The Companion Group Heating & Cooling - Recent Questions, Troubleshooting & Support

Sounds like you have a common problem with infrared heaters. They are very dust sensitive and they will light and then go out when they are dusty. If you have already tried to blow it out at home you need to take the heater to your propane dealer who will take the heater apart and blow it out correctly. They will then hook it up to their gas line and make sure that the problem is fixed. I hope that you haven't blown up into the bottom of the heater where the gas line is connected. There is a diaphragm up in there and if you blow into it you risk messing it up to where it won't work at all.

There are several ways to save money on your heating bill. First and probably the cheapest is to change your air filter in your furnace. The more air flow restrictions you have the harder the fan motor has to work, making it less efficient. A side note, I always recommend to my customers to get the reusable filters, they cost a little more but you never have to buy a filter again. Next you should look into getting a programmable thermostat, this way you can program your heater for when you're away, sleeping, weekends etc. When programming your furnace, never turn the furnace completely off when you are away. It will cost you more to heat your home when there's no heat in the home. Just let it maintain a lower temp while you're gone during the day.Now lets look at the furnace itself, how efficient is it? How old is it? I can tell you that anything over 15 years should be considered changed out to a more efficient one. With all the government and utility company rebates you could save some good money on one. I have also seen heating bills cut in half due to a newer more efficient furnace.Hope this helps

If the pilot stays on when you are holding it down (you are manually opening the gas valve) but won't stay lit when you let the knob go, then the thermocouple is bad. The pilot knob needs to be held down for 30 secs or so. The pilot flame has to heat the tip of the thermocouple long enough to for it to output a small electric signal (that holds the gas valve open). If you look at the pilot flame, you will see the tip of the thermocouple in the flame. That copper tube runs from the flame to the gas valve and is easy enough to replace. They sell them at most hardware stores. If you see a lot of ash buildup on the tip, you can turn the pilot off and clean the tip and try again.

thermal couple maybe weak, or an electrical short somewhere

check pilot generator.....what is the current being produced?..........maybe you are getting a negative down draft that happens to blow pilot out........start with thermal couple

excessive gas pressure. set pressure to makers spec

This can be caused by several things:

1. The inline gas valve running to the the heater is OFF. Turn the valve ON.

2. The gas control knob on the heater is not exactly in the PILOT position. Unless the knob bottoms
out and you feel strong pressure (other than spring pressure) pushing back at you. It's not exactly
in the PILOT Position. Once the pilot lights, hold the control knob in for 30 seconds to 60 seconds
to allow the Thermocouple to full heat.

3. The pilot is dirty and needs to be cleaned, as do the burners.*

4. The LP Gas Tank is empty or to low to maintain te proper gas pressure.

* Here is a link to a demonstration on how to properly clean the pilot & burners.
http://www.desatech.com/techDocs/Cleaning%20Demonstrations.pdf

I hope this helps you to troubleshoot & solve the problem. Thanks for choosing FixYa.

The best approach first would be to blow out the dust. There are one to two breather ports that easily get clogged. If that doesn't work it may be a bad thermocouple. It can be checked with a volt meter set to multicolored. Disconnect the thermocouple from the valve and attach the black lead to the thermocouple itself and the red to only the tip that makes contact inside the valve. Light the pilot and hold in button to begin watching the readings. 18-24 millivolts is the desired range.

check your thermocoupler.

If you have a standing pilot that wont stay lit and you have to keep relighting it, it can only be a couple of things that will do this.
1. Try tighting the thermocouple at the gas valve. (this is a thin copper line that goes from the gas valve and goes to the pilot light.)
2. Make sure that the tip of the thermocouple is in the pilot light flame.
3. Make sure that the thermocouple is clean.

Yes, it sounds like the third heater has a Control Valve problem. It's allowing more gas into the system than what it's supposed too. Have you tried turning the flames down to a lower setting? If so, did it lower the flame height? How old is this heater and is cleaned and serviced at least annually? Are you using Natural Gas or Propane?

Please get back to me with the answers to the above questions and I may can help you.

Thanks,
Rich

well this is called a dirty pilot light. 2 things you can do. 1 is to tap the pilot housing with the handle end of a screw driver and see if it clears up. that may knock a dust ball from the air opening on the assembly and make it go blue again. 2 is a little more what realy needs to be done. follow the pilot tube to the pilot housing. disconnect the tube nut and look inside the houseing for a thimble looking thingy. this is the pilot orifice. it has a very small hole in it clean it without enlarging. look the housing over making sure the air hole is clear and reassemble. light pilot check gas connection with soapy water for leaks. that should take care of your problem . 3 which we dont want to talk about is low gas pressure but you didnt say anything about the main burner.

From what you have described, it sounds like a pressure problem with the gas. Contact Kozy World (you can find their home page on line) and speak with their Tech Service Dept. Also, the gas in the tank pay be very low.

From what you have described there appears to be dust, dirt or pet hair in the pilot or the pilot tubing, as well as the Oxygen Depletion Sensor (ODS). OR your heater may be the wrong gas type. In other words, you have Propane Gas and the heater is a Natural Gas heater (or vise versa). Look for the manufacturers tag on the side or back of the heater. It will tell you the model number, serial number and gas type. Even with this, on rare occasions, the manufacturer's plate may be incorrect. The only way to be sure is to remove the front cover of the heater and look at the control valve. It should be marked LPG or NG.

You need to clean it out. Take the wall heater down and use a air compressor to clean out the gas system. Also clean the orifice out. Make sure that the chamber is clean and clear of spider webs and dust.

There is a plate with 4 screws in it on the bottom of the heater. Take it off and make sure you have it set for ng (natural gas) if you are using natural gas.

Hi,
Uswually when that happens it is because the pilot is too weak... the pilot is not focused on the thermocouple properly or the thermocouple is weak...

You will need to figure out which of these things are causing your problems...

heatman101