Yup, I need help wiring a thermostat!

[bullnerd]

Yup, I need help wiring a thermostat!(radiant tube doesn't seem hot enough)

I hung my radiant tube heater and ran the thermostat wire and hooked up the supplied thermostat. 40 deg in the shop, set the thermostat to 45, and the unit fired right up. Yes!

However, it is a 30-40 two stage unit and it doesn't seem to be running on the higher output. I set the thermostat to 50 and let it run for a few hours, went back out and it was at 48 deg?

Is this something that would be affected by wiring the thermostat wrong?

Here is a few (3)pics of the wires, as they came on the heater and a pic of the manual. I untied the two wires in the pic, So I have three wires going to the stat.

I have to get another pic of how I actually wired the thermostat.

 

[acmikee]

on the stat yellow to W2 brown to Rh purple to W1

 

[bullnerd]

Thanks for the help Mike.

OK, I think I had the red and white wires switched from what you recommended.

So I switched them and turned the heater back on.

It runs, but sounds/feels about the same.

Here's some more pics, how its wired now, and my color code chart, the wires coming out of the heater don't match the stat wire colors. Shouldn't this be standardized by now?

Please take another look, I appreciate it.

EDIT: the jumper was there from the factory.

 

[acmikee]

disconnect the wires at the tstat….connect the white wire to the red wire heater will start let it run now connect the white and red wire to the green wire high fire will start

 

[bullnerd]

OK, I'll give that a shot, thanks.

 

[bullnerd]

OK, seems about the same.

Maybe its a different problem.

It has been running for a few hours and it cant bring the shop up to 60 deg.

I don't have insulation in the ceiling yet, but it just doesn't seem to be getting hot enough that it would be the problem. Maybe it is?

I attached a few more pics, do you see anything else that looks like a problem? I thought it came out pretty nice.

I emailed the guy I bought it from , but haven't heard back yet.

 

[The Cobbler]

are you using natural gas on a propane heater by chance?
is your fuel pressure correct at he gas valve?

 

[bullnerd]

are you using natural gas on a propane heater by chance?
is your fuel pressure correct at he gas valve?

I specified nat gas when I ordered it, I will double check.

I did not check the pressure at the heater. Just going by what the gas utility company said would be plenty at shop. I did purge the gas line before final hook up and it seemed to be plenty of gas coming out.

Thanks for the help.

 

[acmikee]

are you sure that you have 2 stages of heat

 

[acmikee]

pics of the gas valve and the whole wiring diagram

 

[bullnerd]

This is right off the quote,

"LTA04N3A 2-Stage Low Clearance Heater (30’ tube length-40/30 MBH)"

http://superiorradiant.com/sites/default/files/product_series/SRP-Series-AM-Manual.pdf

 

[bullnerd]

I set it to 65 last night and just checked today, its at 58.

How do I check the gas line pressure?

Has to be a supply issue.

When I bled the gas line it made a whistling noise with the valve almost all the way open? Does that sound right?

This *****! I was looking forward to this being a drama free project!

 

[brewchief]

Re: Yup, I need help wiring a thermostat!(radiant tube doesn't seem hot enough)

How big is the shop? If that's only a 40k btu unit on high you may not have enough btus with no insulation in the ceiling to bring the temp up to 65.

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk

 

[bullnerd]

Shop is 30x40.

Walls have 6" blanket insulation, but yes, no insulation in the ceiling yet.

I had a heat loss calc done by two different people and both said this would be good.

It just doesn't seem to be getting as hot as the ones i've seen in videos.

Maybe its just me and I should wait until I get the ceiling insulated.

It also doesn't seem to run in two "stages", it sounds the same all the time.

Maybe I should ask people with similar shops how long it takes to get up 60 degrees?

 

[klassenl]

If you're ceiling is not insulated the you are losing all.sorts of heat. The heat loss calculation done always assumes that everything is insulated.

 

[bullnerd]

If you're ceiling is not insulated the you are losing all.sorts of heat. The heat loss calculation done always assumes that everything is insulated.

Yeah, I think I'm going to go with this theory for now, until the insulation is done.

 

[Milton Shaw]

That heater heats objects not air. You are reading air temp which is the last thing that heater will heat. Use a laser gun to read the temp of objects under the heater. You might be seeing a floor temp much higher than you see wall and air temp. Things closer to the heater such as toolboxes/cars will show higher temps than the floor.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

Purple on unit to Red stat wire to "Rc/Rh" on stat.
Brown on unit to White stat wire to "W1" on stat.
Yellow on unit to Green stat wire to "W2" on stat.

If it's a propane unit, you'll get greatly reduced output running on natural gas. Double check to see which fuel it's set up for.

Tommy

 

[LS6 Tommy]

If you're ceiling is not insulated the you are losing all.sorts of heat. The heat loss calculation done always assumes that everything is insulated.

Not really a big issue with an infrared tube radiant heater. It heats the objects below it by radiation, it does not directly heat the air in the room.

Tommy

 

[Hephaestus29]

Would someone please see my post also.

 

[bullnerd]

That heater heats objects not air. You are reading air temp which is the last thing that heater will heat. Use a laser gun to read the temp of objects under the heater. You might be seeing a floor temp much higher than you see wall and air temp. Things closer to the heater such as toolboxes/cars will show higher temps than the floor.

Purple on unit to Red stat wire to "Rc/Rh" on stat.
Brown on unit to White stat wire to "W1" on stat.
Yellow on unit to Green stat wire to "W2 on stat.

If it's a propane unit, you'll get greatly reduced output running on natural gas. Double check to see which fuel it's set up for.

Tommy

That's the thing, it runs all night and the floor directly below it is still cold? Metal tubing just off to the side is still cold also.

Thanks Tommy, I was hoping you'd comment. I'll take another look. I'm not sure if I know how to determine if its setup for propane or gas, just going by what the distributor told me.

 

[bobbyjean]

did you ever figure this? did you install yourself....think you should have seen baffle's inside the tube..just a guess...good luck with it

 

[American Locomotive]

Do you see the "High Fire" light come on?

 

[bullnerd]

did you ever figure this? did you install yourself....think you should have seen baffle's inside the tube..just a guess...good luck with it

Kinda figured it. I think I was just being impatient with how long it took to heat up my shop. Yes, I installed it myself. Yes, there is two baffles in the far end. Thanks.

Do you see the "High Fire" light come on?

Yeah, took me a while to figure out those two lights on the back (hard to see facing the wall) were the lights indicating which "stage" it is running at.

So far I'm happy with it. It does seem to run a lot just to get up to 60 deg, but I still don't have insulation in the ceiling so I will have to wait to really evaluate it.

I'll update when I learn more.

 

[American Locomotive]

40,000 btu isn't a lot for a big shop like yours. I suspect it will be much better once you insulate the ceiling.

 

[bullnerd]

40,000 btu isn't a lot for a big shop like yours. I suspect it will be much better once you insulate the ceiling.

I'm hoping this is really the problem.

Not only is there no insulation, but the access panel, about 4x4 is still open to the attic. Probably acting like a chimney, sucking heat out.

Thanks for advice.

 

[American Locomotive]

You're not going to get meaningful heating with a 4x4 hole open to an uninsulated space.

 

[bullnerd]

If you're ceiling is not insulated the you are losing all.sorts of heat. The heat loss calculation done always assumes that everything is insulated.

Update: Had the blown in insulation done over the summer.

HUGE difference!

Heater barely runs and keeps the shop a super cozy 68 with no problem, and it was cold last few nights.

I don't think it even uses the second stage much.