Empire Dv 215 Help

[rl_sd]

This summer I bought a used house 6.5x12  that has an empire DV-215 heater in it. When I bought it I checked to make sure that the heater worked but never went much farther than that. Last night I decided to time how long it took to heat up. The house is a sprayfoamed ridgeline and took 20 min to go from 34 deg to 70 degree with an outside temp of 25 deg. All of my other permie houses have been fan forced so I am not sure what to expect. The one thing that I did notice is that the flame in the empire heater doesn’t get very high. I did a search and read that the primary flame doesn't get very high... but also read that guys were having issues with secondary flames. For all you empire owners...Is this normal? Here is a picture and video. Let me know what you guys think?

 

 

Edited November 8, 2018 by rl_sd

[fishingstar]

yep that's all the flame you get. I mounted a computer fan in mine that helped a lot.

[papadarv]

Your DV215 heater is 15,000 BTU direct vent. Unlike ventless, direct vent has about an 80% effency so your effective heating is about 12,000 BTU. Once your house is warm walls, table, storage space, all the inside solid material, it has ability to maintain  temp even at -20. The flame in your video is normal for 15k.  I had a 12k BTU forced air in my 6.5 x 12 non sleeper well sealed & insulated cycled 4 to 5 times per hr. at -20 at 70 inside. It took about an hour to heat from 0 to 70 below 0 so I used my 15k sunflower for 10 to 15 min to help pre heat. Also use electric space heat running overnight before I go fishing. Pic is my 12k burner at 12.8k. 15k has longer burn bar.

 

Now I installed a new 19k Surburban forced air. Today heated to 70 in about 7 min. 

 

[rl_sd]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the help. Going to look at mounting some fans in the bottom. Otherwise I’ll bring the BigBuddy along to get things up to temp. Just wanted to make sure that it was heating correctly. Like I said, the fan forced suburban seems instantaneous. Didn’t expect the same results from this one, but will still appreciate having a lower dependency on batteries. Here’s some pics on the second house. Going to use it on early ice and also for overflow when the nieces come out. I call it “Plan B”

 

 

 

[papadarv]

On my 12k I used 3 computer fans to move air across my heat  chamber to heat house. 200 ma ea. or .6 amp total. Very small drain on 2 parallel deep cycle. Still use the computer fans on my new suburban set up with switch to turn off when not needed. They move a lot of air on so little power drain.

 

If your 4 lights are iridescent I would replace them with LED`s. 

Edited November 9, 2018 by papadarv

[rl_sd]

Thanks papa. Lights are LED. Do you know what the CFM of the computer fans are? 

[leech~~]

I have an older Empire 40,000 btu vent-free in my garage to take the chill out when working on sleds and stuff. The flame looks just like what you posted above. Fans to move the heat around are a good idea. I actually have a big house fan I put on low sitting right on top of it to move the heat around the garage!

Edited November 9, 2018 by leech~~

[papadarv]

1 hour ago, rl_sd said:

Thanks papa. Lights are LED. Do you know what the CFM of the computer fans are? 

I think about 40 cfm per fan 120 for all 3. Simular to this one. Got them 4 years ago.

https://www.jameco.com/z/AD0712HS-D73-ADDA-Corporation-12VDC-Sleeve-Brushless-Fan-32-17-CFM-70x70x15-mm_2232930.html?CID=GOOG&gclid=CjwKCAiA_ZTfBRBjEiwAN6YG4TPp5M-paHQEydLDe-J-tkkqjWtoJyEhByaSb5P2GBO27m9bIfruURoCiL0QAvD_BwE

They are mounted inside my 2x12" duct going from heater 1/2 way to back of hoese.You can see the control switch under the fan area.

 

Edited November 9, 2018 by papadarv

[leech~~]

1 hour ago, papadarv said:

I think about 40 cfm per fan 120 for all 3. Simular to this one. Got them 4 years ago.

https://www.jameco.com/z/AD0712HS-D73-ADDA-Corporation-12VDC-Sleeve-Brushless-Fan-32-17-CFM-70x70x15-mm_2232930.html?CID=GOOG&gclid=CjwKCAiA_ZTfBRBjEiwAN6YG4TPp5M-paHQEydLDe-J-tkkqjWtoJyEhByaSb5P2GBO27m9bIfruURoCiL0QAvD_BwE

They are mounted inside my 2x12" duct going from heater 1/2 way to back of hoese.You can see the control switch under the fan area.

 

 

You mounted the PC fans right in the heat duct? That is a pretty cool idea. I wonder how much heat they can take for so long? 

[papadarv]

4 hours ago, leech~~ said:

 

You mounted the PC fans right in the heat duct? That is a pretty cool idea. I wonder how much heat they can take for so long? 

Been running 4 years. The temp at the fan is under 120 F. about the same as the hot air duct on a home furnace. I ues a flashlight through the end duct cap checking rotation perodicitly. Still working with my new 19k Suburban install.

