Monitor 41 issue

[InTheWoods]

haha yeah i read posts from you dated back to 2008 and i remember you talking about that screw. well alright, Im very new to this site but seeing the treasure trove of information on here from good people, I'll def be coming back.

[HayZee518]

the mechanical lockout works on low or no fuel, as well as overfill. when the heater shifts into high heat it'll empty the sump in about twenty seconds with no fuel coming back into it. the float drops and locks out the heater. the mechanical lockout has a finger that goes under the needle valve and forces it to close the needle valve in either no fuel or excessive fuel. the float has a super fine thread set screw. you don't want to mess with this. it adjusts the fuel level in the constant level control. I did at first and was cussing myself out for touching it, but I finally got it right. that springy metal tab is just glued to the floats surface so don't try to bend it.

[InTheWoods]

Yeah ive learned the hard way before, at this historic hotel i used to keep up and running. Its a good tip to concider. So, why would the heater all of the sudden call for that button to be pushed? was it because i ran low on K-1?

[Bryand]

Glad you got it going as Hay said don't just start tearing apart. It will cost you much more in the long run. Rule out the simple stuff first. I work on the all the time and hate going behind someone else but most of the time I make more money fixing what they tore up. I have one repairman that I have had to fix at least 50 behind this year and it's always the simple stuff he is over looking.

[InTheWoods]

Okay this is what i tried so far..(and thank you Hayz and bryand for helping me out, Im learning.) I wanted to be sure a line wasnt clogged coming from the tank outside, so i took a straw and methodicaly removed all the K-1 from the high lift pump the best i could. I also removed this round silver cap from under the high lift pump. was a little dirty inside so i cleaned it out. Put it all back together and restarted the unit. The high lift pump filled right back up with K-1 when i held the silver button down on it. So i knew the line outside wasnt clogged. OKAY. now, i finaly found that button you guys were talking about just now.. I just pushed it once. It clicked. and i rebooted the whole machine. Its not making that same gurgling noise that it was doing before on every cycle. WOW, NOW ITS GIVING OFF HEAT!!! THANK YOU!!! I feel like the man over here! My Wife, my 3 toddlers, and i thank you. That button must have been it.

[HayZee518]

The M-41 has a toggle over center lockout. It is entirely mechanical. That's the red button you see just above the bleeder screw and filter plate [ the two screws] When too much or too little fuel comes into the sump, this lever is spring loaded to shut off the fuel flow to the sump. You see many guys saying to "press this button three or four times to prime" but it doesn't serve to prime anything. It's just a mechanical lockout and as Bryand said press it once. Now, in your post you said "you are going to take [something] apart." If you don't know what you are taking apart DON'T TOUCH IT! Better leave it alone until you are sure what you want to dissassemble. You'll cause more problems than you already have. Now, the high lift pump is usually mounted on the wall next to or near the heater. On the right bottom side of the heater is the button reset. Below it is a large screw. This bleeds out the sump tank. Those other two screws hold the plate and gasket behind the fuel filter. Shut off the fuel flow before you take anything apart here. Remove the plate and gasket. pull out the filter screen and clean it with GUMOUT carb cleaner and put it back. Later, down the line you might want to take out the whole sump tank and clean out whatever crap has accumilated inside of it. The brass gland nut in back of the sump tank is 14mm across the flats. Turn this nut clockwise to unloosen. Four screws hold the tank in the heater bottom. The spade terminals on the pump just pull off. They can go back on in any order. The pump solenoid also has a small stainless filter on its bottom.

[Bryand]

To the left of the 3 screws you were talking about is a small hole with a lever in it. Push that lever 1 time it will release the float from the magnet and allow the sump to fill up with fuel. Sounds like you have fuel coming in but the float is in the up position not allowing the kerosene to fill up the top of the sump. You only press it one time.

[InTheWoods]

is the high lift pump the one that is installed on the wall right behind the monitor heater that makes all the noise ? Or is that the sump tank? Im prepairing to take something apart today and clean it out I dont care what it is! There is a small square opening to the bottom right on the side with 3 screws, 2 silver and 1 copper. I unscrewed one of the silver ones because i read in one of the older posts that its some kind of oil filter ..
K-1 shot out at me so i buttoned it up real quick. lol I really do appreciate the help..

