M847D Zone Valve Actuator

A couple of months ago, our A/C stopped spewing air in our upstairs abode. A quick search online suggested it was a damper issue (you have dampers when you have dual zone HVAC). I watched some videos and found that it seems fairly easy to replace (which LARGELY depends on where your dampers are located - mine are in the attic, and require Mission Impossible-Tom Cruise like contortionist abilities to reach and change). The unit came simply packed - it's not really well cushioned for drops and handling issues, but I'm guessing the unit must be robust enough to endure. I ended up buying one previously that appears to pretend it was a Honeywell, looked darn close except for some off markings, so be careful with what you buy. It also came with two screws - a short screw and a long screw for attaching to the damper. The long screw makes it easy to install, but runs the risk the damper might be affected by the insulation around the damper. The short screw is more difficult to install, but should easily clear most insulations. For mine, I used the short screw do to insulation. Now what makes the short screw a little more difficult is more due to the size of the screw and your environment. If the damper is easy to get to and the motor easy accessed, then the short screw at best would be a minor inconvenience. I do like that they give you both screws and let you choose. Both screws will use an allen wrench (not included with the unit). To remove your old one, also most likely uses and allen wrench, turn the screw (don't have to turn it all the way, just enough to loosen it) and remove. Install the new one - it only goes one way - there's a metal post that inserts into the damper to keep it in position and help ensure you can't install it the wrong way. I recommend you pre-screw in the screw you intend to use, no so much as to impair your ability to seat the new motor unit, but not so little that if you bump it, the screw falls out into the insulation abyss. Actuate the damper vent (helps if you have someone able to be near a vent, and you can turn the vent open and closed to determine position). I installed mine with the damper in the closed position. Also, check how far your damper rotates. There are 3 settings on this unit to help determine when the baffle is at max open and max closed. In my case, the baffle was on setting 3 which means the distance to open and close is about a 90* actuation only. Once you have it on (mine didn't want to easily go over the damper actuator), tighten down the screw. In my case, the screw turned and then immediately stopped. I thought I should at least screw it harder or something, but I guess that sudden stop means you are there - there's no feeling of "okay, 1/4 more turn to tighten it". It's binary - on or off to tighten. Also, I recommend if you installation environment is mission difficult that you wire it up first and have someone help to test the thermostat on/off to see if the motor works before you install it. There are two posts - once for voltage and one for common (M1 and M6). I thought I had the correct wire (yellow) and wired that as common. WRONG. Thankfully, I didn't ruin the unit, it just didn't work. I had a helper view the zone controller and he was able to help me determine through labeling on the controller which color wire was common and which was had voltage. The posts are just push down, insert wire, release to install, so, super simple there and they appear to hold strong enough for my satisfaction (there's no other install option, no screw posts). Operation. For me, when air was sent through the damper, it took a couple of seconds to activate, and 30-60 seconds when the thermostat was set to shutoff, so be patient when testing it. Also, my unit had a light for open and closed. The open light NEVER illuminated. The closed light appeared to work, but seems like once or twice it didn't light up, but I could hear/feel that the damper had closed, so I didn't care - not going to be seeing those lights anyways. Just need the thing to do its job and I'm good. Came out of the attic, restored heat and air to the upstairs rooms, and the adoration and affection from the masses was stuff of legends. Back rubs, slippers, favorite meal - all ready and waiting for the hero of the day. That soon ended as all of that faded for the next morning, but for that day, I lived like a king. Save yourself money - it's an easy fix and replaceable item and is only made difficult by how hard it is to get to. You can also view videos on youtube (I saw easily two) that demonstrated how to replace these units. Those videos gave me the courage to try.

