You know the feeling. Everything’s going fine, you’re chilling out, then boom! The power goes out.
And fine, you know the deal, you get the flashlight, change the fuse, do the thing.
But then you realize you have to restart the thermostat. Or try to reprogram it with a new schedule.
Where did you put the manual for your White Rodgers/Emerson thermostat?
When did you last see the manual for your White Rodgers/Emerson thermostat?
Wait, hang on… Have you ever seen the manual for your White Rodgers/Emerson thermostat?
Ohhh, that’s a pain in the butt.
And cue the hunting. The self-recrimination. The checking with family members – or with the cat, if you don’t live with your family members.
You know that damn cat knows something, but it won’t say a word.
Relax.
We’ve got you covered here. On this page, you’ll find links to the most popular White Rodgers/Emerson manuals, so you can download the one you need. If, in the 21st century, you still own such a thing as a printer, you can print them out.
If, as is much more likely, you own a smartphone, you can download the manual to it, and take it to the thermostat, to walk yourself through the right moves. From gobbledegook and frustration, to instantly programmable thermostats. You know you want that.
Thermostat Model Numbers And Where To Find Them
We’re about to throw an unconscionable number of thermostat model numbers at you.
We’re sorry about that, but it can’t be helped – the thermostat model number is the unique identifier that will tell you whether you’ve got the right manual in front of you for the thermostat that’s in your home, blinking at you vacantly and begging for help.
So where will you find the thermostat number on your unit, to double check whether you have the right manual? It’ll be in one of two places.
1. EITHER it’ll be printed behind… or possibly on the surface of… the thermostat. The tricky thing there is that you might need to take the faceplate off the thermostat in order to get to the back of the unit. So – there’s that.
2. OR, in some cases, you’ll find the model number by going through the operating menu of the thermostat itself. Sadly, there’s no separate manual for how to work the operating menu.
Keep pressing buttons until you find something that looks like an incomprehensible sequence of numbers and letters. If everything looks like an incomprehensible sequence of numbers and letters, you may be having a thermostatically induced panic attack.
Get down off any ladders, sit down on the couch and have a cup of herbal tea. Try again in half an hour.
White Rodgers/Emerson/Sensi Thermostats – A Spotter’s Guide
White Rodgers/Emerson/Sensi makes a lot of different thermostats for different types of system. These include:
Blue Series 12” Touchscreen Thermostats
Blue Series 6” Touchscreen Thermostats
Blue Series 2” Touchscreen Thermostats
70 Series Thermostats
80 Series Thermostats
Classic 80 Series Digital Thermostats
Mechanical Thermostats
Programmable Thermostats
Non-Programmable Thermostats
Line Voltage Thermostats
Fan Coil Thermostat
Wi-Fi Thermostats
Models of White Rodgers/Emerson Thermostats
There are of course a whole lot of models of White Rodgers/Emerson thermostat. There are even a good few that have now been discontinued for sale, so getting hold of the manuals for those models can be especially tricky.
Take a look down our list – see if your model is here.
What You Can Expect To Do With Your White Rodgers/Emerson Instruction Manual
There’s a sense in which this shouldn’t need to be said, but we would always advise you, if you don’t feel entirely confident in your ability to undertake a piece of work, especially on your thermostat, DO NOT do that work.
Call a professional. Making your life better and easier is precisely what they are there for. Plus, supporting your local professional community is never a bad thing.
If you think you’re up for it though, replacing an old thermostat with a new one is a relatively simple process.
Now, removing an old thermostat does not mean hitting it with a hammer. At least, not while it’s still on the wall.
Instead, pull the thermostat housing gently from the base attached to the wall. The gentle touch means you won’t pull the base off the wall at the same time.
In the event that the housing doesn’t pull away gently – seriously, step away from the hammer! – it might be attached to the base using screws or a lockable latch.
So – find the super safe storage place where you put all your screwdrivers for precisely an incident like this when you got new screwdrivers about three years ago.
You may curse if you really need to.
Find a screwdriver appropriate to the screws, and calmly use it to undo the screws or release the latch.
Wiring Up Your New Thermostat
So now you have no old thermostat. You should at this point feel free to go hammer-wild on the old thermostat if you really want. We’re all about the new from here on out. Feel like wiring up your new thermostat? OK, let’s do this.
1. Firstly, turn off the electrics in your home, and shut down the HVAC system too. This is for much the same reason that you don’t try and change the fan-belt in your car while the engine’s running. Only bad things can ensure. Let’s be smart.
2. Remove the front cover and the housing of your old thermostat, as detailed above. This should expose the wire connections.
3. Detach the wire connections, to prepare your HVAC system for the future.
4. Take a deep breath of self-affirmation, and remind yourself that you are a grown-up, and can do important, grown-up things.
5. Take hold of your new thermostat and look at its connection sticker label.
6. Connect the colored wires emerging from the thermostat base, as shown in the diagram.
7. Double check to make sure you’ve connected the right wires to the right thermostat terminals.
8. Remove the old base.
9. Screw in the new thermostat base.
10. Attach the new thermostat and add batteries to the base.
11. Use a precision screwdriver to connect up the terminal wires, as marked on the diagram. You didn’t throw away the diagram, right? Never, ever throw away the diagram until the job is 100% done.
