Presto Heating & Cooling - Recent Questions, Troubleshooting & Support

I rewired my heat dish. I UNPLUGGED THE HEAT DISH. I loosened the three screws on the back and removed them. Then I unclipped the dish at the bottom. The dish should be loose and the bottom section of the dish should be detached from the plastic casing. Look inside the casing at the bottom. There is a red cable attached to the buzzer (it’s the silver metallic piece). Detach the red cable from the buzzer. Now look directly behind the buzzer is a black wire that connects to the circuit next the buzzer. Attach the red cable to the female receptor foot the black cable. Plug it in and it should work fine. This will permantly disable the buzzer, SO YOUR HEATDISSH NOW LOINGER HAS A WARNING SYSYTEM. IF YOU TURN YOUR HEATER OVER THE BUZZER DOES NOT GO OFF, THE BUZZER ALSO INDICATES OVERHEATING OF THE UNIT. SO BE CAREFULL. MAKE SURE THE UNIT IS UNPLUGGED WHEN WORKING ON IT. GOOD LUCK AND BE SAFE

for those of you that want to void your warranty or just dont care there is a fix for the buzzer problem.
If you take the three screwws in the back and the one in the top next to the heat selector switch the steel dish portion will come away from the dish back. located on the bottem of the back inside panel there is a small disk looking tilt switch that has one red wire on one end and on the other a white and two black wires. remove this component and all wires from it. take all the wires from it and remove the ends exposing solid wire. for this modification you will need a philips driver wire stripper and cutter and one medium size wire nut available at almost any hardware store. take all the loose wires and wrap them together and place the wire nut on them. be sure to tuck the wire someplace away from the dish portion when going back together. put the unit back together and plug it in and "presto" you have no anoying buzzer anymore and the heater wont go on and off like it used to. this seems to be a comen problem due to lack of insulation and poor design on heatdishes part. hope this solved your problem

try manufacturer online part search using make and model

I almost threw my heater out! I cleaned this morning with Window Cleaner and it works just fine now. It was just dust. I cleaned the round metal area not the coils.

Hope this helps.

Emailed Presto about replacing the buzzer and here is the answer I got:


There is no such part. Buzzer sounds when heater:
- is tipped
- rests uneven on floor
- is too close to furniture or wall
- has too much dust on parabolic dish
The most common reason is that the parabolic dish is dusty.
To clean the heater:
1. Unplug the heater and clean it when it is cool
2. Spray a cloth with an all-purpose cleaner such as 409
3. Wrap the cloth around a long handle such as a wooden spoon
4. Wipe between the grate from the outer edge to the center
If you have further questions, please let me know. Or call us at 1-800-877-0441 Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time.

Bypass the internal rheostat by attaching the two wires at the rheostat together (or the wires going into the heat sensor (the little round shiny thing attached at the top of the dish inside)) via soldering and sealing with heat shrink tubing or use a wire nut then buy a remote digital wireless thermostat you will then plug your heater into. Amazon sells one with a remote control for a lot less than a new heater ($24.95). You simply plug the thermostat into your wall plug and plug your heater into the thermostat and wallah, no more heater problems. There are several remote non digital thermostats that use a control knob if you prefer that are available for less $$ than mentioned as well.

Mine had same problem but the thermostat had burnt contacts. Just cleaned them with a thin file. Works like new and turns completely off now.

I pried the upper rim with needle nosed pliers --,just enough to get the grid off. After cleaning with Mister Bubbles, I popped the grid back in and bent the rim back down. I then took a hammer and
smoothed the rough edges. Looks almost like new!!

No repair is economically viable now, sorry need a new one.

With fine sand paper 100 grit. Don't rub it too hard it can damage it. If the sensor is old I would just recommend replacing it.

You have this posted in Heating and A/C I would repost question in appliance sections

try this place https://www.gopresto.com/content/parts-service/parts-lookup

Make sure it's level they have a tip sensor inside to prevent them from running when on side.

Dear Sondra, You might well have started a fire in your walls. You are very observant. Please do not plug this machine in again. Take it back to COSTCO somewhere with the store receipt and they should replace it or refund the money. You will need to find the store manager. Please do not list your phone numbers on a public web site, because people can read this who you do not wish to do so. God bless your efforts.

The metal dish must be dust free or it will transfer heat to the safety device. If this is not the solution call customer service at 800-877-0441

I am no laser specific on this piece of equipment but any time a set of contacts arc to a degree where they smoke, they are overheating due to resistance being too high. Could be a worn out set of contacts or the current being passed thru them is higher than the contacts are rated for. I am assuming this is an electric heat unit, if so, the element(s) may be having issues.