Electric fireplace troubleshooting

I bought a home and made the all to wise decision to lean on the knowledge/advise of my agent about the malfunctioning eletric fireplace insert. The fireplace is a vermont casting vcef36. Everything with the fireplace seems to be in working order except the actual heating. The fan blows, but the heating element does not produce heat. Both a new circuit board and heat/blower part have been replaced and still nothing. I an drawing closer to my knowledge threshold at this point. Vermont casting is an old and out dated company. Additionally these electronic fireplace inserts seem to be uncommon as I've found very little info about them online. At this point I am looking for any troubleshoot suggestions, or similar issues others have had.

 

Welcome to the forums.

Should be relatively easy to repair as it's a basic setup. You said the fan is working which may mean the thermal limiter is open. You can check it with an ohmmeter. It should show as a short (0 ohms).



Your............. Fireplace manual

 

I'm definitely not an electrical expert, so with the advice given, I consulted with an electrician and really didnt get much further. Other than nothing is wrong electrically, and neither of use can seem to accurately identify this "limit switch" shown in the manual. (Disclaimer: he was a young kid who i wasnt 100% confident in). switches I've seen are usually some round or box shaped items that should be pretty obvious to see. I've attached a few photos if that helps. There is a small assembly that runs along the the heat/fan unit and we could not identify. I would assume if that was anything comparable to a limit switch, it would be working fine on the new part. Although the limit switch is identified in the electrical diagram of the manual, it's not listed as a part. Also couldn't readily find any replacement info for this specific unit online. With all of this I'm still sort of at square one again. Lol. Any feedback guys? And thanks for the help already provided

 

Here is just like what I have.

 

I imported the picture from that catalog. I circled the thermal limiter. It is a two legged device that is a one shot thermal safety switch. With the unit unplugged..... you should measure close to 0 ohms across it.

I'm looking again at the picture and can't tell what the thing is to the right of my circle. That could be a cycling thermostat with the part in my circle as a safety fuse. A picture of your actual heater would be more helpful.

 

Hi, its been awhile after having trouble with attaching photos along with sort of giving up on the repair, I'm back for a final shot before finally exploring my options in replacing the unit. I've attached a photo of the actual part in my possession. Any advice? Thanks

Replacement part

 

Original part

 

Ok.... I see the two parts. They appear to be the same or very similar.

I'm guessing you tried the new part in and no heat ?
Do you have a meter ?
I can help you to use it if you're not sure how.

 

Yes, and yes, I have a small woods multimeter

 

Looking at the circuit diagram. The 120v comes in from the left side on the red wire and either two white wires or a black wire. You said the fan was working. That means testing voltage from the red wire to the black or two white wires will show 120vAC.

The two white wires or black wire connects to the slide terminal on the heater. The blue wire needs to join the red wire. Possibly some type of splice. Now from the blue to red you should also measure 120vAC.

I'm guessing you have the digital version.....set your meter to V mode and select AC operation so it shows AC on the screen. Let me know if this is what you find.

Although it may not look it..... this is a simple circuit. If the fan is working then it is simply a wire in the wrong place or not connected at the heater element.