Vintage Sears Electric Fireplace

[dalangdon]

Hi There,

This is definitely an oddity, but I'm hoping someone out there might have some advice.

We have a Sears fake fireplace from the 1960's. It's super cute, made to look like a stone fireplace in a suburban home of that era. It has a built-in fake log, with the spinning disk to make it look like flames.

It also has a heater, but the heater part doesn't work. I think it may be the switch, which is a weird device that looks like it's burned out.

So basically, I need a 110v thermostatic switch that can control a resistance electric heater AND two fans. I'm thinking that a regular baseboard thermostat would probably burn out the fan motors.

Any thoughts?

 

[tomturbomatic]

Let's go people; there are a couple of someones pacing in front of it waiting for heat.

Probably the thermostatic switch from a portable heater would work.

 

[sudsmaster]

I'd attach test leads from a 110 volt source to the outputs of the switch to see if the element is still good, first. A line cord similar to what the fireplace currently has would probably do for this. Depending on the connections, either stripped ends or alligator clips.

Don't forget to unplug everything before making the connections.

 

[warmsecondrinse]

If the whole heating unit turns out to be no good....

I saw a 2020 version of this classic 3 weeks ago at Costco, so similar heating units are still being produced somewhere on the planet.

A few years ago I was looking at those alcohol burning 'fireplaces' and other such heaters that needed neither electricity nor vening to operate. On a couple such sites I saw 'electric fireplaces'. I I couldn't resist checking them out and I'm 99% sure I saw most of the component parts for sale separately.

I'll own this so if repair isn't an option let me know and I'll hunt myself. I'll know the sites when I see them so it'll be faster if I do it.

Jim

 

[combo52]

Thoughts On Fixing Heater

I need more information, and a picture of the burned-damaged part,

 

Does this have a separate on-off switch ? or is the thermostat the on-off switch ?

 

If it is the thermostat that is bad a thermostat for an electric baseboard heater would work fine.

 

John L.

 

[dalangdon]

I think I'm going to be out there this weekend or early next week. I'll take some pictures and post them then. Thanks!

 

[dalangdon]

Ok, here’s some pictures. I can’t figure out if this this was originally 110 or 220

 

[combo52]

Bad Thermostat On A Heater

I assume that this unit just plugs in to an outlet ?

 

Most switches and thermostats are rated for 240-120 volts this does not mean that this EFP was ever designed to be run on 240 volts.

 

If this is just a 120 volt heater try just bypassing the thermostat and see if it works, if so you can leave it bypassed and just plug-in or un-plug to use the heater. 

 

I still don't have enough pictures to know what the thermostat looks like, how does it sense room temperature ? is it a simple bi-metal or does it ave a capillary bulb on it ?

 

John L.

 

[michaelman2]

I bet this would work:

I have this unit in an electric fireplace and it works nicely.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Electric-Fake-Flame-and-Log-Fireplace-Insert-Heater-Remote-Control-23-1350-watt/274403544187?hash=item3fe3b9cc7b:g:HgAAAOSwB0he7pXM

 

[dalangdon]

It works!

So it turns out it was a problem with the wiring block (duh on my part) . Someone bypassed the heater, but it’s happily humming (and heating) away now. The only thing I’m not crazy about is that it doesn’t have a neutral, but I’ll figure that out later. After I dust off the heater and blowers......

Thanks for all the good advice!

 

[polkanut]

Is the grandfather clock shown above electric?

 

[jmm63]

Thanks for the memory. My Aunt and Uncle had the exact same fireplace in their basement family room. We spent so much time there with my 5 girl cousins. We always decorated it at Christmas, the tree was always on the left.

 

[dalangdon]

Grandfather clock

The clock is a traditional wind up clock from Germany. Its Art Deco styling puts it in the 20’s or 30’s (which, as everyone knows, was not a good time for Germany). We found it in a junk store in Tacoma. The only thing it needed was a new piece of glass over the pendulums, but it stopped working a while back.