"Charlie" wrote in message
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On Mar 12, 7:10 pm, "RBM" wrote:
"Charlie" wrote in message

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On Mar 12, 3:43 pm, "Ryan Weihl" wrote:
Charlie wrote:
Hello All, now that my girlfriend and I are homeowners, we're
starting
to run into some mysteries/problems.

So we've been in the house for a little over 2 weeks now, mostly
been
painting/cleaning etc. Up until about 3 days ago, ALL our heaters
were
working perfectly, however, now 4 of them have stopped working
altogether.

The information:

The 4 heaters are all listed on the same circuit on the breaker
panel
- well its two switches on the panel, connected by a small metal
piece, such that they flip on and off together. Both switches say 20
on them (im assuming this stands for 20amps).

2 of these heaters are on the first floor, 2 are on the second
floor:

2 of the heaters are standardbaseboardheater types, one is longer
than the other (largest on main, smaller in half bath on second
floor).

1 of the heaters is a ConvectAir (on 2nd floor) - appears newer than
the others (side note: I originally discovered the problem because I
noticed the red power light on this heater had gone off)

The last heater is something I've never seen before. Its called a
"Chromalux" , its basically a heating coil with a fan to blow the
air
around (this is in our bathroom - first floor). This looks old and I
would like to replace it with a newer heater, but for now I would
just
like to get some heat in there again.

The Questions:

so question #1: I pried off the front of the twobaseboardheaters,
and under CSA Approved stamp it lists it as 277volts and 17amps. I
thought heaters only used 110 or 220volts?

question #2: I used a multimeter on both thebaseboardheaters and the
chromalux, where the voltage fluctuated between 109 and 112ish.
Because I was seeing a voltage, does this mean that the breaker in
the
panel is functioning okay? I thought it a little odd that all 4 of
these heaters which stopped working were located on the same circuit
but the breaker did not appear to have tripped.

question 3: all though the twobaseboardheaters have a voltage going
to them, there is no power light on the convectair heater, what do
you
suppose that means?

I know I'll eventually call an electrician if this can't be figured
out, but I wouldn't mind getting my hands a little dirty first, I'm
enjoying learning about all the odds and ends of being a homeowner.

question #4: assuming worst case scenario that all 4 have to be
replaced, what should I budget for?

thanks for all your input in advance,

cheers,

- Charlie

try flipping the dual breaker OFF - wait a minute - and then ON.
one could have tripped and the other is still set. this happens
sometimes when the link between the handles is worn out.

--

How do I go about checking the breaker itself with my multimeter? I
assume I have to unscrew the cover to get at the wires underneath?

Yes, you do and if your not comfortable working in a live panel, DON'T

I tested the voltage on my breaker, it was 110 on one wire (to
ground), 110 on the other wire to ground, but 0 in between both wires.

When I tested on a working breaker on the other side of the board, it
was again 110, and 110, but 220 between them.

Does this mean the breaker should be replaced?

cheers,

Yes, one leg isn't passing current. You should get 240 volts, like you did
on the other side