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Ice Castle Heating Question


Drama King

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The issue is the quick connect style don't open the internal valve far enough. He was told this by a propane guy before he went back to Ice Castle. I was told the same thing from another propane place last week when I picked up hoses for our new wheelhouse. Sealing isn't an issue, both ends will seal equally. Look at the quick connect plastic fittings that screw on the outside and the "old" style brass fittings that screw on the inside there is a difference. Believe me or not I really don't care. I know which ones I'm using.

That can't be the problem. I've personally used the quick connect style on 4 houses, and know of a bunch of other people who have used them without a single problem.

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I have a new Lake of the woods model. After reading the posts thought Id better see how mine does in the cold. Ran for 2 1/2 hrs. and barely got past 60 deg. The House is up on the tires so that makes a difference. but should have heated quicker than that. My old house had an Empire wall mount and never had this problem. Talked to Ice Castle guy and he said its really cold out and the 30# cylinder is at its max at this temp trying to fuel the 20,000 btu furnace. suggested I rotate tanks and keep 1 warm. He was trying to be helpful, but I told him thats not going to happen. We Ice fish when its cold. And need a furnace that will keep the house warm He said he has had many calls in the last couple days about this, and has been trying to talk with the Suburban people but hasn't had much luck yet. He said he would call me back. There is a problem with some part of the Heating system . Am going to set it on the frame tomorrow and see if it is better, then wait for an answer from them.

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I would check before heading up north. the weather on low is a lot colder then this. (and on any big water lakes.)

Something is wrong, our LOW ice castle is two years old and never took that long to heat and I know it was alot colder on the lake then now, Get it checked

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well the quick connect certainly is something one can look at, dont take much to replace thats for sure. This is crazy, Im gladim not the only one but it sucks for all. Im quickly loosing my faith in ice castle. I had mine canked up too when I couldnt et it abouve 65 but that was in my back yard an it was 35-40 degrees out. if my new 30000 has problems Im taking the whole thing back to the dealer an buying a lodge, or at least one with a better furnace.

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For ones having problems are you running it off of battery power, generator or shore power? Low batteries could cause it to not heat properly also.

Also how hot is the air coming out of your vents? I can hardly hold my hands in front of them after the furnace has been running for a few minutes.

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If they are really low, or dead, the furnace won't ignite. If it ignites there should be enough juice to heat. And voltage level won't affect the temperature coming out of the furnace.

I would not accept Ice Castle telling me I need to upsize the furnace. That just simply is not the problem.

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If they are really low, or dead, the furnace won't ignite. If it ignites there should be enough juice to heat. And voltage level won't affect the temperature coming out of the furnace.

I would not accept Ice Castle telling me I need to upsize the furnace. That just simply is not the problem.

Low batteries will affect temp output because of fan speed. If there is enough voltage to spin the fan and open the sail switch it will ignite but the fan speed may not be enough to effectively pull heat off the exchanger.

I do however agree furnace size is not the problem.

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I wouldn't hold my breath for ice castle to call you back. If you want to hear back from them you will have to keep calling them. I would take it to a suburban authorized place to have it checked out before I put in a bigger furnace for more money that likely is not the problem. Good luck everyone I hope you all get it figured out soon. I been reading this and am curious to know what the real problem is. confused

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I dont accept IC telling me to upsize i just chooce to upsize having come from a camper house I could have had them put in a 20000 under warrenty no prob. It was a choice for me specially for a 100.00 dollar upgrade. outkast the heat that was coming out of the vents was warm, the heat outa the exhaust was very hot but the vents inside were warm, totaly agree with the furnace being the problem, Ive looked for kinks or any thing in the fuel line work that might impead fuel flow but im not a heating professional either, didnt ee anything outa norm.

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I swapped out my 20000 btu with a new one last night and got better results.....though still not sure if it is quite right. 2.5 hours the house hit 70 degrees. House was running off 110 power. The first heater wouldn't go past 60 degrees. House was in the air but I have the "arctic package" which is spray foamed floor and walls.

