Arzel Zoning
This webinar shows how to set each parameter in the HeatPumPro Setup Wizard. Learn how to access each setting, what it controls, and how to set the parameters for various applications.
So when you first power the panel up, you see that screen. It’s going to say HeatPumPro by Arzel, press blue to enter setup. So you’re going to press the blue enter button.
The first parameter we’re going to see is SHOW TEMPERATURE IN, and then we select Fahrenheit or Celsius. So for America we’re primarily Fahrenheit. Canadian market’s primarily Celsius. You can select that operation here.
You can select your ZONE PRIORITY. Automatic is factory default and that’s going to take care of the vast majority of people out there, but there are some who need to set a priority to heating cooling because maybe they’ve got someone in the house on oxygen and that zone needs to take priority over the other zones, as far as comfort goes. So if that person needs more heat they would set the priority to heating, and then if that zone calls for heat it would be served first. It would take priority. Or maybe they need more cooling in that area. Someone with COPD, uh, my buddy’s mom’s got that and and she can’t handle it if it gets too hot. So for her we would set it to cooling priority. That way she can be comfortable, and the rest of us that are healthy are able to be uncomfortable for a slight period of time to manage her her requirements for her health. Then zone weight priority allows you to set a a hard lockout on the changeover. So the panel, whether you’re set to automatic heating or cooling, after 20 minutes of serving, that priority zone will switch to the opposing call. However, if you’re set to zone weight priority, it’s a majority-rules system. And if the majority of calls coming in are calling for heating, and that zone weight percentage says that, then heating call is going to be served indefinitely before that cooling call can be served, if a small percentage is calling for cooling.
Then we have our zone one stat type. So this is where we determine, did we use a heat pump thermostat at zone one, or did we use a heat/cool. Factory default is heating/cooling. If we use a heating/cooling thermostat, a call for heat is W. If we use a heat pump thermostat, the call for heat might be W, but a call for heat also could potentially be Y, Y1 and G. So if it is set to heat pump, a call for heat could be Y1 and G; a call for heat could be W1; both will be served the same. However, we cannot energize O and W1 at the same time. If we do that, the panel will have an illegal call, so “-ILL,” and it will ignore zone one. This is a common cause for tech calls when it comes to somebody installing a piece of equipment that energizes the reversing valve in heating. They don’t read the installation manual. And when they forget to do that, they set their thermostat up to energize the reversing valve on a call for heating, and then that that zone one thermostat’s not being served. And it’s not being served because because they energized O and it’s too cold outside to run the air conditioner. It’s got its low ambient lockout. Or they energized O and the backup heat at the same time, because they turned the thermostat way up and it’s calling for backup heat. And the panel views that as an illegal call because O is only ever energized from the thermostat on a call for cooling.
And here we get to our individual zone weights. And when I look at the zone weights, I don’t really need you to set that up as this zone is exactly this percentage of duct work available to equipment capacity. I like to use whole numbers: 50, 40, 20. If I’m set to 50% the setting that I go to next is air handler stage threshold. Factory default 50. So if my zone weights are set to 50%, 50 is equal to 50; W2, Y2 is allowed. If I set it to 40%, 40 is less than 50; W2, Y2 are disabled. I require at least two zones to call before I can use second stage capacity. And then if I set it to 20%, 20 is less than 50, but if I have two zones set to 20%, 20 and 20 is 40; 40 is less than 50. W2, Y2 outputs would be disabled until at least three zones were to call. So we can set all that up. Each zone can be customized for its individual weight to determine: do I need one zone to call, do I need two zones to call, or do I need three zones to call? And all of that can happen from the exact same panel. So if I have a four zone system, zone one’s a large zone, I leave it at 50%. Zone two is a medium-sized zone. It can’t quite handle second-stage capacity, but it could if it had just a little bit more. I would set it to 40%. And then zones three and four are small. I don’t want them to run second-stage capacity even if they call together. I would set them for 20%. So with zone two calling, needs a little extra capacity. 40 and 20, so zone two and zone three, or zone two and zone four. 40 and 20 is 60; 60 is greater than 50; W2, Y2 is allowed. However, zones three and four, 20 and 20 is 40; 40 is less than 50. W2, Y2 is disabled. So I just just use the whole numbers 20, 40, 50. 50 is factory default, I leave it alone. If I want two zones to call, or if I want a medium size zone and a small zone, I set it at 40%. But if I have two small zones I set them for 20%. Then that allows me to have a more customized operation as far as my W2, Y2 output goes for that piece of equipment.
