So, the heat/AC in our apartment is no working right now. Luckily it's still cool at night, so we've made our own AC using a fan in front of the screen door.
Anyway - I tried to test it out today, and figured the first thing I should do (other than the basic "check the breaker, play with the thermostat, etc" was to bypass the thermostat, and try to control the HVAC unit directly. After some quick googling (love that verb) and reading, I found some info (linked below). Basically, there are 4 wires in a normal system (non-heat-pump). The red wire provides 24 VAC. The Green wire controls the relay for the blower fan. Yellow wire is for the AC compressor. White wire is for the Heater.
Before you do any of this you need to turn off the breaker to the HVAC unit. Be safe, and don't blame me if you get hurt. To bypass the thermostat, simply connect the red wire to the green wire (I used some rolled up tin foil). This should turn on the fan, and you'll feel air coming out of the registers. For heat and AC, simply tie the red wire to the yellow or white wire. Again, don't do this with the power on. And I wouldn't leave the system connected like this, it will cause your AC/Heat to run 24/7, without turning off at any temp. Although it could be useful if I ever get a Crestron system in my home. Connect it to the relays on the Crestron processor, (relatively) poor man's HVAC automation!
My source, and lots good HVAC info:
http://highperformancehvac.com/thermostat-wiring-colors.html
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