Monitor 441 Heater

[HayZee518]

if you measure no resistance on the ignitor then I would suspect that. at the igniter output on the board you should have 120 volts. with the front cover off and when the unit is going in purge, you should be able to feel heat near the igniter cover. put your hand right on the combustion pot in that area. after the purge and when the pump is called for you can feel pulsations on the pump tubing going to the combustion pot if that's working. if you need a pump that might be hard to come by because the pump controller and pump body is sold as a unit. check my supplier in keeseville ny. elsewhere in this or another thread.

[sidol]

Monitor heater

Hayzee, he checked all that you posted.

The pump ohmm reading with the wires disconnected and the meter set on 20k, the resistance is 0.65. The meter set on 2M Volt, on the wires that go to the pump, blue ones, it reads 7.4-7.5. We taped two toothpicks together, measured the kero in the reservoir and it was a little above the full mark.


On the igniter, there is no resistance in any postion you set the ohmmeter. He said he doesn't know how stupid this sounds, but he's no electrician and our son is out of town, (the electrical brain in the family).

During the cycles of performing all the tests, the pump has not come on.

Since you said the fuel should be more than 1/2 an inch in the chamber, (we didn't know there was suppose to be that much or we wouldn't have sopped it up), Jerry said that he is now thinking it's the pump. Could this be our problem?

We apologize for being so dumb when it comes to heaters. Wish this thing was a car, we could fix those. Thank you for helping us Hayzee. You are kind.

[HayZee518]

the ignitor has 120 volts on it. unplug it from the computer board and take a continuity test on it. if you have a clamp around ammeter it would be a more accurate test for heater operating. clamp around one lead and read the amps directly off the meter. one half inch of fuel is a little low. there's a line cast into the outside of the fuel sump in the white metal. jumper out the air proving switch with a set of jumpers.

[sidol]

Hayzee, opened it up, chamber had about half-inch of kero in it. Got that cleaned out had wetness still. New mat when it was serviced so it looks good..no curling. Turned it back on, now no ignition and pump doesn't run. Husband says not flooding itself because pump not coming on so could it be the igniter? Can he check it with an ohmmeter or any other ways to see if it's bad? It does cycle, clicking...flame indicator goes halfway up and stays on for maybe a minute or two...then it starts full flashing...still runs for a couple of minutes then the unit cuts off and lights still flashes.
Anything else to try or just call a service guy in? Oh, I didn't mention last night, the pump emergency light was on but since the cleaning of kero, it is out. Thanks again, hope this makes sense.

[sidol]

Hayzee, my husband said he will check all this out today...we own an automotive shop and he said that you are very thorough. We can repair a car, but this heater has been something else. I'll let you know what we find out today. Take care and thank you so much for being so nice and helpful.

[HayZee518]

First of all I don't get angry when someone has a problem. Even repetitive problems don't faze me. We got to get to the root of the problem to solve the mystery.
The problem appears to be NO KEROSENE in the fuel bowl, that's why it kicks out and goes into lockout. Check your fuel line for a restriction somewhere in the run. IF there is water in your bulk tank THAT'LL shut down your heater If your area is inclined to freezing temperatures, water can be frozen in the fuel line. Also bugs entering your fuel tank will break apart and flow with the fuel and this will block the line. Remove and clean the sump filter. My 2400 clogs up about every month and a half - so I clean it out and it goes another month and a half.
Only reason for the lights to be flashing is because the unit is in lockout for:
lack of fuel
too much fuel
not enough fuel
no ignition
no flame
overheat on the plenum
faulty solenoid pump - resulting in no fuel
combustion air proving switch not closing
clogged fuel line in combustion pot
Igniter didn't come on
Bio-diesel is a no no.

[sidol]

Hayzee, you are going to kill me for bothering you once again. We came in tonight and the stupid 441 is not working again. The other night it was not working and I had cleaned around it, like I always do once a week and hit the toggle switch on the pump. We poured kerosene in the pump and it took right off and started working again. Tonight, we came home the lights were flashing on it. You turn it back on you can hear it click, the flame indicator goes half way, then goes off, then runs thru another cycle and quits. The flame indicator light the starts flashing. We just had it serviced and put the mat and burner ring...cleaned and all. What a piece...it's making me angry now. So sorry for bothering you once again. Any ideas would be helpful.

By the way, the explosion finally stopped. Maybe it was a pooling. This is a 41 model. I hope I said this last time. Forgive me if I didn't.
Blessings to you all.

[adnadeau]

Service Manual

The Service Manual is still at the same download site. I was able to retrieve it just fine. The site specifies that a stored document has to have some activity every 30 days in order for it to remain on the site.

[HayZee518]

another thing that comes to mind is the burner mat deteriorating. normally the fuel is fed to the center of the burner mat where its absorbed by the mat material and works its way towards the igniter, which should be hot before the fuel flow is initiated. if there is no burner mat material there then like the above poster said the fuel could be pooling, vaporizing then igniting with a loud report. the burner mat could have come loose from the combustion pot bottom. it should be "glued" to the pot bottom and not curled up.

[adnadeau]

It sounds like the fuel is either pooling on the chamber bottom and then flowing over to the ignitor, or the ignitor is slow to reach fuel ignition temp. I suggest you try to monitor closely, maybe with a digital timer even, exactly when this "explosion" occurs. If you remove the front grill, you can see through the observation window better, and you can put your hand on the fuel pump to feel it vibrate when it starts up.

[HayZee518]

you might check for a carbon build up in the fuel tube or fuel tube extension in the combustion pot. the amount of fuel that goes into the heater is miniscule but if the tube is partially blocked it may be blowing back into the tube and igniting.

[sidol]

Monitor 441

Hayzee, Thank you, it just started this sound last week. It's really just louder than normal, that makes you turn around and say is that thing going to blow up? My husband says it is the kerosene igniting, is there anything I should check or worry about? Thank you for responding so fast, I appreciate it.
Blessings.

[HayZee518]

When it starts up from a cold start it shouldn't "explode' when it starts as there isn't any hot spots in the combustion chamber. there may be a "pop" when the kerosene ignites but nothing "loud!"

[sidol]

Monitor 441

Hayzee518, I wanted to say thanks to you, we got it fixed. Just a good cleaning and the same with the other one we own. Now I have another question if I may?

Our monitor in the livingroom has begun to make an explosion noise when it starts up...what is going on? Worries me, so I thought maybe you'd have some advice. Thanks so much again for all your advice.

Blessings,
Sherrie

[Firebird]

Repair manual

The d/l site gives me the old "file not found" routine. Tried it three times. The tip for getting water out of the tank is a good one, I have used that method on the tank for my oil furnace before.