I was unable to get the thermostat to work for heat using the same wiring. I don’t know if the Ecobee4 is at issue, but it was telling me that the furnace was working and the furnace was idle. Until I figure this out, I restored the POS Lennox, which I think is in the early stages of failure (display flashes intermittently). Searching problems with the Ecobee, I ran across others commenting on the “it heats or it cools, not both” situation, though not specific to Lennox. I may end up having to buy a newer POS Lennox thermostat.
The prior owner was very proud of this Lennox installation when I chatted with him about it. All I saw was an un-upgradable mess. He meant well.
Yea… well the thermostat when working is actually fine. I’m just a snob about having things on my smart home ecosystem and I can’t get the Lennox on it. They do have an Alexa interface so that helps but it isn’t ideal. The other issue I have with it is I have three furnaces and thus three thermostats, and this one doesn’t match the other two so it looks like a bastard child… I am enjoying the winter look for all Ecobee’s on my wall. They are much more elegant than the POS device. If I find a solution to get my Ecobee to work with AC then I would gladly sell you my POS which is working fine.
I looked at your photo above again and see that you don’t have an AC connected to your communicating terminals so this install should work great for you once you get it right. Your wiring colors are all messed up so make sure you got those set right. Then also make sure you set the dip switches right. Finally, take a volt meter and check all the lines to make sure you don’t have a bad wire.
Hi, All this was very useful. I am also undertaking a project to replace the Lennox Smart screen based thermostat with Nest. I am taking a very different approach. I also want to do Zoning. So, I am using Lennox Harmony III ( I was lucky to grab used on on ebay) and I am connecting Nest Thermostats to it.
The good thing with using Harmony is that Harmony Zone controller takes in any standard thermostat.
Hey kewashi, I too am looking for an update on your AC. Did it work out? Or did you have to switch back to the Lennox tstat? From everything I’ve researched and looked up in manuals, forums, and on the panel, it looks to me like the ecobee should work, but curious what your experience has been. I just purchased this home with this Lennox system in it but I’m really wanting to switch to my ecobee. Even if the system is less “efficient” running on the ecobee, at least I can have my geofence back and I think that function would be of greater benefit.
I wish I had better news but the hack I used above to reinstall my Ecobee only works in heat mode. When summer arrived I tried it in AC mode and it didn’t work, so I had to reinstall the crappy Lennox thermostat. I don’t think I will be swapping it in and out every season so I will have to live with it.
I did find a workaround that gives me some control of the Lennox thermostat from SmartThings. Promise you won’t laugh at me… okay, so I got the Lennox service working on Alexa and then I got TTS working on SmartThings using both Echo Speaks and Webcore. I set an echo dot next to a Sonos speaker and then using Webcore I speak “Alexa, set bedroom thermostat to 74” and other commands within various automations. I stopped short of training Alexa to recognize the TTS voice …LOL. As stupid as this sounds, it does work and gives me ST control over my Lennox. Alexa controls it natively but that doesn’t help for automations because the Alexa routines are still pretty lame compared to Webcore or even SmartLighting.
Please help me with my Lennox Icomfort Wifi thermostat. After only 4 years the screen turned white and I hasn’t came back. It is under guarantee but they charge $325 to $385 to install it!! outrageous. They wouldn’t send it to me to install it myself either! Would never buy a Lennox system. Anyway, can I change it to a Nest or any other thermostat? Or any suggestions on how to make it come back from white screen to normal? thanks a lot!
Depends on how current thermostat is wired. iComfort can be wired as communicating or hardwired. Post exact model of thermostat and pics of thermostat connections.
But I would first call whoever you got it from and talk to them about warranty replacement.
On the other hand, try to have Lennox send replacement to you and tell them you have your contractor install it when you get it. Otherwise, there’s a lot of places that will sell it to you.
I had The same problem with my Lennox thermostat where the screen just died but I was still able to control it over Wi-Fi thank goodness. These Lennox thermostats are not like normal thermostats with the 5 wires, instead they are “controller thermostats” that cannot be replaced with a normal 5 wire thermostat (Honeywell, nest, etc) as the wiring is completely different.
Basically these controller thermostats communicate to the AC system in a proprietary way. So, what I did, was go on eBay and purchase a new screen for $275 and plug it in myself and program it easily using the Lennox Web app.
It was very simple and I’m sure anyone can do it. I love my air conditioner but I will never buy another Lennox again due to this proprietary junk.
They wanted $1000 dollars to replace the screen out of warranty. I could get a few laptops for that price. It’s a scam!! What’s also scary is that if this controller screen dies you can’t just touch the two wires together to get the air conditioner to come on manually in an emergency or buy a $20 thermostat until you get it resolved
You have to buy another screen to get your $10,000 AC system to turn on. No buying a $10 cheap thermostat until My new screen arrived. It’s hot in Texas so that would’ve been bad. in an emergency will fix this. You will have no AC until you replace the screen. In my case my screen was still working through Wi-Fi and so I was able to be comfortable until My new screen arrived. It’s hot in Texas so that would’ve been bad.
Go to eBay and find one with same model number that appears in new or good condition then swap it out yourself.
As for smart things integration or any smart home hope of swapping with a nest (or similar) forget it.
Well. I followed all the links that I could find and even tried Lennox to find a work around I expressed my dislike of their proprietary wiring through an email I have a SLP70 furnace and was stuck having to repurchase their Wi-Fi iComfort thermostat bc it’s the only one that I found that would work for my furnace. I politely worded my displeasure on their website stating only facts. They replied saying that my post did not conform to their guidelines and would not post it. I guess “reviews and stars” are carefully controlled.
Just finished installing a 3rd gen Nest on my buddies Lennox SLP98 HVAC unit. So far everything seems to be working, I ran a 7 wire setup and changed one dip switch. The red power wire passes through a safety level switch before landing at the control panel.
I know this is an older thread, but…
My Lennox was installed in 2010.
I replaced the original Lennox thermostat with an upgraded one with WiFi.
You can go into programming mode which I did, and fine tune the motor speeds.
I sped up the motor for different scenarios.
I turned up the motor speed for A/C mostly.
Also, the installers couldn’t get it to work with the humidifier, which I went in and programmed it myself. Lennox will not speak to the end user, is what I found.
I’d love to replace it, but I’m not in the mood to replace the 4 conductor, with a 8+ conductor.
@kewashi What was your Lennox AC model # that you couldnt get to work with ecobee? Was it not compatible because it was a true variable speed unit and not single or 2 stage?
He meant well.
