Lennox turns itself on and off - help!

[Four Bear]

We have a Lennox Montecito unit installed in our new vacation home. The biggest problem is the unit turns itself on and off. The remote is extremely difficult to understand - even after spending hours trying to set it. This unit is in our vacation home and we are concerned about the unit being on when we are not there. The remote seems to have a mind of it's own. I know I had the thermostat on the remote to off, yet it still was turning on. The receiver unit is in a very hard place to reach and I am hoping our builder can move that so I can turn it to OFF. To be extra safe, should we just turn the propane to it off - but then that would require relighting the pilot light?? Is Lennox customer service where I should start - hoping someone there can walk me through setting the remote? And making it keep those settings!! Really frustrated with all this and very concerned about this unit being on and burning while we are not there.

 

[DAKSY]

Everything on-line tells me the the Lenox Montecito is an EPA-rated wood burning unit.
I can't locate info on an LP burner.

 

[Four Bear]

Hmm, well maybe I got the name mixed up. It is Lennox's largest 2 sided enclosed gas/propane unit.

Had to check - sorry about the mixup. It's the Montebello.

 

[DAKSY]

There we go. A Montebello See Thru.The builder didn't locate the receiver in the wall near the fireplace? That's where it's SUPPOSED to be. Most of these units only come with 25' of wire between the receiver & the gas valve, so the receiver has to be in the same room as the gas fireplace. I read the on-line instructions for setting up the remote, & they seem pretty straightforward. What part is giving you issues?

 

[Four Bear]

The receiver is in the fireplace mantle, so yes close to the unit. Our biggest concern is even with the remote thermostat being OFF, the unit still fired up.

 

[DAKSY]

Must be either a faulty wiring connection or the unit is malfunctioning. I would test the wiring first, then go thru the set up
procedure again. If the problem reoccurs, is the warranty still valid?

 

[Four Bear]

The unit is less than 1 yr old - so I hope the warranty is still valid. Because the remote is so difficult to use, it's very easy to leave the
Thermostat option "ON". Left in that position, of course the unit will fire up.
We would love to have the option to have 1 single switch, on and off. The local electrician said that would
not work, so we are back to removing the batteries from the remote and putting the receiver unit switch in Off. I think at
this point I'm more complaining about it than really expecting to find an answer.

 

[DAKSY]

The unit is less than 1 yr old - so I hope the warranty is still valid. Because the remote is so difficult to use, it's very easy to leave the
Thermostat option "ON". Left in that position, of course the unit will fire up.
We would love to have the option to have 1 single switch, on and off. The local electrician said that would
not work, so we are back to removing the batteries from the remote and putting the receiver unit switch in Off. I think at
this point I'm more complaining about it than really expecting to find an answer.

I don't wanna pooh-pooh your local electrician, but the (remote) thermostat IS a switch,
& the wires that run from the receiver to the gas valve would be the same.
If he removes the wires from the remote's receiver unit & touches the bare ends together,
does the fireplace turn on? That's what a switch does. No house (110VAC) required.
One other thing to look for:
Is there a tech switch under the unit in the valve cavity? Many manufacturers place one
there for the convenience of the repair technicians working on the unit.
The wires from THAT can be run to a wall switch...

 

[Four Bear]

This is a start - thanks so much for your reply. I don't know if there is a tech switch but I'll check all of this out!
Thank you again!!

 

[Heatsource]

Bob,
i think its fully integrated system,
not the basic remote
and i dont believe there is a wall switch or t-stat option....

 

[DAKSY]

Interesting. I'm being left behind by the advances in technology.
I tried to get the OP to tell me what he didn't get about the remote
transmitter/receiver set-up, but he never answered THAT part...
Do you know if this system will lose communication if the transmitter
is moved to another room? IIRC, some of the SkyTech remotes had this
issue & had to be "Re-learned" to the receiver in order to function correctly.

 

[Heatsource]

I dont know...
most of my technical background is getting old too!

 

[Four Bear]

Interesting. I'm being left behind by the advances in technology.
I tried to get the OP to tell me what he didn't get about the remote
transmitter/receiver set-up, but he never answered THAT part...
Do you know if this system will lose communication if the transmitter
is moved to another room? IIRC, some of the SkyTech remotes had this
issue & had to be "Re-learned" to the receiver in order to function correctly.

I "think" we finally got the remote Thermostat to stay in the OFF position. Keeping that setting works as long as we are in the house.
If anyone else uses it (and this has happened) the settings get changed. If the receiver is left in ON and the Therm is on - then the fireplace
ignites. We got that - hopefully. Our solution for now is to remove the batteries from the remote and turn the receiver to Off.

Another issue is battery life. We've changed batteries in both the remote and the receiver unit 2 times since
early Dec. And we do not live here full time. This seems excessive, which leads us to think something might not be exactly right. The batteries
were removed from the remote 4 weeks ago and we had to replace the batteries in the receiver this week. It's crazy.

 

[Four Bear]

Another question regarding the batteries. If we turn the remote Thermo to off but keep the receiver in "Remote" would doing so still eat up battery
life? Should we turn the receiver to off?

 

[DAKSY]

I "think" we finally got the remote Thermostat to stay in the OFF position. Keeping that setting works as long as we are in the house.
If anyone else uses it (and this has happened) the settings get changed. If the receiver is left in ON and the Therm is on - then the fireplace
ignites. We got that - hopefully. Our solution for now is to remove the batteries from the remote and turn the receiver to Off.

Another issue is battery life. We've changed batteries in both the remote and the receiver unit 2 times since
early Dec. And we do not live here full time. This seems excessive, which leads us to think something might not be exactly right. The batteries
were removed from the remote 4 weeks ago and we had to replace the batteries in the receiver this week. It's crazy.

I have Skytech remotes contolling each of my gas units. I generally replace them once at the beginning of the heating season & again about midway thru it. I use rechargeable AAs & AAAs & have no issues. Do you know what the charge was when you put the "new" batteries in your remotes? You may find that your "new" batteries are less than fully charged, even if they were recently purchased. No telling how long they've been sitting on a shelf or in a warehouse. When I replace mine, I test them with a multimeter set to vDC to ensure they are OVER 1.5vDC each. My remotes are very touchy & if the voltage drops below 6vDC in the receiver or 3vDC in the transmitter, I have problems. Those batteries will work fine in small flashlights, clocks, or other small devices, but not in my remotes...

 

[Four Bear]

I dont know what the charge was. The batteries are new but I do understand what you are saying about them not being fully charged.

Something else to look into I suppose.