@holeydonut
How did you discover that your Lennox was installed incorrectly?
It was my understanding that the compressor runs at 60% most of the time versus 100%.
How can you verify this?
You'll probably have to triangulate various methods to make sure you have more than two stages. Assuming you have a "normal" system (without a heat pump) with inside air-handler/furnace and outdoor condenser......
Go up to your iComfort thermostat touch-screen and...
1) Press the "9 box rubics cube looking icon" in the upper right
2) Go to Settings
3) Along the left-side of the screen enter "Advanced Settings" (with a red toolbox icon)
4) Choose "dealer control center"
5) Agree to the warning message that you're entering a dealer menu
6) Go to "installation report"
7) Go into "system" or "furnace" (it depends on your iComfort firmware)
8) Along the right hand side you'll see "outdoor unit". It'll either say single stage, dual stage, or variable stage.
If your system says "variable stage" just stop now. You're good to go.
BUT. even if your thermostat says "dual stage" you'll want to confirm things. So next, find your air handler or furnace. Near it will be a black plastic box with some blinking lights and an antenna. This is the "Lennox iComfort Hub". Open the black lid and take a gander at it. If you see:
A) If you see a sticker/label on the flap that says you have a S30 Communicating Thermostat. I'm 99.99% sure your outdoor system is set up for dual-stage if it said dual stage on the previous steps above.
B) If you see a sticker/label that says the following, please keep reading. Because if you see this sticker you have the E30 thermostat.
Ok so if you're here then you have the E30. And now you need to check if they wired your E30 for dual stage. Your hub will have 12 exposed screws in a nice horizontal row. Beneath each of these screws is a text label that says W1, W2, W3, G, Y2, Y1, etc etc etc. If you do not have a Y2 wire, then your system is set up for single stage only. If there is a Y2 wire, you have one last thing to check*.
If you're comfortable, turn off the breaker to your air conditioner. Go to your outdoor condenser and pop off the back panel. You should see the same color wire on the Y2 screw here as what you saw on the IComfort E30 hub's Y2 screw. I mean there's a chance your installer wired the Y2 wires then cut them... so I guess there's a 0.1% chance they are messing with you big time haha.
Anyway, if you saw "dual stage" on the thermostat installation report, confirmed you have a Y2 wire, and confirmed the Y2 is plugged into the condenser, then you should be confident you have dual stage. If any of this is not completed as I described, then it's likely your system is only running as single stage. If your condenser is only activated via Y1, but Y2 is not set up, then it's only running as single stage even if your thermostat thinks there are two stages.
In my case, my E30 was set up only for single stage only through the E30 hub dip switches. And I have no Y2 wire. So my installers jobbed me. Lennox corporate insisted to me that "homeowners can't tell the difference anyway" and "it's just a marketing gimmick" so who knows what's real.
Lennox iComfort systems (combination of the thermostat, air handler/furnace, and outdoor condenser) are smart communicating systems. They should get the S30 if installed as a set. The E30 thermostat is more of a crutch/haste-job to get a new Lennox component to work with other company stuff or older gear.
*Edit Note: I am skipping the step whereby you check the Y2 is connected to your furnace/air handler and then from there goes to your condenser. That step is kind of hard to check, and I don't want to explain how to reveal your air handler or furnace's panelboard and all that jazz.
