It's one thing after another! Please help me with my heatilator.

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hnguyen8806

New Member
Jan 20, 2021
10
Lacey, Washington
Hi ya'll! Newbie here. First time owning a home and have no idea how to fix our Heatilator, Model is ND3630I. Normally we would just call our landlord but unfortunately that's not the case here. We have 2 switches on the wall, the fireplace will not light unless both is turned on. We can turn one off once the fire starts burning and the fire will continue burning. I'm assuming one of it is for the pilot? It's an IPI. We have always left one switch on once the fire starts going and just recently, the fire will go out randomly unless we leave both switches on. If we leave both switches on for 30 minutes, I can shut one switch off and the fire will go for about 30 minutes and then shut off. We had an HVAC guy come out and he said the pilot assembly and control module is bad so he switched it out. He then said to leave both switches on because for some reason, it's sending mixed signals to one another and having just one switch on is probably "frying" it. Kind of pissed because technically he really didn't fix it. The fire did stay on longer with just one switch on but it eventually goes out. We left both switches on the next day for a few hours and then the following night, it doesn't even turn on at all. What could be the issue here? I don't want to pay for someone to come out again.
 
Have you pulled the switches & looked inside?
Is there 120 V Romex in the same box as the 18 Ga. switch wire?
Can you post a pic of what's in there??
 
Ok so what is happening is it sounds like you have an electronic ignition intermittent pilot valve. Your fireplace needs electricity to run. The valve is energized by an outlet inside the firebox that is controlled by one of your switches (the one that is 120vac). You need to leave that switch on, in fact I wish there wasn't even a switch there it should be a home run to a breaker. The second switch you will find a tstat wire that controls the fireplace. So leave 120vac on at all times, and operate the other switch to turn it on. The reason it use to work with just one switch is that you may have had batteries in your 6vdc backup and now they are dead. Those switches should be in separate or a divided box. Test the outlet inside your fireplace for power.
 
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Have you pulled the switches & looked inside?
Is there 120 V Romex in the same box as the 18 Ga. switch wire?
Can you post a pic of what's in there??

Sorry, I was wrong. It’s a different junction box. At least I think it is. It looks like the 120 V Romex wire is in a separate box. I’ve attached photos for reference.
 

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Ok so what is happening is it sounds like you have an electronic ignition intermittent pilot valve. Your fireplace needs electricity to run. The valve is energized by an outlet inside the firebox that is controlled by one of your switches (the one that is 120vac). You need to leave that switch on, in fact I wish there wasn't even a switch there it should be a home run to a breaker. The second switch you will find a tstat wire that controls the fireplace. So leave 120vac on at all times, and operate the other switch to turn it on. The reason it use to work with just one switch is that you may have had batteries in your 6vdc backup and now they are dead. Those switches should be in separate or a divided box. Test the outlet inside your fireplace for power.

Tested out the outlet inside the fireplace and it works with the switch on. What you said makes total sense. I’m a bit mad that I just paid $330 for someone to come out and replace parts that probably didn’t need to be replaced . Now nothing turns on. Don’t know if the control module that he replaced is a dud.

Going back to the original problem, when I would leave it on for about 30 minutes and then turn off the 120vac, the fire would stay on for 30 minutes and then shut it off automatically, why does it do this if it’s the battery is dead? Is it because of the sensor on the fireplace?
 
Are the batteries removed?
 
Take the batteries out and unplug everything. Wait at least two minutes and then plug it back in, leave that batteries out. Then turn on the 120vac switch first, then the control switch.
 
Do you own a volt meter
 
Post a picture of both the valve and control module in your fireplace
 
Your wall switch looks a little rusty. Try disconnecting the tstat wire and holding the two bare wires together. Also make sure all connections are snug everywhere. Other than that without a volt meter it's tough to help further without just telling you to swap out parts. Btw I'm pretty jealous you live in WA! I love it out there
 
Your wall switch looks a little rusty. Try disconnecting the tstat wire and holding the two bare wires together. Also make sure all connections are snug everywhere. Other than that without a volt meter it's tough to help further without just telling you to swap out parts. Btw I'm pretty jealous you live in WA! I love it out there

We were able get the tech back out at no charge to see what is going on. He believes the p ower supply gave out so we’re ordering a new one. Let’s hope it works! ::crosses finger::

I might be biased but yea, it’s pretty amazing out here. This is our 3rd year here. Rain blows though. Spring and summer makes up for it.
 
We were able get the tech back out at no charge to see what is going on. He believes the p ower supply gave out so we’re ordering a new one. Let’s hope it works! ::crosses finger::

I might be biased but yea, it’s pretty amazing out here. This is our 3rd year here. Rain blows though. Spring and summer makes up for it.
That's entirely possible. I service these professionally but there is only so much you can do over a tech forum. Some of this equipment is fairly vunerable to power surges. You may want to plug that step down transformer into a single outlet surge protector, they are like 10 bucks. I operate the same, I wouldn't charge labor to come back out but everyone is different. I hope to be back out in WA in June to do some climbing, fingers crossed that covid is better by then!
 
That's entirely possible. I service these professionally but there is only so much you can do over a tech forum. Some of this equipment is fairly vunerable to power surges. You may want to plug that step down transformer into a single outlet surge protector, they are like 10 bucks. I operate the same, I wouldn't charge labor to come back out but everyone is different. I hope to be back out in WA in June to do some climbing, fingers crossed that covid is better by then!

My friend from out of state loves climbing. He said out of all the places that he has been, he loves to climb Leavenworth.

So I replaced the power supply and things are running again, however, I tested the new batteries to see if it’ll run without the 120vac switch on and it still shuts off randomly. What do you think it is?