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Electric Heater feels hot to the touch

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squirrelqueen
squirrelqueen Member, Email Confirmation Posts: 3
edited October 2020 in THE MAIN WALL
Maybe I've never noticed this before, but I have a Nordyne Furnace Model E2EB-012HB with the optional air conditioner... this fall since turning on the heater to test it (and after doing a quick vacuum and clean out of all internal parts) the metal outside of the heater gets really hot to the touch.

It even gets hot when the furnace isn't running. Obviously this is a concern, I've got the heater on now with a thermometer inside the closet to see how hot it's getting. I'm happy to have a tech come out... if I can't figure this out on my own. Funds are tight with a recent job loss. Any thoughts or ideas? The coils look pretty clean, I'm going to get some cleaner and use that this weekend.

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  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,072
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    You may have a heat relay stuck on, without a fan running the element would of course get hot and then kick out on hi temp overload.
    Or element has burned in two and one side going to ground giving you about half heat. Hi temp overload may only open one side of the element. The broken half may stay energized.
    Do you have 2 circuit breakers/switches to the air handler?
    The second one might turn off the defective element if you have that ground fault or stuck relay.

    In an emergency you could put the fan control on the tstat to "On" for constant operation. This would cool down the furnace and deliver the heat where you need it.
    But in any event you need to repair the unit sometime.
  • icy78
    icy78 Member Posts: 404
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    Sounds like you have a heat sequencer that's stuck on or a welded contactor. It would be good to call call a tech.
  • squirrelqueen
    squirrelqueen Member, Email Confirmation Posts: 3
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    JUGHNE said:

    You may have a heat relay stuck on, without a fan running the element would of course get hot and then kick out on hi temp overload.
    Or element has burned in two and one side going to ground giving you about half heat. Hi temp overload may only open one side of the element. The broken half may stay energized.
    Do you have 2 circuit breakers/switches to the air handler?
    The second one might turn off the defective element if you have that ground fault or stuck relay.

    In an emergency you could put the fan control on the tstat to "On" for constant operation. This would cool down the furnace and deliver the heat where you need it.
    But in any event you need to repair the unit sometime.

    OK, this makes sense. If you don't mind me picking your brain a little more, this is what's under my blower. Which would I try shutting off first?

    https://prnt.sc/v40w95
  • squirrelqueen
    squirrelqueen Member, Email Confirmation Posts: 3
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    icy78 said:

    Sounds like you have a heat sequencer that's stuck on or a welded contactor. It would be good to call call a tech.

    Thank you!
  • JUGHNE
    JUGHNE Member Posts: 11,072
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    Looks like you have 2 circuits there.
    One of them runs the controls, blower and part of the elements.
    The other runs the remaining elements.

    To find which is which, you could turn the fan to "On" and then switch off the breakers one at a time.
    The one that kills the fan is one you must leave one to get any heat at all.
    The other might kill the runaway element.....if you're lucky.
  • motoguy128
    motoguy128 Member Posts: 393
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    Probably just a stuck sequencer (relay with a time delay so all the heat doesn’t come on at once). WHen we do a fall service on a heat pump or straight electric AHU, We always verify all the heat comes on AND that it all shuts off after the call ends using an ampmeter.

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