Electrical wiring of emergency shut off switches

lchmb said:

for a period of time in NH we were required to remove the upstairs switch. It may be that he did this and failed to mention it, although we always remove the switch as well

Ichmb, this guy was a clown. Trust me. He messed up. He also killed the doorbell too and we had to troubleshoot it. He shouldn't have even been working on electrical components because he's not a licensed electrician. He's a plumber. But they dabble in the shut off switches because it's tightly integrated with HVAC work. He knows electricity well enough. But it was an oversight on his part that the switch was part of a 2 switch sequence. He was hasteful and careless. Frankly, all he had to do was label the wires when he removed the original switch before he installed the replacement switch. But he ripped that original switch out - went to Home Depot for the replacement - and when he installed it, didn't remember the wiring correctly. I have to go look at that new switch. He may have even bought a 3-way. He was that sloppy.

He didn't even diagnose the original malfunction correctly. His boss came and diagnosed it after he fried 2 brand new control boards on the new furnace from the arcing.

I didn't know he was problematic until he blew the 2 control boards. Then I had to get involved and micromanage his work (which no homeowner wants to do). That install had so many issues:
1) Two brand new control boards fried due to the arcing switch. I had to wait for two FedEx overnight's from Slant-Fin. One was over a weekend. It was February in New Jersey. The owner had to lend me some space heaters. The 3rd control board is in that new boiler.
2) He installed the water pump backwards. The zones were doing hard water hammers when the zone valves shut off. I had to call him back and get him to reverse the water pump to the proper direction.
3) The topic of this forum. He messed up the original builder's wiring of the two sequence switches. My doorbell was offline. After we got the doorbell back online and had the boiler switch working, I let him go. I didn't want him doing any more damage. I knew I would fix those switches myself.
4) The switch arcing burnt out both of my thermostats. He tried to charge me for replacement ones. He had tons of trouble getting the two zones wired properly with the honeywell zone valves because he was unaware that the thermostats were blown so he was trying all this unnecessary troubleshooting. I caught him trying to leave one zone valve open in maintenance since he could't get that zone to work with the thermostat. So basically one zone was calling for heat on both always. He played dumb on that.
5) The water pressure reducing valve he installed on my water feed was faulty. It wasn't regulating under 15 PSI. So the overflow was spewing water all over my utility room. He put a bucket to catch it. He tried to blame the city water pressure being too high. I had to deal with that nonsense argument too. He went and got a new one from the plumbing supply store and it worked fine.

I opened my switches. The power is definitely going to the 1st floor switch. There's also a junction box between the switch and the furnace (I guess to hold the transformers). Here is a pic:


I'll try to move my doorbell transformer somewhere else, but the 18 gauge doorbell wire is routed to that area with the intent to be on the same circuit as the furnace. There's a different circuit in that utility room where I could consider moving the doorbell to.

Here is an updated diagram on how I plan to fix the wiring:


I'll test the switches with a light fixture or my multimeter with the furnace out of the equation to make sure all the switching is working the way I want it to. Then I'll wire in the furnace last.

I'm also going to change the plain switch plates to put those red emergency shutoff plates for safety.

HVACNUT said:

The diagram is perfect.

Technically the heating system(s) must be on a dedicated circuit. But the old doorbell piggyback has been around for years and draws really nothing unless kids constantly play Ring n Run by you and the chime plays a full concerto.

Well now I have a Ring® Video Doorbell which needs full time voltage from the doorbell transformer. I also would like the ability to kill the power to the doorbell transformer for maintenance without affecting the furnace. That doorbell transformer in the photo is super old and buzzing somewhat. So I’m afraid it had something to do with the faulting of the original super old switch. Another reason I don’t want the doorbell transformer wired into this junction box.

STEVEusaPA said:

Side note: What are you using to drawing these diagrams?

Haha. You like my diagrams, don't you?

I come from a background in graphics design and IT solutions design. For these diagrams, I used a little Photoshop and Visio.

The switch plates, furnace, switches, transformer, service panel and wire nuts are all images from the internet. The rest is Visio.

EBEBRATT-Ed said:

Love Visio, not that I am very good with it

It's expensive. Luckily I have an older licensed version. Visio is all about the billions of shapes for professional drawings, designs and plans. I just used basic shapes for these drawings and stole a bunch of images from the web as more objects to use. There are plenty of free design generators out there but you have to find them and learn their quirks.

But it takes years of practice from being in the field. Visio didn't magically throw that together for me as a template. I had to take my time deciding on the layout and reworking things. It took hours, not minutes. But it's a hobby of mine and I have fun doing it.