Ice Castle Heating Question

[FishFindHer]

Good luck, pops57... Many of us feel your pain

[sportfish]

I just fired up my new gambler ic and it was 11 deg. On at chest level . 30 min later 25 deg ! But the air felt warmer to me . Here is a question why is the air blowing out the outside vent feel warmer then the air coming out the inside vent ? That don't seem right . And I have spray foam on the floor walls and ceiling . But it is of the ground right now

[sportfish]

1 hour later it it 40 deg. It felt like it blow warmer air when I turned it all the way up

[grundy]

9 degrees out this morning. Test run furnace again on my 8X16 Mille Lacs model. It took 2 hours to reach 70 degrees. Its going in next week to get the furnace checked out. I think thats to long a time for it to warm up but maybe thats the way they are. My last one was a 6½X14 and it took a while for it to warm up too but not that long.

[sportfish]

WELL it ran for two hours and it only got to 45 deg . Boy I hope someone has a answer for this ! Why wouldn't a 20000 btu be enough ! And why is it blowing 20-30 deg warmer air out the exhaust and not in to the house ! Is ice castle just screwing with us to up grade the heater ! It's a ice fishing house why would they put a undersized heater in it !

[POPS57]

I don't think we should have to pay extra for a heater that will work. For $19,000 I should think it would be properly sized for the job. What's it going to do when the temp. is below 0 and he wind is out of the north. Maybe I bought the Florida model by mistake.

[boXCar JiggY]

Those that are geting an up grade, I picked mine up yesterday, talked to jaime the installer, said I was ready to go, I asked if he fired it up an he said yeah,You GOT HEAT NOW! with smile on his face. I said "I dont need to fire it up an before I leave to make sure? he saidno way your good to go. Ok How much he said talk to that guy, brett. How much Brett? awww sh it hows a hundred bucks sound? Done! Got a new 30000 put in for 100. original deal was 100 pluse labor, estimated 200-250 depending on how long it takes. havent fired it up yet but will report in the next 48 hrs.

[Chadfish]

Bought a 2012 Mille lacs 8x16 last spring. It worked through deer season 3 weekends just fine. We brought it to red , and it was acting like it was out of propane , so I switched tanks and brought tank in for a refill. It was down maybe a third, then the furnace wouldn't heat. The dealer I bought it through gave me a new regulator, and now it heats like a champ. 20000 btu should be more than enough, considering the average house furnace is 80000 btu

[Grandee]

anyone try anything different this weekend to get these heaters working. Being the vents are within inches of each other in my house would it make a difference to spread them out?

[Drama King]

I can honestly say that I don't think the 20,000 BTU is enough to heat it. Whether it is a bad bunch from Suburban (thats what was originally in mine), or if something changed in the house builds.. I think that the 30,000 BTU should be standard. There is no comparison in the heat that comes out after experiencing both. With my 20,000 the air coming from the vents was warm (100+ degrees) but you could not feel much air movement by my dinette in the back of the house.

With the 30,000 I could not hardly hold my hand in front of the vents, and you could feel the heat all the way in the back of the house. Both furnaces are made by Suburban but the 30,000 is the way to go. I know its a pain in the @$$ but its worth a trip to get it swapped out. I don't want to spend all day trying to warm up, and the guys at IC are easy to work with. I talked to Jeff, Jamie, Mike, and Brett. All great guys. They were crazy busy and took time to swap mine out while I waited a few hours. Easy for me to say bc I am only 75 miles from the factory though.

Hope this helps.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

anyone try anything different this weekend to get these heaters working. Being the vents are within inches of each other in my house would it make a difference to spread them out?

Vent spacing shouldn't make too much of a difference. It will concentrate the heat a little bit, but in a small space it'll eventually somewhat even out.

When it gets really cold like this, I run my cook top to help get the house up to temp. This weekend I had my house up to 54 degrees from -8 in the time it took to run in and get a map and road pass. Probably about 10 mins.

I am curious to see if these furnaces will hold temp once you guys get it there, even if it means helping it out with the cook top.

[Fishalittle]

They seem to hold temp once you get it warm but they run for longer durations than my previous house to keep at temp. I have made the call to upgrade and be done with it. I like a warm house anyway cause I bring young kids along and so that is the best route for me. Personally I think something had to change with the heater model or way they are distributing heat, fan speed? burner temp?.....nobody seems to want to admit it though...ice castle or suburban. My advice to new buyers- go with a larger heater from the start. I will say the dealers vary greatly in their level of customer service!!

[Fishalittle]

Did you notice if sound from the larger heater was an issue? Others have said they were louder.....what's your take? Happy to hear the upgrade worked out well!

