The electric baseboard heater in my daughter's bedroom has stopped working. No adjustment to the "White-Rodgers" thermostat on the wall seems to help. I would like to fix the problem myself but I'm not sure where to begin. I do not do electrical repairs other than changing the odd plug, etc. I do own a pocket analog multimeter if I have to test a circuit, however, I'm a little inexperienced at that too. I would appreciate some help from someone in-the-know. Thanks :)

I have been lurking here for a day or two reading posts to see if I could get an idea of what to look for to help diagnose the problem I think I am having with my heat pump. So far I have found some threads that had similar problems and have checked some of the things that I see everyone asking about. I know how the heat pumps are supposed to work, I've had thermodynamics and understand the concept. Although I understand the concept, I am more of a paint by numbers kind of person. I need to actually see they system running to really understand what is going on. Since I have never experienced them first hand, I would like to ask if someone can explain to me the sequence of events that should happen when the thermostat calls for heat, maybe being a little specific to a Rheem unit, if possible? Now to the problem. As I have already mentioned, I have a Rheem model RPKA-036JAZ heat pump unit with a Rheem gas furnace b/u system(can't find the model #). I also have the Rheem thermostat that I would assume is the original. When it calls for heat, it turns on the auxiliary heat source(the aux. light on the t-stat lights and the gas furnace fires). I get warm air at the register as long as the aux light is on. When that switches off the blower stays on and the air at the register becomes rather chilly(no thermometer so I am not sure exactly how chilly). As far as I can tell, the blower never turns off. The room temp will drop until the whole cycle starts over again. It basically acts like a gas furnace only the blower never turns off. Like I said before I have been lurking to try to find things to check out and this is what I know: 1. The outside unit never seems to turn on. I had a feeling that it might be low on refrigerant so I also tried to check it on the ac setting. It didn't work then either, but I might not have given it enough time to come on. It was pretty darn cold when I was trying it and I didn't stay out there very long. 2. The larger copper line does not get warm. 3. I have checked the main breaker for the unit at the house electrical box but that is the only one I know to look for. Any other breakers or fuses I should look for? 4. Filters are clean; I change them every 30-45 days. Is there anything I can check to see if it is low on refrigerant other than having a tech come out and check for me? Maybe a low pressure safety I can check to see if it is tripped? Sorry for the long post, I wanted to make sure that I included everything I knew. Thanks