Ice Castle Heating Question

[FishFindHer]

When I talked to the IC guy originally, I did mention that I got on the internet to research some troubleshooting options and that I ran into some people who were having similar problems. Also mentioned we were comparing notes just to see just how long it *should* take these things to heat up, and to what temperature (and he agreed that what I was experiencing wasn't acceptable). So they are aware that there is some chatter out there. To his credit, he was helpful on the phone and didn't try to give me the runaround.

I'm not sure who the RV guy talked to at IC that told us we had to pay...but I will give them a chance to make this right. I was very reasonable in the email I sent them about my expectations. Ball's in their court, I guess. I would hope they wouldn't risk losing customers over $300, but I guess that remains to be seen.

[sportfish]

My new gambler heated great during deer hunting , BUT the other day I tried it and it took a long time to warn up ! I will be watching this post hard and will try mine again soon !

[Chad Holst]

I know this is silly, but for those that have had it work, then it starts to have issues...have you double checked that there are no bee's nests or other similar things blocking the out vent? The RV heater we were going to use in ours wouldnt run very well when we tried it out. took the case off and it was full of nest from bee's, mice, etcs...

[boXCar JiggY]

very good point lips. FishFindher, I pick mine up satutdy and am prepaird to stay ther an heat it up an make sure it works. Im just trying to figure out how now there are all these problems with the standard 20000 unit when for quite a few years theve been heating just fine. I like biotch mode, go girl go. In my family im the Ambassador an if I need to go to war I call out my Sgt. at Arms. My wife. LOL! Ill post with my results. Sat. Night.

[ZapMan]

might want to try opening the valve on your tank slow. The newer ones have a pretty sensitive pressure valve in them that will restrict the gas flow. I didn't believe it until I saw it with my own eyes. closed the valve and opened up slow and worked like a champ.

+1 on that!

I had a propane dealer tell me that a few years ago when all I could do with my gas grill is dry out my steak not cook them. Propane was full but didn't flow right. Turn off and reopen real slow so internal safety valve doesn't trip.

[B-man715]

Is anybody having trouble with Atwood funrnaces, or just Suburban???

I have an 18k Atwood in my 6x16 Yetti and it would BURN the house down if I wanted it to

[walleye-]

K I've been watching these posts and keep wondering what kind of insulation u guys have in. I know most castles come standard with fiberglass which doesn't offer much r value which in turn can be hard to heat in this cold weather. I have a 20,000 in my yetti which I finished off and can get her up to 65 no problem but I do have 2 inches of the pink on the walls and cieling + 1 inch in the floor.

[FishFindHer]

Yeah...I don't know why the 20k works in so many houses but not these? I wondered about the insulation too...like did they forget to insulate it?! We don't have the spray foam, just the standard. Seems to hold heat OK (of course I'm not a heater expert OR an insulation expert)...but when it was -20 it stayed reasonably warm for a while after we turned the heat off. I can accept that we'll go through more propane without the spray foam, especially when it's exceptionally cold/windy... but again, the "standard" versions of both the insulation and the furnace should perform at a minimal acceptable level, otherwise they should just make the "upgrades" standard.

Zap: when we got the new regulator, that guy told us about turning the valve slowly...tried that, didn't work for us, unfortunately.

Boxcar: yes, I will be very curious to know if the upgrade to the 30k solves the issue, I sure hope so! Lol on the Sgt at arms...my hubby will also pull out the "big guns" (me) when polite just ain't gonna cut it anymore

[cribbageboy]

In this scenario, insulation only plays a small role. And that's how much LP your gonna use to keep the shack at the temp you want it. With that size of heater you should be able to get up to temp easily unless you left windows, or the door open. That leaves LP tank, LP lines, and the heater. I'm leaning towards the first and the last options here.

[boXCar JiggY]

I had a 17 ft camper I converted to a ice house, I had a 25000 infrared ventless heater on the wall, now even though the square footage is about half of my 20ft V castle, Id turn on my fans to push air down, turn a sunflower to help jump start the heating prossess an buy the time i drill ed 4 hole an set the lines im outa my shoes an boxcarjiggy was getting jiggy with it. about 30-40 mn.

[grundy]

I also bought a Mille Lacs model last spring and last weekend fired up the furnace and it took 1½ hours to get it 70 degrees. I called IC on it and they said the cold weather might make the propane harder to flow. I have been following this post also and read all the problems and supposedly "fixes". I live in St. Cloud and I did find out that Outlet Recreation in Clearwater does Warranty work for IC. So, instead of me wasting my time trying to fix the problem I am going to take it there and let them do it and charge IC. I think IC should have a little better Quality Contol before they send out their product. All it is going to do is ruin their reputation.

[cribbageboy]

Hopefully it doesn't get to cold out on the lake then. lol. I'm guessing that answer is just an "I'm not sure but I can't throw my product under the bus" kind of answer. I would do exactly what you plan on doing.

[BigDogRob]

My 17'RV was one of the first built, and I can honestly say that I don't have any issues with my heater! I have a Nipco for a garage heater and it takes a while to warm up my garage also, and like mentioned you need to warm everything inside that house not just the air! Turn off your house furnace for a week and then start it up. Let me know how long you keep your boots and snowpanties on before you feel warm. If it is super cold and I have my daughter with, then I light my burners or my buddy heater to help warm things up in there, but one thing I have noticed is that when drilling holes in the house I end up having the door open alot to throw out the slush so it stays cold for a bit. I did start my heater on my way to deer camp this year and after driving there for 45 minutes, it sure was nice and toasty when I pulled in! That was going down the road at 65mph, so that is worth its price in gold right there. Happy fishing!!! Biotch mode only meets opposition from others, so I always try being nice first.

