Monitor Heater Parts Service Repair ~ 21, 22, 422, 40, 41, 441, 2400, KWH-124 Vented K-1 Heating Systems

Al's DISCOUNT Heating
 

 

Award Winning Heating Dealer

Monitor Heater Parts, Service, Repair Vented Heating Specialist

 

 

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 2-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 them like any of the Monitors - but NOT the Toyo's). The 21's, 41's and for the most part the 22's were bulletproof also. Customers got many, many years of good use out of the Early 21,22,41s 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 he 441's and 422's 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 ones are (and we can only comment from our perspective) pure junk! At Al's Heating we would ALWAYS pre-test every Monitor 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 testing the 441's, the new cheap Thailand bearings squealed their little heads right off as soon as we started up 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 Sealed Bearings whicch when we installed, the 441's ran smooth as silk and totally noise 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 BUUT NOT with the same high quality bearings we were using (what a surprise!!!) - 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. Customers were complaining about having Self-destruct problems with 422's and 441's within 3weeks,1,2,4 years and this is inexcusable from any Manufacturer.

It is not right that the Consumer is Telling me that this 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 that he had replaced 300 Damper-solenoids last year and just LOVED the bucks.

BUT...there is NOTHING wrong with the Solenoid itself - It is a complete assembly problem that we FIX that cannot be fixed for good! 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 bearings that we would NEVER use, and the lifting burner mat problem along with loose burner screws and gaskets.

 

 

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 to the Gory Details:

(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)