Space Heater Q

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Peanut

Peanut

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Chilly in the house tonight so I'd run the space heater for a few minutes. Some thing is wrong with the heater, a 5 brick unit.

The center brick, low setting, doesn't look right. The color of the flame is off. Also, the flame goes a couple inches above the brick. There is almost no heat from it.

The bricks on each side work fine (medium setting).

Other than something needs cleaned, I have no idea. Any space heater pro's here tonight?

This is my only heat source for the entire 950sq ft.

Space heater a.JPG
 
SHUT IT OFF, NOW. Read the rest of this post after the heater is off. I worry about CO poisoning. You could wake up dead. It looks like incomplete combustion. When these burners are burning properly they give off water and CO2. Incomplete combustion starts giving off CO (carbon monoxide) which is deadly. My first dead body, where I was the medic in charge, was CO poisoning. Don't mess with this inside.
 
It was on less than 5 minutes. Long enough for me to turn it on and off several times including the pilot being off. Then relite it.

Once while off I switched the hose on my little shop vac and blew out the bricks.

Nothing helped so I turned it off completely until tomorrow. Try to come up with a plan. Need to figure out what is wrong first. Dad installed this unit for my grandpa (I live in his old house), sometime in the 80's. So it's age is 40 years and counting.

But, I know nothing about this simple little heater..
 
Were I there, I'd take a look at it for you. After 40 years that thing doesn't owe you anything. If you're not 100% sure of it then let it go to an honourable rest in a dumpster.
 
I have one of these sitting in the old barn. Never used, gave it a coat of burned motor oil then wrapped it up in a couple of old tarps. Bought the stove pipe also. There's already a pipe through the wall that is currently plugged. Grandpa had wood stove heat for 10 years or so before dad put the space heater in.

This little stove is my emergency heat and cook top. (emergency as in no fuel for months.)

Wood Stove.jpg
 
Peanut said:
I have one of these sitting in the old barn. Never used, gave it a coat of burned motor oil then wrapped it up in a couple of old tarps. Bought the stove pipe also. There's already a pipe through the wall that is currently plugged. Grandpa had wood stove heat for 10 years or so before dad put the space heater in.

This little stove is my emergency heat and cook top. (emergency as in no fuel for months.)

View attachment 74091
Click to expand...
We use our wood stove as our primary heat source. We do have two of those electric heaters that look like radiators, but rarely use them. I can cook during power outages, love it. A lot of cutting and splitting, but have access to a lot of wood!
 
I would check it out n try to fix it. Really not much to go wrong. I can't tell if it's portable or not. You mentioned installed. What fuel source ? Propane can be dirty. After 40 years the gas valve could have some crud in it blocking the flow. Give it a wack. They are also fairly inexpensive.
If it's portable and uses a small bottle change out the bottle.
Hey good luck, stay safe
 
Its a LP wall mount unit, just a valve for control. I went up to the shop this morning to get the small air compressor. That boy seems to have lost the attachments I bought last spring. So that's a bust.

I pulled out my 5hp shop vac, blew the heater out then vacuumed up all the bits and pieces. Now it works fine, has a nice shine, last a long time...

Who am I kidding, it's 40yrs old, "shine" left the building long ago. 😂

Now I have two more wall mount space heaters to clean. The other two units are just as old. They are 3 brick units. There is actually another 5 brick unit over at the old barn, saw it once about 15 years ago.

Anyone have a pdf file on exactly how these units work? It'd be nice to have a copy for future reference.

Space heater 02 a.JPG
 
I've seen similar heaters. I have a furnace which vents heat all through my home, via ducts. When my furnace went out almost 11 years ago and before I could have it replaced, I used a few free standing electrical space heaters. These can be very dangerous, and have caused more than one house fire, so I am very careful with them. I never leave them unattended and certainly never leave them on when I leave home. When I saw the title of this thread, I am interested in your thread, but your space heaters are very different than what I have.
When I was growing up, if it was particularly cold and the house had a chill, the oven would be turned on and left open a little. I did this as well while I was waiting for my new furnace.
 
The best I can offer is the PDF manual for my "Big Buddy" heater. Of interest to you might be the troubleshooting:

A blue flame that rolls out at the
top of the ceramic tile indicates an accumulation of dust, lint or spider webs inside the housing assembly and main burner assembly. If the pilot is yellow or the burner has a noticeable flame, cleaning may be required.
 

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We have a number of electric portable room heaters. But typically just use the woodstove. Always have a little heater in the bathrooms. And Buddies as a back up, and we have had to use them.
 
Not an expert but know a thing or 2 about a thing or 2

you have an obstruction. the color of the flame should be a pretty blue any yellow in the flane is an air nixture problem

take the unit apart and use a pipe cleaner [tobacco] to clean the gas holes

post some picture's of the piping. looking for a air adjustment
 
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