Furnace chang over, Nat'l Gas to Propane

[Jerry Anderson]

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Contact the manufacturer as they will have the right information and perhaps a kit to make the change. Usualoly, it is the orfice and regulator. The people that made it know much more that I would.

[geoman]

I would never put an open flame burner in a garage, no matter WHAT the manufacture says!

there are MANY codes covering this installation, and I personally think the code should be, NO OPEN FLAME SOURCE PERIOD in a garage area.

Rich

[Greg O]

That seems a bit extreme! As long as the installation is done to code I see no problem with open flame in a garage! It is done all the time! I have a 80% furance in my garage. It is hung at the ceiling, so I have the requirement to be 18" off the floor more than covered! Greg

[Edwin Pawlowski]

There are codes and reasons for them. If there is no car in the garage, care taken with stored chemicals, the danger is very minimal. Solid fueled stoves are not permitted though as the embers can be hot for days after it is "shut down" and be a danger if flammable chemicals are used.

[Joe Bobst]

yes, except for different diaphragms in the main control and different orifice in the pilot control. In other words, they use the same body casting. Control manufacturers usually have kits available for switching from one gas to the other. Been there, done that some years ago, not difficult at all with the right parts. The propane orifice is smaller than the NG. This means you need new ones. Get them from the furnace maker if you can, maybe start by calling their customer service for a parts list, advice on conversion. Good luck.

Joe

[Bubba]

Wrong! Different diaphragms? Nope. Its a spring, honey. Diaphram stays the same. Pressure changes though. Big Boom if you do it wrong. Bubba

[TURTLE]

I have a natural gas home furnace that I'm not using because I changed it out for a more efficient one and thought it would be good to give it to my brother-in-law to heat his garage with. The furnace is in very good condition. My question is this. The furnace that I have is as I said natural gas and all my brother-in-law has is propane as he lives in out of town. We thought it could be changed over to propane by changing the orifices in all 5 burners but is the same control OK to keep or do we need a control that is for propane. Are controls for natural gas and propane the same? Also, how do we calculate what size orifices we need? Is the orifice for propane bigger or smaller than for natural gas? Thanks to anybody who can help. Jerry [e-mail]

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

Hey Bubba , You really don't want to see what some of these hand do with gas furnaces in the garage heat set ups. I seen one the other day where a fellow pull the 24 mv thermocouple head out and clipped the head off it to run with out a thermocouple and no pilot lite burner at all. Just done away with it and had a wall switch on the side of it to close the W and R terminals. Then he has a 1 foot long charcoal liter to light it with and when it got warm in there he would roll the pressure screw to lower the flame down low to idle it and try to run all the time to keep the temperature right in there. No vent, no vent fan, and just sitting in the middle of the shop with a 3/8" air hose suppling the natural gas to it. Now he did have one safety on it and that was he had the 120 volt power hooked up to the light switch and when he turned out the lights off it cut a cellinoid off to the gas hose and power to the furnace. I told him when I get rich I want one like that. That was a pretty thing to behold.

TURTLE

[Joe Bobst]

Oops, meant to say diaphragm kit. The liitle plastic bag kit I bought had a cap, spring, and diaphragm. Very complete, directions included. HTH

Joe