Watch these videos and you will understand how they work... I recommend watching all of them in this order as some guys point out some things that the others do not... But if you pull all of them together and grasp the important points, you can figure out how they work...
This is a good first one:
This one is good to explain how the compressor in them works, but he doesn't give enough detail on setting the clearance between the center with the vanes and the outer ring that goes around it:
This guy is a little back woods rednecky, but he gives lots of great info on troubleshooting them... I like how much detail he goes into, but the beginning is a little corny.... :rolleyes:
But after you get through the beginning intro, it really is great info... He shows exactly how to set the clearance between the center of the compressor and the outer ring that it "rides" in... (This one is the most informative, but good to watch after the first two above as this will help clear up any confusion that the other two above didn't cover):
This guy goes into good detail on setting up the compressor and cleaning the filters...
I have one doing a similar thing, starts and fires for about 10 seconds, then "flames out" and all I get is exhaust...
I have torn into it and cleaned the filters, blew out the air and fuel line with compressed air, checked the compressor and I can feel it working when I put my finger on the outlet nipple...
Then I cleaned the photo cell that senses the flame or shuts off the heater if it doesn't see a flame... Just take it off and clean the tip with parts cleaner on a Q-tip and then finish clean it with a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol.... Then put it back in its bracket and make sure that it's aimed properly....
Then I took apart the nozzle on the front of the burner and cleaned it out with parts cleaner and compressed air... Make sure to take it all the way apart and make sure that there isn't any trapped dirt or gum residue build up inside ant then put it back in...
I checked my fuel filter and it looks like the screen is gone, so I ordered a new one... I also ordered a new "spark plug/glow plug" just in case as I have two of these same model that don't work right now and the shipping charges for the part was $8, so I wanted to get my money's worth on the shipping...
So I'm hoping that after I install the new filter and fuel hose it will start....
You can try to run them with the cover off to check for the compressor function and see if the glow plug/spark plug is glowing and then work your way from there... The videos above will show you most of what you need to know to figure out how they work...
The problem is that the model that I have (Remington) are obsolete now and some parts are not available, like the complete fan and blower assemblies are sold out on all the web sites that I've seen...
Here's a link to the Remington heater parts recommendation site with a link: