Empire furance

[1lessdog]

I bought a Empire direct vent furnace off hsolist for $100. Its the 15000 BTU md. I check to make sure it worked before I cut a 5" hole in the wall and it did. My question is looking thru the sight glass how high should the flame be above the burners. I have it hooked to a 20 lb cyl with a low pressure reg. And the flames are maybe 3/16 above the burner all the way around. Should I take the reg off?

Edited December 2, 2016 by 1lessdog

[papadarv]

My recommendation is Do Not remove the regulator. The 20# tank produces 100 + # of pressure at the regulator. The regulator is a low presser regulator pre-set at 6 ounces of pressure to your furnace/stove which is what you need to run your LP furnace, stove etc.

 

The burner on the stove in your picture produces 9,000 BTU's set on Hi. and most likely has a flame about 1 inch or so in height. You may have one of 2 issues. The pipe from the regulator should be 3/8" id. If you used 1/4" copper tubing, there may not be enough volume of LP getting to the furnace. 1/2" tubing is also good. Second might be a plugged orifice. That's the small copper part connected to our furnace gas line just below the larger tubes with large holes in it called the venture. The diameter of the hole in the orifice should be .0469 inches. Same as a 3/64 drill bit to produce 15,000 BTU. You can clean the orifice using one of the cleaning wires from a Meg welding supply shop which requires disassembly of your furnace. If the stove burner has a 1" or so high flame, problem is not the tubing size if you connected to the same line.

 

This photo is from my wheel house furnace has a 5.5" dia. burner and is running at 12,300 BTU to get an idea of how high the flame should be. Your burner may be in-line but should have a similar flame.

[1lessdog]

I was thinking about hooking up a air line and try blow out anything what maybe blocking the gas flow. I used a  rubber hose from mister heater that was 12ft long and 3/8 dia.

 

Is there anyone in the Moorhead area that could take a look at it?

Edited December 2, 2016 by 1lessdog

[1lessdog]

Im running off two different tanks. I will go to one tank when I have everything running smooth. The burners on the stove top have a flame of a inch or maybe a little more. So the stove top is good. I just get to much moisture in the house is why I put in the Empire furnace.

[Sea Hage]

I have a new Empire DV215 and that flame sounds about what mine is.

[Hawg]

DO NOT RUN IT WITH THE REGULATOR OFF.  Being used it could have a corroded gas inlet but I would try a different regulator first. I'm thinking they have a high and low flame don't they Sea Hage?

Edited December 2, 2016 by Hawg

[Sea Hage]

Mine is either Pilot or On. If you have a gas pressure gauge you can check the pressure coming out of the control , there is a small screw at the test port, the screw won't come out but all you do is loosen it a couple turns and hold the tester hose over it. I think it should be 11 inches of water. My flame is only 1/4" high at best.

Edited December 2, 2016 by Sea Hage

[rickwalley]

I also have a DV-215 and I kind of thought I was also having a problem with the 3-5" secondary flame height called out in the install manual.  Looking through the vision window, I couldn't see it.  I only saw the height that you were seeing, which was really the primary flame height, not the secondary height.  I worked through all sorts of things on my end trying to make sure everything was up to spec.  I replaced the regulator at the tank.  I took all sorts of stuff apart and cleaned it.  Checked my rubber hose for proper size (3/8") and it was clear inside.  I manifolded my 2 - 20# tanks into one to make sure I was sending an adequate amount of boiled off  LP gas volume to the furnace in the cold temps.  I made a Manometer to check the inches of water column reading coming into the furnace's gas valve and also what was exiting the gas valve, just before it entered the burner area.  Everything continued to check out.  In the end, a conversation I had with Empire stated that the 3-5" secondary flame height that is realistically  visable through that window is almost impossible to see......you probably  are OK at what you are seeing.  I had no past experience with these types of heaters and I guess I always thought it would throw more heat, so that kind of kept me chasing deeper and deeper to find a problem, but I don't think a problem really ever existed.  They take a little time to heat up and start "radiating"" some heat, or you can put in the fan kit and start getting more heat out of it a little quicker.

[1lessdog]

I bought 2 fans off Amazon for $18 each and there 110v. There 5"x 5" and about 4" deep. I was thinking about mounting them under the heater. Or would it be better to but them in a woodbox and mount on to?. They say there good for 69,000 hr of run time.

