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Sxmargarit · Nov 28, 2007, 11:01 AM

Howdy all,

I have looked at the previous postings as I frequent the site for help on subjects. I am however perplexed as to what I have done wrong.

I am installing 4 electric heaters, on 2 separate 240 breakers. Each breaker is 30 AMP.
I used 12/2 Red Heat resistant wire and ran the line upstairs through the wall into a junction box. I then split the line to 2 different bedrooms, by attaching all three blacks together, all three, reds and all grounds in the junction box. I then wired the thermostats as it specified in the instructions. I tried it all out and nothing worked. I can hear the thermostat working and kicking in when I twist it, but no heat. I then used a detector to determine if I lost the power somewhere, but at all junctions I get power, and the black line is dead until I turn the thermostat passed a certain point where I hear the click and then it becomes active. This to me seems to suggest that the thermostat is working. Am I missing something here?

The heaters are dimplex, and so are the 2 pole thermostats, they are the kind mounted onto the heater itself.

Thanks for the help.

SMarg

tkrussell · Nov 28, 2007, 04:08 PM

So what feeds the stat? Black, red, & white?

A sketch would help if possible. Otherwise need to know more details.

I can tell you, both 30 amp breakers need to come out, or all the #12 wire does.

Need to know the wattage of each heater to see if a 20 amp breaker can be installed.

Sxmargarit · Nov 28, 2007, 05:50 PM

There is a 1000W and a 500W on one branch, and a 300 W and 500W on the other. Really not a heavy load here. I used the power tester and the power is still there at all splits. I just can't find the second lead to my voltmeter. Do you think it is an output problem? I also wired directly to the heater today after posting the first note. Needless to say it didn't work. I speculate that this means the thermostat works. I guess that means it is being powered slightly, but not enough to produce heat. I also have a set of plugs that I suspect is on the same panel that read as having power with the tester, but won't work with anything.

To explain my panel situation. I have a fuse panel 100 AMP entrance. There is also a breaker panel piggy backed off the other panel. Everything I am talking about works off the breaker panel. It is weird because this panel powers the furnace and the dishwasher there hasn't been a problem with that at all. However the furnace is not 240 and neither is the dishwasher. Is it possible that the panel is able to power things at 120 but not 240?

Thanks for the help.

tkrussell · Nov 29, 2007, 03:41 AM

So,

Originally Posted by tkrussell

So what feeds the stat? Black, red, & white?

Sxmargarit · Nov 29, 2007, 04:59 AM

The black and the red feed into the stat

tkrussell · Nov 29, 2007, 05:46 PM

Where is the white connected? It should be capped and unused at the stat. The black and red should be 240 volts and from the breaker connect to the LINE of the stat , one wire to each.

The two wires from the heater should connect to the LOAD on the stat.

The LINE of the first stat should connect to the LINE of the second stat, and so on.

The breaker should have 240 volts across both terminals. Be sure to use a 240 volt 2 pole breaker, and not a tandem breaker, which will be two separate 1 pole circuits from the same hot leg of the panel. A 2 pole breaker connects to both hot legs in a panel.