Fenwal’s customer-configurable gas ignition controls can be used three different ways: as bare boards (left) for installation in appliance housings, in a potted version (lower right) for high moisture environments, and with a case and cover (top right). The latter version was selected by LT&S for their direct-vent, baseboard heater.

Beginning as no more than a tin ware shop more than a century ago, Kentucky-based Louisville Tin & Stove Co., has built itself into a large manufacturer that now markets 11 categories of residential gas heating equipment under the Cozy brand name, including direct-vent and top-vent counterflow wall furnaces, gravity wall furnaces, vented console heaters and floor furnaces, and direct-vent gas fired baseboard heaters.

Many of those product lines came through acquisition, including the purchase of a direct-vent, gas-fired baseboard heater (DVGBH) from Hunter’s of Canada in 2002. Canadian customers were extremely loyal to this one-of-a-kind product, and LT&S quickly realized its unique design was a perfect fit with the Cozy line.

The DVGBH is used primarily as an additional heating device along any outside room wall that might be cold due to its proximity to a window or its distance from the primary heat source in the building. Since primary heating sources do not heat all areas of a building uniformly, a baseboard heater serves as a safe and effective way to add extra warmth in areas where it is needed. The added heat is particularly useful in additions, “three-season rooms” or rooms that get a lot of outdoor traffic, such as family rooms and mudrooms. The DVGBH is primarily a residential heating device, but can also be used in high-rise developments and commercial entryways, and is also approved for use in mobile homes. To add to the flexibility of the DVGBH, three units can be operated from one thermostat.

Although LT&S was extremely pleased with the overall design and functionality of the DVGBH, there was one aspect they felt merited improvement. After extensive lab testing, LT&S discovered the reason for the product’s occasional performance lapses: it failed to detect extremely low-pressure situations of airflow blockage.

LT&S quickly realized that, while the overall concept was excellent and the product already possessed strong name recognition and customer loyalty, the performance issue must be addressed in order to maximize the sales growth and future marketability of the DVGBH outside of the already-established Canadian market.

LT&S started by completely re-engineering the internal design, replacing the combustion blower with a safer inducer. The inducer draws exhaust gasses out of the combustion chamber rather than pressurizing the combustion chamber and possibly forcing combustion byproducts into the heated space. The inducer also provides an important safety function by better monitoring the draft through the pipe. Blockages are more quickly detected by the internal pressure switch, which upon detection will automatically turn the unit off to prevent combustion products and carbon monoxide from entering the room.

After making these improvements, LT&S decided that the original analog control needed to be replaced by a microprocessor to improve the overall timings and include self-diagnostics. Fenwal Controls, Ashland, Mass., a developer of temperature control, gas ignition, and heat detection mechanisms, joined forces with LT&S to optimize the gas ignition control, including Fenwal’s matched electrodes and cables.

“What led us to the Fenwal product was its performance characteristics,” explains Bob Busby, vice president of sales and marketing for LT&S. “We use the Fenwal Control Ignition Module to govern the firing sequence on the heater. It’s very reliable, very dependable. We field tested any number of different manufacturer’s products, but Fenwal’s the one that gave us the most practical field results.”

Fenwal helped LT&S change the product’s original hot surface ignition system to direct-spark ignition. LT&S says it found the HSI it was using did not provide highly reliable ignition in extremely cold temperatures and that the fragile ceramic component often broke when the heater was experienced impact. The conversion to DSI help to improve durability and long-term reliability of the heater.

Busby says that Fenwal not only provided the Cozy heater with strong, reliable gas ignition, but also added a self-diagnosis feature, enabling the mechanism to identify operating problems in three separate areas. This allows the contractor to immediately know exactly which parts need attention when a problem occurs. In addition, the control provides the power to run the thermostat, simplifying installation.

LT&S’s two newest products also feature the Fenwal microprocessor logic board. In addition to the DVGBH, LT&S is marketing a window gas heater called Wind-O-Warm, in which the Fenwal control is the governor of the entire system. The new Fenwal-enabled series have already surpassed many older LT&S products.