Air handler stage threshold works very closely with the zone weighting because that’s the threshold where I have have to add up this number of zones to be equal to or greater than. And once I reach that threshold, W2, Y2 outputs to the furnace air handler are allowed. Y2 air handler outputs will happen right away. Because it says I have all this duct work, I need to give it as much air as I can, Y2 output happens right away. So we instantly get Y1, Y2 going to the furnace air handler. However, the condenser contacts are temperature-based, and we set those next. The gas furnace: once my zone weight threshold is met, there is a 9-minute delay before W2 is allowed to energize. So there has to have been a heating call for 9 minutes, and then I get a W2 output if my zone weight threshold is met, or my air handler stage threshold is met.
Heat stage threshold: factory default’s 88°. This is my stage-up threshold for a heat pump. If I cannot maintain my leaving air temperature at 88° I get a Y2 output after 3 minutes of operation. If I still cannot maintain my heat stage threshold after an additional 3 minutes, I’ll get a W1 output if I have an all-electric system. if I don’t have an all-electric system, I’ll switch over to the gas furnace.
Cool stage threshold: 55. So if my air conditioner cannot maintain 55° with the Y1 input, then I will stage it up to a Y2, and I’ll run a second stage compressor. And that works independently of the blower operation. So I might run a low-stage blower, but if my outdoor temperatures are extreme enough, I can run my compressor in that higher stage to either remove more heat from the house, or to pull more heat from the air outside and move it into the house if I have a heat pump or a condensing unit.
Balance point OAT: this is our changeover from heat pump to fossil fuel backup. If we don’t have a heat pump, it needs to be set to lock in backup, and that is the factory default. If we do have a heat pump this is our changeover from heat pump to fossil fuel backup. And once we reach that temperature, the heat pump’s disabled. We only run the fossil fuel back up.
Resistance lock OAT: efficiency setting for the all-electric applications we don’t – with heat pumps becoming more and more efficient we don’t need to run the strip heat until we get colder and colder temperatures. And we can save our customers a lot of electricity by disabling that electric backup heat until we reach a specific temperature outside. So, while the HeatPumPro control that pretty effective based on leaving air temperature, there might be a reason to disable the electric backup heat completely until we reach a specific outdoor air temperature. And that can be done.
And we have our heat pump high limit. If our compressor running gets too hot, we’ll stage it back. If our compressor running stays too hot, we’ll stage it off, continuing to run a Y1 output to the furnace, with a G output as well. And then our gas furnace or electric strip heat. If those get too hot, we can stage them back. If they stay too hot, we can stage them off. Between all of our staging, there is a 3-minute delay, so the panel will wait 3 minutes between staging it back, before it stages it off, and it gives it that 3 minutes to drop below the threshold.
And then our cooling LAT low limit: freeze protection for our coil. If our plenum temperature dips below this we’ll stage the compressor back. If it stays below there we’ll stage the compressor off.
Type of back up heat: Are we using fossil fuel backup or are we using electric? If we’re using fossil fuel backup, we cannot run Y output to the condenser at the same time as a W output. If we have it set to electric, then W becomes a stage of Y. So first stage heat would be Y1, second stage Y2, third stage W1, fourth stage W2. However, if we are set to fossil fuel, we cannot run W and Y at the same time. It will either be Y1 Y2 compressor, or it will be W1 W2 furnace.
Backup controls fan: true or false? If it is set to true, the backup controls fan. If it is set to false, the Arzel panel will output for G, so fan call. It will output for G on a call for heat.
