absolutely agree with Mike about the safety issues on a unit this old...

TD

Thanks, gentlemen. Here's an update.

They wanted to do a thorough cleaning of the unit before anything else. Inside that metal housing is a large burner the whole length of the heater. I saw them dump out a lot of soot that was in that burner.

They ran the unit to get a baseline on it. We were getting upwards of 24ppm CO coming from the unit, with a light smoke and odor. The CO unit has a yellow/orange/red indicator and this was in the red zone. The CO was rising the longer the unit ran.

Next day they tried to seal the unit with a high heat silicone. Hard to describe but where that iron burner slides in from the right, it seats against the opening in the metal box. That is where they were sealing with silicone.

They ran the unit again to let it heat up and see what it does. After a short while, the CO unit was flashing orange. There was a noxious smell and odor in the house with smoke. I was starting to get a headache and a burning feeling in my throat. I can't place the smell. Soot/smoke like the exhaust from a diesel bus, maybe, some chemical smell to it though too.

That's where we are right now. The unit is shut off. No replacement yet.

It's a property management company you deal with, and the company manages 1200 units. There is a separate building owner but I know nothing about who the owner is. I've talked to the leasing manager, I've met the head of maintenance, and I've put everything in writing.

Do you feel comfortable sharing City and State? That way someone familiar with the regulations of that area may be able to advise.

Minimum heating requirements for rental units vary across the country. Most require a minimum of 68 degrees during the day, and 62 degrees at night. If your apartment is falling below the minimums then your landlord could be violating a local law.

Has the property management company told you what they plan to do and when?

I'm sorry I didn't write back sooner, you guys were concerned and I never gave you an update.

I never ran that old unit again. I made a call to the city, and I informed the management office in writing that I called the city.

Later the same day I got a call from Maintenance saying they were red tagging the unit and would get me a new one. Had to wait 10 days for the new heater, but I was agreeable because I was no longer getting any pushback or disrespect from them. After that phone call to the city, their whole attitude changed about the situation. Sounds like they did not want a city inspector anywhere near this building.

The new unit is an Empire DV210. Piezo lighter. New flue and outdoor vent. I built a new surround for it to keep my cat away from the front (it gets hot.). Gas connections seem tight, and I've had zero CO from the unit.

They left the same wall thermostat from the old heater, from 1960, to run it; it works; its a good 5 degrees inconsistent sometimes, but otherwise reliable.

If you get a good gust of wind from a certain direction, it blows out the pilot, but that is a problem due to the whole building and the way it is designed. Every apartment (40 apartments in this place) has one of these style units with a horizontal flue going out the wall. On some of them, they've strapped some metal in an upsidedown U shape over the flue vent to make kind of an awning over it and and protect it from incoming wind. They're willing to do that for me if it becomes a recurring problem.

Glad to hear you were able to get the city involved and have the unsafe heater replaced. They could have spent another $30 and replaced the thermostat. Good luck with your new heater.

The ironic thing is that someone gifted me recently with a Dyson Heat and Cool. On days that are chilly but not "cold" I'm just using the Dyson and its an amazing unit. Best space heater I've ever had.

I will be using the Empire when we hit those frigid weeks when the outside temp hovers around zero.

It's nice to have two good options. The Empire is failsafe even if power goes out.