[boXCar JiggY]

agreed Rob, cant expect to suntanning in an hour but theres no doubt theres some issues here, mine aint leavint the lot till i know its heating like it should which is more than whats its been doing for sure

[FishFindHer]

I haven't flipped the biotch switch yet...and I honestly hope I don't have to go there, but there is a point when you have to be the squeaky wheel. Like I said, I'm giving them a chance to respond and make it right. We'll see what happens from there.

And yes, totally agree that you can't expect to go from subzero to 75 degrees in 5 minutes...but as boxcar said, many of us are having issues. It should get warmer than 60, and it shouldn't take 90 minutes plus to get there. I don't know why some people with the same size furnaces and houses don't have these issues, but ultimately that's not my job to figure out. When you spend $15K on something, it should work right. If it doesn't, the company should fix it, on their dime.

[BLACKJACK]

I've had my 6.5x14 Ice Castle for two years and have had zero problems with the heat, been out overnight in it at -10 and I have to keep it turned down, top bunk isn't fit for sleeping, too hot. First thing I do when I get to the lake is turn on the furnace, by the time I set it down, drill holes, haul out ice, and start fishing, I'm taking my coat off. I did spray foam the floor when it was new, that helps a lot on the feet.

Getting it out of storage this weekend, will report back on the size and type of furnace and how long it takes to get it up to 70 degrees.

The only complaint I have related to heat, and its partially my fault for not getting it swapped out at purchase is that it came with a single regulator, when one tank ran out I had to go out and change it, didn't take me long to swap the regulator out for a dual automatic swapping regulator.

[BigDogRob]

I agree problems suck when you spend the money... I wish I could give you the answer as to why these heaters aren't working! I know that last year on URL we had -15 temps with a huge blow the one night and it did kick in the furnace a bit more, but I was never cold. even with that I didn't insulate my floor and was walking barefoot or in socks the whole weekend! Except for the 5 minutes of dressing up to go fill the generator! Thinking I should figure a way out to mount a 10gal can to that thing! Fill it once and the next trip outside would be to pack up. Jeff really treated me well when I bought my I.C. I had problems with my water heater not working, they upgraded the unit and then while I had it there I also added in a few extras. I hope everyone else is treated as well as I was!

[Drama King]

UPDATE I just brought my IC back from their factory in Montevideo. I had them upgrade my unit to the 30,000 BTU furnace. Brought it home and measured 30 degrees inside the house after hauling it home. Started up the furnace when I got home and it took 10 minutes to get to 75 degrees. VERY HAPPY with the upgrade. IMO its worth the extra cash to get an upgrade after seeing and experiencing the 2 side by side. Maybe Surburban had a bad batch of units come out, but either way, I'd rather be overpowered when it comes to heat! I worked out a deal with them to upgrade, I think that if you order a new one, its a $300 upgrade. I'm ready to get to URL next week! Hopefully this helps.

[FishFindHer]

Glad to hear that, drama king...thanks for posting back! Hope mine turns out as good. (And hope to be on URL next weekend too!)

In other news...it's been about 24 hours now and I haven't heard back from IC. I guess I will give them until Monday noon or so to get back to me, then I'm going to call.

[Chad Holst]

I have to tell yah, i met Jeff and Jesse at the Ice show in St.Paul. They helped out our organization with some lights and other things for our build. I cant speak to their houses or furnaces, but i can tell you both of them seem to be stand up guys. Not because they helped us out, but just their attitude about things. We had alot of questions, and they were more than happy to listen and answer things, even though they were exteremly busy with paying customers and potetial customers. Dave at Team Lodge...SAme way. I think Dave would have given the shirt off his back to a stranger if he thought it would help him. People that care this much dont tend to be the type of owners and managers that make junk. Sure, they are opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to the type of houses they create, but i get the feeling that they will both make sure that you will get what you pay for.

I dont expect my jeep to run like a land rover, and i dont expect my land rover to cost the same as a jeep. But they both need to do what i bought them to do.

Glad to hear your issue worked out drama king.

[FishFindHer]

For the record, I couldn't be happier with my Jeep

[boXCar JiggY]

Awsome, thats great to hear cause I pick up mine to morrow, Its never seen ice yet an my deal was a hundy plus labor to upgrade to a 30000. Fishfindher Your gona have to call them, Ive been on the fone for over a mounth with my issue an not once have they returned my call when theye said they would. Its a major leage busy time for them. Ya gota call

[FishFindHer]

When I originally called them, I couldn't get a hold of anyone at first so I also wrote an email in the meantime. Called back a little later and got a guy on the phone. Also got an email response from him the next day checking to see if I was the one he talked to on the phone. I kind of wanted to keep that "paper trail" going, so I tried the email route first. But yeah, I get it's a busy time. I'll call Monday.

[POPS57]

O.K did a test yesterday. 5* outside pulled it out of the pole shed and set it on the ground. No wind and after 3 1/2 hours it only made it to 62*. The heat vent was putting out 138* air which is a good temp. Just must not be enough volume. This is not going to make it. Sometimes we only go out for three hours in the evening mite as well set outside.

On another note one of the side windows is cracked. When I let it down I do it in steps so as to not stress the house.

When I bought it I asked the dealer if the 6 bolt rim was the same as my chev. truck. He had no idea and didn't offer any advice other then buying one from them. Well I went to the ice show and asked the factory reps. the same question. And guess what I got the same response. Looks like I will be calling i.c. mon. and talking with them.

[FIRECAT]

POPS57-The Chevy rim fit on my 2011 61/2 x 14 ice castle no problem, just a little wider. Haven't tried it on the 8x16 Walleye Tracker yet but it should be no problem. URL I hear you calling me.