Have 2 Waterfurnace units in the house that were installed in Sept 2006. 4 ton unit for the main floor and a 3 ton split unit for the upstairs. They operate on a closed loop. They both ran fine for ten years then the problems started...we'll only deal with the current issues. If history is needed let me know. 3 ton is working fine at the moment - crossing fingers. Currently getting intermittent code 6 that is locking out the 4 ton unit. We recycle it with the breakers - I know not a great idea. It may run for 15 minutes it may run for a couple of hours. HVAC service guy who use to service Waterfurnace is perplexed...the capacitor is fine, the wiring is fine, the compressor windings are fine, yet code 6 keeps shutting the thing down. He even indicated that perhaps the second stage of the compressor was causing an issue and overheating the compressor and turned it off so it only runs Stage 1 - still code 6 after a while. When it does run all readings he takes are normal...temp, air, water, voltage, etc. What else could be causing this? Could the Comfort Alert module be bad? Any thoughts would be appreciated. Wife and dogs are not happy with me at the moment and its uncomfortable enough with no consistent AC with out that
Model NDV049A111CTR And it is Flash Code 6 from the Comfort Alert Module - Open Start Circuit is the description. The light on the front of the unit lights the Low Pressure/Comp indicator.
Yes, ComfortAlerts can go bad giving false faults. I have one now that will not stop throwing a code 7 (Open Run Circuit) even when the compressor is running. In my case I also have an Intellistart. WF has issued a service bulletin regarding conflicts with ComfortAlert and Intellistart in some cases. Their recommendation is to disconnect the Tan wire at the L terminal of the ComfortAlert ONLY if you have an Intellistart as they believe the Intellistart will protect the compressor from power faults.
Thanks for the reply. I don't have Intellistart installed. Is there anyway to safely bypass the ComfortAlert or test it to determine if it is the bad actor here? At this point my service guy said he is at the point of replacing it as nothing else is showing signs of malfunction. He also said that it would be a guess. I am a little hesitant to have him start replacing things based on a guess or even an educated guess, because it could begin getting very expensive, especially if the board or compressor will ultimately need to be replaced which has already happened on the 3 ton split unit. Would power surges or electrical problems cause damage to anything that would result in these issues? Thanks again for any thoughts.
Waterfurnace has technical service dept. that your technician should call. They are there to help. I agree it is not good to throw parts at a problem. In my case a replacement ComfortAlert behaved the same as the old one faulting immediately.
Update to the above problem. I noticed that when the unit was working harder is when it went into a fault. Told my HVAC guy awhile back to order a new compressor kit. He was out today to replace it. The old compressor was the K4 Copeland. The new one sent was the K5 Copeland Ultra-tech Scroll compressor. The K5 works with the existing logic board but without the Comfort Alert Module. So far it has not faulted when putting it to work. Hopefully this will be it for awhile. SO far I am really disappointed in Waterfurnace products. Both units were installed in August 2006 for a total of $24,000. Over the last two years both units have had the blower motors go bad and both units have had compressors replaced. In addition one of the flow pumps went bad. I am out $4500 over these two years trying to keep these units running so far. It could have been much worse (likely double), but my HVAV guy gets me parts at cost and charges me a low hourly rate, for which I am very thankful, because he does my rental units . Having a hard time understanding why at 10 -12 years I am having all these issues. Seems like a real quality problem or is this normal for geothermal/Waterfurnace products.
