Electric ceiling radiant heat [Archive]

Anonymous

September 12th, 2002, 07:09 AM

Posted by: Wgoodrich
Posted - 02/03/2002 : 14:34:31

Buy a ticker tester that will trace the voltage without touching the wires. This tester in not too expensive. First disconnect one side of the hot conductors going to that cable heat coming out of the thermostat and going to the cieling. This heating cable will be a single conductor installed in a big intricate loop to the ceiling from the thermostat and weaving across the ceiling then back to the thermostat with the end of hte heating loop. Disconnect one end of that loop and leave it hanging in the air not connected. Then you turn on the cable heat in the room where you have lost connection. Start running the tester along the drywall. You will hear ticking getting stronger as you get closer to the energized wire. Remember this heating cable will run to a corner of the bedroom then along the ceiling to the opposite side of the room then move over about 6" and head back to the opposite side of the room again. This will continue in the back and forth length of the room until you have a grid of heat across the ceiling. Then that heat cable goes back to the thermostat to the second hot line in the circuit. You must run that ticker tracer along that wire back and forth along the ceiling following that energized wire registering the voltage as you go. Make sure you don't jump to the adjascent return across the ceiling or you may have just jumped over your break in the wire. Carefully follow the voltage ticking along the wire and back and forth across the ceiling intil you come to a spot where the ticker stops ticking. Back track on the wire and make sure this is where the ticking voltage tester looses it reading. TURN OFF YOU BREAKER CUTTING POWER TO THAT HEATING CIRCUIT. Then take a nail or screw driver and push it through the ceiling into the attic. Then go into the attic and find the screw driver sticking up through your insulation. Clear away the insulation about 2' square so the back side of hte ceiling is exposed. Then take a knife and cut a 1" square cutting only the paper of the back side of that ceiling's drywall. Then dig away all the powder that is found within the drywall until you have exposed the paper on the other side of that drywall. At this point remember these heating cables are delecate and easily cut. Then carefully remove that last layer of paper of the drywall exposed to the ceiling side. YOu should have exposed the cable. Then look for the break in the wire. Some times the break is inside the insulation of the wire. If this is the case then pull gently on the wire and the broken area will start stretching the insulation showing you the break. Then once you have the break isolated then strip back the wire insulation leaving about a 1/2" bare conductor exposed. Buy a couple of crimp style connectors using a good quality crimping tool crimp a piece of 14 gauge insulated wire long enough to span the breake to splice the break of the heating cable back together. Then take a mathcing thickess of drywall cut to fit and fill the hole you made in the drywall to get to the break. Lay that patch piece into place and use topping compound to tape and bed the splice back into place repairing the seal of that drywall as original.

Then reconnect your heating cable at the thermostat and turn you power on and see if you have heat again in that room.

Don't be surprised if you don't have heat. Several times I have found more than one break in the cable ceiling heat in a certain room. Just start over tracing your circuit as discribed above until you find a second break or have traced that cable ceiling heat all the way through the ceiling system and back to the thermostat where you disconnected that wire on the end of the heating cable.

Then test again.

Let us know what you find and how you come out.

Hope this helps

Wg