My Honeywell M847D1012 Actuator was making a clicking sound (once per second ish) when the damper was in power close position. This product Honeywell M847D Zone is a direct replacement. Total work took < 30 minutes. After I removed and dissembled the actuator, I realized the issue was caused by a stripped plastic gear inside the old actuator. The gear was not hard to remove - I could’ve probably just replaced the gear instead of buying a new actuator. However the gear was unlabeled and unbranded. It may be hard to find. Actuator replacement process: Equipment: 1. Honeywell M847D Zone Valve Actuator 2. 3/16 hex key (allen wrench, t-handle, etc. Any works - you need this to loosen/tighten a set screw) 3. long nose plier (or any tool with a pointy tip. You need this to push down the buttons on the new actuator to push the wires in.) 4. non-contact voltage meter (eg. Klein Tools NCVT-3, when you turn the power off on the actuator / your furnace, before you remove the old actuator, you want to use this to touch the wires connecting the old actuator to make sure there’s no power. It’s 24V, may not be the worst even if you touch it, but preferably don’t touch live wire.) Guide: 1. Youtube. Andrew Rogers, How to Change an AC Damper Motor. Very clear step-by-step process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsmNq4tccPY 2. Medium. Ninu, How to swap out an HVAC damper actuator yourself - Honeywell M847D-ZONE. https://medium.com/@ninu/how-to-swap-out-an-hvac-damper-actuator-yourself-honeywell-m847d-zone-c99d25ca3167 3. SupplyHouse. Has > 100 useful reviews. https://www.supplyhouse.com/Honeywell-M847D-ZONE-TRUEZONE-Replacement-Actuator-for-Normally-Open-Dampers 4. Search Term: “Honeywell actuator replacement” 5. My issue was “Failed zone damper” with clicking sound, sample video from Dennis Benjamin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5zQ4UQ9Iks Some hiccups: 1. The box I got from Amazon came with a little packet of 2 set screws. One is 0.5 inch long and has a head. The other is 1.5 inches long and is a headless / socket / blind set screw. You can use either one as the set screw, or use the old set screw (1.5 inch, has a head) from the old actuator. I prefer the old set screw because it is longer, so it is more visible and my Allen wrench can reach it more easily. It also has a head so I can grab it with my fingers. 2. You should use the non-contact voltage meter to test and ensure power is off before you start removing the old actuator. 3. How to determine which wire goes to M1, M4 and M6? The short answer is whatever wire that was connected to the old actuator’s orange wire should be shoved into M1. Whatever wire that was connected to the old actuator’s yellow wire should be shoved into M6. The long answer is: I’m not using M4 (for LED indicator light). I use M1 (for common wire) and M6 (for 24 Vac wire). It seems that for AC, you can switch the wires, but it’s a good habit not to. I assumed the old actuator was wired correctly. Eg. I have two wires connecting to the old actuator’s orange wire and yellow wire respectively. say, Wire-1 —> Old Actuator Orange Wire —> M1. Wire-2 —> Old Actuator Yellow Wire —> M6. I based this on “Andrew Rogers”’s youtube guide). It works correctly in my case. 4. You may need to wiggle the wires to make them fit in M1 and M6, especially because the original wires came out twisted once you remove the wire connectors. You can use the plier to straighten the wires a bit before shoving them in M1 and <6. 5. Short wires? Beware that the wires from your home might be a bit short and might not reach the new actuator, since the new one doesn’t have connecting wires, but just buttons. You can pull on your wires to see if you can make it reach the new actuator. 6. The set screw on the old actuator may be hard to unscrew - it might be very tight. Use some force to loosen it. Steps: 1. prepare the tools 2. make sure you know which wires should go into M1 and M6 ahead of time (See hiccup #3) 3. put the set screw onto the actuator just right - make sure you can’t see threads from inside the actuator hollow central pin, so that there’s enough space in the hollow pin to connect to the pin coming out of the damper) 4. turn power off of the furnace and the zone control (from main service panel) 5. make sure furnace won’t call for heat (this should be true since power is turned off on the furnace) 6. use non-contact voltage meter to test for no voltage on the wires coming out of the actuator 7. make sure the fan is off - no blowing air. This should be true already since the furnace is off. But just double check. If the fan were on, it may blow the damper off, no good. 8. loosen but don’t unscrew the set screw (the long screw towards the bottom right) on the old actuator. It may require some force to loosen it. If you look at the set screw head, then clockwise is to unscrew. 9. unscrew the two wire connectors and untwist the wires. 10. push the hex key to further loosen and remove the hex screw on the old actuator 11. put the set screw aside. You can use this instead (see step 2) on the new actuator, or not - your preference (See hiccup #1) 12. remove/pull the old actuator in a straight outward manner 13. check the damper is open all the way (may be hard if you don’t have opening in the duct. If that’s the case, ignore this step - your damper should be open all the way anyway, since it’s always open and power close) 14. observe the hollow central pin and the stationary pin on the new actuator 15. push the new actuator straight on 16. check the new actuator indicating it’s in the “open” position 17. tighten the set screw (it should already be on the new actuator by step 3). Tighten it all the way. 18. damper should show it’s completely open. 19. hook up the wires: M1 (common/ground) with the wire that originally connected to the orange wire on the old actuator. And M6 (24V) with the wire that originally connected to the yellow wire on the old actuator. 20. push the wires in 21. push the M1/M6 buttons down one by one. Push it down, put wire in, let go of the button, give it a wiggle to make sure the wire doesn’t come out. You should be able to shove 1/6 inch of the wire inside at least. 22. turn power back on 23. watch your actuator move when heat is called.

