to replay that section of your video over and over. It was comical…). I found the control panel, and did exactly what you said… I kept having to calm myself by saying “you can do this… people do this *all the time.” I literally felt like I was diffusing a bomb! Like if I did it wrong, the house would blow up once I turned the power back on! I closed up the furnace, and turned the power back on, expecting the worst. I went back upstairs, and the Nest was all lit up and ready to program! We ran through testing the A/C - and to my shock, it came right on, blowing cold air. I DID IT! I am feeling really proud of myself for stepping *WAY* out of my comfort zone!!! People, if I can do it, literally *anyone* can!!! This video is essential if you find you don’t have a “C” wire!!
I'll give that a year, maybe more before the stat head goes blank. I'm an HVAC tech as well. I don't use the word hate very often, but I hate the PEST. You want a good, reliable WIFI stat, go with an Ecobee.
I'm ok with the wiring if I could just find the C port and know its the right one. Not so excited about the notion of the house blowing up once I turn the power back on.
Now if only I could step out of my comfort zone and go out and socialize more 😅
@@reedscuba I'm assuming thats a word play on Nest? Sorry not enough coffee this morning. I was talked into one of these with a rebate from my power company- even though the one they sent me looks like an Avon makeup case (its pink with a gold reflective top and "no Returns" of course).
It looks like something that would be in Smurfette's house 😆. IDK
I don't need to run my thermostat through my phone, my phone already has 10,000 trackers they don't need to watch my heating habits too lol. The only thing I like is the clear color display.... but that shuts off every time you walk away! So no seeing the temperature from across the room.
Why do you hate them?
Congratulations 🎉 I love this comment
This is totally me!! I've replaced a dishwasher switch once but was scared to death!! This is even scarier but I'm going to do it. If you did it, I can do it! Thank you!!
The last solution solved my issue with my Nest install! I echo the other comments in regards to the video being easy to understand and being so clear. The visual of the circuit board in the presenters hands really helped communicate what needed to be done regarding the rewiring. Thank you for saving me the headache of running another wire throught he wall and not needing to try the Google NEST power connector device for $25!
Thank you very much! I have a 3-wire system and hooked up a Nest a couple of weeks ago. Was getting a N260 error. Batteries died quickly, was losing connectivity to my WiFi. After watching the video I put the g to c and immediately fixed my issue. I did not have to make any changes to the Phone app. Once I plugged the furnace back in and reconnected the Nest I was back in business. Thank you!!
I also have a 3 wire system. Did you still need to add a jumper wire to the fan port (G)?
@@xtopherxy SAME QUESTION! I don't have ac wire or ac. Can I skip adding the jumper or will that cause my fan to not work? Did you figure it out?
Just had my first experience with the nest on a new furnace I just installed. The fan would run non-stop. Seems the power robbing caused the electronics to think there was a call for AC. Very frustrating - even taking the stat off the sub-base, still the fan stayed on. Threw me for a loop, until I removed the stat wires from the furnace and the fan stopped. ALLWAYS find a way to get a common wire to the stat - it will save you a nightmare later on. A note on moving the green wire over, then the fan switch on the stat will not function if one just wants to circulate air, but will let the AC and Heat work properly (Don't forget that jumper). Nice video - well done. 40 years in the trades seems like there is always a way they make things difficult on us.
Thank you, I was wondering if option 3 would work to just circulate air with the fan. Didnt seem like it would
Thank you so much! My dad and I could not get the thermostat connected, Option 3 worked perfectly. You are a lifesaver!
Glad I watched your video before making an HVAC service call. My a/c has been short cycling this season (after installing a Nest thermostat last winter). After watching a couple of your videos, I bypassed the thermostat to test the a/c without the thermostat and the a/c didn't short cycle. Found that my thermostat wire had a common (blue) wire hidden back in the wall and followed the steps on your video to add it to my Nest thermostat and to my furnace control board. Problem solved! The a/c is no longer short cycling! Thanks!!
I changed G to C on both the control board and thermostat. I then jumped Y to G on the control board, removed batteries from by T-stat. I now have a common wire, thank you.
Wow... we bought Nest a year ago and for past couple of months it sudden decided to drain battery over and over. We ended up manually charge the Nest over and over, when we charge it, few minutes later it said to put it back in the base... then to drain again next day??? Very annoying and then this video saved us some headache! We switched G wire to C and that's it! Thank you!
Same here... all of a sudden the Nest battery would drain twice a day (while negative 15deg outside!). I used the common wire swap, and found a length of wire from an old landline phone wiring and set up a jumper. Thanks again this was a huge time and money saver!!
Thank you so much! Found the c wire hidden in my wall and didn't need the adapter. I really appreciate your video!
I’ve moved from an ecobee to Nest, had 4 wires and a 4 to 5 wires adapter in the furnace.
Whether I run Heat or Cool mode, both AC and Furnace used to run at the same time.
I’ve removed the adapter and followed option 3.
Now everything is running perfectly.
Thank you so much for the video.
You’re a real lifesaver! The way you explain and your reasoning are straight forward and easy to understand. You just saved me from returning this thermostat. Thank you so much!
This was so helpful. My AC condenser kept shutting off when the house was not cold yet. Hooked up the C connection at both ends and we have constant cool air, got lucky extra wire was there. Your Capacitor troubleshooting and replacement saved us last week. Thanks for the excellent videos.
I was doing research on the lack of a C wire on my Nest thermostat since I noticed the battery is always low and thank god I watched this video because I also had the C wire wrapped around the rest of the wires behind the thermostat and didn't realize it. I was getting ready to take apart my furnace and buy one of those adapters! Thanks man!
Nice video. I originally thought I had only four wires on my old Honeywell thermostat. I checked my HVAC/central air and saw another wire. Went to where the Nest thermostat was and pulled more wire out of the wall and there it was wrapped around the main wire. Problem solved. Hooked both up to the C and it works fine. I hope more people see this and it helps them also. Thanks again.
This makes more sense to me than the other channels that I looked at.
Thank you! My C wire was just disconnected at the board. Easy fix after too much frustration before I found your video. I really appreciate your help!
You're welcome! Good to hear that you found and fixed the problem!
Jay you are a legit seasoned Hvac Tech for real, your channel is one of favorites and I'm a Mobile Building Engineer. Much props 👏
The 3rd method worked for me. My brand new house (when it was built in 1994) had two lines of two wires each for a total of 4. I was going to just run a "C" wire and bind it to the other two lines, but I decided it wasn't worth the trouble if the 3rd method would work. Thanks for the very helpful video.
Im a car guy i always use youtube for that but this time i used this video for troubleshooting my nest, it was perfect thanks for the help.
Holy Sh!t, that worked. And so, so easy to understand. Thank you for breaking it down to the lowest level. And here I thought HVAC repair was so complicated and required a technician. Excellent work my man.
Awesome video!!! The 3rd method worked perfect for me. I have a 3-wire furnace (Heating only system) (R, W, G) and I simply re-purposed the Green wire to a C wire per the video and Viola! I then had to remove and re-add the Nest Thermostat within the Home app and then tell it I now had R, W, C wiring. Before this fix I had even installed Nests "C-wire Power module" inside my furnace which didn't work and ended up tossing it with this fix. Thanks a ton!!!
Thanks for this. I initially changed my G wire to the C. Then I noticed that there was an unused Blue wire. I switched the G back to G, connected the Blue to G on both and voila, it worked. Thank you!
I don't get it
I out g on c and now I have blue G desconected
@@javiergomez8070 sorry, I mis-typed that I connected the Blue to G, I connected an unused Blue to C.
@@javiergomez8070 G on C will work.
@4:45 NOT REQUIRED, COULD BE HAZARDOUS... here is why...