[FIRECAT]

I ordered my 2013 8x16 Walleye Tracker in april 2012, at that time they gave you a THIN insulating pad under the carpet and a 30,000 btu furnance. To bad they didn't continue with that. But I still think a 20,000 btu should be enough if everything is working like it should.

[Bryce]

My buddy once upgraded to the larger heater because he couldn't get any sleep due to the fan noise. The larger heater is actually quieter. I beleive it's due to larger diameter fan running at less rpms.

[Drama King]

I can't tell a difference with the noise. One perk of the Suburban is that its quiet, IMO. The 20,000 btu was very quiet, but it should be if its not working

The last thing I would worry about with the 30,000 is the noise, shouldn't be an issue!

[KOTTKE]

I upgraded to a 30K BTU right from the start, no issues, I take me family up 6-7 times a year and have spent many nights -20+ degress below 0. I did have problems with a couple other items. They have been very good to use and stand behind their houses. We had a a/c unit installed at purchase, and had problems the 2nd summer, they came to our home, picked it up and replaced the unit, and returned to our home,(no charge) we live 125 miles from them. I dont think you could ask for better service. That being said, many people are taking their house out for the first time, and I'm sure its very busy for them now. You will love the new house!!!

[FishFindHer]

Boxcar, glad to hear you were able to work something out with them. I think I have a similar deal in the making...originally it was going to cost us $320 for upgrade, including shipping & labor (we're having it done at a nearby RV repair place, we live a long ways from Montevideo) but the guy I talked to at IC is going to see if he can get it down to where we just have to pay $100. Says he needs to make some phone calls first.

Again, I really don't think I should have to pay anything if the standard 20K isn't doing its job...but I guess I can live with this deal. I just want it to work like it should. We are supposed to get our house back in a couple days from the RV place...hoping we have good results like Drama King.

Edit: done deal...we pay $100, they cover the rest. Now we just wait to get our house back. Will let you know how the new furnace works.

[Grandee]

Has anyone tried tapping on the gas line near the elbow where it attaches to the furnace. I was told there is a magnetic valve that may not be opening far enough, which may be causing the problem. I will try tonight and report.

[sportfish]

So basically the number one manufacturing fish house company putts in to small of a furnace as a standard option ! This is ice fishing not summer camping

[FishFindHer]

Sportfish, yeah...it's a mystery. Plenty of folks seem to do fine with a 20K in an 8x16 or even bigger house. The RV guy who looked at ours said the 20K was doing what it was supposed to output wise, but it was just too underpowered to adequately heat our house. I don't know if it's the design of some of these houses or what (ours has a couch in the back..lots of open space between the rear vent and the back of the house...maybe it's a placement issue?) But whatever the reason, there are more than one or two of us having these issues. If IC keeps getting complaints, they may want to seriously consider making the 30K standard. Would save everyone a lot of grief. No one's going to complain about having too much heat, lol.

[Chad Holst]

Quote:

No one's going to complain about having too much heat, lol.

LOL, stick around the forum a bit, you will find them. "why in the world do they put such a big furnace in their houses. Its not needed and it makes the house more expensive"..oh, i can see the posts already.

Plus, i dont think its just the house. There are other manufacturers that dont insulate the floor, and use r7 insulation, and they dont have issues heating a 8x16 with a 20k BTU furnace.

Lodge sprays their houses, uses rubber single membrane on roof and smooth and joined siding, but i still dont see a galvinized roof and R7 insulation VS rubber roof and spray foam making THAT big of a difference on heat up time. The biggest thing is if the house is sealed up from outside air. if it is, then getting upto a certain temp should be almost neglegible between the two. The upside is how much propane it takes to keep it at that temp. Thats where the lodge would win hands down. but getting to 70 degrees? shouldnt be more than a few minutes difference if the house is sealed up.

[outkast7222]

Somewhere along the line they switched from using the 20-NT to the 20-SQ furnace. Suburban rates them as the same output but I would have to believe there is a large difference in them. Another large difference is many of the newer houses have a significant amount more windows. My house warms up but to "comfortable" but should be able to get it much warmer to where the wife will be happy. I am bringing it in on Wednesday to have the furnace swapped out.

[Chad Holst]

The windows is a great point. I see that as the trend too, especially as people buy truelly 4 season houses that they will use for camping in the summer.

Windows are going to hurt.

Heres a great idea to help that out:

We are having 4 quilted covers made to snap over the windows.

[boXCar JiggY]

Hmmmmmmm that poses a good question for me cause I have 4 skylights, certainly gona rig up some kida curtain thingy.