My home is about 40 years old (ranch style) and I have 2 baseboard heaters that are not working. I have purchased new heaters, but need to know how to attached them and how to troubleshoot what is the problem. Heaters in other parts of the house work fine. I thought it might be as simple as 1) shutting down the electricity 2) attacing the wall wiring to the new baseboard 3) turn electricity back on and turn the zone one and wait for the heat to come out! Anything wrong with my plan of action?
Yes. Don't use use new parts as a test method. You didn't diagnose the problem. Go back to square one. Open the breaker box. Use a test lamp or voltmeter to determine if there is power at the terminal(s) of the breaker supplying the heater(s). Be careful, use common sense there and call a pro if you feel intimidated. If you have 240 V there the breaker is likely OK. Remove the access cover on the heater and check for voltage there. If present, your wiring is OK so return to the service panel and turn off the breaker. Back to the heater, check for voltage again to make sure you flipped the right breaker, and if none present on either heater terminal, remove the connected wires. Check the disconnected heater restance with an ohm meter and it will read infinity if the element has burned out. If you read, say, 15 to 20 ohms, the heater is OK and the connections were bad. The usual clean, tighten and so on would correct that problem. I assume your heaters are 240 V and are supplied by a double pole breaker. Good luck.
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