The Display Is Active
It may be possible to have an active display, but your thermostat still isnt working. If your home feels too hot or too cold for the temperature displayed on the screen, there could be a broken or malfunctioning temperature sensor. Use a thermometer to measure the temperature where the thermostat is located. If they dont match up, theres a good chance that its that sensor. The sensor can be replaced, or you may need to replace the whole thermostat.
Other issues that can occur, even with an active display, include incorrect day and time settings, loose wires, and incorrect jumper settings. Power outages can throw off the clock and day of the week settings, which can then result in improper operation. Check these settings. You should also make sure that your jumpers are set to the correct settings for your HVAC system.
Both analog and digital Honeywell thermostats are very dependable, but issues can still arise. In many cases, you can troubleshoot the problem and fix it. If nothing seems to be doing the trick, though, it is best to consult with an expert.
How To Unlock A Honeywell Thermostat
Like a factory reset, the steps for unlocking your thermostat depend on which Honeywell model you own. For most Honeywell models, however, the process is similar. Most users will need to lock or unlock their thermostat to limit how many family members can control programming or adjust the temperature.
Power Cut Off From Your Heating System
If you have a tripped circuit breaker, it will cut power to your heating system and heat wont turn on with your thermostat. After having checked out with your thermostat and batteries and there is nothing wrong with them, its time to look into the circuit breaker box.
To check the circuit breaker for your furnace, look for a breaker switched labelled FAU or air handler. For your heat pump, look for a breaker switch labelled air conditioner. A tripped circuit break will typically lie in the middle position. Make sure none of the two breakers is tripped. Reset them where necessary.
Furnace or heat pump turned off
Your furnace or heat pump might have accidentally been switched off. For a furnace, locate the power switch. Usually, this is located near your furnace and looks pretty much like a light switch. Make sure its on, if its off turn it on.
For your heat pump system, you can find the power switch outside, usually on the wall of you house.
Recommended Reading: Gas Water Heater Not Lighting
Check The Inside Of The Thermostat
If your heat and air conditioning dont turn on, there may be an issue on the inside of the thermostat. The next step you will want to turn the electrical breaker off that controls the unit first. Then carefully remove the cover, after turning the thermostat off, and check the wiring inside. It would help if you also looked everything over to make sure that its clean. If everything looks good, there could be an issue with your HVAC system, or it may simply be time to replace your thermostat.
Why Does My Honeywell Thermostat Have A Flashing Snowflake

All Honeywell thermostats, no matter the type of model, have a symbol showing you when the air conditioning is turned on. It can be a snowflake or it may say cool on. When the air conditioner is actually running it will be a steady symbol, but you may notice it flashing at times. This indicates that your HVAC system is in a delay mode. This occurs for up to 5 minutes when it is getting ready to turn on again to maintain the temperature that you set it on. It keeps the unit from short cycling and ruining interior components. As soon as you feel cool air coming into your home through the vents, the snowflake will be solidly lit up and not flash. If the snowflake doesnt return to solid, you can switch your dial to off, wait a few seconds, and then turn it back on cool. This will reset the thermostat for you.
Read Also: Window Ac Unit Not Cooling
Loose Or Incorrect Wiring Can Prohibit Your Thermostat From Turning On The Heat
After youve made sure that no power is coming to the thermostat by turning off the relevant circuit breaker, take the thermostat off the baseplate and inspect the wiring. You can slightly pull on the wires to determine whether they are still secure. Check that the wires are inserted into the correct terminals. Usually, each wire in the thermostat will be labeled with some letters, and the terminals inside the thermostat will have the same letters. Ensure that each wire is in the thermostats receptor with the corresponding letter.
If your thermostat is still not turning on the heat, you have to keep on troubleshooting.
Honeywell Thermostat Buttons Dont Work
For those Honeywell thermostat models that dont have a touchscreen, buttons are used as controls. Sometimes, the buttons can also stop working.
Commonly, the button pad may be locked. Some thermostats have this feature to prevent children from messing with the buttons. You can unlock the keypad following the instructions on the manual.
Sometimes the inside of the thermostat can get very dirty, preventing buttons from pressing and making contact with the underlying switches. You may need to thoroughly clean the inside of the thermostat.
For that, yank out the thermostat from its housing on the wall. Open it by unscrewing the screws and use a wire brush to clean out all the dust.
If the button still doesnt work, you may need to replace the button or the whole thermostat. Now, if this occurred during the warranty period , you may contact Honeywell and ask for a replacement device.
You May Like: Comfort Zone Heater Not Working
Is My Honeywell Thermostat Following A Schedule For Recovery
Honeywell advanced and smart thermostats have a special feature called the Recovery Mode. When you set a program for your temperature to be a certain amount, such as 74 degrees F at the time you get home from work, the recovery mode will start cooling your home down in advance. It takes some time to cool down several degrees in your home, so the cooling cycle to reach the programmed temperature will start before you get home in order to reach the correct temperature at the specific time you set.
