20 Most Recent Presto HeatDish Compact Heater Questions & Answers

I rewired my heat dish. I UNPLUGGED THE HEAT DISH. I loosened the three screws on the back and removed them. Then I unclipped the dish at the bottom. The dish should be loose and the bottom section of the dish should be detached from the plastic casing. Look inside the casing at the bottom. There is a red cable attached to the buzzer (it’s the silver metallic piece). Detach the red cable from the buzzer. Now look directly behind the buzzer is a black wire that connects to the circuit next the buzzer. Attach the red cable to the female receptor foot the black cable. Plug it in and it should work fine. This will permantly disable the buzzer, SO YOUR HEATDISSH NOW LOINGER HAS A WARNING SYSYTEM. IF YOU TURN YOUR HEATER OVER THE BUZZER DOES NOT GO OFF, THE BUZZER ALSO INDICATES OVERHEATING OF THE UNIT. SO BE CAREFULL. MAKE SURE THE UNIT IS UNPLUGGED WHEN WORKING ON IT. GOOD LUCK AND BE SAFE

for those of you that want to void your warranty or just dont care there is a fix for the buzzer problem.
If you take the three screwws in the back and the one in the top next to the heat selector switch the steel dish portion will come away from the dish back. located on the bottem of the back inside panel there is a small disk looking tilt switch that has one red wire on one end and on the other a white and two black wires. remove this component and all wires from it. take all the wires from it and remove the ends exposing solid wire. for this modification you will need a philips driver wire stripper and cutter and one medium size wire nut available at almost any hardware store. take all the loose wires and wrap them together and place the wire nut on them. be sure to tuck the wire someplace away from the dish portion when going back together. put the unit back together and plug it in and "presto" you have no anoying buzzer anymore and the heater wont go on and off like it used to. this seems to be a comen problem due to lack of insulation and poor design on heatdishes part. hope this solved your problem

I almost threw my heater out! I cleaned this morning with Window Cleaner and it works just fine now. It was just dust. I cleaned the round metal area not the coils.

Hope this helps.

Emailed Presto about replacing the buzzer and here is the answer I got:


There is no such part. Buzzer sounds when heater:
- is tipped
- rests uneven on floor
- is too close to furniture or wall
- has too much dust on parabolic dish
The most common reason is that the parabolic dish is dusty.
To clean the heater:
1. Unplug the heater and clean it when it is cool
2. Spray a cloth with an all-purpose cleaner such as 409
3. Wrap the cloth around a long handle such as a wooden spoon
4. Wipe between the grate from the outer edge to the center
If you have further questions, please let me know. Or call us at 1-800-877-0441 Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Central Time.

I pried the upper rim with needle nosed pliers --,just enough to get the grid off. After cleaning with Mister Bubbles, I popped the grid back in and bent the rim back down. I then took a hammer and
smoothed the rough edges. Looks almost like new!!

No repair is economically viable now, sorry need a new one.

With fine sand paper 100 grit. Don't rub it too hard it can damage it. If the sensor is old I would just recommend replacing it.

You have this posted in Heating and A/C I would repost question in appliance sections

Dear Sondra, You might well have started a fire in your walls. You are very observant. Please do not plug this machine in again. Take it back to COSTCO somewhere with the store receipt and they should replace it or refund the money. You will need to find the store manager. Please do not list your phone numbers on a public web site, because people can read this who you do not wish to do so. God bless your efforts.

I am no laser specific on this piece of equipment but any time a set of contacts arc to a degree where they smoke, they are overheating due to resistance being too high. Could be a worn out set of contacts or the current being passed thru them is higher than the contacts are rated for. I am assuming this is an electric heat unit, if so, the element(s) may be having issues.

Is your computer Windows 7 or 8 or older like XP, Vista, etc.? I am assuming you mean 'Google Chrome' and you are probably trying to do a conversation with a friend and they cannot hear you. -Look at the bottom right of your screen by the time/date. -Do you see a little speaker icon? (if you don't, just click on ^ arrow to the left of the clock to view all of your options) -Right click on speaker icon, a tooltip window opens, left click on Recording Devices -In this window it shows your microphone. To the right of the Microphone entries you see a volume bar, this bar goes up and down showing you if it is sending audio. Say some test words and see if the arrows move up when you speak. If they do not, proceed to next step, if the the arrows go up indicating it hears you, proceed to step {Z} at the bottom -if the volume bars do not go up to the sound of your voice (indicating if it can hear u you), go back into the Recording Devices and Recording tab from earlier, right click on Microphone in the Recording tab and select Properties. -in the Listen tab NOTHING should be selected except one of the bubble options -Levels tab -----{Z} -Since you see the volume going up as you speak, your computer is hearing you and is able to transmit -right click on Microphone (on the Recording tab of the Sound page we opened earlier} and left click "make default device" and also "make default communications device" and then click Ok so it saves and close out. -Restart computer, see if problem persists. If it does, it must be the settings of whatever extension or program you are using to voice chat to people through your browser

It all depends on the how much dust has accumulated on inside of the dish.

Try to use the Swiffer first before mechanically altering any part. Slide the duster in through the grate, and move it around. Pull it out and repeat on the other area. You'll just have to do this around 3 times.
If heavy clean is necessary, then you might have to resort to bending the lip of the dish to separate the grate off from the dish.

IMPORTANT: make sure the unit is unplugged and cool down before attempting any of these cleaning methods.

Once you've unplugged the unit do this. Read this whole answer before you start. Push down hard with a thin flat screwdriver in between the cage and the dish and flip it out. Some disk rim deformation may occur but you can bang it back later. Be careful and it will be minimal. For tough cases you may need two screwdrivers a short distance apart. Once it starts coming it should pop out quickly. There is a pin at the bottom so start at the top. This is basically the same technique as removing tires from a bicycle rim if you've ever done that. When replacing the cage, after cleaning, put the bottom pin in at the bottom first and work your way up from the bottom on each sides with your thumbs. Press hard to snap it in. At the top a pair of pliers may be required. There, not too hard was it?

It sounds to me like you have a second degree infrared burn,similar to a faifly bad sunburn. I would avoid using heater and apply a aloe-vere base lotion on it three to four times a day. If it does not show a marked improvement in 5-7 days I would have a professional check it. Good luck and thank you.