[rickwalley]

Do all of you use the snap igniter to light the pilot flame?  I’ve never been able to get it to work......maybe it’s a cold weather thing.  I’ve always had to open the sight window and use a lighter like used to light a fireplace gas log in a home.  I have about a 8’ or 9’ gas hose run from tanks to heater and always take a fair amount of time to purge the line at initial setup at start off a weekend trip.

[fishingstar]

I use a micro torch to light mine. first light is pain to bleed the air out of the line.

I try to heat up the thermal couple that will open the gas valve that will speed things up.

just be careful not to burn things down.

[rl_sd]

Thanks for all the info fellas! I ended up buying two 140 mm fans, but have only installed one.  I decided to take it one step further and install a thermo fan switch. I actually ended up buying the switch and mounting plate directly from empire for $30. This way the fan cycles with the heat. The switch kicks in about 5 min after the heat turns on and runs from about 5 min after it turns off. Using the switch should keep things more consistent.  I wired it up to a SPDT On-Off-On switch so that I can run it either in thermoswitch mode or manual.

 

As far as the fans go, the 140 mm seem are quieter and draw less (0.16 amp) than the 120 mm fans due to the reduced RPM requirements. One thing that I did notice though is that although they are rated high on the CFM scale, they do not seem to have near as much pressure as the smaller fans. I understand why that is, but not sure if the lower pressure will make a difference in pushing air over the heat exchanger. That was one reason that I left room for two

 

[papadarv]

2 hours ago, rl_sd said:

Thanks for all the info fellas! I ended up buying two 140 mm fans, but have only installed one.  I decided to take it one step further and install a thermo fan switch. I actually ended up buying the switch and mounting plate directly from empire for $30. This way the fan cycles with the heat. The switch kicks in about 5 min after the heat turns on and runs from about 5 min after it turns off. Using the switch should keep things more consistent.  I wired it up to a SPDT On-Off-On switch so that I can run it either in thermoswitch mode or manual.

 

 

Bummer, should have noted the digital temp controller I used on my furnace/fan set up. These things are awsome for running fans based on heat. Link to one of many sellers. You can set on/off temps anyware from -50 to +250.

 

https://www.hsolist.com/itm/NEW-12V-24V-110V-220V-STC-1000-Digital-Temperature-Controller-Thermostat-w-NTC/153062796516?_trkparms=aid=555018&algo=PL.SIM&ao=2&asc=20160908110712&meid=f3c697819e004dacbbe13f5cc5040666&pid=100677&rk=2&rkt=30&sd=362433159234&itm=153062796516&_trksid=p2385738.c100677.m4598&redirect=mobile

Pic of mine mounted and small probe sensor (silver thing attached to black wire). Price went up a bit, i only paid $4.96 with free shipping 4 years ago. Been thinking about attaching the probe to my underwater camera with 100 ft of wire & measure water temps.

Edited November 21, 2018 by papadarv

[rl_sd]

....Bringing this thread back to life. I got this house out of the ice a few times last year and the heater kept things "comfortable" during the day, but the bottom bunk got pretty cold at night. I am adding more fans to push the air down to the floor, which should help. I am also going to clean out the combustion chamber a bit and blow some compressed air through the orifice to make sure that everything is clean and running efficiently..... but I still have a couple questions for those that have experience w/ these heaters.

• The guy who had the house before me had a Wilcraft and needed to raise the heater in order to get the clearance needed to fit his machine in the shack. Right now the bottom of the heater is roughly 2 feet off of floor (see pictures above). The original mounting had the bottom of the heater about 10" off of the floor. Since I the original hole is already there (it has a diamond plate patch over it), do you think that I will gain much by dropping the heater back down to its original location?
• I added a tank cover and had to move the regulator. The original regulator was horizontal and hooked up directly to the tank (just like a gas grill). I removed the nipple and added a pigtail to the existing regulator. I then mounted it to vertically to the ready-rod stem holding the tanks on. I never gave it a thought that changing the orientation of the regulator would screw things up. Do you think that would be restricting any flow? Am I better off buying a two stage vertical regulator and ditching this one?

Edited October 4, 2019 by rl_sd

[papadarv]

Convection heaters always puts hot air at the ceiling and cold air on the floor. Fans may help slightly. By the time you buy fans, spend a season trying different positioning of the fans you might be better off with forced air. You can get a 19,000 BTU Suburban for $385 or less with a little searching. 

https://www.amazon.com/Suburban-2446ABK-Nt-20SEQ-Furnace-Black/dp/B00HSO2QL2

You can mount it in the V as shown with 2ea. 90 deg. 1 1/2" rigid conduit from Mensrds on intake & exhaust ports, perfect fit. Run 2 or 3 - 4" round got air ducts on wall to mid point of lower bunk. (Or 1 1/2 x 12 steel duct as in my above post.). Put a deflector in front outside intake/exhaust ports to keep road spray pot of the ports when going down the road. Equals comfort + through out the house.

 

[rl_sd]

Thanks papa. I’ve been thinking the same thing regarding forced air. I have it in my other fish house and love it. This already the empire and hole(s) cut into the wall of the shack, which is why I was looking at trying a few things before jumping ship. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by rl_sd