Our home is entirely run on baseboard electric heat. Our living room has 4 electric heaters controlled by one 24 volt Honeywell "Adaptive Recovery" thermostat.

A problem arose late last winter when one of the heaters began heating uncontrollably. We contacted an electrician who simply told us one of the controllers (buried in the basement) had gone and he temporarily disconnected the one heater until he could return to find the controllers (for lack of a better word).

I am calling these controllers but they are some sort of switch with 24 to 240 volt conversion in them.

On his return he found these controllers and decided to replace both (even though only one was bad) with a dual switch type (from White Rodgers - Part 24A06G-1). He spent hours (close to $1,000 plus $150.00 for the switch) troubleshooting, including returning the switch once to the electric supply house as defective. He ultimately left the house with only the two smallest heaters functioning and mumbling some words never to be heard from again.

I contacted a 2nd electrician, he came over, spent another hour or so, said it was not wired properly, got all 4 heaters working and left (I left when he left too). That was the only time all 4 heaters came on. I called him subsequently and he has not returned either leaving me with another $200.00 bill and no resolution to this problem.

Apparently this is such a difficult issue our local electricians are stymied. I have called 2 additional electricians, explained the issue and they assured me they could resolve the problem and then never showed up.

In utter frustration I have re-traced every step of the wiring diagram and while it seems to be wired properly we are still having no heat on all 4 heaters in the living room. I have run the heaters straight through so I do know that they are each working independently and since 2 heaters come on when the thermostat calls for heat I can safely deduce the thermostat is OK. It seems to boil down to this switching area and I really do not know if what I have is right or if I need something different.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated as it keeps getting colder and colder here in NY :confused:. Thanks

Those White-Rogers boxes are the standard issue for controlling 240v electric heat from a low-voltage t-stat. I have NO idea why a real electrician could not figure them out.
You may have more of a mess than even we can imagine.

This is going to be real hard to troubleshoot over the internet.


Now, you say:
I contacted a 2nd electrician, he came over, spent another hour or so, said it was not wired properly, got all 4 heaters working and left (I left when he left too). That was the only time all 4 heaters came on. I called him subsequently and he has not returned either leaving me with another $200.00 bill and no resolution to this problem.


What problem are you referring to? The one heater running uncontrollably?
Os is there another issue?

No, the heater running uncontrollably was the initial issue, now that the bad controller is gone this does not occur.

Now only two of the 4 heaters come on when the thermostat calls for heat and unfortunately it is only the two smallest of the 4 heaters (the 2' and the one of the 2 4'). We have 1 - 2' heater, 2 - 4' Heaters and 1 6' heater.

My initial thought is that the first electrician fiddled around so much with the wiring that now the loads are not balanced properly, if that is at all possible and then we are exceeding the amperage allowed per switch on at least one switch.

I realize this might not be easily resolved online but at least I could be pointed to a specialist in this field that might be able to sort this out for us. The AC/Htg Specialists say an electrician should be able to sort this out, yet 4 electricians later and we are no where.

Any good HVAC tech should be able to wring this out. Each heater needs to be isolated and tested for continuity. Then all the wiring needs to be checked again for continuity. It will take a little time... but not $1000 worth of time. Once the circuit is verified, the rest is just maing the connections, then checking thermostat operation. And what did you mean by "buried in the basement"? Not literally, I hope. You have already spent $1400 to repair $200 worth of heaters. A reputable HVAC company could have easily replaced all the heaters and controls for that amount. Have your lawyer send the first electrician a letter. You need a refund, or need it to be made right.

Nothing is buried anymore. Two holes in the ceiling and one in the wall near the elctrical box have exposed all the junction boxes and controllers involved.

To bad the HVAC guys keep telling me I need an electrician and to bad the electricians keep running away. I'm pretty certain it's a load issue as I am noticing the loads are inverted after the 1st electrician finished mucking around. I'll try untangling that on my own and replacing the 2nd burnt out controller. I'm pretty certain that'l do the trick.

Thanks to all and thanks to Stanforty for confirming the White Rodgers box as the right item. Take care!