# New baseboard heater sets off fire alarm



## onilozay (Jun 16, 2013)

Hello,


I'm hoping this has been experienced by some of you. I did a simple job, double checked my wiring, no problem. Installed 2 baseboard Marley 4' 750W heaters. After 5 minutes of being on at 50% one of the smoke alarms went off.

I did smell what I guess to be paint, just like some new piece of metal being heated, which I took to be the new heaters.

Everythings wired right, simple job, so I'm supposing its just the paint heating up for the 1st time and will go away within an hr or 2? Any experiences like this? A bit tricky to explain to the customer.

Thanks!


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## MTW (Aug 28, 2013)

The elements have a bit of oil on them that burns off. That's probably what set off the alarms.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Yep. Let the oil 'burn off' and it'll be fine.


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## onilozay (Jun 16, 2013)

Thanks just needed some input.


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## 480sparky (Sep 20, 2007)

Just warn the customer they'll smell 'a burning odor' again next fall when the heating season starts up again. Only then, it will be the dust that's settled on the elements.


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## 3DDesign (Oct 25, 2014)

I've filled an entire house with smoke. Knowing it would happen we opened all the windows first. Yep, oil on the elements.
Scary the first time you see it.


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## wildleg (Apr 12, 2009)

next time read the directions


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## Black Dog (Oct 16, 2011)

leave them on for a time, it may happen a few more times, they need to burn.


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## wcord (Jan 23, 2011)

3DDesign said:


> I've filled an entire house with smoke. Knowing it would happen we opened all the windows first. Yep, oil on the elements.
> Scary the first time you see it.


Same thing happened, except, the customer called the fire department. 
That was quite embarrassing:whistling2:
I had never seen so much oil on heaters before.


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## chicken steve (Mar 22, 2011)

And the FD creates yet another _'effin' lectrician' _statistic.....~CS~:whistling2:


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## Morse (Aug 1, 2015)

Hey now! But yes a bit scary at first. Especially with "one go all go" smokes.


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## wendon (Sep 27, 2010)

onilozay said:


> Hello,
> 
> 
> I'm hoping this has been experienced by some of you. I did a simple job, double checked my wiring, no problem. Installed 2 baseboard Marley 4' 750W heaters. After 5 minutes of being on at 50% one of the smoke alarms went off.
> ...


I might be mixed up but how do you put a baseboard heater on 50%?


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## Glock23gp (Mar 10, 2014)

As said previously when I install any heater I let it run for 30 min to an hour to let the oil burn off the elements and tell the customer BEFORE i do it. That way they know ahead of time a nasty burning smell is coming their way.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

I had a customer ask me to wire a new range in her crawl space because she was allergic to the fumes. She kept it there a month and everyday she burned the elements a bit to get rid of the oils. 

We installed it in her house and she had to take it out and get a used ranged....


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## telsa (May 22, 2015)

Dennis Alwon said:


> I had* a customer ask me to wire a new range in her crawl space* because she was allergic to the fumes. She kept it there a month and everyday she burned the elements a bit to get rid of the oils.
> 
> We installed it in her house and she had to take it out and get a used ranged....



And I'll bet she worked on the "seven-and-a-half" floor, too. :laughing:

&&&&&

In a most similar vein a 25 theatre multi-plex was shut down -- when in use -- costing the owner at least $20,000 in receipts... 

The F/A was tripped by the fumes of a burn-off which compelled a mass evacuation and a city-wide fire department response. :thumbup:

This led to the HVAC and EC contractors getting into a cross fire -- over the staggering back-charge. :laughing:

Fortunately it landed on the HVAC contractor -- even though the EC GF was to blame.

That's justice for you. :thumbsup:


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## RIVETER (Sep 26, 2009)

onilozay said:


> Thanks just needed some input.


Do you have business insurance?


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## degupita (Jun 5, 2015)

wendon said:


> I might be mixed up but how do you put a baseboard heater on 50%?


50% of the max temp it can be set at.

They are not like old water radiator heaters that have no temp gauge.


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## backstay (Feb 3, 2011)

degupita said:


> 50% of the max temp it can be set at.
> 
> They are not like old water radiator heaters that have no temp gauge.


I've never seen an electric baseboard with a temp gauge. And the baseboards I install are 250 watts per foot(4 ft =1000 watts) not counting the high density 8 footers(2500 watts).


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## GrayHair (Jan 14, 2013)

telsa said:


> The F/A was tripped by the fumes of a burn-off which compelled a mass evacuation and a city-wide fire department response.


One of the reasons NFPA-72 21.7.4 (2013) requires duct detectors to initiate a supervisory (alarm allowed if no constantly attended location or monitoring; or if otherwise required). Having them initiate a supervisory used to be optional.

Fire trucks roll a lot when heat strips start kicking on in the fall.


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## backstay (Feb 3, 2011)

Morse said:


> Hey now! But yes a bit scary at first. Especially with "one go all go" smokes.


Interesting choice for a screen name.


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## Dennis Alwon (May 9, 2009)

telsa said:


> And I'll bet she worked on the "seven-and-a-half" floor, too. :laughing:


Actually she is a very good customer but she is very chemically sensitive. She has to wear a mask when she is around most people because of the detergents they may use. She doesn't have to around me because we don't use scented detergent.

My wife is a bit chemically sensitive but nowhere near the extent of this woman.


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## degupita (Jun 5, 2015)

backstay said:


> I've never seen an electric baseboard with a temp gauge. And the baseboards I install are 250 watts per foot(4 ft =1000 watts) not counting the high density 8 footers(2500 watts).


He didn't say exactly what model, but most of the Marleys show some kind of temperature control knob. Which is what I meant to write, not Gauge.


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