Empire Furnace

[swamp stomper]

I have recently purchased an 8'X18' ice castle that has a direct vent empire furnace in it. I does not seem to heat well. I can only get the house up to about 60 degrees and it's probably even worse when it's real cold. A lot of heat comes out of the vent, but on the inside it does not kick out much. It doesn't even get hot to the touch on the inside but it does on the outside. Does anyone have any info on this type of heater. Do they all not heat well or do I have a bad furnace. Wondering what my problem could be. Any info or input would be greatly appreciated.

[TWISTERSOCK]

Depends on the BTU of the furnace. I have a 15,000 BTU Empire with a 6 1/2' x 17' and it has no problem getting 70+ in the house with a thermostat. Never had it set higher then 70 degrees, but I think it would have no problem getting hotter. Since its an Ice Castle I would think the insulation is spray foam which should heat up really nice, so I'm just guessing that your furnace or thermostat has something wrong with it.

[swamp stomper]

Is the inside hot to the touch? My furnace is a 15,000 also. I can pull the front right off mine while it is going and the metal is only warm.

[TWISTERSOCK]

Ya after about a 1/2 hour the furnace is hot, expecially the top portion. If you pull the cover off it is burn to the touch! I would try the thermostat first and see if its working otherwise I would think it is something with the furnace!

[swamp stomper]

How do you tell if it is working. The burner runs the whole time so it is calling for heat. When your house warms up and hit the thermostat temp does it totally shut down to just to the pilot light or does the flame on the burner go down a little bit? My heater definatly isn't hot to the touch. The flame on the burner appears to be 1 to 2 inches max does that compare to yours? This drives me crazy because there is nothing worse than a cold fish house. Do you have any idea how long a 30 lb propane tank should last running all the time. I had one that was quater full and it lasted about 27 hours. That seems like it is barely drawing any propane. Is there anyone around the area that looks small furnaces?

[erik-the-great]

may be try a different regulator i have a empire that is vent free

[TWISTERSOCK]

Ya when my house warms up it cuts the furnace to only a pilot. Not sure on the run-time of the propane cause I have dual tanks and always make sure they are filled for a trip and use them off and on while just fishing around my hometown. So I would guess that a tank should last around 2-3 days per tank but it would just be an estimate. Call empire or Ice castle and they should be able to hook you up with someone that can figure the problem out.

[Meat-Run]

Just for safe measures I hope you have a CO2 in your house and working just incase its' not burning the propane efficiently and don't want anybody dying because of the fumes.

Not much of a contribution other then a safety heads up.

good luck,

mr

[EJ]

You should have a carbon monoxide detector rather than a carbon dioxide detector.

[Hawg]

Do you have a fan on it?Empire is one of the best but the differance with a fan is incredable. I'm meaning a furnace fan not just a fan on the ceiling pushing air down. I can run my heater on about 1/4 on the dial as apposed to 3/4 if I don't have the fan going.

[swamp stomper]

I do have a detector. The fan run off the battery? Where does it get mounted?

[Hawg]

I think you can get either battery or electric. You have a big house and probably have room for a car battery and charger. Mine is small,8X6, and I use an electric from my generator. I don't like the noise buy I do the results. Fleet is where I got mine. It's a seperate little dual fan that goes under my wall mount. I'm sure empire must make one but I don't know why anyones wouldn't work. Personnally I don't think 15,000 BTU is anywhere near big enough for your house.

[Hatchman9]

15,000 might be a little light depending on how insulated and air movement in the house. I have a couple small computer fans mounted on the ceiling that push the warm air back down. Made a MAJOR difference. Not only does the floor stay warmer, but a person can sleep on the top bunk without sweating to death! I had the same problem with my 15,000 a few times. A bad regulator was the cause a couple times, but did have to replace the gas valve last year. My empire is 13 years old and she's still cranking out the heat.

I actually carry an extra regulator with my house now. I've sometimes had icing up problems when it's gotten REAL cold.

I would try replacing the regulator. Hopeful quick and somewhat cheap fix. An extra regulator isn't a bad thing to always have if that doesn't solve the problem.

[cold one sd]

I had the same problem with my 15,000 Empire Direct Vent the first time that I used it. I had the new type of connector on my regulator that screws on the large threads on the tank. I took it to the local propane supplier and they put the type of connector on it that screws inside the tank valve (the old type connector) and it has worked great ever since. They told me that on the new type it will partially shut the gas down when you open the valve. The first time I started my heater, it would hardly get luke warm to the touch on the inside of the house. I think that part of my problem is that I have a 15' hose between my tank and my heater. My house is 6 1/2' x 12' and my heater will blast me right out if I turn the thermostat up.

[eyebjim]

I would try a new regulator and the connectors as mentioned. It should be hot to the touch on the top of the front panel after running for about a half hour.

[ponzie]

I have an Empire 10,000 btu direct vent in my house (8x14) and heat heats great, the furnace cycles like it's suppose to. when I first installed it I did not have a fan and the holes opposite the hearter would ice up, all the heat went out the vent. I purchased the fan for 100 bucks and it made a huge difference. It's no more than a minature squirel cage with a sensor that turns it off and on. It mounts below the fire box and blows the heat out the top vents of the front grill. If you do not have a generator you will have to find a way to power it up with deepcycle batteries.

[hawkeye43]

I have an Empire 10,000 also. When I built the house I ran 12V wire over to the furnace to put a computer fan on the bottom of the heater. I hooked the wires so when the furnace came on ,so would the fan. It works better than I thought it would. If I would do it again, I would run another wire and fan across the house that would also come on with the furnace.

[vman11]

I too had thoughts that my Empire wouldn't keep up in my 6.5x12 - I added a computer fan rigged in a homemade fashion and attached a toggle switch to turn on/off when I needed.

Needless to say it made a 100% difference. Moving air across the combustion chamber was all it needed.