I posted this comment the other day on a different thread and, upon reflection, thought that it may need another thread to isolate the thought on Electric malfunction.
Ray
I moved into my current house back in september ‘08. That winter, with only the fireplace, I have never been so cold in my life. Whatever heat the damn thing generated went straight up the chimney. The chimney, around the fire box had this thing callled a Heatalator and there was a switch on the wall. It would suck cold air in the bottom vents and circle the air around the back of the steel firebox and push it out the top vents. After several weeks of using this Heatalator thing, it failed (house was 28years old when I brought it). Every time I would turn it on it would trip and circuit breaker would shut it off. Off I’d go into the garage and flip it back on. After a couple of weeks of doing this we just gave up and put a pit of tape across it so we wouldn’t use it. The tape stayed there for 10 months until I ripped the fireplace out, removed the Heatalator and all the wiring. And there was the answer. The shoddy workmanship when they built the house resulted in the melting of all the plastic off the the wire and the bare wires touching each other causing the short. That heatalator is gone for good. There are four holes where the little fans and vent covers once were attached. They are a stark reminder that I could have burnt the house down. What is even worse is that when the fans always shorted out there was an acrid burning smell that at the time I even knew was electrically created, yet I didn’t put two and two together.
In short
CHECK YOUR ELECTRICS
Ray
I moved into my current house back in september ‘08. That winter, with only the fireplace, I have never been so cold in my life. Whatever heat the damn thing generated went straight up the chimney. The chimney, around the fire box had this thing callled a Heatalator and there was a switch on the wall. It would suck cold air in the bottom vents and circle the air around the back of the steel firebox and push it out the top vents. After several weeks of using this Heatalator thing, it failed (house was 28years old when I brought it). Every time I would turn it on it would trip and circuit breaker would shut it off. Off I’d go into the garage and flip it back on. After a couple of weeks of doing this we just gave up and put a pit of tape across it so we wouldn’t use it. The tape stayed there for 10 months until I ripped the fireplace out, removed the Heatalator and all the wiring. And there was the answer. The shoddy workmanship when they built the house resulted in the melting of all the plastic off the the wire and the bare wires touching each other causing the short. That heatalator is gone for good. There are four holes where the little fans and vent covers once were attached. They are a stark reminder that I could have burnt the house down. What is even worse is that when the fans always shorted out there was an acrid burning smell that at the time I even knew was electrically created, yet I didn’t put two and two together.
In short
CHECK YOUR ELECTRICS
