Heat strips run continual even with t'stat disconnected. only way to shut them off is with breakers.

You need to check the current rating of your heat strips. If it is more than 60 amps then you need a bigger breaker. If 60 amps or less then your heat strips are going bad. Also make sure your fan turns smoothly without any wobble.

y is to condensor contactor wire
c is common
r is power
w/w1 heat strips
o/b reversing valve
e/w2/aux heat strip also
g is blower

For a rheem unit, make sure reversing vavle is set for "B" not O.
Blower may run for up to 120 seconds after shut off. My experience with hunter stats are not good (even out of box). Recommend honeywell tsat.

Remove the cover to the thermostat to get to the control wires. Now remove the red wire from the stat. If it shuts off, the stat is bad. If it continues to run, the 24 volt hot wire from the stat to the unit is touching the cooling or heating wire somewhere from the stat to the control section of the unit. You can also disconnect the stat wires at the unit to prove this. You will need to pull a new set of stat wires to your unit, or if you have a extra wire not used , find the bare one that is touching, and use the spare wire in its place.
Shastalaker7
A/C, & Heating Contractor

There should be an overload protection device in series with the low voltage wiring(t-stat wiring) Is it resting on the heat strip or too close to it? It is a saftey device to shut off the heat strips if the fan quits or a fire in the heat strip section. check that or by pass it, if it stays running then ur thermal protector is bad, couple bucks at the parts house.

Try disconnecting the W wire and see if the heat continues to run. If your unit has electric heaters, and the heat continues with the W or W2 wire disconnected from the stat, it may very likely be stuck heating relay/sequencer.
If the heat does shut off after disconnecting this wire, then the problem has something to do with the thermostat. Replacing the battery was a smart. You can also check to see if your thermostat has a reset button or a fuse.

Hi, sounds like you could have a couple of problems. If the breaker is tripping when the strips are calling, they are drawing more amps then they should. The data plate on the unit will tell you the Amperage rating of the heat strip package that is installed and should match that of the breaker. Since the breaker was replaced I would recheck how tight the wiring is at the breaker as they will lossen up do the the heat they are pulling. Make sure they are tight both at the breaker and at the strips, just turn the breaker off and check this. Also, the strips should energize when the thermostat needs them to help out the heating cycle. It is good you can manually turn them on, but you shouldn't have to. I can not guide you through the process of checking T-stat operation as I would need to be on site to see how they wired it at the unit and stat.If it has always worked this way then this is most likely the way the installer wired it. If not, you will need to have the stat checked out. I would consentrate on solving the breaker problem. Just look at the data plate for the strips amperage and see if it matches the breaker amps. Tighten these connections and I bet this will solve the big problem. If you had a clamp around amp probe and with some help from me I could guide you on how to do an amp check to see if its the strips, wiring, or breaker by doing a amperage check. Tighten up all the connections and keep me posted for more help. I will be here to help you solve this.
Good Luck,Shastalaker7

Hi, What is happening is the control wiring from this thermostat is touching on the heat side from somewhere in the wall back to the furnace, so it calls for heat. It gets its power from the transformer on the furnace. Try disconnecting it at the furnace and it will shut down. If this is heat only, should have only 2 conductors and they would have to be touching somewhere. Look carefully at the wiring behind the stat and around the furnace for it may have melted together or bare spots where it is touching. This is the only thing that would make it come on with out the stat. Please let me know what you find. You can also ohm the red and white out to see if there is continuity, and if so, they are touching and you will either need to find it or run a new set of stat wires to solve this. Get back to me. Good Luck,
Shastalaker7

out door unit staying on disconnect the yellow wire for compressor if still on contactor bad points whare main line voltage is connected if unit goes off stat bad also check for weedeater damage to stat line at unit hope this helps most systems green fan yellow compressor blue common orange reversing valve white aux heat strip remove stat cover to see how unit is wired up

you need to know if the heat strips are energized by a contactor or relay as opposed to a heat sequencer. as a general rule the contactor or relay clicks shut as soon as a call for heat is made and the fan is energized by the stat at the same time . instant heat strips and instant fan. if the heat strips have a sequencer it may take up to 90 seconds or so before the sequencer heats up then clicks and puts power to the strips and the fan motor at the same time. the high voltage usually feeds from the strip side of the sequencer through the normally closed side of the fan relay. if you changed the stat and didn't switch the fan setting switch to elec, the fan will not be energized by the stat. if it is in the gas position, you have told it that the sequencer is bringing on the fan and of course it won' t if you don't have a sequencer.. this is tough stuff to trace even for an experienced pro cause its interconnected so dual fan speeds can't be energized at the same time. most likely you have a new digital stat that was not programmed correctly to bring fan on in heat. good luck

run new two wire