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test baseboard heater

hardluckknocks | Posted in General Discussion on May 9, 2009 10:27am

There is an apartment complex here in that is selling baseboard heaters for $5 for 48″, 1000 watts on 120v. They say they are only a year old and the wrong wattage for the apartments.

Can these be test somehow w/o having to connect each one to a power source. An ohm/volt meter?

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  1. DanH | May 10, 2009 12:15am | #1

    You can run a continuity test on them. If they have an integral thermostat you'd want to turn that all the way up first, then check for continuity across the 120V connections. And, while watching the meter/light, turn the thermostat down slowly and see that it clicks off at about the right temp setting.

    Of course, the test won't "smoke out" units that are intermittent and only malfunction when warm, eg.

    The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. -John Kenneth Galbraith
    1. hardluckknocks | May 10, 2009 06:50am | #2

      thanks. no themostats. i'll try the continuity test

  2. User avater
    Dinosaur | May 10, 2009 07:00am | #3

    A 1000w 120v baseboard heater isn't even as powerful as a typical portable electric 'space heater' (they usually put out 1500w). You'd need at least two or three of them to keep even a small bedroom warm.

    Not sure if they're really worth the $5. A 48" 220v unit--which puts out 2500w IIRC--only costs about $19 brand new.

    Dinosaur

    How now, Mighty Sauron, that thou art not brought
    low by this? For thine evil pales before that which
    foolish men call Justice....

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