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Why Does Honeywell Thermostat Say Waiting for Equipment?

If you want your HVAC system to turn on straight away, you would certainly get annoyed by a message that is telling you to wait. The good news is that it should go away in only around 5 minutes.

A Honeywell thermostat’s ‘waiting for equipment’ message is a safety feature – the delay mode protects the equipment from turning on too fast. This usually happens when the system turns off and a sudden temperature change makes it turn back on; the unit won’t start running, until 3-5 minutes pass.

Why Does My AC Say Waiting for Equipment?

A lot of thermostats have a built-in delay mode. It is a safety feature that protects the equipment from short cycling.

The system should not respond to the call too quickly as the components (the compressor, in particular) might get damaged by excessive pressure.

Why Does Honeywell Thermostat Say Waiting for Equipment?

Honeywell thermostats will show you the ‘waiting for equipment’ message whenever the system needs a few extra minutes to prepare itself for proper heating or cooling. The delay is there to prevent the equipment from burning out.

Such a message will appear if the thermostat had just turned the system off, but a sudden temperature change triggered the device again.

This might happen if:

  • Someone changes the temperature setting on the thermostat
  • The room temperature quickly changes due to open doors or windows

A Honeywell thermostat can also say ‘wait’ when it’s trying to connect to a Wi-Fi network or is updating the software.

Read: Honeywell Thermostat Not Reaching Set Temperature? Here Is Why

How Long Should Thermostat Say Wait?

Every time the HVAC system turns off, an internal timer starts running. This timer determines when the unit can get switched on again without causing damage to the system’s components.

Usually, the delay period lasts between 3 and 5 minutes. So, the best way to clear the ‘waiting for equipment’ message, is to simply give the system at least 5 minutes.

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If the message did not disappear, then you can try:

Read: Honeywell Thermostat Troubleshooting Guide

Does Honeywell Thermostat Have Batteries?

Not all Honeywell thermostats are battery-operated. However, the ones that do need batteries (in general, those are the models with an LED display), would usually require two or more AA or AAA batteries.

Is There a Reset Button on a Honeywell Thermostat?

Honeywell thermostats don’t have an actual reset button.

However, if you have a T-series device, you can quickly access the reset mode, if you hold the MENU button. Simply select the RESET option and press OK.

To reset a Honeywell 6000 Wi-Fi thermostat, you would have to hold the FAN buttons, press the UP arrow button and hold it for 10 seconds, press and hold the fourth button from the left, keep pressing on UP until the number changes to 1, and, finally, select DONE.

How Long Does It Take for a Honeywell Thermostat to Reset?

How long the thermostat will take to reset will depend on the resetting option that you have decided to choose.

In the T-series devices, the whole process shouldn’t take longer than about 10-20 seconds. Resetting the thermostat at the breaker or by inserting the batteries backward would require a bit longer, but still no more than a few minutes.

Read: Temperature Thermostat Problems

How Do You Manually Reset a Thermostat?

Practically any battery-operated thermostat can be manually reset this way:

  1. Turn off the actual thermostat and then turn the device off at the circuit breaker.
  2. Remove the batteries from the thermostat and put them back in backward (the positive terminal should line up with the positive end of the slot).
  3. In about 5 seconds, remove the batteries and put them back in like you would normally do.
  4. The thermostat should automatically turn on. Once this happens, turn the power to the device back on.

Why My Honeywell Thermostat Is Not Working?

The display on your Honeywell thermostat can go blank, if:

  • The batteries are dead
  • The power has been disrupted
  • The furnace door is open
  • The C-wire is disconnected

Checking the power and the wires, changing the batteries, and resetting the device will help you solve the majority of thermostat-related issues. 

Read: Thermostat Wire Color Code

Why Is My Furnace Not Responding to Thermostat?

  • Lack of power
  • Wrong thermostat settings
  • Faulty wiring
  • Outdated software
  • A faulty thermostat
  • A clogged filter
  • An issue with the belt or blower

How Do I Fix an Unresponsive Thermostat?

The problem might be either with the thermostat or with the HVAC equipment.

When it comes to the thermostat, you should:

  • Replace the batteries
  • Check the settings
  • Delete and reinstall the app and then reconnect the device to the Wi-Fi

If the heating or cooling unit is to blame, you might want to:

  • Replace the air filter
  • Check the blower in a furnace and the refrigerant level in an air conditioner (the HVAC unit might be receiving the signal, but it won’t be able to respond if one of the components had gone bad)

If you feel comfortable working with electricity, then you can check the wires that connect the equipment. Also, don’t forget to make sure that the unit and the thermostat are receiving power.

How Do You Know If Your Honeywell Thermostat Is Bad?

Here are the most common things that indicate that your thermostat needs to be replaced:

  • The device is unable to correctly read the temperature
  • The HVAC system is short-cycling
  • Your energy bills have become suspiciously high
  • The thermostat is unable to keep the temperature in your house at a comfortable level (you are suffering from constant temperature shifts)
  • The device fails to respond to the changed settings

Read: Benefits Of A Programmable Thermostat

How Do You Test a Honeywell Thermostat?

The easiest way to test your thermostat is to set the device to ‘heat’ or ‘cool’ and then ask someone else to confirm that the furnace or air conditioner had turned on.

When you raise or lower the thermostat settings the actual device and the heating or cooling unit should make a clicking sound. If that didn’t happen and the unit did not kick in, then there is something wrong with either the thermostat or the rest of the system. 

What Is Temporary Hold on Honeywell Thermostat?

A temporary hold is a special setting that allows you to change the temperature and keep it set like that until the next schedule change. In a word, it’s an instruction to the thermostat to maintain the house at a chosen temperature until the temporary hold expires.

You can set a temporary hold by changing the set temperature on the thermostat during its normal operation. Once you do that, a message that says ‘hold until’ will appear.

You can choose when you want this temporary setting to expire. As soon as it happens, the thermostat will return back to its normal schedule.

How Long Does a Temporary Hold Last on Honeywell Thermostat?

When setting a temporary hold, you will get to choose when you want this setting to expire. Do bear in mind that it cannot last for more than 12 hours

How Do I Turn Off Temporary Hold on Honeywell Thermostat?

Unlock your Honeywell thermostat and tap one of the following options:

  • Cancel
  • Remove/cancel hold
  • Run
  • Run/use schedule

The exact wording would depend on the model of your device. 

How Do I Get My Honeywell Thermostat Off Permanent Hold?

To activate a permanent hold, you would have to adjust the temperature setting on the thermostat. Once the message ‘hold until’ appears, choose ‘permanent hold’. 

With this setting, your Honeywell thermostat will be able to get back to its normal schedule only when you manually turn the permanent hold off.

To do that you should:

  1. Press the up/down or +/- button on your thermostat.

Press the CANCEL button (on some thermostats you would have to press RUN, RUN SCHEDULE, or CANCEL PERMANENT HOLD).