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Frustrating experience we had with a Honeywell baseboard heater

Here is a review of a baseboard heater for use in your basement if you
are in the market for one. I just thought I would write one up because
of the hassle I had to go through with my initial choice for a heater.

I bought the Honeywell HZ-515C baseboard heater at Canadian Tire for
$59 back in August 2008. It was for the basement suite where our
friends Gabriel and Natasha are. It worked well for medium to large
rooms and was quiet which was a great selling feature. However, by
April 2009, the unit had stopped working and I was forced to get it
replaced. The replacement warranty was 3 years for these units and it
was only 9 months of use.

The replacement unit was fine until it stopped working again in March
2010. This was almost a full year of use but I wasn't impressed at
this point. I went back to Canadian Tire and wasn't surprised to see
that they no longer carry this model. Even if they did carry it, I
would probably just pick a different model for the same amount which
is what I did today. I swapped it with a Garrison oil-filled heater
for $69.99. I paid $11 extra for it so I hope it lasts longer. We'll
see how this handles.

If the heaters had a hardware malfunction every year, I wouldn't ever
need to purchase a new heater as the warranty would always get updated
to reflect replacement date. The only thing going against me was the
original receipt. The printed text was fading and I need the original
printed receipt for replacements. I scanned a copy of it and will post
it here in case I ever need it for reference, but the store clerk said
they won't accept scanned copies. It has to be the original.

In the meantime, Gabriel has purchased himself a new heater to get by
until I can sort out this issue with a replacement model. I hope they
like the Garrison model and that it isn't too noisy because that to me
is crucial, next to providing ample heat of course.

Comments

  1. There is one major electrical design flaw in these otherwise excellent heaters. The power switch is not rated to carry the amount of electrical current drawn by the heater, resulting in it's contacts becoming burned at which point the heater no longer works. I've had at 3 of these heaters and 1 older Honeywell model, all with the same problem over a time period of more than 7 years. The solution of providing a sufficiently rated power switch in this heater is simple and inexpensive for the manufacturer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I found an inexpensive solution to fix this problem, open it up take out the wire for the on off switch, they are long enough to hang out in the back, buy a small switch at any electronic store, hook it up secure your connection and voila, I have two units working this way.

    ReplyDelete

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