Reddy Heater R50

[compressorman]

Bought an old reddy heater 50,000 btu off craiglist. When I bought it it fired up and ran for 5-10 seconds then puffed smoke, fired again and same scenario. Anyway got it cheap figuring I could fix. Put in new K1 kerosene and it fired for a few seconds and tripped the switch, same thing after a few tries. Took the cover off and cleaned photo cell and it wasn't bad at all. Cleaned injector and blew out. Blew out air and fuel lines and cleaned fuel filter and blew out. Started and same thing, fuel is misting and plug firing. Now this thing is fairly old but I noticed it had a new Autolite 55 spark plug and it was firing a nice blue spark. So here's my long question I guess and try to explain the best I can. The plug electrode tip is pointing at the mist right on the edge of it. I thought I read somewhere that the electrode tip should be at a 45 degree angle to the mist, is this correct? Now there are two little washer spacers at the top part of the plug where it seats I'm assuming to adjust how far it needs to be from the mist. I can't adjust pressure as I can't get it to run long enough but it's like 2.5 psi at best when it does run and should be 3.4 psi. I'm fairly mechanically inclined but I've never worked on one of these kerosene heaters before. Would sure appreciate some help from the experts here. Will be cold here soon in North Idaho.

 

[D45]

Mine had a cracked fuel line inside the tank, could never build up or hold pressure

Also, try cleaning the photcell

 

[gungatim]

incorrect plug. I bet someone put in a spark plug. the actual plug is like 2" long electrode and ground. I went round and round on this with a John Deere A50 (same unit), even JD's books were wrong. I have an extra plug if you cannot source it.

 

[bluesboy]

Try this site http://www.reddyparts.com/ Lots of good info and parts

 

[compressorman]

incorrect plug. I bet someone put in a spark plug. the actual plug is like 2" long electrode and ground. I went round and round on this with a John Deere A50 (same unit), even JD's books were wrong. I have an extra plug if you cannot source it.

Thanks for the replies, this spark plug looks just like a regular car spark plug. Also in order to get to 2.5 psi I have the adjustment screw turned pretty far in which doesn't seem right, I don't know.

Ok, did some research on the plug should be a champion N12YC so I used a conversion chart to convert to autolite and it converts to autolite 55, so I think I have the right plug. Looks like the plug with the long electrode goes on models 60,000 btu and up. This is a PP212 plug, the long electrode PP211, now I went to the reddyparts site and it says I should be using a PP213, so I don't know.

 

[gungatim]

on mine, the pump was weak. it was at the time still available to replace the internals (vane pump with replaceable wear vanes). I verified getting it to run better by putting my finger over the pressure release valve hole while running and could see a huge difference when I did that to get more pressure. something to try.

you need to verify the actual plug, as I said, mine listed an automotive spark plug that was significantly shorter than it should have been--parts books were wrong. the correct part looked like a normal spark plug but had a really long electrode and ground piece unlike any car plug while the rest of it looked normal. if it is not sparking continuously in the flow of atomized fuel, it will chug and smoke as it ignites and goes out. propane powered heaters do use a normal looking spark plug which may be what happened in your case....just speculating here but as I said, I went through this for months until I got to the bottom of it...

 

[compressorman]

Well here's what I did today. Bought a new air vacuum line, took apart air pump and cleaned, wasn't that dirty/sticky, cleaned injector and photocell again, cleaned and adjusted spark plug, now I'm not getting fuel delivery when I try to start, good spark, pump is putting out air but can't tell how much as the unit shuts off after a few seconds . I'll put the old vacuum line back on tomorrow, the line I bought was same inner diameter but smaller outside diameter, thought that should not make a difference but? According to everything I've researched on the spark plug it's supposed to be a PP212 plug the long electrode/ground plug is a PP211 for higher btu heaters. Thanks for your help.

 

[gungatim]

there is probably a fine screen in one end of the tube (maybe both) delivering fuel from the tank, make sure it is clean and clear...also those plastic (phenolic?) vanes make sure they move smoothly and don't stick. one thing I had trouble with was mud daubers nesting int he air hole, turn on the unit and shear the main piece of the pump. that is why I finally scrapped the unit after replacing it twice, they stopped selling that particular piece. I kept the plug and the spark unit, I use the spark unit to test spark plugs with, it puts out a nice steady spark just like an old Model T buzz-box...

the PP2211 is the long one mine used, it would not work with the PP2212 that the parts book called for...you can see the obvious difference in the pics if you search it, hopefully you get it figured out!

good luck!

 

[compressorman]

there is probably a fine screen in one end of the tube (maybe both) delivering fuel from the tank, make sure it is clean and clear...also those plastic (phenolic?) vanes make sure they move smoothly and don't stick. one thing I had trouble with was mud daubers nesting int he air hole, turn on the unit and shear the main piece of the pump. that is why I finally scrapped the unit after replacing it twice, they stopped selling that particular piece. I kept the plug and the spark unit, I use the spark unit to test spark plugs with, it puts out a nice steady spark just like an old Model T buzz-box...

the PP2211 is the long one mine used, it would not work with the PP2212 that the parts book called for...you can see the obvious difference in the pics if you search it, hopefully you get it figured out!

good luck!

I got it to run again but only for a few seconds, it sparks and fires up and then the reset kicks the unit off. I cleaned up the vanes and the rest of the pump and the vanes move freely, mine are metal. I'm going to try and clean the fuel filter again today to see if that's the problem, if not I'm thinking the photocell may be bad, I've cleaned it twice. Thanks once again for your help.

 

[compressorman]

Well after trying about everything to get this darn thing running I looked at the manual and the #1 cause for my symptoms was:
TEST PROCEDURE
1 Defective Safety Control
(098205-04)
Make sure unit is disconnected from AC source. Disconnect
the blue wire coming from safety control that is connected
to blue wire at photocell (connection is made in
smaller wire nut connection).
Connect the blue wire from control under the wire nut
connection where the white wires are connected. Plug
unit into AC supply. If the reset button on the safety control
pops out and unit shuts off, the control is defective
and must be replaced.

So I did this procedure and the reset button pops out after about 10 seconds. So I'm assuming the safety control switch or reset switch is bad. When I bought it and the guy demonstrated the heater was just puffing smoke, burning, puffing, burning,puffing, burning,puffing not operating as it should but never kicked the reset off.So it's like $50 for a new safety control switch and I don't know if it's worth it at this point because if I buy it and that's still not the problem I'll wind up having more into it then it's worth. Anyone have any ideas on what I should do? Anyone have a reset switch that works for this model r50, part #HA3003 that they would sell cheap? Also would an #HA3002 work as it says on the packaging it will work for the r50.Thanks for any advice.

 

[compressorman]

Anyone have any ideas?

 

[homeschool]

Have you tried calling them directly? Haven't looked, but guessing they have some kind of tech/customer support line.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

[D45]

Take the cover off..........does it run?

 

[compressorman]

Take the cover off..........does it run?

Cover on or cover off, same symptoms.

 

[compressorman]

Okay, bought new safety/reset switch, new nozzle,and air filter kit,new nozzle sleeve about $64 total, paid $20 for the heater itself, so hopefully I'll have a running 50,000 btu heater for $84. If it works for a few years probably worth it.

 

[TractorJeff]

D45 mentioned the fuel lines cracked on his. I changed the fuel lines on my two units as mine were cracked and sucking air. I found this out as mine would only run while the fuel tanks were Full!

 

[compressorman]

D45 mentioned the fuel lines cracked on his. I changed the fuel lines on my two units as mine were cracked and sucking air. I found this out as mine would only run while the fuel tanks were Full!

I think the fuel line is fine but I'll go ahead and change it out anyway, might as well, already changed the vacuum line.

 

[compressorman]

Well I finally got her to run, it was the safety switch. I replaced the nozzle and a new fuel line and tried it same symptoms. Then I put in the new safety switch and it fired right up and kept running. Now the only problem is I can only get the pressure to like 3 psi and I need 3.4. I'm using a cheap harbor freight vacuum gauge so that may be the problem. I guess I should go to the parts store and rent/borrow a good gauge. The cone gets nice and red but there is some flame coming out all around it about 1-2", so I hope that's normal.

 

[compressorman]

After I put the cover on that stopped the flames from shooting out.

 

[arj63640]

hey do u still have the saftey control button or the heater u want to sell?

 

[D45]

This thread was last updated in 2016........