Fan is unaffected with a gas furnace (dual fuel system). The fan speed (usually max) for cooling (Y) is predetermined, and comes on upon energizing the Y terminal. The fan speed for heating (W) is also predetermined (sometimes med/low or med/high) and is set based on your required temp rise. The predetermined fan speed for heating will engage the fan aprox 1 minute after the burners warm the heat exchanger on your gas furnace/air handler. Y fan speed is set based on temp split and the air conditioner's air flow requirement. W fan speed is set based upon temp rise and the furnaces heat exchanger's air flow requirement.... shorter answer, heating will not be affected... and for this reason I find the authors advise of adding the jumper from Y to G unnecessary. Most furnaces will override the G call created by the jumper and run the blower at the required (usually max) speed for AC anyways. A call for fan (G) is often a different speed than a call for AC (Y). Additionally if the furnace had a fan switch mounted on the side of it in the mechanical room or hallway as i often see placing the jumper between G and Y would cause nonstop continual air conditioning if the fan switch were to be engaged. this would likely freeze up the system, cause extreme energy usage and could even damage the equipment if left unnoticed. Don't insert a jumper from Y to G, totally not necessary! All other info in the video was informative and accurate though. Thanks for your videos and efforts, truthfully you are appreciated, I'm just trying to help.
I missed your comment until it was too late! I added the jumper and blew out my system. Now I have to get an HVAC professional out. 😞
@@fodbold13 You blew a fuse on the circuit board. Easy replacement.
Thank you! I was about to throw my Nest away, used method 3, and voila! It's working perfectly, thank you again
Thank you and thank you. The 3rd option you mentioned in the video is what I used in fixing the problem and my system is up and running well without any issues. Thank you for saving me the money to call in a HVAC professional and the whole process of fixing the problem is not more than 10minute
Brother you are a life saver. I just got my nest and I did not have the c wire. I went down to the panel and I see the extra wire was there but it was not pulled up to the thermostat. I switched the g to the c and jumped the y and the g and boom! Everything is working great. thank you so much.
Glad I could help! 🙂 You're welcome.
If you use the green or fan wire as the common wire, then it isn’t possible to have the fan running to recirculate air without the heat or the air conditioning on correct? How about with the adapter? Is it possible to run the fan to recirculate if the heat or conditioning isn’t running?
@@WordofAdviceTV If you use the green or fan wire as the common wire, then it isn’t possible to have the fan running to recirculate air without the heat or the air conditioning on correct? How about with the adapter? Is it possible to run the fan to recirculate if the heat or conditioning isn’t running?
Brother I need you to do this in my house. AC guy quoted me 350 to 400 to add this C wire. Says electrician will charge 500. You save me bunch of headaches. To me, the g wire n jumper seems viable. God bless you.
Thanks. My AC unit is Duncane made by Amana. When the unit was installed three years ago we got the NEST 2nd gen, a few hours later started making some bang loud noises. We replace the NEST for a regular Thermostat and the problem stoped. A moth ago the old Thermostat was bad and was time to get a new one, we got the NEST 3rd Gen, and again the bang loud noise came back. I went across your video, I did the option of green going into C wire with the jumper of the Y and G at the unit. So far I haven’t heard any more bang loud noise. One more time, thank you.
You’re doing God’s work my friend. Thank you so much! 3rd method worked perfectly! 🙏
Love to hear that! You're welcome!
Solution 3 is working for me. Thank you for the very very useful information!!
For the Nest thermostats that I have installed the "power stealing" feature has worked fine. Good to know about the potential issues associated with systems that don't have a common wire.
They don't always have problems but I have seen many that did. Thanks for sharing your experience with them Ben!
I'm pretty sure the power stealing feature has short cycled my furnace and has caused it to not work
@@leeroymlg4692 I'm having that problem right now after 2 years of it working fine. Going to try the C wire, but need to run one first.
@Mario G I just for the first time in this house that we moved into 3 months ago tried to run the furnace this AM with the Nest I installed and it's making the furnace short cycle. No common wire but it worked fine with the old "dumb" thermostat. I guess Nest thermostats are just particularly sensitive to this? It's been able to run AC unit just fine.