12. If you’re of a religious frame of mind, say a quick prayer to any deity of your choice.
13. Turn on the gas/electric button on the base and at the A/B or O wire button. (This will make sense depending on the model you’re working with).
14. Cover the thermostat housing.
15. Turn on the thermostat.
16. Walk confidently away, in case anyone is watching.
17. Reward yourself with cake. Any day when you avoid blowing up your thermostat, there should always, always be cake.
Systems Your White Rodgers/Emerson Thermostat Can Support
People sometimes get confused over what systems their White Rodgers/Emerson thermostats support. Those systems include:
Conventional Heating and Cooling
Gas Furnace
Electric Furnace
Air Conditioner
Boiler
Heat Only
Gas Furnace
Electric Furnace
Boiler
Cool Only
Air Conditioner
Heat Pump
Line Voltage
Millivolt Systems
Communicating Proprietary Systems
Remote Sensors, Humidifiers, Dehumidifiers, and Whole Home Systems
Connecting With The Interface
Usually, the interface on a White Rodgers/Emerson thermostat is straightforward to use, but let’s run through it.
Whether you have a touchscreen or push-button interface, you will find two buttons on the right – your temperature up and down buttons.
Just below these arrow buttons, you’ll find a humidity set-point. Nothing dramatic about that.
Then there’s a menu key that allows you to choose different modes.
Modes? OK, we just skipped a couple of complexity levels there.
Above the menus button, there’s a battery level indicator. That’s no drama. If you drive a car and check your Check Engine light ever, you know the deal here.
At the top left, there’s the time and day indicator. Clocks – cool, we can deal with those, but about these modes?
Below the clock, there’s a system switch, with a fan switch just below that. And in the center, there’s the information you’re usually going to be checking for – the current room temperature.
OK, cool – but… modes?
Modes
Turns out, modes are easy. There are usually only two or three of them – cooling, heating, and fan operation. Modes – mastered!
Troubleshooting
If things go wrong and you have The Fear, we can’t express too highly how much you should call a professional.
They’re there right now, waiting for your call, playing idly with their toolbelts, thinking nobody needs them anymore and considering retraining as media consultants.
Support your local professionals.
If you have slightly less fear, you can always try these handy tips.
Modeless? No Heat? No Cool? No Fan?
There are several reasons why you might not have the heating, cooling or fanning action you want. These range all the way from a blown fuse, through a tripped circuit breaker and a closed furnace blower door, to a loose connection in either the thermostat or the HVAC system.
It also could be something as simple as – don’t blame us, we’re only the messenger and it happens way more often than you’d think – the HVAC system being switched off.
Check the blower door is open, check the circuit breaker is not tripped, check for loose connections, and yes, check the HVAC system is switched on before you go as far as changing the fuse.
NB, before you change the fuse, turn the HVAC system off again, for your personal safety.
Constant Running
This is most likely if you have a short circuit somewhere in the system.
Conduct a thorough examination of all the wires and connections, nodding knowledgeably at various points when all seems as it should. If you find a short circuit, adopt a smug expression and correct the problem.
If you find no short circuits, reset the thermostat and the HVAC system. If you still have the same issue, it could be down to anything from a short circuit you haven’t spotted to devil-voles from Venus. Call a professional.
Incidentally, yes, call a professional is valid troubleshooting advice.
Thermostat/Thermometer War
If your thermostat and your thermometer can’t see eye to eye, it’s usually not that serious. In fact, it’s probably just a display issue, in need of a simple adjustment.
Reset the thermostat display to a +/-5 degree margin and harmony should reign once more.
Your Furnace (Air Conditioner) Is Cycling Too Fast or Slow
OK, your cycle is usually affected either by the size of your heating system or the location of your thermostat. If you have a digital thermostat, you can solve this issue by going to the installer menu and setting the thermostat to its slow cycle mode.
If you don’t have a digital thermostat, you’re going to need to call an HVAC professional.
Your Thermostat Displays A “Call for Service” Icon
Your thermostat is literally begging for help.
Usually when you get this message, one of five things has happened.
You’re either looking at a heating temperature margin that’s way off, a cooling temperature margin that’s way off, your buttons have stopped working, your thermostat is broken and weeping, or it needs a thorough service.
Depending on which issue you actually have, you’re looking at either replacing the thermostat, adjusting the heating or cooling temperature values, or – you can guess what’s coming, can’t you? – calling in an HVAC professional to diagnose and fix the problem.
Hot Running In Cool Mode, And Cool Running In Hot
Technically, this is probably a BO problem. Meaning your O/B connection has been improperly directed. Switch the “O” to “B” settings and vice versa. That should solve your problem.
The display should clear and the thermostat should reset. If that doesn’t work, try holding down the UP/Down arrow button and turning the switch from Off to Heat.
If you have a smart thermostat, press the menu, go to “About Thermostat,” press the Factory Reset option, and it should reset the thermostat to factory settings.
If it doesn’t, and it tells you it can’t do that, you no longer have a thermostat, you have Hal 9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, and, well, basically you’re doomed.
Between the collection of manuals and the troubleshooting tips, you should have enough information at your fingertips to deal with most issues with your White Rodgers/Emerson thermostat. If you find you need more…