Why Is My Heating Not Working
This guide is intended for users with heating and cooling forced-air systems
Your thermostat triggers, or calls, for heat in different methods depending on the configuration and wiring. This FAQ is intended for thermostats that were newly installed or have not previously been providing heat.
- Issues where the thermostat was previously heating normally are addressed in the Additional Steps below and may need to be addressed by a local HVAC professional.
Important
If you have a dual-fuel system we strongly recommend contacting an HVAC professional.
- Incorrectly wiring or configuring the thermostat may cause damage to your system.
BEFORE YOU BEGIN
If your heating is not working, its probably due to issues with the following:
- Air Flow
What best describes the air coming out of your vents?
- NO AIR – Continue to the Furnance or Heating System section
- ROOM TEMPERATURE – Continue to the Thermostat Functionality section.
- WEAK HEAT – Continue to the Fan section.
- COLD – Continue to the Thermostat Functionality section.
Furnace or Heating System
Go to your homes circuit breaker and make sure the breaker to the furnace is turned on. Next, go to your furnace or heating system, often located in your basement, attic, or garage.
There’s usually a switch next to your furnace that turns it on or off. It sometimes looks like a light switch.
Be sure the cover is completely closed. Some systems won’t power up if the cover isn’t fully closed.
Recommended Reading: Air Compressor For Car Ac
Check The Honeywell Thermostat
Firstly we need to check whether the thermostat is working as expected.
Step 1.Whether your thermostat uses batteries, check to see if they need to be replaced first.
Step 2.Turn the thermostats setting off if youre confident the batteries are working or if your thermostat has a direct connection to your homes electricity.
Step 3.Give your system some time to shut down and see what happens.
Step 4. If your system is still operating after 3 minutes or so, you may need to turn off the electricity to the entire heating system.
Will A Honeywell Thermostat Work Without Batteries
In general, Honeywell thermostats designed to work without batteries work without needing batteries. There are other Honeywell thermostat models designed to operate off power supplied by either the furnace, the air handler unit, or the round ventilator motor. These models typically have a small power converter that converts standard AC current to a lower-voltage DC current required by the thermostat.
If you have a Honeywell thermostat that needs batteries, then install new batteries and see if it turns on properly. If your system is powered by your homes AC wiring, then there is no need to install batteries. If youre not sure, contact the Honeywell customer service hotline for more information.
In any case, if you are facing problems with your Honeywell thermostat and dont know how to fix it, always consult the product manual. Overall, most household Honeywell thermostats will need batteries.
If you are not familiar with Honeywell, they are a company that makes equipment, not a thermostat style they do, however, produce both programmable and non-programmable thermostats.
Recommended Reading: Ac Won’t Stop Running
Thermostat Poorly Wired Or Installed
Problem
If the heating problem happened when you installed a new thermostat, you may have wired it the wrong way. Perhaps youve reversed the W and Y wires. This would run the cooling stage though the thermostat is actually calling for heating. Other symptoms may arise too. These depend on which wires and how many of them you have connected to the wrong thermostat terminals.
Fixes
Check for correct wiring at both ends of the thermostat cable. At the thermostat, affix all wires to the right screw terminals in the mounting plate. Then, do likewise at the furnace. Seek help from a professional heating technician if you feel insecure matching these wires up with the right terminals.
System Is In Delay Mode

If you have set your Honeywell thermostat to cool mode and its flashing cool on but blowing warm air instead of cold, your thermostat could be in delay mode. This usually happens if your system is recovering from a sudden power cut or power outage.
The thermostat has a delay mode functionality that protects your compressor and your entire equipment from short cycling. However, delay mode should not take more than 5 minutes. If the delay mode is not an issue, lets jump right into the second step of our troubleshooting.
Don’t Miss: In Wall Heat And Ac Units
Check The Circuit Breaker
There is also a possibility that there is something wrong with the circuit breaker. Commonly, the circuit breaker is tripped. You have to check the circuit breaker first and then switch the breaker to the off position.
Then, you have to test the thermostat by turning the breaker to the on position. If the thermostat is working normally just like before, it means there is nothing to worry about. If it doesnt work after switching the breaker, it means there is another problem you need to find.
How Do You Fix A Thermostat That Wont Turn On
As a general guide, fixing a thermostat that wont turn on usually entails one of the following steps:
- Replacing the batteries
- Checking the fuse box
- Checking for faulty wiring
If you have checked these things and your thermostat still wont turn on, then you might need to call a professional. There could be an issue with your heating or cooling system that only a technician can repair.
Overall, If your thermostat is blank, the first thing you should do is check the batteries. The batteries are likely to be dead and the thermostat simply cant turn on as a result of age or poor maintenance. Replace the batteries and see if your thermostat turns on.
