Baseboard Heaters No Longer Controlled By Thermostat


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Old 01-15-20, 10:59 AM
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Baseboard Heaters No Longer Controlled By Thermostat

I have three electric baseboards that were all controlled by a single (old) wall-mounted thermostat control. Recently, I noticed that the heaters in the kitchen and the dining room are always on, while the living room heater still seems to be controlled by the thermostat. For instance, the thermostat was set to 68 degrees, but the indoor temperature line on the thermostat showed that it was about 75 degrees inside the house. The living room heater had turned off, but the dining room and kitchen heaters were still going full-blast. The only way I was able to get those two heaters to turn off was to flip the breakers in the basement.

I’m wondering what could have caused this issue, and what my options are to fix it. The way I see it, I could hire an electrician to come in and try and re-link the heathers to the thermostat possibly requiring a new thermostat control, or, I could just replace the kitchen/dining room heaters with heaters that have an individual thermostat setting on each heater. Any suggestions on which route (or another) to take?
 
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Old 01-15-20, 01:19 PM
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Were the heaters on full blast? A short to ground on the heating element could cause them to be on partially.
Depending on the thermostat it could be an issue with the stat if it switches each heater separately.
 
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Old 01-15-20, 05:28 PM
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Joed.... pointed out some possible problems.
Unfortunately it's going to take a dedicated voltage tester or meter to find the problem.
It may be as simple as how the thermostat is wired and a part of it failed.

Try this...... turn the thermostat until it clicks off. See if all the heaters are off now.
If yes.... it could indicate a thermostat issue and also how it's wired.
 
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Old 01-25-20, 08:10 PM
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I'm not really sure if they were on full-blast, as there's no individual controls on any of the heaters. They're "all-or-nothing," and all linked to the wall thermostat, so I guess that means they maybe were on full blast?
 
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Old 01-26-20, 05:06 AM
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Electric baseboard heaters and either on or off. There is no variability. You likely have a bad thermostat.
 
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Old 01-26-20, 10:35 AM
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There is no full blast on electric heat. There is on or off.

There are two wire and four wire thermostats. Many people don't really know how the 4 wire ones work and don't wire them correctly.
There are two switches in them. When turned on..... regardless of the setting..... one switch is always on. The second switch opens and closes based on heat. You may have the kitchen ones wired to the first switch and the living room on the second switch.

I left you a previous test to try.
 
 

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