Dehum caller voltage: leave it set to 24VAC. I like to call this poor man dehumidification because what it does is, if you engage dehumidification through the Arzel panel. So there’s a D terminal, D for dehumidification, at your zone 1 connections. If you engage that, then the panel will run a Y1 compressor output. It’ll run a G output to the furnace air handler, so you get low speed fan, really cold coil, and that runs the that that runs the air through the coil, collecting as much humidity as possible, because that coil is really cold, and that allows it to dehumidify the air. If you leave this to 24 volts, you would use a dehumidistat to engage R and D. So your hot, and your D for dehumidification at your zone terminals. If you set that to 0VAC, you can use a humidistat and it essentially reverses the operation of that humidistat. However, if you don’t have anything connected, can you set that to 0VAC, the panel will indefinitely have a dehumidification call and your compressor will run all the time when there is no active call from the thermostats for heating or cooling. So basically leave that set to 24 volts. Don’t touch it unless you plan to use it. And if you plan to use it, use a dehumidistat.
Secondary purge time: the panel has two purge cycles. The first purge cycle, primary purge cycle, is a 2-minute cycle at the end of a call for conditioning. It maintains the dampers to the last calling zone open for two minutes, and then after that 2 minutes it goes into a secondary purge cycle. And that secondary purge cycle now de-energizes every zone solenoid, continues to run the pump for this period of time. So 60, as in 60 seconds. Runs the pump for that period of time to drive the dampers open on the entire system. And then the pump will shut off and the dampers will rest in that position.
Dehum cycle time: how long does our compressor Y1 output run on a call for dehumidification? We can set that for 5,10, or 15 minutes. The longer we set it, the more humidity we’ll remove, but the greater the potential is for over cooling. The lower we set it, the less humidity is removed, but the potential for over conditioning is limited to some extent.
Cooling low ambient lockout: it’s too cold to run the compressor. Let’s disable it for cooling calls. So if we’re below that temperature and we get a call for cooling, we’ll run Y1 output to the furnace air handler, but we will disable condenser Y1 output on a call for cooling. That does not apply to heat pumps calling for heat; only to the desire for cooling.
Here is where we select our reversing valve. I mentioned earlier our thermostats are always, always, always, always energized on a call for cooling. Doesn’t matter what brand of equipment you have. Any Arzel panel, the thermostat always has to energize on a call for cooling. However, the HeatPumPro allows you to select the O/B terminals operation. So you can select your need here by setting it to heating or cooling. If you have the AirBoss or the MPS panel, the O Terminal and the B terminal are separated out. And you would connect your reversing valve to its respective terminal. So if you’re energized in heating with the AirBoss or the the MPS panel, you’re going to hook up your reversing valve from the heat pump at the B terminal, B as in boy. If you’re energized in cooling with the AirBoss or the MPS, you would hook it up to the O terminal. But with the HeatPumPro, the O and B terminal are combined, and in the setup wizard you select its operation here.
Use balance point for electric. You can leave it set to false. If you had an all-electric system and you wanted to provide a hard lockout for your heat pump system, you could do that. Your balance point OAT you would set for that temperature. You would set the use balance point for electric to true, and then once you reach that temperature for your balance point OAT, it would disable the heat pump and only allow for the backup source of heat to operate.
And then we have demo mode. The demo mode speeds up all the timers in the board by a factor of 12, so leave it set to false or you will short cycle your equipment, potentially damaging it.
The setup worksheet: Because the settings are stored in non-volatile memory, write them down. That way you have a record of where they were at, and if somebody were to go in there and start changing settings, you’ll know we set them here. Somebody’s been in there adjusting them and they’re different than what we originally set. So record where your settings are at. If something’s different, you can start to look at why. Maybe somebody adjusted the settings. Maybe it was to tailor the comfort for a different expectation. That’s possible, but record all your settings here. It’s on the backside of all the manuals and that’ll provide you with a helpful diagnostic tool in the future. But also if you were to have to replace a control board, maybe the unexpected happens and we send you a control board under warranty and you want to make sure that the settings are what the old one was. It really helps to have them written down. That way you’re not guessing at where it was set at and you’re not having to interview your customer to reset everything out the way that they expected it to operate. So records, records are very important.