Read Also: Best Heated Socks For Skiing
Is Your Honeywell Thermostat Not Turning On Try These 5 Fixes
Do you have a Honeywell thermostat at home? If so, you probably realize that Honeywell thermostats are a great way for you to keep your home comfortable while also saving money on your utility bills. Unfortunately, there are some situations where your thermostat might not be turning on.
In this post, we will go through some of the most common reasons why your Honeywell thermostat might not be turning on and how you can fix it. There are several possible solutions to the problem depending on the nature of the issue. Give a few of these tricks a try, and see if your thermostat starts behaving appropriately! It could help you get your thermostat working again!
How To Troubleshoot Analog Honeywell Thermostats
I dont know about you, but to me, older Honeywell thermostats with dial features are highly dependable. So, if you have one of them, here is a troubleshooting guide for you!
You need to first identify whether the COOL feature is working or not. To do so, set the fan switch to auto and the switch at the top of your thermostat to COOL.
Turn the dial to the lowest setting like 60 and wait for 5 minutes. If the air conditioner unit kicks in, the COOL feature is functioning right.
Now, you need to check the HEAT feature. So, turn your thermostat to the HEAT position and set the temperature as high as 80. Let your furnace activate. Just wait 5 minutes.
If the furnace kicks in after 5 minutes, the HEAT feature is okay. But if none of the COOL or HEAT feature does not work, there is a simple fix for your analog thermostat.
Remove the cover. Now, you need to make sure the small colored wires are properly connected. You can refer to your manual but restoring the connection of the low-voltage wires should solve the problem!
Recognizing The Model Of Your Thermostat
Before you go ahead and try out troubleshooting your thermostat and fixing the issues, you should check up on the model of your thermostats.
There are typically three kinds of thermostat models you will come across.
Lets check them out one by one-
- Manual
The manual thermostat is the ones that come with a dial. These are very simple to operate, and you can save up on electricity bills using these.
- Programmable
- Smart
You May Like: How To Tell If Water Heater Is Gas Or Electric
Honeywell Thermostat Wont Turn On Heat How To Fix
For the most part, problems with a Honeywell thermostat heating system may require an HVAC professional to fix.
But it could be a minor issue sometimes and you could fix it by doing the following:
Now go here for a detailed guide to fix problems with any of the thermostat sections mentioned above.
If you think its not something you can do, you want to get an HVAC professional to help you resolve the problem or contact Honeywell for assistance.
You may also read our article on how to fix a Brinks digital deadbolt that stops working after replacing batteries and how to troubleshoot common problems with Luxpro Thermostats.
Resetting Your Honeywell Thermostat
If none of your troubleshooting efforts has been successful and your thermostat still doesnt turn on the heat, youll have to reset your thermostat. The different Honeywell models have different resetting procedures.
The Honeywell thermostats 1000, 2000 and 7000 series
The Honeywell 1000, 2000, and 7000 series thermostats have the same resetting procedure:
After youve turned the thermostat and the circuit breaker off, remove the thermostat cover and remove the batteries even if they are new ones. Then insert them in the opposite direction. In other words, place the positive end of the battery on the negative side of the battery holder on the thermostat.
Wait for about 10 seconds, and then take the batteries out again. Re-insert the batteries correctly into the battery holder.
When you now turn on the thermostat and the circuit breaker, your thermostat has been reset.
The Honeywell thermostats 4000 series
The 4000 series comes with a reset button. To reset, turn on the thermostat and press the Program button thrice. Then find the reset button located inside a small hole on the front panel of the thermostat and use a sharp object to press the button for about 5 seconds. Now your thermostat has been reset.
The Honeywell thermostats 6000, 7000, 8000 and 9000 series
Recommended Reading: Why Is My Home Ac Not Blowing Cold Air
Check The Wiring For Any Loose Connections
If you are still having issues with your Honeywell thermostat, take a look at the connections. If the wiring is loose, your Honeywell thermostat may not have enough power.
To check the wiring, remove the face of the thermostat. This should expose the internal wires. Take a look at the white and red wire. If you connect these two wires together, the thermostat should turn on. If you are not comfortable with this, you should contact an electrician for help.
When you work with wires, you need to take the appropriate safety precautions. You should wear safety goggles to protect your eyes in case you see a spark. You may also want to wear gloves to prevent yourself from being shocked.
When you connect the wires, the thermostat needs to turn on. If the thermostat turns on, there is a problem with the way the thermostat has been programmed. Make sure the thermostat has been set at the right temperature. This may be the reason why the system is not working properly.
If you connect the wires and the thermostat does not turn on, there is an issue with the wires themselves. If there is a problem with the wires, you need to contact a professional electrician. It can be dangerous to handle main wires, and you need to put safety first.