Whenever I use the power stealing ive found that the thermostat act irregularly and can even cause the unit to short cycle after a few months. This is likely due to the flocculation of current through the fragile controls of the nest thermostat.
Awesome instructions, I did it and saved hundreds of dollars.
Can not thank you enough for all you sweat in your attic and gained knowledge that you so kindly shared. We just had this happen and you fix worked like a champ. Yes we had water in the tube, shopvaced out the water and now we have AC again. Thank you thank you kind sir.
Thank you so much! You saved me a service call and heaps of frustration.
Your explanation made so much sense
Thank you so much. You are the only one with good advice. 120%
THANK YOU!!! I thought I could use the extra black wire (method #2) and since my electrical knowledge can fit in a dixi cup (half full, not half empty) you saved the day for me. I would have just hooked up the extra black wire, thinking it was a common and called it a day.
OMG YOU ARE A GENIUS!!!!! I’m a hero to to my family now🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾
What about old wall heaters? No AC only heat? Do I still need a C wire?
It doesn't matter if your unit is Heat or AC or both. The Nest (and other WiFi thermostats) are designed to work better with a C (Common) wire connected. They need to be supplied with power (that circuit is completed by the C wire) to operate their WiFi and other electronic circuitry.
Please keep making HVAC videos. I know everything else except this and welding and I understand it the way you teach it. Thank you for making these videos.🤘
This saved me so much headache! I actually had 2 extra unused wires!
Thank you for the explanation. After watching your exceptional instructional video I was able to run a C line from the thermostat to the source and now my system works perfectly. 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Very helpful, video, thanks. Saved me a lot of aggravation & was able to find the Blue C wire to solve the problem.
Thanks a million your video and information are just GREAT. I did it by myself. I was having issue the nest thermostat didn’t have power and I just follow your instructions connecting the C cable that wasn’t connected to the Honeywell. 🎉🎉🎉😅
I like the Green wire trick but jumping Y and G will solve the AC fan, what about Heat (W) and fan? Also, will it work to turn on Fan manually?
When you turn on fan manually, your ac compressor will be on as well
My furnace does not have a C terminal but I had unused wires in the thermostat cable. It does have a terminal labeled “24V” and after some research I found I could add the C wire there. Everything is working great. Thanks for the video!
Geez. So happy you are there showing the how to! Watching you will give me all the confidence to do it myself! Excellent presentation. 😏😁
Thank you very much for a quick and clear overview of the wires, purpose and how to add the common C. Luckily I had the fifth wire tied with the stem so that I did not have to move the G to C, nor run any additional wire. You saved me money and from a biting cold night. Happy holidays!
Bro I really have to say, this was one of the best and concise instructional videos I’ve ever watched. I felt the need to comment and applaud you for making such a high quality, easy to follow video 🤜
Great to hear that you really liked the video! Thank you. I appreciate you taking the time to leave a comment, stay cool this summer bro! 🤛
This is the way UA-cam how to videos were before all the ads and everyone trying to drag videos out to 10 min.
Excellent. Your explanation is succinct yet comprehensive to solve this problem. BIG THANK YOU....
I changed the wiring per your instructions to have power circuit using C wire. Not having separate fan control was not important to me. My Question if you can answer:
On my furnace I found additional wires two wires connected. I believe they are connected to the Air Conditioning compressor. i did not change anythng there, just did exactly what you suggested including jumper from G to Y so AC when turned on will turn the fan on as well..
MY Q is did I do this fix correctly? I would appreciate your answer. Thank you in advance.
Step 3, can it be done during winter for heating, i mean jumping W With G terminal and using G wire as the common..
Nice try! I found a blue c wire behind the the thermostat so was wondering if I could find a blue as well connected to the furnace chipboard, but I didn’t see one like it. Then I stripped off the wire wrap that covers all other wires. When I cut the wrap down a bit and noticed there was a blue wire wrapped with other wires but underneath the wrap. I then connected it to the C terminal on the chipboard. This works. My nest thermostats now have the power from The blue C wire all the time!