[Bryand]

Been a while since I messed with a lifter pump but from what I can remember there is a filter in it. But no where in your post did I see where you reset the float in the sump on the monitor.

[HayZee518]

the inlet pressure to the heater should be about 2-5 lbs pressure. that translates to a gravity feed of about four inches above the fuel inlet to the heater. running the heater until the tank dries up is not a good omen. the remaining fuel in the tank may be laced with water and crap that settles to the bottom of the fuel tank. in the sump tank is a stainless filter that gets clogged and must be cleaned. the sump tank itself must be cleaned out of the brownish scum that accumilates in the bottom of it. the high lift pump may have its own filter that needs to be cleaned out too.

[InTheWoods]

just filled up the tank.

I got a monitor 41. I also have one in the addition built off of my trailer. They both feed off from the tank outside. The one inside my trailer stopped working. I figured it was because the K1 ran so low that it clogged a line or something. BUT..
The one out in the addition was still running. Eventualy when the K1 completely ran out it stopped. Well i just filled the tank again. Turned the Monitor on in the addition. It started off making this air blowing sound. (fan wasnt spinning) and then switched to a gurgling sound with about 3 or 4 lights on.. and then after a minute or so it came on heat blowing. Well, the one in my trailer does the same exact sequence, the only difference is this one shuts down after a few minutes of the gurgling and begins flashing all lights. I opened the top of the pump box screwed to the wall next to the heater and thats already full of K1. I dont think it would be a clogged line because if it were, wouldnt the other monitor out in the addition stop running too? And if it were a clogged line, why would that pump box be full of K1? Can anyone help a young man with a 3 kids out in this cold weather in maine? Thanks..

[cadman44]

Yeah, if I find that these are wearing out quickly, I will definitely get a higher quality model.

[hawkins111]

bearings

All ball bearings are not the same. More than likely the bearings you bought are ABEC-1 quality bearings. These are the same as you see on EBAY. ABEC is a group that rates bearings. The higher the ABEC number, the higher the quality of the bearing. A # 1 bearing is the lowest quality of the listed bearings. If you buy from a bearing store or other quality outlet you will get a better bearing. An ABEC 7 or 8 bearing from Bearing Engineering will cost you $7.00 to $10.00 each. These are the bearings Monitor used when they built the heater. They expected them to last for a long time. Tempkin or SKF or the company in New Hampshire, all have quality bearings that will serve you very well. If you do buy your bearing from a Monitor dealer you will pay the normal price plus their mark up. Monitor does not sell that many bearings, so they put it to you when buy one from them.

Tom

[cadman44]

I wanted to take a mintue to share a success story. Last November I had a lot of trouble with my Monitor 41. I got it going and everything was running well until this past Saturday.

I woke up to loud whining noise in the other room. I didn't know where it was coming from. Was it a neighbor doing something outside? It didn't take long to figure out that it was coming from my heater. It was that "jet engine" sounding noise that is commonly referred to in these posts.

When I rebuilt the unit this fall, I changed the bearings even though it wasn't making noise at the time. When I bought the bearings at the local skate shop, they came in packages of eight so I had extras. I took the blower apart and replaced the bearings again. All in all, it took just over an hour to replace them. I turned the unit back on and it works great again.

When I spin the old bearings in my fingers, I can tell one of them has definitely gone bad. The funny part is that the original bearings lasted for probably 20 years and this one lasted about 3 months. Hopefully it is just a defective part and the new ones will last another 20 :-)

As I had mentioned earlier, I learned so much about my heater from this forum. Between working with some of the people on here and reading other posts, I feel pretty confident that I will be able to keep it going for years to come.

[cadman44]

I did take the copper line from the solenoid pump to the burner out to test it. I blew through it and thought that it moved freely enough. I did not run a wire through it. It was a bad assumption on my part. I did run a bit through the connector at the pot. I don't recall every metal to metal contact needing a gasket. I'm sure that it was said somewhere. There was no gasket when I took the ignitor out so it must have disintegrated completely over time. I made sure to replace every gasket I saw that I had exposed. Plus, the flame rod was bad. My next step was to replace the flame rod but I just thought that I would bring it in at this point to get looked at. I don't think that I lost any money by replacing the parts that I did because the service guy would have done the same. I just lost some time. But I did learn a lot about my heater which I am appreciative of. Hopefully others reading this will be able to help themselves as well. Thank you for all of your advice.