Mr Heater Install HELP!

[voetsek]

Walmart. Cheap thermostat. Old school (read cheap) or programmable. Either that or your local hardware store. Cost you more in gas to go get it than it will cost you to buy.

 

[400excracer]

I am bummed out big time. I was finishing up my installation by ziptiying wires in place, putting the cover on and cutting the excess threaded rod when the heater shut off. It kicked on and off a couple times and I saw a spark shut down. I pulled the cover and saw that the thermostat wire was lying in the blower housing and melted causing it to ground out and smoke my board. I finally get the dang thing going and this happens. I am hoping that a buddy of mine can take the board to work and fix it.

 

[Junkman]

Call Mr. Heater, and tell them that the board smoked after running for a half hour. They will send you a new board at no charge. They won't even ask you any questions as to why it smoked. They are a good company, and don't hassle the customer. Ask for a new board, and KISS......

 

[dipper]

And if you are going to run without a thermostat, at least connect the wires to a switch; even a spare wall switch would work. That will make it easier to turn on/off without twisting wires.

 

[400excracer]

OK, I talked with a tech at Mr Heater and he thought that it might be a transformer which sounded good to me since the transformer is $11 and a board is $47. I got the transformer installed yesterday and it fired right up! I will try to have pics posted today. Thanks everyone for all your help.

 

[draven422]

Sorry to hijack this thread, but I am having a tough time with my Big Maxx.

I finally got everything hooked up and running, but the heater won't ignite. I tried bleeding the gas line a bit to get gas up to the heater, but I'm still having problems. As I was cycling the power, one time the igniter started up, however there must not have been enough gas for it to actually fire.

Since I cycled the unit at least a dozen times, and it only "sparked" during one of those cycles, does that igniter system only spark when gas is detected? Or should it spark all the time when it starts up?

TIA for any assistance!

 

[twostory]

My Mr Heater runs the exhaust blower then starts sparking for say 20 seconds, then stops sparking. If it did not light (due to no gas in the line) it will retry with another 20 seconds of sparking.

My Mr Heater fires up during this "second" sparking if the gas line was empty. When the gas line is full (of gas) it light up immediately during the "first" sparking period.

"Or should it spark all the time when it starts up?"

Yes it should spark all the time during each "sparking" period

 

[draven422]

Thanks!

I was afraid of that. I'll probably be talking with their support staff to get some troubleshooting going.

I only saw one cycle of it sparking out of at least a dozen, so I'm preparing for the worst.

 

[brianthomas]

I used a standard old style round thermostat for my garage fut it only goes down to 45 degrees and I would like it to go to 35. I ended up taking the thermostat off the wall and rotating it about 15 degrees so all the numbers are 10 degrees off. Now when I set it at 45 it is really 35 in the garage. Could not do that with the first programable thermostat I used. Thought someone on here may just find this useful.

 

[draven422]

I got through to their tech support. (Had them call me back after waiting 25 minutes.)

He suggested I do a couple things before they declare the board is DOA. I did the three line thermostat to have the ability to turn on the fan when I wanted. I thought that since I could do it, why not? He suggested to remove that, and give a try. If it still doesn't work, then jump the R and W terminals and give it a try. I'm hoping that it's just that, and not the board.

I bought a thermostat that was digital/programmable. They were on sale, and I didn't think it would hurt. Since the blower fan kicks in immediately after I hit the Heat switch, and the regualar fan starts right up when I put the switch "On", so I wasn't thinking it would be a problem. However, has anybody had an issue with digital thermostats? Am I incorrect in assuming that any thermostat should work?

 

[draven422]

New circuit board is on the way. Thank God for warranties.

After troubleshooting what they said, it only sparked on one cycle.

 

[Chetter]

I used a standard old style round thermostat for my garage fut it only goes down to 45 degrees and I would like it to go to 35. I ended up taking the thermostat off the wall and rotating it about 15 degrees so all the numbers are 10 degrees off. Now when I set it at 45 it is really 35 in the garage. Could not do that with the first programable thermostat I used. Thought someone on here may just find this useful.

I used the old Honeywell unit I took out of my house and wired it with the 3 wire for thermostats from Home Depot. Wired it up per the instructions and my heater fired right up and runs with no issues. I do have some noise from the induced draft motor that I will call Mr Heater and see if they will replace it since this the first season for it. Otherwise, I love my warm garage, costs me about 60.00 a month for 24/7 warmth. Cars are dry and my tools stay dry as well.

 

[dipper]

Call Mr. Heater, and tell them that the board smoked after running for a half hour. They will send you a new board at no charge. They won't even ask you any questions as to why it smoked. They are a good company, and don't hassle the customer. Ask for a new board, and KISS......

I have been running my heater for 2 years now, and occasionally it would ignite but then kick off, after 3 times it would lock out the gas valve and show 2 flashes on the LED.

I just called mr. heater this morning and they are sending me out the new upgraded replacement control board, no charge! Now that is some great customer service right there.

 

[Dave Boyer]

Clean the flame sensor, it's the steel rod that hangs down in front of the burner. Steel wool works good.

 

[Duane]

I have used a digital thermostat for 3 years on my big max with out any issues.

Duane

 

[dipper]

I have used a digital thermostat for 3 years on my big max with out any issues.

Duane

I don't even use a thermostat. I ditched the one that I bought with the heater cause it sucked. I ended up just using a light switch, I am my own thermostat.
Maybe some day I will get one of the little round digital ones.

 

[dipper]

Clean the flame sensor, it's the steel rod that hangs down in front of the burner. Steel wool works good.

I will do that when I replace the control board.