Broken heater element in a Wesco 960K Furnace

[gragus]

I recently moved into a Condo and the electric furnace broke after 3 days. I took it apart (I am not too knowledgeable with this, but it's a very simple ancient-looking construction). It appears that the heating coil is physically broken (torn in one place). The furnace is labelled "Wesco Electric Central Heating Furnace 960K". My understanding is that Wesco spare parts are not available, is this right? Is there some generic heater coil I could use instead? And if not, can a physically torn coil be repaired?

Many thanks and please let me know if I can provide any additional information to help you answering my question.

[Jim Katen]

Those furnace's have a, basically, unlimited life. Everything in them can be replaced easily.

I never thought about trying to repair a broken coil. But I suppose it could be done with a split bolt or something like that. In any case, it shouldn't be necessary because it's simple enough to just replace it.

Any halfway competent heating contractor can replace your coil.

[gragus]

Thank you for your reply, Jim.

I would enjoy learning about it and fixing it myself. The actual doing appears quite easy - removing the part was trivial: just remove a few screws. Putting a replacement back will also be straight forward.

However, how do I tell which parts are suitable? Can you advice? Is there some information I could provide to help? Perhaps a picture of the broken coil?

Thanks!

[Marc]

Check this out. Scroll down to heating elements. See if there's one that looks like yours then give them a call.

Marc

[Jim Katen]

Marc's resource will probably have just what you need, but if it doesn't just get any one of the elements and swap the actual coil from the new element onto your old element.

[gragus]

Many thanks! I will look into this during the week and report back here

[The Honest Handyman]

The part you are talking about is called a heat strip which includes the element, frame and temperature limit switches. The part you need to get is called a restring kit. Any generic 5K nichrome wire coil will work. Try to get a coil that is approximately the same diameter as the original but it is not crucial. You should be able to buy it online or at any local parts distributor. There are many YouTube videos that show how to restring the element.