Well well well. The black wire was my ac wire and that fixed my issue. Now I know how to read my motherboard. Thanks
can we use the Jumper wire in Nest (G to C). we keep the G wire as it is and juse jumper wire connect G to C ? is it ok ?
Thanks so much. I used your 3rd method with Honeywell Wi-Fi touchscreen thermostat. It also needs a "C" connection. It did the job.
Thanks for saving me money. Very helpful video from an HVAC PRO.
It depends on the length of the cycles. The battery won't charge without a difference of potential across the coils of the control relays when they are not in use if you don't have the "C" (common) wire. That isn't enough if the thermostat is also energizing the relays in the furnace for long cycles.
The adapter didn't work for me. The batteries in the thermostat still died after a few days. I ran a new 5 conductor wire from the furnace to the thermostat. It has been working ever since.
I wish I had seen this video sooner. It would have saved me the trouble of running the new wire. Using the G wire for a C wire is a good idea. You only give up the blower on constant feature, which we rarely use anyway.
My unused C wire was exactly as shown, wrapped around the cord. Thanks for the video, helped a ton!
hi my thermostat has only 2 wires only heat pump can im get power from the boiler
this was really helpful, i probably safe me lots of money whith this video, thankyou very much.
Thank you so much for this video, easy to understand and straight to the point, just bought the gen 3 for my sister and was successfully able to wire it in because of this!!! So we both are grateful for such an awesome educational video! And she can now contol her ac away from home and couldnt be happier!!! Thanks broski! 🤙🤙🤙
Your videos make others think I know what i'm doing! Thanks for all the awesome and concise info!
Best explanation ever!! Good job sir
Thank you so much for this video. My nest has been working fine but out of nowhere it will give a low power signal and it will stop working and out of nowhere it will start working. Luckily my c wire was wrapped around just like you showed on the video in my furnace.
Great vid sir, I’m assuming same thing goes with sensi, right?
Thank you for the frustrating tidbit of info I lacked!
Hey this video alone worth the whole UA-cam! This is the only video I found after more than a dozen I watched which explains briefly and easily what is what and what we should do. Great Job!!
So I just replaced my first gen nest with a third gen our central air broke years ago so I left that wire unplugged at the thermostat. I assume if I plug it into C at the thermostat and control board it might fix my issues.
So do I hook my extra wire to the transformer at unit or the relay at unit to create a common?
Great information, thanks for keeping it so simple that anyone can understand.
Jay, your videos are very informative and correct thank you for sharing. After many attempts to fix my hard starting problems I followed this video, connected the C wire and problem solved. This was the solution all along despite Google saying the C wire is not needed.
Yeah, I thought C wrie was NOT NEEDED???? WTF? Annoying fukken ERROR after installing Nest! WTF? So why does it use 2 batteries???
3:07 this was what happened to me! I was so worried I would have to run a whole new wire up but saw a spare wire down there and in the wall behind my thermostat.
Great insturctions, thank you. In my case I have a 2 wire coming from my gas boiler (R, W) and a 3 wire coming from my central ac air handler (R, G, W), any suggestions on how I might hook the nest up for heating and cooling?
You're welcome! Are you asking how to wire all the wires or how to connect the common?
If you don't have an unused wire, I would try adding a jumper wire between Y and G. That way when there is a call for cooling, the indoor fan will automatically come on. And then use the wire that was in G for common (C). Also switch the wiring at the air handler, G to C. I do want to mention though that I have not tried doing this on newer models of the Nest. So there's a chance that the thermostat will be "too smart" and throw out some error code because of the jumper but most likely it will work fine.
Wouldn't you have to jump heating also if you have blown hot air or no?
Super! Excellent! Thanks very much ! BTW, are there any downsides to doing #3 (using G as C) versus wiring in a separate C wire? Thanks again!!!