Firecat- Did you upgrade to the 30000 btu heater? I am for the results the results you have....when I hit red lake at 20 below I want a 70 degree house in 30min to an hour. I often bring kids along and don't want to worry about how much heat we are gonna get?

The dealer I originally bought from wasn't much help....however the one closer to where I work was excellent. Customer service was top notch...especially when I didn't buy from him. But I certainly will down the road.

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Lip Ripper.. All I know is last winter when it got cold my buddies new IC wouldn't heat, different tanks (30-20lb) were tried with the same result. After him doing some checking and a call to the IC dealer he swapped out the quick connect ends, no problems the rest of the winter. The IC dealer did admit they had switched out many of them. Maybe some quick connects are better than others I don't know.

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So I have been watching this thread for a while, and last night decided to do a heater test as it was below 5 in my area last night. I have a remote thermometer that I use to watch outside temp with a wire less probe. I was able to watch my 17' RV Edition warm upfrom the warmth of the house and used a stop watch to record my time and heat reached. Started at 14 in the house when heater was turned on (really goes to show how well insulated they are when it's only 5 outside). Within 45 min it was at 55 and after 1.5 hours it was at 69. I have a small portable light/fan located above the heater on the TV shelf to push the air on the ceiling around too. I feel like it should heat up faster, or the 30 min warm up time some people are claiming might be exaggerated.

Fishalittle, one thing that no one has asked is are you following the Suburban manual start procedure. I believe it's not as simple as opening the tank and switching the thermostat on. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't state to turn the thermostat on and wait for the furnace to run for 5 min and then open the tank. I'm guilty of just opening the tank and flipping the thermostat myself. Gonna do another test tonight following the manual.

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fishalittle- My house came with the 30,000 btu heater, I switched from the single plastic screw on to the double line plastic screw on, I thought it was fixed. tried it last night it heats great when the 30# tank is full, gets down to about a half tank and it quits heating. I think im gonna try the old style wrench screw in hose.

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Never looked at the manual.

Turned tank on and started heater.

I don't follow the logic of turning the heater on letting it run and then opening the valve. It tries to ignite shortly after it is on and will stop trying after several attempts if there is no gas. Learned this when your tank runs out. If you wait the 5 min. heater will have gone into the stop trying to ignite mode won't it?

My old house had way less windows, and was smaller. Still had a 16000 btu suburban. I am starting to think this 20000 just might be too small?

Anyone know what lodge or the Ice cabins have for a heater?

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fishalittle- My house came with the 30,000 btu heater, I switched from the single plastic screw on to the double line plastic screw on, I thought it was fixed. tried it last night it heats great when the 30# tank is full, gets down to about a half tank and it quits heating. I think im gonna try the old style wrench screw in hose.

This is very likely from your propane freezing in the tank. Any time it is about -10, you'll start to have troubles emptying a cold tank.

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Sorry, after talking to an authorized suburban dealer and warranty repair shop about the test I did, they stated the 20000 BTU heater is doing its job. My uncle also told me that that warm up time doesn't seem so bad if you turn it on as you pull onto the lake, the time from shore to fishing spot can really cut the preceived warm up time down.

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So I have been watching this thread for a while, and last night decided to do a heater test as it was below 5 in my area last night. I have a remote thermometer that I use to watch outside temp with a wire less probe. I was able to watch my 17' RV Edition warm upfrom the warmth of the house and used a stop watch to record my time and heat reached. Started at 14 in the house when heater was turned on (really goes to show how well insulated they are when it's only 5 outside). Within 45 min it was at 55 and after 1.5 hours it was at 69. I have a small portable light/fan located above the heater on the TV shelf to push the air on the ceiling around too. I feel like it should heat up faster, or the 30 min warm up time some people are claiming might be exaggerated.

