Celling Heat

With the thermostat energized check the voltage at the heating element. If you do not get a voltage reading

1. the relay did not close. Check voltage at the relay. Maybe bad. Relay probably close to the heating element.

2. If the relay closes, the power to the heater is off. breaker tripped maybe or some other reason.

Check your control voltage power supply. The controls (thermostats) usually operate at a lower voltage like 24 to 28 volts AC.

i wish it was low voltage i can fit that. celling heat works on 110 or 220 volts. i am not sure but the relay maybe built in to the thermostats. the size of the thermostats is much larger than the flat back of a low voltage stile. i am thinking the panle is dead and needs replaced. it does not take much to break or cut a wire then they do not work. A small nail or tack in a wire will damage it.

thanks for the reply.

everett w.

Use a portable AM radio with antenna extended, pass antenna close to ceiling, listen for interruption. Locating a broken wire.

ew; double check your fuses, are they turned tight, reset your circuit breakers some times it hard to tell if they have blown perry

Hi; I worked for White Rodgers as a Electrician for 11 years and seen all the stats they made. This is a line stat that relays power to the heater. Check power coming to stat first with a volt meter. Turn stat all the way up and check power again leaving stat to heater. This sounds like a 4 wire stat with power and nuetral lines. Two comimg in and two leaving. Check at heater coming in. Also check neutral leg for heater. Plain and simple, Be very careful of 220 volts.

Good Luck!!!!!!

Everett,

From your additional post, I assume the ceiling heat is a panel mounted to the surface, instead of resistance wires in the plaster or plasterboard of the ceiling. Either way, there should be a junction box or similar enclosed connection point where the house wires join to the heating panel or wires. If it is wires embedded in the ceiling, they are non-heating leads from an embedded splice in the ceiling, run through conduit to the thermostat. If it is a separate panel, there usually is a junction box at one corner or side of the panel.

These are all line-voltage devices wired normally with line-voltage thermostats and no transformers or relays. If the panel is small, most likely it is a 120-volt panel and is fed from a single-pole breaker. If it is larger, it can easily be a 240-volt panel and is fed from a double-pole breaker. As others have said, a double-pole breaker can have one pole tripped and still look OK, and it can even have a failure so only one pole works. To find this, you would need to test for voltage between the two poles as well as from either one to neutral (or ground). (If you have voltage on both leads but none between them, then it is the breaker. If you have voltage between them, then the panel is probably bad--see the resistance check below.)

You mentioned the most likely problem--a panel which has reached the end of its service life. To test for this, use a meter at the panel's leads and check for resistance. I expect a valid reading will be between 20 and 60 ohms. Be careful that you do this only after you have verified that the circuit is OFF. There is no way to service these panels, when they have failed.

Radiant ceiling heat is energy efficient because it heats the objects and people instead of the air. Very good for high ceilings and areas with drafts or air flow.

Reply, if you can, with your findings or additional questions. --John M.

Dear GM52195 and jmueller

First I want to thank you for the information and help. Before I started asking questions. I did the following procedure. I took off the cover of the thermostat and did a power check with and multmeter. Putting one lead on the red wire and the other on the black. No reading. Then I moved the lead on the black wire to the frame and got a spark ?? Then I changed meters and rechecked. I got a reading of a 118 volts from the black or red wires. But no other reading . Then I turned off the power and changed it with and other that is working. Before putting them back in the did an ohm check they both worked fine. Then I put the exchanged one in and turned on power. And did a check have power in and out but no heat. It is on a 220 volt breaker so I am thinking its 220 volt panels.

I have not found where the wires connect to the panel. If the connection is in a corner I hope they did not put them on the outside walls.

I do think after 50 years the panel is dead. Its time to replace take the plaster off and have someone put us in a new heat. The next question is what to replace it with?

Thanks for the help 3 am come before I want to. Everett w.

Friend,

Your post suggests the need for further checking. I don't have a diagram of the thermostat. If the circuit is 220V (220-240V) and you only were able to read 118 volts at the thermostat, then I suspect the problem is an open circuit at the power source or cable leading from it. A number of times I have traced an open circuit to a splice in which one wire has become slightly separated from the other(s). This can happen even years after the installation.

--JMM

A reading of 118 volts from black or red to the frame would be about normal. Did you check the red to black voltage? That should be 220 +,-.If there is a break in either wire to the heater, or a break in the heater element itself, you will get the exact readings you have stated, and it will not work. You sound like you are close, be careful, and test some more . Good luck.

"Putting one lead on the red wire and the other on the black. No reading. Then I moved the lead on the black wire to the frame and got a spark ??"

If you have voltage between the frame and one of the hot wires and not the other, the one with no power is open (broken wire, bad connection, or bad breaker).

If you have voltage between the frame and both the red and black wires, but no power between the red and black wires, check any recent electrical work done since the last time the heat was used. It sounds like both wires are tied into the same phase in the breaker panel. Is it wired with a double breaker (as it should be) or 2 singles? Which country is this in?

You may have a bad connection, a opened safety, or a defective heating element. If you have a continuity tester the easiest way to diagnose this would be to turn the power off at the circuit breakers and check for continuity through the heater. Lacking a continuity tester or if you're not familiar with its use, many inexpensive inductive voltage testers are available that buzz in the presence of voltage,thay can also be a useful tool.

I'm assuming you're wiring is ROMEX (which I probably misspelled) if you can follow the wiring with the circuit energize the inductive tester can be used to find where the circuit is open.

If you find that you have power (or a good circuit) to the heater but not through the heater look for a safety it may or may not have a red reset button on it if you're getting voltage through the safety your heating element may have gone bad. You didn't say whether there was a blower involved in your heating system if there is there may be a second type of safety, a sail or pressures switch.

It sounds like you've eliminated the thermostat as a problem, if there is any doubt left wire nut the thermostat wires together.

Last but not least if you're not comfortable working with electrical pay somebody to fix it, it's cheap life-insurance.

"Then I put the exchanged one in and turned on power. And did a check have power in and out but no heat."

Power in and out , but no heat has to be an open between where you are testing, and the heat unit. There could be an high heat limiter, similar to the type in cloths dryers. If there is a break in the heater coil, you will get the same results. To test this, disconnect the wires from the thermostat that go to the heater. WITH THE POWER OFF. Check the continuity of the two wires going to the heater.