How to troubleshoot electric garage heater?


  #1  
Old 02-14-22, 08:06 AM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 896
Received 5 Upvotes on 5 Posts
How to troubleshoot electric garage heater?

I purchased the Fahrenheat FUH electric heater for garage model FU52 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1) back in 2016. Right now the air coming out of the unit is just lukewarm not hot anymore. My 3 car garage is fully insulated. It takes like 3 hours to increase 10-15 degrees and never goes behind 49 degree now. It uses to go to 60-70 degrees in the past couple of years. Any suggestion on how to troubleshoot this issue is much appreciated.
 
  #2  
Old 02-14-22, 11:09 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,939
Received 3,951 Upvotes on 3,544 Posts
I couldn't find an FU52. Should that be FU54 ?

That's a 240v heater. What size breaker do you have supplying it ?
There are multiple heating elements. One may have failed.
Farenheat FUH54 manual
 
  #3  
Old 02-15-22, 05:24 AM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 896
Received 5 Upvotes on 5 Posts
Yes, it's the FUH54 not FU52. Interesting that you mentioned about the breaker size. So last night I went in to measure the amount of amperage that the heater draws and guess what. For some reason there is no power from any of my four breakers. The main line power from inside the house panel has power coming into the panel but the breakers for my table saw and heater has no power at all. Any suggestion? Thanks!

 
  #4  
Old 02-15-22, 10:31 AM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,939
Received 3,951 Upvotes on 3,544 Posts
In your picture the "main" is turned off.
May have happened when you pulled the cover because the heater did have power and was blowing warm air.
 
  #5  
Old 02-15-22, 11:52 AM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 896
Received 5 Upvotes on 5 Posts
Interesting observation! I'll check the main breaker tonight if I turned it off before taking the picture or it was turned off all this time. Thank you.
 
  #6  
Old 02-15-22, 01:31 PM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 896
Received 5 Upvotes on 5 Posts
Okay, just confirmed, I'm just dumb. I flipped the main break on and sure enough, the heater and my tables works. Okay, so to the main issue here, I did measure the amperage drawn by the heater and it does show around 20amp. I will check the element next.

 
  #7  
Old 02-15-22, 01:59 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,939
Received 3,951 Upvotes on 3,544 Posts
20A @ 240v = approx 4800 watts

I'm trying to figure out the individual heater wattages. It shows six elements.
It looks like all are connected for full 5000 watts.
It would a puzzle to determine the individual wattages..... if they're different.
 
  #8  
Old 02-21-22, 10:12 AM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 896
Received 5 Upvotes on 5 Posts
I think the issue may have to do with the Honeywell Home CT410B thermostat. If it's pulling about 20 amps from both wires, the elements are working but I suspect the thermostat because the heater doesn't always run. It runs for 2-5 minutes then it stopped. It pauses for like 10minutes to 30minutes. Yesterday I was working in the garage and I turned the thermostat up to 75 degrees but the heater was never on even though the garage is like 52 degrees. As soon as I turned the thermostat to max then I can hear the heater comes on again but only for a few minutes then stopped again.
 
  #9  
Old 02-21-22, 10:44 AM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,939
Received 3,951 Upvotes on 3,544 Posts
You'll need to test between T1 to T2 for 240v to see if the thermostat is working correctly.
 
Charlie2 voted this post useful.
  #10  
Old 02-28-22, 11:04 AM
C
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: USA
Posts: 896
Received 5 Upvotes on 5 Posts
Well, it looks like I may need to replace this thermostat. Any recommendation that will handle this garage heater?
 
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description: