Jim,
The smell you noticed was probably dust that accumulated on the heating
element burning off, much the same as a
central furnace does the first time it is fired up after being off for a
long time.
See if there is any markings on the heating element itself to indicate
what voltage is is designed to work on. It may
be that someone swapped out the element for a 220V unit. Usually a 220V
device will draw less current than it would
on 120V.
You didn't need to replace the breaker, just move the white wire to the
neutral buss and not use both halves of the breaker.
As for the buzzing, a lot of cheaper heaters do this. I have a portable
space heater that buzzes when it turns on, but after
about 20 seconds, starts getting quieter, until after about a minute,
you can hardly hear it. This heater just has a resistance
wire strung on insulators, with nothing for it to vibrate against. I
doubt it has anything to do with inductance and magnetics,
but I have no idea what would cause it.
Peace,
Pat
Thusly spake Jim Stone:
> My house has a partially finished attic that is heated by a 60" electric strip
> heater. The attic was finished by the previous owner and we almost never use
> it, except for storage. We have never needed to use the heater, which was
> always a good thing, as it buzzed very loudly and emitted quite a bit of
> ozone. I have kept the circuit breaker turned off, just because I never
> really trusted the damn thing. However, we are going to have a full house
> over Xmas and will need to use the attic and keep it warm. So, 4 years after
> moving into the house, I finally have to try to fix it.
>
> I decided to see if the ozone (I am assuming that is what it is) went away if
> the heater was left on for a little while. While the smoke alarm went off a
> couple of minutes after we turned it on, the smell went away and alarm didn't
> come back on. So, one problem down. The buzzing was a different story. It
> buzzes whenever the heater cycles on, stops when the thermostat turns it off.
> I pulled the covers looking for obvious causes, thought I found a couple, but
> fixing them did nothing. The buzzing is coming from the heating element,
> which has aluminum fins on it and nothing seems to stop it. My first question
> is if anyone has any idea why a heating element would buzz and what to do
> about it, but I discovered something even more puzzling when I was working on
> it.
>
> The heater is controlled by a 20 Amp 220v circuit breaker. I always just
> assumed it was a 220v heater (there is another one in the house that was
> installed about the same time). But, when I had the covers off I noticed that
> the labels indicate it is a 22 Amp, 120 volt heater. I checked the fuse box
> and the voltage at the unit and it is definitely wired for 220; both the white
> and black wires were hot. Thinking that too much power might somehow cause
> the buzzing I replaced the 220 breaker with a 120 one and re-routed the white
> wire to the neutral buss. Heater still buzzes.
>
>
>
> Jim
>
>
>
>
--
Pat Horne, Owner, Horne Systems (512) 797-7501
5026 FM 2001 Lockhart, TX 78644-4443
Pat@HorneSystemsTx.com www.hornesystemstx.com
-- We support Habitat for Humanity - a hand UP, not a hand OUT --
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