"I purchased a Hunter model 44860 touch screen thermostat."

- Did you go through the entire programming of the t-stat before you installed it? You have to tell it that it is a heat pump.

"I asked him if it was low, and he said "probably" and informed me that his gauges dont work...."

- Thank god you didn't have to pay this chucklehead. There is a specific way to charge a heat pump in heating mode. Your system could be way overcharged which will lead to compressor failure. He needs to put a set of gages (that work) on the system to check the charge.

"Im guessing the next step is to call and pay for someone to come out who knows what they are doing.."

- Absolutely NOT. You need to tell the management that you need a competent HVAC tech to fix your system. You pay your rent, you need management to provide professional maintenance services.

FYI, running the auxillary electric strips costs 3x more $$ for heat than the heat pump.

Good luck.

the system is overcharged if he ranit until he could not hear coolant flowing. this WILL cause all sorts of problems in heating AND cooling modes. my HP was overcharged at first and did not cool properly. early summer when the tech found out what was wrong, he said i would have be even more upset come heating season, cause it would not have put out much heat at all.

BTW, that "propane" bottle was refrigerant, either older 22 or newer 410. not propane.

ja001son

You have at least two problems-possibly three.

The Janitrol line of HPs are a POS and it sounds from your description that you may have a freon leak. Janitrol line is the predecessor to the Goodman Brand.

Your maintenance man does not appear to be HVAC qualified. Just replacing freon does not solve a leak since the refrigerant system is a closed system. Just pumping in new refrigerant without checking for or finding a leak is commonly called a "gas n go". Nothing more than a temporary fix.

And finally there are many third party anecdotal stories about the Hunter Brand of stats being problematic.

You need a true HVAC pro with proper equipment/tools/gauges to look at your system not an apt complex hack like you have.

IMO

garyg, yes i did the full setup on the stat, set it to heatpump and electric.

well, i guess what im going to do is put the old crap box back on and call them, since they wont touch it with the new stat installed.

the guy who does it told me he is taking classes in it.. not very comforting.

im just sick of worrying about it..

im reasonably sure my wiring is correct, it was done exactly as directed by the instruction book..

UPDATE

I ran it again with the old stat.. moved the slider all the way over to 90 degrees

it kicked on, went from hot air, to luke warm/room temp air, back to hot air... back to luke warm.. over the course of perhaps 15 miniutes..

so it CANT be the thermostat..

it HAS to be the unit itself.

now it was running, and i heard a hissing sound, like something venting .. and it went cold.. then a min later it made a similar sound and went hot again.

its been running ON for 3 hours now, and its 68 degrees in my apartment, its 58 outside.'

the maintenance guy just came by with it still running, and put his hand to the register, and said "yea, thats not very warm, but it taks a while for things to warm up.. I told him it has been running for 3 hours and he just shrugged his shoulders..'

i told him that the last guy (the other maintenance guy, there are 2 of them) didnt use any gauges when he "topped off" the refrigerant.. and asked "cant you overcharge the system?" he told me flatly NO..

after sitting there and feeling the heat he went and got a thermometer out of his truck and stuck it in the regester and ot read 90 degrees..

he said "shoot, 90 degrees coming out of there, thats great!"

im no expert, but 90 degrees after running for 3 hours on EMERGENCY heat, doesent strike me as "great"

then, he tells me "come monday, ill put you in a new thermostat..

HOW THE HELL does that help!! I put a brand new one on (which he doesnt believe has emergency heat despite me showing him the wiring and everything) and it had this problem, i put the original back on and it does the same exact thing.. IT IS NOT THE THERMOSTAT! even i can see that.

Assuming you're responsible for major repairs to the HVAC
system it's in your best interest to quit calling these morons to work on your unit. If they break it you'll be out $1000's so get a
pro in there (at your own expense) ASAP.
Regards
Chris

It sound to me by your description that your system is cycling on one of the pressure switches. Like everyone else is telling you, have the mgmt. company bring in a competant HVAC tech. Next time that bimbo comes around ask to see his recovery certification card.

Well im going to let Dingus Mcjackass come in and put the new stat in, since hes just so overly hellbent on doing so..

after that fails to solve the problem, im going to have someone come out, give me a WRITTEN diagnosis of the problem and what needs to be fixed. take that aswell as the reciept for what I paid to have the guy come out, to the managers office. inform them that a REAL technician came out, here is whats wrong, I had to pay this to get him out here, deduct this from next months rent..

if they are still belligerent I will take it up with the management company that owns the place.

on a side note.. I did another test.. it blows semi warm air on regular heat, but switching to emergency heat actually drops the temp, so the heating strip/coil is broken or defective..

i mentioned this possibility to the assclown last time he was here.. but he immediately informed me that it was "brand new!"

of course, he also said the pump was brand new.. the unit outside.. brand new.. everything that i bring up as a possible problem. is.. "brand new"

Sounds like maybe his time in the HVAC trade can also be described as "brand new"!:-)