Monitor 2400 oil heater

[cruiser]

I have 3 Monitor 2400 oil heaters and they don't seem to be performing like they should, using more fuel then needed and not putting out the heat it seems they should. They are about 7 years old. The owners manuals don't tell you a lot. Beings Monitor is no longer in business and not being able to find dealers in my area to repair or service them, I was wondering if anyone may have the instructions on how to service the burner, burn box, etc, to increase the performance of the heaters. At over $4 a gallon for stove oil and with a fuel bill this winter of between $2400 and $3000, I need to do some serious maintenance on them. Other then using a lot of fuel and not putting out the heat they use to, they work fine.

Thanks
Rodney

[HayZee518]

MPI is not out of business. But they did stop making the kerosene heaters. They did state they would still sell parts until they ran out. MPI also states to use K-1 dyed or undyed, NOT stove oil. The sulphur content of stove oil is higher with less BTu-s than kerosene. Things to check for in a 2400 is the burner mat. See if it curled up off the pot floor. check the burner ring being warped. Clean out the sump tank filter. Clean gunk out of the sump tank. "gumout spray" works best. Run a wire "snake" through the cappillary. The end in the burner pot, use a 1/8 inch drill by hand [not powered] to clean out any carbon build-up. Check the blower. If it sounds like a jet engine winding out, change the bearings. Because you said it works fine, I won't go into the safety devices, they're working.

[cruiser]

When I lived in a different state years ago, dyed kerosene was what the dealer sold. A hundred miles north and it was different. Here in Idaho, every place I talked to and everyone I talked to, it was stove oil, not kerosene. I guess it wouldn't hurt to do some calling around and see if anyone now carries dyed kerosene and check the price. Stove oil is over $4 a gallon now and to finish topping off my tanks, it will probably cost me another $1000.

In order to do what you said in your post, do I need to buy any gaskets, etc. Finding monitor dealers anymore, gas or oil, isn't easy. Thats one reason it seems they are out of business and plus a couple of distributors said the same.

Thanks

[HayZee518]

some places to get parts [gaskets etc.] is on ebay. look in some of my previous posts. I make mention of gasket materials available from mcmaster-carr industrial supply. burner mat material is a coated woven silica fabric and costs like ten bucks for a piece you can make about twenty mats from. adirondack hardware in keeseville ny has monitor parts. do a web search- I'm sure they'll ship to you. nelson and small is another dealer in maine.

[hawkins111]

Monitor distributors

There are very few adjustments or tweaking of any Monitor Heater in order to get more heat out of the unit. One of the things a home owner can do is clean the circulating fan and cover. You can also make sure the louvers are open on the front. If the unit is running and not stopping on an error code, it is putting out all the heat it can. The fuel pump puts out the correct amount of fuel almost all the time. If it does not then you will end up with an error code. We don’t know how big your house is or the condition of your insulation and windows. Without that info we can not make a judgment on your fuel burn. $2500 to $3000 dollars of fuel is about 300 gallons or so. If that is all you burned you are burning about 2 gallons a day if you figure a 6 month heating season. That’s normal. As far as service information there is a lot on the site here. There is a link on this site for a manual.

Lucky Distributing and ComTec are wholesalers on the west coast. You will find neither has a dealer locator that works. Call them on their 800 number and they will give you a dealers name and contact that will be able to get you parts and a manual. I have dealt with both and I would recommend ComTec.

Living in Idaho you may have to watch your fuel company to make sure they give you #1 home heating oil. In the summer time oil companies may be blending or selling #2. If you ever get #2 oil you will know it right away. You stove will soot up in less than a week and quit all together. Since your stove is still working I’m sure you are getting #1. Monitor has stated for ever that you should use only kerosene, however real kerosene is on longer sold in bulk. Every Monitor heater that has been sold in Alaska has run on #1 home heating oil and it works just fine. We don’t have it dyed and that is all the better. If your fuel is not dyed and is # 1 it will work fine.

Tom

[FordMan59]

Monitor Replacement Parts

The cheapest place I've been able to find for original Monitor replacement parts is Hickory Home and Garden in Hickory, NC. I bought a complete chamber rebuild kit which included a new burn pot with new burn mat, burn ring, and all new gaskets for my 422 for under $200 including shipping. Their toll free number is 1-800-607-0452 if you want to call them for pricing. Here's a link to one of there listings on eBay http://www.ebay.com/itm/Monitor-Heat...6#ht_623wt_932 which shows $47. for a new burn ring. They are very quick at getting their orders shipped and ship using USPS priority mail so you could probably have the parts in about 4 or 5 days.

I too have bought gasket and burn mat material from McMaster Carr on HayZee518's recommendation. I bought a roll of fiberglass gasket material 1/8"x16"x10' rated at 1200*F and is much stronger material than the original Monitor gaskets, the price was under under $30 for the roll. I also bought a 1'x3' piece of silica fabric rated at 1800*F enough to make 27 burn mats for my 422 for under $10. The gasket product part number on their site is 9323K21 and the mat material part number is 8799K3. Rutland 77 stove cement which is available at many hardware stores for about $5-6 and tube works fine for gluing the burn mat into the burn pot.

[hawkins111]

Monitor manual

Fordman,

Have you tried to buy a Monitor manual for Hickory Home?

Tom

[FordMan59]

Fordman,

Have you tried to buy a Monitor manual for Hickory Home?

Tom

I haven't tried. I've got a copy of the service manual for the 422 that I downloaded from this site.

[Bryand]

$2500.00 to $3000.00 in fuel would be 625 to 750 gallons at $4.00 a gallon. You must have a pretty good size house. I really don't think it is going to matter what you do to the heater you are not going to see a significant help in the fuel economy. It will help some but not what I think you maybe looking for. Servicing is really preventitive maint.