Monitor 2400 Heater Parts Service Repair Strip-down Report - Vented K-1 Heating Systems
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Monitor 2400 Strip-Down Report
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First...The Editorial:
The First and ONLY reason for this Report and Editorial is to tell
THE TRUTH!
It is a well known fact that First and Probably Only Goal of MOST Corporations is to build the cheapest product possible, sell it at the highest price and hope the Consumer doesn't catch on to any Product Problems and Defects until after the Warranty Period expires. Since most of My Profits come from repairing Defective and Problematic Monitor Heaters, one would think that I would welcome this Situation - WELL I DON'T!!! When You pay for a Heater, You should get the best possible Product for your money and should NOT be subject to the Lowered Quality of the Bean-Counters.
Al's Heating became a Monitor Authorized Dealer in 1989 and is considered The Expert in the field of Re-building, Re-engineering and Servicing. Our ONLY goal is a Quality Product, Great Installation, Terrific Service and Happy Customers - And that is why I am constantly on the back of Manufacturers to produce 1St Quality Heaters instead of cheating You by selling you something that is going to break down starting in 2-3+ years..
Over the Years I have made MANY suggestions to Heating Companies regarding Upgrading their Quality - All I seem to see is just the Opposite: Lower Quality to Save Them Money! Therefore, I feel it is IMPERATIVE that You the Consumer know what is REALLY inside the Heater you are considering purchasing.
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Now...The Meat:
As I have said previously, the Monitor 21's, 40's and 41's were Bulletproof - we rarely had to do anything to them except a Bi-Yearly Cleaning.
But Then...From the first 441 out-of-the-box we had trouble with the Intake-Motor Bearings - These Bearings squealed, whined and made noise from the Get-go. Upon tearing-down the Intake Motor Assembly, we found that the Quality of the Bearings had been downgraded from the Good Monitor 41 Bearings to Taiwan and other bearings that we would NOT have in our shop - In the beginning the Factory denied the bearing problem. So rather than have to eventually change-out the Bearings in EVERY 441 at the Customer's home, we installed Brand-New High-Quality European Sealed-Bearings right at our shop in each 441 we sold or installed and WHAT A DIFFERENCE - Quiet and Silky-smooth!!! We saved ourselves a LOT of Time, Money, Heart-ache, and Customer Complaints.
Now, Yesterday (1/16/02), I decided to Tear-down the New Monitor 2400 to see what the Factory had done to these 'New-and-Improved'? Models. Well...From my Viewpoint, things are even worse!!! Not only is the Monitor 2400 using the same Low-Quality Thailand Bearings as in the 441, But Monitor is NOW riveting the Motor Assembly Housing together INSTEAD of using screws so that the bad $20.00 Bearings CANNOT be replaced - Instead the ENTIRE Motor Assembly must be replaced to the tune of $140.00...What an 'Improvement' - Sounds like The Public Screwed Again to me.
Al's Heating has now Developed a Technique to Disassemble these Sealed-Unit Bearings and install Our High-Quality European Bearings so that The Customer is happy, We're happy and The Monitor Heater runs like it really should - Quiet, Smooth, NO Squeals and with a Long-Life.
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Next...To the Burner Assembly:
For years we have been VERY UNHAPPY with the 441 Burner Assembly. Somewhere along the line the Glue holding the Burner Mat to the Burner Pot was 'changed' and Trouble Began...
If the Burner Mat is NOT Glued down Right-tight to the bottom of the Burner Pot, then the Burner Mat curls up, the Flame is uneven and poor, the Flame Ring gets warped, soot develops and an EXPENSIVE $200-400 repair job is needed. And the Sad Thing is that just spending 50¢ on High-Quality Glue would TOTALLY prevent this Problem and a VERY EXPENSIVE and Unnecessary Repair.
Al's Heating uses our own Special High-quality Ceramic Burner Mat Adhesive which DOES NOT come un-done.
Also in removing the Burner Pot to fix the glue, we find that the Burner Pot Take-up Screws are ALWAYS loose (and many times the screw-holes are stripped right from the factory) which can cause Air Leaks and Improper Combustion and lead to MORE expensive repairs. Because Al's Heating is ALWAYS on the fore-front of Better-quality...we have out-sourced the Industries Finest 410 Magnetic Stainless Screws to make sure that the Pot is tight-tight-tight and no air leaks by the gasket thus avoiding Pot-destruction.
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Finally...What else?
In doing a Thorough Dis-Assembly of the Monitor 2400, we noticed many other things we are NOT happy with:
The Temperature Sensor Dis-connect on the back of the Heater has been eliminated. This means that if 'the Dog' chews up the Sensor, the front of The Monitor must be removed and the entire Wiring Harness loosened up to replace this very simple Probe (the Factory saved 10 cents).
The size of the Combustion Viewing Glass has been dramatically cut by 1/2 thus making it harder to view the Flame and Flame Rod during Combustion and Routine Maintenance - How DUMB!!!
The Manual Temperature Re-set Switch had been Eliminated so that the Customer cannot choose for themselves what temperature to Re-set the Heater at in case of a Power Outage. This Re-set was a GREAT feature that was eliminated by Factory Cost-cutting without the Consumer in mind.
In a state of LUNACY...The Factory has eliminated the 'Always-Visible' Individual Running-State Burner Status lights!!! These 4-Mode lights were EXCELLENT diagnostic tools for the The Consumer and The Technician telling us EXACTLY which Burner Mode the Heater was in as we were checking the Air/Fuel Mixture with the Manometer Meter. Not only that...When you do put the M-2400 Digital Display into Burner-Status the Temperature Settings are not only eliminated BUT even worse are not Set-able so that the Technician cannot Pre-set a Burner-mode for Testing. I can only believe that whomever made the decision to eliminate the Burner Status Running-Lights and Temperature Settings at the same time is a TOTAL IDIOT and should be buried up to his eyeballs in a Fire-ant hill!!!
And it is interesting to note that the Factory NEVER asks the Dealers and Technicians before doing these Stupid things; The Bean-Counters just go merrily on their way cutting the Heart and Soul out of Monitor Products which I used to consider the best on the market...As you can see though, I as an Award-Winning Heating Dealer and Technician, have NEW opinions and Worse experiences with each succeeding 'NEW' Monitor Heater.
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Now...for the BEST Part:
When Al's Heating Repairs, Upgrades or Re-Engineers a Monitor 2400 Heater, we do it RIGHT! And to Re-Inforce that work -
We Warranty our Work for 3 Full Years
as long as the customer has a Yearly Clean-and-Adjust...Even the Factory does NOT Warranty their Product that long (ONLY 1 Year!) - which just goes to PROVE which one of us has more Faith in our Quality and Work. I wonder just how many of these 'Pretty-Boy' executives get their hands dirty doing an honest day's work or REALLY caring about YOU THE CUSTOMER???
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Finally - To Buy or Not to Buy...?
If you buy a Monitor 2400 or M422 from a Normal Idiot Monitor Dealer (who not only is drooling about the sale profits now but also the BIG repair dollars later) they will NOT tell you the 2400 Problems. Be prepared to probably pay a HUGE Re-build price later for repairs because that is what we have seen!
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Alvah C. Luce - Cosmic Genius
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(All Content is the Experience and Opinion of The Author - Alvah C. Luce / Licensed Heating Technician and Award-Winning Monitor Dealer)