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How to Diagnose Electric Heat or Backup Heat Problems & Diagnose Other Electric Heater Problems InspectAPedia®  -     How to diagnose loss of or insufficient electric heat in buildings How to test a staged electric furnace Electric heat choices, electric heat wiring and installation tips and safety suggestions

Here we discuss how to diagnose & repair electric heat that has stopped working - testing the heating elements in an electric furnace; we include simple inspection & test procedures for other electric heaters such as electric baseboards and wall or floor mounted electric heaters. This website answers most questions about all types of heating systems and gives important inspection, safety, and repair advice. The heating system articles provided at this website explain how to inspect and detect defects and hazards on heating systems, boilers, furnaces, and other equipment. Methods for saving on heating cost and on improving heating safety are included. If you don't know what kind of heat your building uses, see our introduction at BOILERS, HEATING. Sketch at page top courtesy of Carson Dunlop

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How to Diagnose & Repair Electric Heat that Has Stopped Working or is Not Hot Enough

Test & Diagnose Procedure for Electric Furnace Heating Elements

What do we check if our electric heat is not working? There are a few basic things to check yourself. Other steps require an expert. Sketches courtesy of Carson Dunlop.

• Is the thermostat asking for heat? Be sure you know where all of the thermostats for your electric heat are located. Some heaters such as flush-in-floor electric heaters may use a wall-mounted thermostat while other electric baseboard heaters may have individual thermostats on each baseboard unit. In a bathroom with electric radiant heat in the floor, Carson Dunlop suggests finding that hidden thermostat, perhaps inside the sink vanity.
• Is electrical power on to the heater? Check the fuses or circuit breakers that supply each electric heater.
• If the electric furnace does not seem to be making heat, the electrician or heating technician will use an ammeter to test each of the heating elements to see if one or more of them is not working. She will also check first to confirm that electrical power is on to the unit. If one or more of the staged electric heaters in the furnace has failed, the furnace may make warm air, but not enough warm air in very cold conditions.
• Check the air temperature rise across the electric furnace. When the furnace has been operating for 20 minutes or longer, typically the temperature at the return plenum (the lower thermometer in the sketch) will show about 70 deg .F. and the supply plenum temperature will be between 120 deg .f. and 125 deg .f. If the supply plenum temperature is too high (over130 deg .f.) something's wrong and you should call a heating service technician.
• Check radiant heat ceiling panels for wire interruptions. If someone drove an nail into a radiant panel heat ceiling or in the attic above they damaged a wire or heating panel, you may find that that room no longer has heat. We use a hand-held infra-red thermometer scanner to quickly check radiant heat floors and ceilings.

Simple Field Test of Electric Wall or Floor Heater Operation

A simple test procedure if an electric floor or wall heater appears not to be working.

WARNING: shock and electrocution hazards are present. Do not attempt to work on live electrical equipment unless you are trained and qualified to do so.

Check the electrical connections for the electric heater first, visually looking for signs of overheating. Then with a VOM and power on (if you are qualified and thus won't get electrocuted)

• Check in the fuse or circuit breaker panel to confirm that electrical power is on and supplied to the electric heater.
• Using a voltage tester or a VOM, test the heating element for continuity between its two electrical connection terminals. See tests for electric hot water heaters for details.
• Using a voltage tester or a VOM, test for voltage on the circuit wires entering the heater enclosure. If no voltage is detected, work backwards from the heater through junction boxes to trace and find a problem with the electrical circuit supplying the device.

See these electrical inspection and test articles:

• AMPS & VOLTS DETERMINATION
• ELECTRICAL BASICS
• SAFETY FOR ELECTRICAL INSPECTORS
• VOLTAGE MEASUREMENT EQUIPMENT - and Using DMMs & VOMs Safely - how to use VOMs and similar test equipment safely
  

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• Thanks to Alan Carson and Bob Dunlop, Carson Dunlop, Associates, Toronto, for permission to use illustrations from their publication, The Illustrated Home which illustrates construction details and building components. Carson Dunlop provides home inspection education, publications, report writing materials, and home inspection services. Alan Carson is a past president of ASHI, the American Society of Home Inspectors.

Use links just below or at the left of each page to navigate this document or to view other topics at this website. Green links show where you are in our document or website.

ELECTRIC HEAT
  Types of Electric Heat
  Feet of Baseboard Heat Needed?
  Electric Heater Locations
  Wiring and Overcurrent Protection
  Electric Baseboard Heat Safety
  Staged Electric Furnaces
  Diagnose & Repair Electric Heat
  Test Electric Wall / Floor Heater

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• Our recommended books about building design, inspection, and repair, and about indoor environment testing, diagnosis, and cleanup are at the InspectAPedia Bookstore.
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More Information on Building Diagnostic Inspections and Repairs

• Links to our list of additional information on heating system inspection, repair, maintenance

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