Very low voltage on baseboard heater


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Old 10-20-13, 01:30 AM
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Very low voltage on baseboard heater

Hello,

I have had a baseboard heater relocated this summer, and it appeared to be working when it was installed. Recently when I turned it on, it didn't work.

I measure the voltage on the lines and it reads only 30V. There is another baseboard heater connected to the same breaker and it is working fine.

Can anyone provide suggestions?

Thanks
 
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Old 10-20-13, 03:38 AM
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Did you turn the breaker all the way off then on? Were you using a digital multimeter? Is the heater 120 volts or 240 volts? How did you make the test, from what to what? Did you test before or after the thermostat.
 
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Old 10-20-13, 06:12 AM
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Thanks for the reply.
Yes. I turned the breaker all the way off and then on.
I am using digital multimeter
The heater is 240 V
The heater has a built-in thermostat.
I disconnected completely the heater wiring from the cable. There are three wires from the cable, ground, red and black. I test the voltages btw all these lines. Between red and black, ~28 V; between red and ground, ~30 V; between black and ground, ~5 V.
 
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Old 10-20-13, 07:00 AM
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I have had a baseboard heater relocated this summer, and it appeared to be working when it was installed. Recently when I turned it on, it didn't work.
It was relocated so in my opinion there are two possibiltys here. One is there is a junction box near the old heater location that you need to check next. The second possibility is that there was a new circuit installed and it isn't connected inside the panel. You need to check these things out next. When you check these, I am pretty sure you'll see an obvious reason your circuit is dead.
 
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Old 10-20-13, 08:31 AM
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If you used an analog multimeter your readings would probably be 0v so don't be fooled into thinking you have partial voltage. It's probably just the digital voltage meter reading insignificant induced currents
 
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Old 10-20-13, 10:44 AM
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Thanks a lot for the replies.
This has given me a lot of pointers where to look at. I will reply back once the root cause is identified.
 
 

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