I switched G to C on circuit and Nest and it works! Wifi eats up AAA batts fast so this solved my power issue, thx!
I have central air conditioning and after reviewing my wires I do not see a jumper wire from Y and G. Will I still need to install that jumper wire? The blower fan comes on whenever the AC turns on without the jumper wire
Jumper is not needed for cooling, the G wire is only if you want to run the fan by itself.
Thank you! I appreciate you making this video! My Trane furnace had blue wire disconnected, but it also had a Honeywell three zone device for three thermostats in home. I had to connect the blue wire to the B/C terminal in Trane xv80 furnace, AND also connect the blue wire to the C terminal in the Honeywell mini-zone box too.
Google: You dont need a C wire with Nest. Also Google: Here's a Nest Power Adapter to use with your Nest when you dont have a C and its not working.
Hey Mike. I have two thermostats one up stairs and one down stairs for a zoned system. I have a 4 wire only to both zoned thermostats. Well my heating and cooling have been terrible ever since. Any ideas?
@@bigknopf199 if you watch the last bit of the video he solves your exact issue with the jumper wire
@@bigknopf199no 24v constant
I have a two wire vintage heating system and no board in the old heater! I will buy a 24 volt plug in transformer and hook one side to the red wire and other one to the C position which should power the thermostat and not let it's battery go dead! Fortunately, i have power in my attic along with six light bulbs running the full length at the flip of a switch and the thermostat wire is going down from attic in wall easily accessible from only a few feet away otherwise I would be sunk! Just took the heater system apart and cleaned out pilot supply tube with a vibrating jewelry cleaner, a high pressure nozzle hooked to my air compressor, wire brushed all the burners and adjusted the flames individually as well as the pilot light! New filter in place and adjusted the fan off time to 60 seconds! My guest house is ready for visitors now!
E79 error! House built in 2006. On my HVAC circuit board, there are terminals on both sides. On the left are the five wires that feed the thermostat. Disconnecting the C wire at the thermostat results in quick power drain. Hooking it up gets me the E79 error. There is also a Ch terminal. It is connected to another C terminal on the other side of the circuit board under a "XFMR" stamp. Which solution in your video would you recommend? And which C terminal should I use (Cc or Ch)? And will it fix the rapid fan on/off cycling? Thanks!
What if I have no c slot on my board?
hello,, im planing on doing the 3rd method with the g to the c slot,, do i really need to put the jumper wire..thanks!
SO interested to hear thoughts on this, I have 2 AC/furnace units,. 2 Nests, during the recent Texas freeze and powercuts, one of my furnace restarted, when it did the heater part never fired. I got the HVAC specialist in and he deducted by bypassing my nest that the furnace was working fine. I went through the normal , software, reboot, upgrade stuff and then finally went out and got a new NEST. Alas the same, the HVAC fans kick in but the heaters never fire the furnace. I am living by hotwiring/bypassing the Nest at this point, but am very keep to resolve. As per this video I have ran a C wire from the furnace as my HVAC engineer advised that may help, but alas. Further thoughts and ideas welcome.
So, are you having to jump the tstat wires to allow the system to heat?
I don’t have a common wire, and my house has central cooling and forced heating.
A ComEd representative came to my house and recommended I use the G wire for C like you do in the video.
However, they didn’t say I need to have the extra jumper connecting Y to G like you did in the video.
Is this true?
Hi there, I just returned a Nest E, and I think it’s because of the common C wired.
Can I convert RH and W, into RH, W and C?
Thank you for this video. I Installed the Google nest and the ac unit immediately started flickering so followed your instructions and did step 3. So far so good!
My current Honeywell mercury switch has a jumper between Rh and RC. Do I need to mimic that jumper if I have central air and heat? I have an unattached blue wire in the cable, but I'm a little hesitant to go into the furnace and "try it out". I have 4 wires, green, yellow, white, and red jumped Hr to Hc hooked up to the Honeywell. Can I make it work with just those 4 (assuming I'll only get heat and no AC?). If I want AC, I'll need to jump RH to RC?
