Monitor 441 Heater

[HayZee518]

the way it was explained to me is that when the rod is cold there is an ac voltage on it. when there is a flame its characteristics change so that there is a dc voltage on it now. as long as there is a flame on it, its output is dc. the paper suggests using a 100 ohm resistor in series with a diode using alligator clips. the resistor is a current limiting device and the diode changes the ac to dc. when you are in that part of the cycle after purge into prime and ignition, put the diode into the circuit and see what happens. if your polarity isn't correct, the unit will go into lockout and you'll need to reverse this polarity by switching around the leads. go through the whole purge, prime, ignition cycle and re-connect the diode device. if the unit stays lit then you found a faulty flamerod. if it kicks out then your control board is shot.

[adnadeau]

Flame detector test

There's a sidebar in the troubleshooting section of the service manual showing how to make a flame rod bypass circuit for testing purposes. It's a 1N4004 diode and a 100K resistor in series which you connect between ground and the "O" pin on the PWB at the correct time as explained in the sidebar. This allows you to tell if the problem is the flame rod or on the PWB.

[dick_fischbeck@yahoo.com]

Thanks. I'm studying the manual. Isn't there suppose to be a specific dc voltage on a hot flamerod? I get a reading of 0.45 dc volts right now. I thought I might be able to bypass the flamerod input with a voltage of my own making.

If the over heat sensors are not hot, how can they shut the machine down? Possible bad ground?

The burner comes on with a good flame, runs for a minute or two and then kicks out. I have fuel.

It's starting to get cold nights here in Maine! Do I panic yet?

you can't test the flamerod as it is only one heat resistant wire to ground. if the flamerod doesn't detect a flame it will lock out your unit and the burner lights will flash. no fuel will cause the unit to go into lockout . if there is a flame and then all of a sudden there is no flame and the lights flash, the two overloads under the cover and right side have detected an overheat condition. what you do is uinplug the unit wait till the exchanger cools off and then try to start the unit. removal of power resets the computer. there is a section on here that has the pdf file - a service manual for the 41, 21, 441, 422 heater download it and read it.

[HayZee518]

you can't test the flamerod as it is only one heat resistant wire to ground. if the flamerod doesn't detect a flame it will lock out your unit and the burner lights will flash. no fuel will cause the unit to go into lockout . if there is a flame and then all of a sudden there is no flame and the lights flash, the two overloads under the cover and right side have detected an overheat condition. what you do is uinplug the unit wait till the exchanger cools off and then try to start the unit. removal of power resets the computer. there is a section on here that has the pdf file - a service manual for the 41, 21, 441, 422 heater download it and read it.

[dick_fischbeck@yahoo.com]

I suspect the flame sensor is bad on my 441. How do I test it?

[adnadeau]

Monitor Owner's Manual PDFs are downloadable from the monitorproducts dot com web site

[HayZee518]

that large screw is used to drain the fuel sump before you do any servicing inside. the two smaller screws hold the gasketed cover in place.

[HayZee518]

two to four inches above the heater inlet going through the house. use only pure kero or dyed kero. do not use diesel or bio-deisel. a guy tried bio-deisel and gummed up the whole heater and burner chamber and flame rod. whatever your question - fire away! - HAYZEE

[Daldo]

Sorry for using this thread, but I can't figure out how to start a new thread in this forum.

I recently purchades a Monitor 441 without any instruction manual or even advice from the previous owner.

I have heard that I should use only Kerosene, and not fuel oil, and have seen on other threads that the outlet from drum should be at least 16" above stove inlet. Any confirmatin of the above or any other information would be greatly appreciated.

[HayZee518]

the flashing lights indicate no flame or no fuel. before you go tearing into the burner pot, shut off the 120 volts to the heater. disconnect the spade terminals on the solenoid pump, unscrew the brass ferrule on the pump. Remove the two screws that hold the plate on the chamber and lift out the solenoid pump. look inside and see at what level the kero is. if the float is all the way down, your lockout was activated. this is the metal piece in the left rear of the chamber. use your finger and push this metal piece to the left until it stays there. watch to see if fuel comes up in the chamber. if you see nothing then, 1) you have no fuel 2) the screen below this chamber is plugged. you'll need to shut off the fuel flow from the tank, remove the two side screws and gasket and pull out the filter screen. clean the screen with a solvent and replace it and try the "look see" again.

[Jerky1997]

My Monitor 41 will start up, go through it's cycle, eventually going to flashing burner lights. I could not see a flame in the window when the burner lights were on steady. I cleaned the K1 filter. I could not get the burner head off. It would turn about 1/4 inch. I didn't want to force it too much. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Mark

[HayZee518]

you can re-use the gaskets if you're very careful.

[rharmon]

Monitor Help

thank you - that is very helpful. Yes Al is a piece of work isn't he - a lot of hot air it appears. Do we need to get new gaskets or if we are careful can the ones on there just be reused? We're halfway there
Rosie

[HayZee518]

If you do a monitor heater repair search you'll eventually run up against Al Lucey who is there in Maine. Stay away from him. He speaks highly of himself but doesn't offer much for help. take off the front grill ( three screws) take off the top ( three or four screws) remove the front panel with the control switch board (four screws) remove the combustion liner plate (four screws) and rotate it out of the way. there's one screw holding the pot to the side plate remove this, then take all the screws out of the top of the burner pot. save the gaskets they'll be very fragile and might crumble. rotate the combustion ring 30 degrees counter clockwise and it'll come out.

[rharmon]

Monitor 22

just fell onto this thread and our monitor has been out of commission for over a year cause we can't afford to have it repaired but it was doing the same thing - starting up, firing, fan comes on and then it would shut down. Can't figure out how to ge into the burner pot area to clean it - my son is really good at tinkering - could we get that pdf file please or could you advise how to get into that area to clean?
thanx
Rose Harmon
Maine