Your heat storm heater is not working? It doesn’t turn on? Or it turns on, but the fan doesn’t blow? Or it turns on, but shuts off on its own after some time?
In this article, I’ll show you simple fixes for these scenarios.
Hi, I am Daniel, an electrical engineer who did electronic repairs professionally in the past.
Luckily, heat storm heaters are comparably simple devices. They don’t have that many components that can break.
So, I bet you will be able to fix your heater after reading this guide thoroughly. Even without much repair skills.
Let’s check your heater, starting with the power supply:
How to Fix Your Heat Storm Heater
This fixing guide covers all Heat Storm models, including the Heat Storm Phoenix (click to view it on amazon), wall-mounted Heat Storm heaters, and Heat Storm infrared panel heaters.
Safety reminder:
Before we dive into troubleshooting, it’s crucial to prioritize your safety. Always disconnect your heater from the power source before inspecting or handling it to prevent any risk of electric shock or injury. It’s better to be safe than sorry, so take this precaution every time
1. Check Power Supply
If your Heat Storm heater is not turning on at all, make sure your wall outlet works. You can test it using a different device and see if that turns on.
If the wall outlet works, good. Else, test your heat storm heater on another wall outlet, ideally, on a separate electric circuit (as far away from the original wall outlet as possible).
Test it in a different room on a different floor, in the garage, or in a friend’s house.
If your heater works there, the issue is in your electric circuit at home.
Check your electric service box for blown fuses or tripped circuit breakers.
2. Clean Air Filters / Run Without Filters
Clogged air filters can cause your Heat Storm heater to overheat and shut off on its own. This affects all Heat Storm models with a built-in blower, such as the Heat Storm Phoenix.
If your Heat Storm heater doesn’t have air filters, skip this section.
Remove the filter cover on both sides of your Heat Storm heater and take out the air filters.
Turn on your Heat Storm heater. Does it work now?
If it works now without shutting off, the air filters cause overheating.
Thoroughly wash the filters, and see if it works with clean filters. Else, you can also run your Heat Storm heater without air filters. However this will cause internal dust buildup over the years that you may have to clean out every season.
But if it gets your Heat Storm heater running again, it’s a useful workaround.
3. Clean Out Dust
Open up your Heat Storm heater and check for dust. Dust causes the heater to overheat and shut off on its own.
Clean out the dust. For dusting, I recommend getting this Craftsman air compressor (click here to view it on amazon).
An air compressor is invaluable for heater maintenance. And you can use it for cleaning out your car, inflating tires, and all kinds of other maintenance tasks. It’s an investment that pays in the long run.
4. Check Tip-Over Protection
All Heat Storm heaters come with a built-in tip-over protection. That is, when the heater tips over, stands on an uneven surface, or is mounted at a skewed angle, it stops heating and doesn’t turn on.
Make sure the heater is level with the floor.
If it still doesn’t turn on, your tip-over protection might be stuck. Give your Heat Storm heater a firm smack with the palm of your hand to release the stuck tip-over protection.
You can think of the tip-over protection as an inverse pendulum. Only when your heater stands level with the ground, the inverse pendulum balances. Otherwise, it tips over to either side, hitting an electric contact and closing a protection circuit.
5. Hard Reset / Recalibrate It
If your Heat Storm heater is not heating as expected or showing odd thermostat temperatures, it needs to be recalibrated.
The safest way to force a new calibration is a hard reset.
While pressing and holding the power button on the device:
- Unplug the device
- Wait 30 seconds
- Plug it back it
Release the power button only after the device is plugged it.
Please note this does not work with the remote control. You need to press the power button on the device.
6. Check Fan / Blower Motor
If your Heat Storm heater does not blow air, check the fan motor. To do that, disassemble the heater, open up the front or back panel (depending on the model) and inspect the motor.
Does it rotate freely? If not, there may be a blocking part stuck in the fan blades you need to remove. Make sure your heater is unplugged before working on the fan motor.
If it does rotate freely, check the power supply to the motor. Are all wires attached?
If you have some electronics skills, check the voltage to the motor with a multimeter. Does the blower motor receive input power?
7. Inspect Electric Circuitry
If your Heat Storm heater still doesn’t work, inspect the electric circuitry. Set a timer and take 10-15 minutes and inspect the circuit board, wire connections, and the heating element.
Look out for blown parts, burn marks, and disconnected wires.
These are usually easy to spot and occur frequently in electric heaters.
Once you locate the broken or blown part, find out its specification. Read it from the label on the part. You can use the internet to find more info about parts with just a serial number on them.
If the label is not readable due to burn marks, look for a matching part in the circuitry nearby. Usually, electronic parts are used several times in the same circuitry.
To repair the electronic circuitry, buy a matching replacement part online. Unsolder the damaged part and put the new part in place.
After going through all these steps, your Heat Storm heater should be working again.
What to do if You Can’t Fix your Heat Storm Heater?
If you can’t fix your heater, either because you lack the knowledge and skills to do so, or because you can’t find the root cause of the issue, I recommend buying a new heater.
My recommendation for a new infrared heater is the Dr. Infrared Dr-968. It’s an infrared heater, just like the Heat Storm heater, but has a sturdier wooden case, so it is not as easily damaged.
Also, it does not come with smart home integration, so there’s less room for problems.
Generally, whether to pick a Heat Storm or a Dr. Infrared is a matter of design preference. Both are solid choices.
But I prefer simple & sturdy heaters that heat reliably and don’t break down over time.
Conclusion
A Heat Storm heater not working is usually simple to fix. Heat Storm heaters have very few parts, so there is not much that can break.
Usually, Heat Storm heaters stop working when they accumulate dust, which causes them to overheat, or when there’s an issue with the electronics (power supply, calibration, fan motor).
In each of these cases, it makes sense to open up your Heat Storm heater and have a look inside. Usually, you can see the root issue quite quickly.
If there’s dust, clean it out. If the fan is blocked, unblock it. And if you see a blown part in the circuitry, replace it.
If you can’t repair your broken Heat Storm heater due to lacking skills or tools, I recommend just buying a new space heater. Space heaters are not very expensive. And a replacement is usually cheaper than a professional repair.