Carrier furnace giving r-w closed error?

mel189 · 11-07-2007, 08:09 PM

Brand new to this forum, TIA for any advice.

My Carrier furnace model CK5BXW036000AAA is doing all the stuff noted on the inside panel indicating "r-w closed". Blower turns on for 90 seconds, all fan settings work, but no heat is forthcoming and on the "heat" setting it shuts down after the 90 second cycle. I have no idea what "r-w closed" means, if that's indeed the problem. Is this common and is there an easy (and cheap, I hope) fix?

mel189 · 11-07-2007, 08:16 PM

Forgot to mention, this behavior indicates a code 12, but the LED is not flashing at all. It's always on.

HvacWiz · 11-07-2007, 10:53 PM

R and w closed just means there is a call for heat from your t-stat on power up. the blower will run for 90 sec then the inducer motor starts the heating cycle, your problem lies elsewhere.

#CARRIERMAN · 11-08-2007, 04:20 PM

Hi mel189

The model number you gave is the evaporator section of the furnace. If the thermostat is what is called a power robbing. It will cause the furnace to do some silly stuff when it is calling for heat. The other thing that will cause this is a improper heat anticipator setting on a thermostat. If you are using a digital thermostat, you will need to use one that has a C or an X terminal in it. The thermostat also needs to be for the proper application and has to be set to the proper application, I.E. gas and not electric. Hope this helps with your problem. Hvacwiz is correct about the code, what I gave you were reasons for the code and no heat. The other thing that can cuse this is an improperly wired humidifier.

Good luck
Rusty

mel189 · 11-08-2007, 08:00 PM

Thanks for the info so far. Today, at the advice of a friend, I shut everything down and removed the flame sensor. I cleaned it up with some steel wool, but it really didn't look bad to begin with. I was skeptical when I turned it back on, but lo and behold I had heat again. For maybe two hours. Now it's out again and I'm clueless.

The thermostat is digital, but it's a cheapie the previous homeowners put in just before we bought the house. Everything worked fine for 3 years, just went kaput yesterday. If it's really all due to a faulty thermostat, I'll be thrilled.

LED indicator is still always on, no actual code given. My code guess was based on the furnace behavior, which is what is described as code 12.

HvacWiz · 11-08-2007, 09:56 PM

Is this a 90% furnace? if so I woiuld take a look a the condensate trap in the blower section to make sure it is not plugged.

mel189 · 11-09-2007, 02:19 PM

I finally started getting error codes from the LED. When it first starts up, I'm getting 12, it goes through the 90 second blower cycle, then LED goes to solid "on". When the furnace fails to fire, it then switches to 31.

It does appear to be related to the condensate trap. I yanked some tubes out and got in there with a pipe cleaner, it came out full of gunk. And since it's working now, I must have knocked enough junk loose to get it going again. Now the main problem is that I can't get the thing out of there to give it a proper cleaning or to replace it. When the installer put it in, it looks like he used a strong glue on all the pvc joints and nothing will budge. I'm not looking forward to cutting and replacing everything, but it's certainly a lot less painful than I'd feared. Thanks so much for the help!

novice68 · 11-27-2008, 10:59 AM

I am getting RW Closed error on my carrier furnace Carrier Weather Master. Initially the code is 12 but after it has gone through the complete cycle without gas kicking in, the code changes to 21. As far as I can tell from the cover, this means the call for heat is being sent but I am not getting any heat. As far as I can tell looking at the furnace, everythign seems to work, blower runs, pilot ignites, except gas is not coming and hence no heat. I have been guided by some friends to check if any current is coming to gas valve and there is none. What could be the reason and how it can be solved?