Newbie question regarding propane torpedo heaters

[FrankenFraud]

Hello all; I recently purchased a refurbished Propane Reddy Torpedo heater from Self Serve Lumber (got a fantastic deal on it too imo). It has 3 heat ranges low (65,000 btu), Mid (85,000 btu) & High (100,000 btu). Anyhow, I hooked it up, tested it for leaks & have the 20lb tank (full)sitting outside in a 6' stand up, louvered all metal locker with the supply hose running into the detached garage. Said garage is pretty well insulated. The first two times (separate occasions) I fired it up & ran it for roughly 10-15 minutes between low & mid range with no problems till it got near 50 degrees inside. However the 3rd time I ran it, I started to get this chlorine smell up in my nose & my eyes started to sting. I shut it off ASAP. QUESTIONS: What is going on & How do I correct it? I've asked different folks but get varying degrees of answers. I use to own a 55,000 btu Reddy Heater that was multi-fuel & I had no problems with it besides the small kerosene "poof" of smoke/smell when it fired up & turned off. I didn't have to open a window either. I thought I was being wise selling it & going for the propane heater. Now I'm not so sure...Thanks in advance

------------------------------------- \"Peace through Strength\"\//.

[benick]

"FrankenFraud" wrote in message news:9e0a6$4b58bd55$45499b77$ [e-mail]...

Low on fuel ?? A 20 pounder is only 4 gallons...Not much for the heater you are running...I personally hate propane torpedo heaters cuz the seem to always burn your eyes and throat and they put alot of moisture in the air..They are a PITA....I use the K-1 Reddy heater in my garage and at the jobsite when I need to supply my own heat.......The best set up for a garage is an old Miller furnace with a cottage base out of a trailer with it vented outside...My dad got one CHEAP on a yard sale...Works GREAT....When I get my garage completely finished I will go that route as well....

[PeterD]

You need at least a 100 lb tank for that sized heater. A 20 lb tank, when it is cold (from being outdoors) doesn't put out much gas at all..

Also, I'd recommend always using a good CO monitor in the garage. I use a top-hat unvented heater, with two CO alarms, and never detect any CO. But there's always a first time, so be careful.

[DD_BobK]

Not sure where that chlorine smell is coming from since propane has no chlorine in it.

But that 20 lb'r is way too small to supply that heater, esp on the mid & high settings in cold weather

check this out

download it & have a look at it

The btu/hr output of a propane tank is a function of tank size, amount of fuel still in tank (% of full) and the ambient temperature. Heat must be supplied from the environment to vaporize the gas. Small cylinders cannot supply large demands in colder weather or if less than full.

I learned this the hard way as kid trying to power a propane BBQ off a

1lb cylinder (I ran out of gas but had a couple Bernz-o-matic torch cylinders.

Didn't work too well, cylinder exterior froze up and the BBQ barely put out a flame. :(

Though I was able to get the system to work by heating the 1lb'r on the BBQ........not a practice I would recommend.

cheers Bob

[ransley]

At 100,000 btu you might get near 3 hours run time, one thing I could wonder is if propane is freezing and not getting out the full 100000 btu, but with fan on high the fire is maybe not hot as designed and is not a clean burn, is this a radiant element or flame. 100000 btu unvented puts put alot of poisons like Mercaptin as well as Co and water, I would run it on low and see and no higher since its unvented, it can kill you and a Co meter with peak monitoring that You MONITOR is needed as Co meters are Not designed to alarm on short term high levels, On a Nighthawk you push the Peak Memory button for a high level recorded in memory.

[PeterD]

Are you actually referring to "mercaptans"?

[Tzortzakakis Dimitrios]

? "FrankenFraud" ?????? ??? ?????? news:9e0a6$4b58bd55$45499b77$ [e-mail]...

I've got a gas stove in my holiday home (stove like heater, not for cooking) that has a catalyst and an oxygen sensor, the gas bottle (10 kg LPG, 2 1/2 gallons) lasts for a week at full power (6 kW). The gas bottle is inside the stove, with the 30mbar regulator, so no gas evaporation problems, normally bottle is totallyd rained. Your heater was designed for LPG, could it be that it has a natural gas nozzle? In USA, you always install the gas bottle outside? Is there any chance for a heated evaporator?

[ransley]

Id say you should be able to understand even with my misssspelling

[PeterD]

Probably true, but just makeing sure I didn't miss something.

Also, for the OP, I now remember being told (years ago) that for some reason when you reach the end of the tank of gas you often do notice the smell more, and that this was (relatively) normal.

IIRC, I noticed the smell in my basement once, called the gas company to check. His comment was: "You ran out of gas, and this is what happens..." They filled the tanks and we were set, no smell!