My house is heated with an A series Nordyne electric furnace. A couple of years ago it quit and I had a heater guy come out and fix it. It turned out that the 60 amp fuses had failed. The heater guy showed us that the clips holding the fuses were badly corroded which, he said, led to the fuses overheating and failing. We live about 75 yards from the Puget Sound so our environment is damp and salty. The guy recommended that we clean the fuses and clips holding them on a regular basis to prevent this from happening again.
Good advice which I promptly forgot about until the next time the fuses failed. I got new fuses but before installing them I cleaned the clips on the disconnect and the interlock bar which was also crudded over. The fuses failed again and this time the interlock bar and the disconnect itself got a bit melty.
I understand that Nordyne makes a disconnect that relies on breakers instead of fuses. Given our damp environment I’m wondering if this is a better option than the original system of fuses.
The other thing I need to know is if I should look further for the cause of the fuse failures. The reason I was given; damp, salty air, sounds reasonable to me but should I be checking for other problems in the heater, the heater coils perhaps?
Thanks!
The corroded surface is causing arcing wich is inturn heating up the whole works,REPLACE WITH PROPER BREAKER AND BOX AS THIS IS A FIRE HAZARD!
591 views
Usually answered in minutes!
Thanks Joe! Currently I'm not using the heater, well, it's busted so I can't anyway. But when I do fix it I will be using the breaker box kit rather than screwing around with fuses. The only other question I have is: Is corrosion from the damp, salty air the most likely reason why the fuses failed in the first place or should I be looking elsewhere for the problem.
×