[Sea Hage]

The fans I was talking about are 12 volt and only 1" deep. Putting them under the heater might not do the job because the heat from heater rises. If you have room in the lower cabinet on your heater you could mount one fan inside and blow the heat out the grill on the front of the heater.

[fishingstar]

I think everybody goes through it after they first light their empire up.

mine was heating up slow thought it was the heater maybe the bend in the gas line

was pinching the gas off.  nope that was not it still could not get that secondary burner going.

My biggest problem was my fish house heated up slow. 

I looked at it this way a big buddy is 18000 btu this is only 15000

I is what it is. It is a good heater once every thing is up to temp.

[Hawg]

They are great heaters! Put your fans under them blowing into the cabinet, the object is to bow the heat off the exchanger 

Edited December 2, 2016 by Hawg

[fishingstar]

I put a fan at the bottom to try to pull heat out the bottom that is not working very well.

I like your idea.

I think I'm going to rewire it so it runs back words at least blows heat it out of the top. 

They show a 110v fan for these heaters do they move air out the top or the bottom?

[Hawg]

Top

[perchking]

I have one of these fans that came with my one I bought, I am taking it out as i don't want power, my shack is really only a day shack and stays at my cottage.  My fan is mounted on a the bottom of my empire 15k.

[fishingstar]

Moved my fan today 

cut heat up time in half very noticeable improvement 

[1lessdog]

I just checked on the fans that I bought, there 4.7 inchs sq and 1.25 thick. I thought they were 5 inch thick but I was wrong. They are 110v and I think I will put one inside on the bottom plate and see how it works. And I like where you have your fishingstar.

[Sea Hage]

Hey Star, I wouldn't leave the fan there. It's going to get really HOT and will melt ! Move it to the bottom of the cabinet just left of the gas valve and have it blowing up so it pushes the heat out the vents on the top half of the heater.

[Hawg]

+1

[fishingstar]

I had the heater running for about 2 hours at 70 degrees.

The fan was hot but not to the point of affecting the fan.

This winter might be different when it has to run longer.

I was hopping to blow the air out the bottom of the heater.

I will do another test run later this week when it is colder out

I did have it lower I will just have to move it back.

[Sea Hage]

Fish, The idea is to force air from the bottom of the cabinet up past the heat exchanger and out the vents at the front top of the grill. If you put the fan at the bottom of the cabinet and space it up off the metal a inch or so it will draw air from the inside of the fish house and push it up past the heat exchanger where it will get warm and be forced out into the house. The fan should NEVER get HOT !

[fishingstar]

I was talking about the heat from the heat exchanger making the fan hot. 

With the fan at the top it blows the hot air out the bottom of the heater to help

heat the floor.

 

[Hawg]

Sea Hage is correct , you're going against physics to blow it out the bottom. Hot air rises. 

[papadarv]

I agree with Hawg and Sea Hage. This is a convection heater and heat rises through the top vents. At 15k BTU the area where you put the fan will reach 300+ deg. f. and deform the fan blades as they are made of plastic. Put the fan at the bottom as suggested. Your main objective is to get hot air circulation through the house. The floor will usually be cooler due to the holes but with the fan blowing at the bottom cold air is returned at the bottom of the heater through circulation. My house is same size as yours. I have a 9k BTU Dura Flame convection heater and tried several fan configurations. I did burn up the fan blades when installed as in you pic running at about 7k BTU. I than converted it to a forced air with air flow fan control using temperature controlled relays. The burner I posted earlier is from that heater where I increased the BTU to 12k. The temp in my house is very consistent floor to ceiling and operates same as my home furnace. May be a bit of overkill for what your looking for but really works well with great comfort at any outside temp and wind.

 

The bump  on the air duct has 3 four inch compute fans to maintain. Behind the white framed box I put a 4 speed auto fan for fast warm-up I turn off when warm. Runs at 12.5k BTU. The pipe duct going to the door I added this fall to heat my attached flip. Cold air return is opening below the heat chamber and at the auto fan.

 

When I am not in the house and want to keep it warm, I turn off the temp control relays and open the door to the original convection and turn the heat down.

 

[Hawg]

Regardless of where you put that fan you'll still need another fan of some sort to circulate the air around the house. The heater one only get the air out and off the heat exchange. Put one or two more in the upper corners blowing the air back down. Hugger style ceiling fans if you have room are the best. The blades need at bare minimum 4 inches and most experts say 8 inches of clearance to the ceiling. I'm at about 4 1/2 and it works fine.