That is just what I needed. Much Thanks!
In the scenario of using the G wire for common, I understand jumping Y and G so the blower will come on in cooling mode. What about heating mode?
In heating mode, the heat cycle will turn on the blower fan on its own without the G wire after the furnace preheats.
Whenever there is a call for cooling Rc all thermostat energizes both Y and G. Y sends 24v to the contactor coil in the outdoor unit starting the refrigeration cycle, and G sends 24v to the indoor fan relay coil starting the furnace blower motor on the highest speed which is usually reserved for cooling. On a call for heat Rh energizes W sending 24v to the integrated ignition/ fan control board starts the ignition sequence. Once the trial for ignition is proved the board turns the fan on the heat speed after the designated delay. The heat motor speed is determined by checking the delta-T so as to meet manufacturers spec. for heat rise through the heat exchanger.
If either Rh or Rc energize G (ie. FAN switch on thermostat moved from AUTO to ON) then G is energized. Only the indoor fan relay coil is energized and the fan goes to high speed without cooling. The yellow jumper at the control board is used to make the connection from Y to G so that both cooling and high speed fan operation occur simultaneously on a call for cooling in the event the G wire is substituted for Common.
@@jimbarron8688 thank you, sir!
@@jimbarron8688 I have no idea what you're getting at. Are you saying that jumper cable is not necessary?
Jim Barron Thank you for your explanation, however I am not clear on how you turn ON fan ONLY in the case when G wire is substituted for common, there will not be wire on a G terminal of a thermostat to send a signal to the fan, or am I missing something? Thank you.
I found my Nest did not have a C wire attached yet there was one present in the thermostat wire. I stripped and connected the blue wire, went to the furnace found the C wire wiring block location and hooked up the wire. Problem Solved! Thanks!
Jay Love the videos,, question have only a two wire forced air furnace in my garage, only two wires from the 24 volt regulator, going to the thermostat, couldnt i just jump the W1 white wire to common in the stat ? it is a ground neutral right Thanks Greg
Called my AC guy. Wanted $79 just for showing up. I had a blue wire and it was not connected. Looked at the control board and there was another set of wires added and a white one connected to the common. So I unrolled the blue that was just sitting there and put it with that other white one too. So far, it seems to be working. Waiting to see if the clicking starts in the unit again. Thank you for this video.
I am thinking about why you got a white wire connected to the common? white ususally for heating.
Regarding the G wire to C wire workaround. Other sites say you don't need a jumper at the Furnace Control Panel between Y and G. However you and one other site say you do. This is confusing. Can you confirm why?
Can someone answer this?
@@ytutul4022 I don't know for sure. I ended up playing it safe and doing the jumper on the control panel and everything works fine. There is no harm trying it both ways though. If the fan does not switch on then just add the jumper like I did.
Great video. I just connected my C wire and problem solved!
I have a york AC with all spliced together wires. Would i be able to connect the y1 and an extra blue wire together? Putting the blue as C on the nest and the yellow as Y1?
Thanks a lot, the 3rd works for me for the 2 nests I just installed!
Done this before but not with the jumper and wud lose control of using the fan only does adding the jumper allow u to use only the fan on the tstat?
Great video. We installed 2 Sensi smart thermostats in our Church. There are only 4 wires. Called Sensi, they said to add the Sensi C Wire Maker Kit. It looks just like the Add a Wire Kit that you show. The thermostats are still working off the batteries. The outside condensing unit is wired into the C terminal at the unit so there is power to it. When I call Sensi they can tell that there is no power to the C in the stat. Sensi says that it works some of the time. The units are not the same age but neither one works. Any advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. We need to program the fan to run. Trying to keep mold down. Thank you
I also repurpose the fan wire for my customers. Nice video!
Excellent Video, don't you need fan when heat come on? My question how does fan come on when heat kicks in?