Dayton heater caution

[redsky49]

Dayton is the house brand for Grainger Industrial Supply. The various items bearing this label include motors, pumps, fans, electrical devices, etc. None of these are manufactured by Grainger, nor is there a US Dayton manufacturing facility (as far as I know). Grainger has a long history of marketing these products, and I myself have used the replacement motors on more than one occasion.

Many, if not the majority, of these items are currently sourced from overseas. The popular G73 garage electric unit heater, for instance, is manufactured in China. These products are then re-labeled as Dayton for sale by Grainger and other supply houses.

I do not want to bash Chinese products, nor do I wish to discourage current or prospective Dayton owners. I just want you to be aware that there are long-standing American manufacturers of these products that also merit your consideration. This may be especially important for product support and replacement parts, now and in the future.

I will say that for the more demanding commercial applications, many Dayton products are not of the same quality as the better American manufacturers, and would not be approved (by me) in most cases.

Just something to consider.

As always, offered only as opinion

 

[Falcon67]

FWIW - one would have to be rather naive to think that Grainger, Northern, etc made their own heaters or that the lower end products -including a ton of rebranded items- were not made in China.

 

[redsky49]

FWIW - one would have to be rather naive to think that Grainger, Northern, etc made their own heaters or that the lower end products -including a ton of rebranded items- were not made in China.

While I am sure that for some I am merely restating the obvious, it is clear, from many of the posts in this section, that a lot of the GJ members have little or no experience or knowledge regarding HVAC.

Just as I came to this forum for help selecting an impact wrench ( the IR231 doing just fine, thank you), a number of posters are seeking advice concerning future purchases of equipment and need knowledgeable direction.

There are two points that I felt needed to be made:


1. While Grainger, and Dayton, have been around for a long time, the country of origin for many of their products has shifted overseas. How this affects quality, I will let others make up their own minds.

2. There are still several US manufacturers that would love to get your business.

On a side note, how do you determine quality in a device such as a unit heater. A couple of things that I would look for are the ASTM salt test to determine the resistance to rust, the gauge of the materials, a UL Listing (mandatory), bearing quality (2,000 hour bearings or 10,000 hours or more?),
quality of the interior wiring, etc.

Most of these quality issues will be difficult to determine merely by looking at the unit. This is where an established quality manufacturer has a leg up on the unknown supplier.

Equally important is the need to match the quality (and expense) of the unit to the needs of the user. The weekend warrior who will heat his garage 20 weekends a year is a different requirement from the user who will suffer frozen pipes, shutting down of production lines, etc. if a heater should fail. Different horses for different courses.

In any case, I think that any consumer should get the most possible for his money, and most importantly, know exactly what he is getting for his dollar.

As always, offered only as opinion

 

[dfndr]

Redsky, Thank you for the informative and well spoken advice. This change in manufacturing is something we all have to deal with and the more trustworthy advice we have the better off we are---especially when discussing a product that can burn our house down and kill our families, Rick

 

[Weedwaka]

I was looking at the G73. Can you suggest any US made alternatives that I could check out. I hate buying items made in China.

 

[nissan_crawler]

I've never been impressed with Dayton motors. They were adverse to farm use.

 

[bucs012]

I just bought a g73 heater. From what I read on this site, the quality is VERY good. Hard to find a heater at $259 delivered to your door in 1-2 days.

 

[Falcon67]

All I can tell you about my G73 was that I dropped the damn thing from 8' up onto a concrete floor. It's made from pretty decent steel since it bent but wasn't destroyed. Complete disassembly, some well placed hammer blows, reassembly and it runs fine. Looks a little cockeyed, er...used. The heat exchanger seems heavy duty - thick and sturdy and only a couple of fins got tweaked in the crash. Not much to the thing - t-stat, a couple of surface mount t-stats, the fan and mount, exchanger, fins, case and wire. Easy to service LOL.

 

[ErickForest]

I have a Dayton gas unit heater 4LX46 which is manufactured by Sterling and is made is the US. It may vary for the type of Dayton heater that you have.

 

[T4Turtle]

I was looking at the G73. Can you suggest any US made alternatives that I could check out. I hate buying items made in China.

I am in the same boat. What do you suggest? It's getting cold and I am ready to pull the trigger.....