Fishalittle, one thing that no one has asked is are you following the Suburban manual start procedure. I believe it's not as simple as opening the tank and switching the thermostat on. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't state to turn the thermostat on and wait for the furnace to run for 5 min and then open the tank. I'm guilty of just opening the tank and flipping the thermostat myself. Gonna do another test tonight following the manual.

Your times are right along with what mine was last night also. You can cut that in about half if you fire up the stove top burners.

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I would also go back and look at the post i had about circulating the air in the house. A simple 12v computer fan boxed along the wall, with a dryer tube or sealed box, will make a huge difference in warm up times and how warm the heater can get the house. heat rises, get it to the floor, in the back of the house and then let physics do its job. While working on our house build, with just plastic over 2 of the 4 windows and one wheel well simply covered with a board. we got the house up to 60 degrees with a sunflower heater and a fan. Keep in mind, we dont have it insulated yet! none. it has plywood on the walls. and a bit of the aluminum sheeting. The roof edges are also not completed, so there is a 1/2 inch opening all the way around the roof.

60 degrees! if you cant get your 20,000 byu furnace to heat your house in less than 1.5 hours, there is something wrong. If you think 1 hour is OK, there is something wrong with you.lol

How we did it? a small fan behind our sunflower heater. And then we used our 12v fan set up with the dryer tubes from our portable. I was working in a sweatshirt. It was 2 degrees outside. Move the air.

Do you think a stove top should be able to produce as much heat for your house as a furnace? if your stove burners running cuts the heat up time in half, that would mean your furnace is only doing the work of a stove top. My guess is that you guys have furnaces that are putting ALOT more heat out than that, but that it is being wasted by not moving that air around the house efficiently.

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I would also go back and look at the post i had about circulating the air in the house. A simple 12v computer fan boxed along the wall, with a dryer tube or sealed box, will make a huge difference in warm up times and how warm the heater can get the house. heat rises, get it to the floor, in the back of the house and then let physics do its job. While working on our house build, with just plastic over 2 of the 4 windows and one wheel well simply covered with a board. we got the house up to 60 degrees with a sunflower heater and a fan. Keep in mind, we dont have it insulated yet! none. it has plywood on the walls. and a bit of the aluminum sheeting. The roof edges are also not completed, so there is a 1/2 inch opening all the way around the roof.

60 degrees! if you cant get your 20,000 byu furnace to heat your house in less than 1.5 hours, there is something wrong. If you think 1 hour is OK, there is something wrong with you.lol

How we did it? a small fan behind our sunflower heater. And then we used our 12v fan set up with the dryer tubes from our portable. I was working in a sweatshirt. It was 2 degrees outside. Move the air.

Do you think a stove top should be able to produce as much heat for your house as a furnace? if your stove burners running cuts the heat up time in half, that would mean your furnace is only doing the work of a stove top. My guess is that you guys have furnaces that are putting ALOT more heat out than that, but that it is being wasted by not moving that air around the house efficiently.

See the thing about "forced air" furnaces...(what this thread is about)..... Is they..... ahhh...... FORCE THE AIR around.

A lot more than your dinky computer fans...

Lol!

He has a furnace problem or a lack of fuel issue.

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I think some of the stove tops have a small burner about 5000 btu,s and a larger burner of about 7000 btu/s, with no exhaust vent that is about 12,000 btu,s of heat. I do not know what the efficiency rating of the 20,000 btu furnace is, but you may be only getting 15-16,000 btus the rest is going out the vent.

So running the stove burners to warm up faster makes sense to me

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I have an 8 x 16 house I'm just building. It has a 20,000 BTU direct vent Fleet Farm wall furnace with the fan kit. I can go from freezing to 60 in about 1/2 hour and 70 in just a few minutes more. I'm thinking the biggest problem here is the name on the side of the house. Good luck, I feel bad for you with the cost of those things.

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