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heater issue

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Hello,

We live in northern California near San Jose. It gets really cold at night. Since our apartment gets practically zero sun, it stays cold all day. The heater for the main living area is an AC unit that doubles as a heat source.

Here are the specs for the heater:

GE AJJ09DFV4

MFR Date 10/96

Heat BTU / HR AHAM: 11 250 / 9 200

Max Heat Amps: 15.5 / 14.2

Heater: 3 550 / 2 930

The heater is only blowing out luke-warm air and blows around the cold air like a fan, so it is very uncomfortable. We tried leaving it on all day before, but it didn’t heat very well, if at all.

We do have an electric fireplace that gets much much warmer, but it only heats about 2-3 feet in front of it. We have a regular fireplace that burns wood. However, our area has "spare the air" days, and it is illegal to burn on those days. We have been having many "spare the air" days this year. Whem we are allowed to burn, it helps a little but most of the heat seems to go up the chimney.

I submitted a service request last week and they came to look at it on Friday. I wasn’t home, but my brother-in-law let them in. They told him there were two settings for the heater. One was a "2/5" setting where it would heat for 2 minutes and then wait 5 mintutes, then heat again for 2 mintues, etc. The other setting was to heat all the time. The guy supposedly change it to the setting where it would heat all the time.

I tried the heater again and it is still blowing luke-warm air. In our large living area, it’s not very efficient at warming the cold room.

I don’t have a thermometer, so I’m not sure how cold it really is and if the heater is doing *any* good at all. But I do know how we feel… we feel cold!

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

–Steve

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Edited on: Monday, January 16th, 2012 1:27 pm
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2 Responses to “heater issue”

My response: (We welcome stories, examples, explanations, answers and a touch of your personality)
 

Steve

January 16th, 2012 2:02 pm

As a follow-up, I found a meat thermometer and held it next to the air coming out of the AC/Heater unit set to high. The air fluctuated between 85 – low 90’s. It would go up, then down, then up, then down, but seems to always be between 85 – low 90’s.

I then put it next to the electric fireplace I mentioned before and it jumped over 100 very quickly.

I’m going to keep the heater running and monitor the room temp using the meat thermometer and also how it “feels”.

I guess my main question is if the heater set on high blowing 85 – 90 degree air is within the landlord’s responsibilities. I’m going to guess that it probably is, but it doesn’t seem very efficient.

Thanks.

–Steve

Steve

January 16th, 2012 2:06 pm

Not sure if the previous follow-up worked, so I’m trying again… sorry if this is repeated…

As a follow-up, I found a meat thermometer and held it next to the air coming out of the AC/Heater unit set to high. The air fluctuated between 85 – low 90’s. It would go up, then down, then up, then down, but seems to always be between 85 – low 90’s.

I then put it next to the electric fireplace I mentioned before and it jumped over 100 very quickly.

I’m going to keep the heater running and monitor the room temp using the meat thermometer and also how it “feels”.

I guess my main question is if the heater set on high blowing 85 – 90 degree air is within the landlord’s responsibilities. I’m going to guess that it probably is, but it doesn’t seem very efficient.

Thanks.

–Steve

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