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I have a Monitor 41 that was given to me when we bought our house a month ago. I just got it hooked up, bought a tank and filled it with kerosene. The heater usually will run for several hours then will all of a sudden shut down. There are no flashing lights or errors shown when this happens, it just stops heating. Right before this happens there is a huge cloud of smoke which comes out of the exhaust pipe outside my house, and if I go outside it smells very strongly of fumes. I could see it blowing by my window today and then the heater abruptly shut down. I realize this is an old heater but we are into this for quite a bit of money now and I would like to see it work! Thanks for any advice you can give.
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I'm afraid you'll have to take apart the heater and examin the burner mat.you are getting fuel, that is evident. the igniter is on all the time. A SLUG OF KERO WILL VAPORIZE AND CAUSE A SMALL EXPLOSION INSIDE THE COMBUSTION POT. the kero is supposed to be pumped out onto the burner mat where it is distributed to the whole pad and burned. sometimes what causes the explosions is water, carried with the kero, suddenly turns to steam after hitting a hot part inside the pot. -
Cloud of smoke
photoADK,
You have a dangerous situation going on there. You are having fuel introduced into the burner with no flame. The smoke you see is vaporized fuel that has not burned. What needs to happen here is to have someone run the stove with a flame sensor bypass and check the fuel flow. Check to see you have the correct amount and that it stops and starts when it is supposed to. I think you have a stuck fuel reply on the main circuit board. Don't run you unit until you get to the bottom of the problem. As HayZee said, you will need to open the burner and plan to overhaul the pot. I would check the main circuit board first. If the stove needs a new one it's not worth going any further. The combined cost of a PCB and burner overhaul could run $700 or $800 and when all is said and done you still have a 25 year old unit. It's time to up grade.
TomComment
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Sorry for the late reply.. unfortunately an upgrade is just not affordable for me right now. Since I made the first post I have not seen or smelled the smoke again, but the unit does still shut down randomly. It ran almost all day yesterday then shut down at around 9 PM with flashing burner lights. When it is on it runs fine, but when it shuts down it will not come on again. Right now I am using the electric baseboard heaters that came with my house (no temperature control, just a knob with 1-10 on it). Getting the monitor running is imperative. Is there anything I can easily check which would cause it to shut down randomly like this?Comment
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easy things to do
The two easy things to do that require no parts are, clean the stove filter and clean the circulating fan. Make sure you have plenty of fuel in the tank. Beyond that you will need parts and some back ground. From your previous post you talked about visible vapors from the exhaust. That is serious and more than likely will not go away. Bottom line is, you need an overhaul on your burner. Like I mentioned before, I would prove the main circuit board and fuel pump before I spent the money on the overhaul.
Stay warm,
TomComment
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go to a radio shack or an electronics supply house and purchase a diode [any kind] and a 100K ohm 1/2 watt resistor connect one end of the diode to a resistor lead. now connect a piece of wire to the other two free ends and afix an alligator clip to these wires. when the heater goes into high heat, connect one wire to the chassis ground and the other to the pinout for the flamerod. this will prove your flamerod is good or not good. if the heater shuts down, reverse the diode/resistor jumper and try again. if the heater stays going, either the flamerod or the board electronics is messed up. there's a posting somewhere in here about where to send the mb to get repaired.Comment
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Ok.. I am going to talk to a local dealer and see if I can make payments on a new unit. However they no longer sell kerosene monitors. They do sell toyostove and there is one in particular we really like that looks like a wood stove. Will a toyostove work with the monitor vent or will It require a completely new vent and location for drilling the hole?Comment
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the inside/outside connector hole is the same size. toyo's only difference from the monitor is that it has an exhaust blower coming off the heat exchanger outlet. the arrangement of the internal devices may vary. MPI stated to me that they stopped the kero vented heater but they will stock replacement parts for a long, long timeComment
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vent size
Photo,
You can not use a Monitor exhaust on a Toyo. The Monitor has a female fitting on the stove and Toyo has a male fitting. You will get a complete exhaust kit with your Toyo. The hole in your wall may or may not be 2 3/4. If ist is the Toyo will slide right in. Now the rub will be that you might need an extra Toyo piece to match up to the height of the Monitor hole. More than likely the fuel line will not line up. Just drill a new fuel line hole that will match up. The AT60 looks cool but for the money I would get a Laser 56 or OM 22. Since you had a M22 to start with a Laser 56 or OM 22 will give you the same amount of heat. You will like the Toyo and it will be much easier to fix in the future.
TomComment
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I have a Monitor 41 right now, which I believe is bigger than a 22. I will need something larger than the OM 22 I think. The AT60 seems to be the mid-size unit. Is there something else you would recommend for the price?Comment
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more heat for the money
Sorry I lost it for a minute. If your M41 was keeping your house warm I would choose a Laser 73 instead of the AT60. The AT60 is a 30K Btu unit and the Laser 73 is a 40K unit just like the M41. The 73 will cost the same or less than the AT60 and you don't have all the bits and pieces in the burner to worry about. When servicing the AT60 you almost always break the glass. At $275 retail it adds to the cost by quit a bit.
Stay warm, TomComment
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