Monitor 441 Problems: Repairs Heater Parts Service 21, 22, 422, 41, 441, 2400 Vented K-1 Heating Systems

Al's DISCOUNT Heating
 

 

Award Winning Heating Dealer

 

 

Let's get right to THE Problems:

"In the Beginning"...Monitor produced a great product - The 20 and 30. But when the 40's came along, there were some REAL problems. Every single Monitor 40 had to be rebuilt from the circuit board to the pot. And because EVERY one was defective, the Factory fixed the units - but NOT without some slight of hand: Instead of a warranty repair (remember EVERY unit was bad!), they called it an 'Enhancement' ! That way it sounded better to the public; but more importantly when expounding statistics, the Factory did NOT have to include this M40 problem in their 'Warranty Repair' report.

Monitor did the same thing when it came to the KWH-124 water heater - which was so problematic that it was discontinued which is too bad because I still have one and LOVE it lots! Now we have the Toyo Water Heater which is even better than the Monitor.

These Corporate Guys in suits can twist anything to make dog-poop sound like chicken-soup all day long when it comes to 'Warranty Claims'. And don't forget we are ONLY talking about a 1 year period when Monitor has to include 'warranty repairs' in their Company statistics - and even bad parts usually make it beyond the first year.

BUT...When Al's Heating installs or Re-builds a Heater...We warranty it for 3-Full-Years Parts and Labor - Just let Monitor try that (they know the worth(?) of their product).

 

The Early Heaters were Great!

When the 41's came out (really a 40 with a re-set selector), they were wonderful...You couldn't kill 'em with an ax - Unless the air setting was out of whack which ALWAYS destroyed any of the Monitors. The 21's, 41's and for the most part the 22's were bulletproof also (but, yes, we started having trouble with the 22's at an earlier stage). Customers got many, many years of good use out of the Early Heaters as long as service was done regularly, and the air / fuel mixture was adjusted by a competent servicer (that's a joke!).

 

Then Came Real Trouble:

When the Monitor 441 and 422 problems came out, We had troubles right out of the box (with the 441's). The Monitor 41 bearings were terrific quality Japanese parts - The new 441 bearings are (and we can only comment from our perspective) pure junk! At Al's Heating we would ALWAYS pre-test every Monitor 441 heater on the bench before it went out the door (find anyone else who does that in the entire Country and I will kiss their tu-tu!). And as soon as we started Bench-testing the 441's, the new cheap Thailand bearings squealed their little heads right off as soon as we started testing the Heater. And because Al's Heating is NOT like the idiot Servicers and Factories and Distributors out there...we took it upon ourselves to re-build each and every 441 heater right in our shop putting in First Quality SKF Sealed Bearings. When we installed the SKF's...the 441's ran smooth as silk and totally noise and trouble free.

When we complained to the Factory about the bearing problem...they denied our Bad-bearing claims until a Salesman was sent (a lot of pud pulling he did) - but still the 441 Bearing Problem was denied. Then within a year there was a 'replacement bearing kit' from the local distributor with the same high quality bearings we were using (what a co-incidence!) - Al's Heating was right Again!

However...Now comes the NEW Problems: It was not long before we encountered REAL problems with the 441's and 422's in the form of burned up Flame Rings, Burned out Pots, Lots of Sooting-up, Burner Mats Curled Right Up and Pots Burned Out - and we had a lot of Bad Burning Heaters. Even though we had Pre-burned and Adjusted every Monitor Heater before it went out, we were seeing service and parts problems that we never saw on the 21, most 22's and 41's. And NOW we are still seeing Self-destruct problems with 422's and 441's within 2-3-4 years and this is inexcusable from any Manufacturer.

There is no doubt that we are glad to have the repairs and do the work with our Up-graded and Up-engineered parts and Techniques thus giving the customer a PUUUUUUUUUUUURFECT HEATER and a Full 3 Year Warranty from Al's Heating; but at the same time it is not right that the Consumer is getting what My experience tells me is an inferior product from the Manufacturer.

Our research eventually showed that the Damper-Solenoid 'O'-rings of the 422's and 441's were breaking down prematurely and breaking apart much sooner than the 21,22,40,41 Heaters; the New Damper-Solenoids were sticking open or closed causing the Heaters to either run red-hot or soot-up; and in general we saw what we considered to be a problematic nightmare with the 422's and 441's. We were replacing damper-solenoid assemblies at an epidemic proportion as NEVER BEFORE !!! A friend of mine in the Monitor business confided to me a month ago (6/03) that he had replaced 300 Damper-solenoids that year and just LOVED the BIG-bucks.

 

Al's Heating to the Rescue:

BUT...Al's Heating Up-engineers the Damper-Solenoid-Assembly without replacing It as there is NOTHING actually wrong with the Solenoid itself - It is a complete assembly problem that we Re-design and FIX not just for now...BUT for good! I get pissed-off when I hear that kind of money-talk from a Dealer (300 Solenoids replaced) as there is NO reason for any product to have an on-going problem like this. And even though the 2400's have eliminated the Damper-solenoid...It still has cheap bearings that we would NEVER use and the lifting burner mat problem along with loose burner screws and gaskets (which we have solved in our Re-builds also).

You as the Customer deserve a 1st class product and Al's Heating is here to give you that Quality in the form of 1st Quality Up-engineered Parts and Re-builds and a Service and Repair Video that the Monitor does NOT want you to have.

NOW you will be totally independent from idiot servicers forever; Do your own work better and for much less money; and know your Monitor Heater better than the Factory or your local Dealer or Servicer!!!

Alvah C. Luce does NOT let the idiocy of dick-head executives or pasty-faced bean-counters run his life or business - I do what's right regardless!!!

Now the Solutions...

(Please Click Here To Go To The Monitor Parts and Service Page)

 

(All Editorial Comments and Experiences are those of the Author - Alvah C. Luce)