Hi folks,

I installed a new electric wall heater and thermostat yesterday and have run into a bit of a problem, I let all the smoke escape! Long story short I turned off the 20 amp breaker, hooked up the thermostat with the "black, to line" side of the thermostat to the black wire going to the breaker box and the "red,to load" wire going to the electric heater. I then connected the two white wires together in the box. Simple enough. I turned the breaker back on, turned the thermostat up to 80, and the wall heater started and warmed up real fast. I thought perfect! everything works but I've never seen a wall heater warm up so fast. Then about 15 seconds later the heater quit and smoke came out.

I went back to the breaker box and turned the breaker off. At that point I noticed the 20 amp heater breaker was the only one in the box with the white wire coming out of the breaker instead on a black wire like the rest of the breakers. It looks pretty much like all the other breakers.

I'm guessing the wall heater is toast but can't figure out what went wrong. Was the white wire going into the breaker of significance?

Thanks

Terry