Easy to install fixed my ac problem. I have cool air at my house tonight.

Work great

It’s the same one that we had so it fit and so easy to put in. Quality is ok, hope it would be good for another 10 yrs. I’m a gal and did it myself, with my husband showing me how to change the first one that was more in the open. Then I have to go over a small opening to the other side of our AC and did that by myself. If you can change the light switch, you would be able to change this. We got a quote for $2,200 to change the 2 we have. I ended up paying about $100 each, great price. Both are almost 10 yr old and 1 stop working. It takes about 5 mins to take off old and put on the new. With the small space we have it took me an hr, bc I needed to move around slowly and we tested a few times before I got myself out.

Works as described

I recently purchased the Honeywell M847D-ZONE/U Replacement Motor for my dual-zone HVAC system, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. Let me share my thoughts on this product: 1. Efficiency Boost: The Honeywell M847D-ZONE/U motor has significantly improved the efficiency of my HVAC system. Since installing it, I’ve noticed a reduction in energy consumption, which translates to lower utility bills. The motor operates smoothly and quietly, ensuring optimal airflow throughout my home. 2. Easy Installation: Installing the replacement motor was a breeze. The instructions provided were clear, and I had it up and running in no time. Even if you’re not a seasoned DIYer, you’ll find the installation process straightforward. 3. Enhanced Zoning Control: As someone with a dual-zone HVAC system, zoning control is essential. The Honeywell M847D-ZONE/U motor allows precise adjustment of airflow to different zones, ensuring consistent comfort levels in each area of my home. It’s a game-changer for personalized climate control. 4. Durability and Reliability: Honeywell is a trusted brand, and this replacement motor lives up to their reputation. The build quality is excellent, and I have confidence that it will last for years without any issues. Plus, the motor’s performance remains consistent over time. 5. Seller Experience: I purchased the 2 Honeywell M847D-ZONE/U motor from reputable seller. Their customer service was top-notch, and they promptly informed me when my product would arrive a day later than planned. The product arrived well-packaged. Kudos to the seller for a smooth transaction and keeping me up to date. In summary, the Honeywell M847D-ZONE/U Replacement Motor is a fantastic investment for anyone looking to enhance their HVAC system’s efficiency and zoning capabilities. I highly recommend it!

This was a great replacement our HVAC tech installed for half the price his company would have charged. So far so good.

simple install and works prefect

These are great, exactly as advertised and easy to install.

This is the direct replacement for the Honeywell M847D1004 Zone Actuator. You can replace this yourself. A 3/16" allen key is all that is needed. This unit is a great improvement over the older design as it has a LED indicators showing open and closed condition and a position indicator to show the damper position. It also adds a red tab with definitive stops to adjust the air flow bleed rate in increments of 0%, 20%, 30% and 50%. It has push in terminals so no more wire nut connections are required. My only complaint is the high cost. But if you replace it yourself then you can save on the service call to call a HVAC technician.

Works as described! Simple install and much nicer to use than the original. Extra features and the visual closed light is a nice touch :)

They never worked from the minute they were hooked up