Glo Warm heater needs 100 lb tank?

[GoodToGo]

I'm ready to buy a 20k btu vent free blue flame like a Glo Warm from Fleet. Box and web site says that a 100lb tank is required, minimum. Is this the case in the real world? Anybody run these off of 20 lb cylinders?

[PikeTipper]

I've been looking at them and others and it seems all of them say that you need a 100lb tank. Not sure how they do off of 20lbers though.

[MNice]

100lb, 20lb, 5lb all run on the same pressure. I cna't think of a reason they would require a 100. Call the manufacturer and see what the reason is.

[GoodToGo]

Here is the reason off of their HSOforum:

"LP/Propane heaters, logs, and fireplaces require a minimum 100 lb propane cylinder for proper operation. The vaporization rate of the fuel in smaller sized tanks can not keep up with the fuel requirements for the appliance. This will cause the liquid propane in the tank to freeze."

I'm not an HVAC guy. Are they just covering their butts, or will these things really not work? A gas grill is 30,000 btu's + and use 20 lbers. My old furnace just crapped out and I'm anxious to get a new one for the weekend.

[R_B]

I ran my Obis 15,000 BTU heater for the 1st time this weeken on 20lb tanks. It didn't work very well. The pilot wouldn't stay lit. It would only stay running on hi. I don't know if this has anything to do with the tank or not. I will be trying a 100lber this weekend.

[fivebucks]

I've run garage heaters on 20 lb tanks that said they needed larger tanks and they would run fine for a little bit and then freeze up. The tank would get all frosty and the heater would only work about 1/5 as good. I switched to a larger tank and it would work fine. So I believe you need a larger tank.

[FishnBear]

I Have a heater called the Outdoorsman by ReddyHeat it is designed to run on 20lb tanks, it is a blue flame ventless heater with a thermostat, 10,000 btu, works great, more than enough heat for my 6.5 x 10 house, $150 at Fleet Farm.

[walksonwater]

I'm glad you had brought this up because I have a 15,000 BTU Empire Direct Vent Heater DV-215 on my 8 x 16 perm and it just does not seem to get the job done. I'm using two 40lb tanks but only one works at a time because of the way the regulator is setup. I notice the tanks showing a freeze line on them when I run them and the house just not seem to warm up real well. It's sounding like I may need to go to 100lb tanks! I was going to replace my heater with a 30k heater but maybe I don't need that.

It'll be interesting to see R__B if putting your heater on the 100lb tank makes the difference.

[GoodToGo]

That's actually the other part of the story. I'm not trying to fix my current furnace because it does not adequately heat my fish house (7x14). It is a 15000 btu direct vent, that does not get the job done. I wonder if a 100 lb tank would give significantly more heat? I still dont understand why a 30k btu grill works, but a 20k btu heater doesn't. Great info, though. Now I don't know what I'm going to do...

[efgh]

Propane tank pressure varies in direct coralation to the out side air temp. when it is say, 80 degrees out the pressure in the tank is about 125lbs., a 0 degrees the oressure in the tank is less than 1/2 that, the pressure drops real fast when you go below o and are pulling vapor off the tank, the liquid lp doen;t vaporize as fast in lower temp. a full 100lb tank will not vaporize as fast as a 1/2 full 100lb tank because of the area aviable above the liquid. that the ex. the lp man told me.

[MNice]

heres some good info.

http://www.nbmc.com/lpchart.html

[korn_fish]

I have the 25k glow warm with thermostat in my 7X16. I have not had any problems running on a 30 lb tank, 20 lb, or 10 lb. Each has been used at some time or another when it was in the negative digits for a full night (12 hour continous use).

When it is that cold, I throw a sleeping bag over my tanks though. I was warned about this freezing thing once and I heard this helps. I have yet to have it freeze up. Plus, with the thermostat, once the shack is heated up, it only turns on every 5-10 minutes. If it doesn't run constantly and you have it at a fairly low setting it shouldn't freeze up.

Not sure about it, but I have been told that the diameter of the hose will also cause a unit to freeze if the diameter isn't large enough and you are forcing a lot of propane throug. A friend who used some small diameter copper tubing has had problems with his and he has a 100 lb tank. I just use the 12' hose sold by paulin (I think) with the regulator that they sell with it. Like I said previously, I have never had a problem.

The glow warm owners manual makes mention of the size of the tubing and how it can cause freeze ups as well. YOu should be able to do an internet search to find a dealer of the glow warm heater and look at a PDF of the manual.

Also, comfort glow and glow warm heaters are identicle, just different labels so the manual for the one is the same as for the other.

[korn_fish]

oops, should have looked at this link before I first responded. This is the place I was refering to in my original post regarding looking at the owners manual.

based on the information here, I can't see why a 20 lber or even a 10 lber shouldn't work in my case since I never need to pull that much BTU anyway.

[Ronsay]

Checked your link and may have found the problem I am having. I had the gas company install 2 gas lights last season and they also used small diameter copper tubing to hook the 2 tanks together on the front of the house. I haven't checked yet but I would guess that my furnace is a low pressure unit and should have the larger diameter rubber hose.

Ron

[R_B]

I emailed Orbis. They said it could be the thermostat and that I should try moving it about an inch below the unit. I don't see why this would cause the pilot to go out. I will still try the 100lb tank 1st to see if that is the issue.

[Ronsay]

I have the Atwood furnace and I called the manufacturer about the propane problems.

My furnace is a high pressure unit and they stated that the smaller diameter line probably is not the problem. They also stated that the furnace would ignite if the pressure fell below the recommended rate but would not run efficiently.

They stated to not let the tanks run below half full in extreme weather and to try to insulate them. I will use an old blanket in extreme weather as I don't think a heated cover would work with a 12 volt system.

Ron

[GoodToGo]

Well, I'm going to push ahead and buy a 20-30000 btu heater. Hopefully it will work off my 20 lber, which I will insulate. If it doesn't work I'll have to graduate to a 100 lb tank. Thanks for all the feedback. I'll post results either way.

GTG

[GoodToGo]

I installed the 20K btu Glo Warm on Saturday and ran it all weekend off of a 20 lb tank. I didn't notice any performance issues, seemed to run just fine. I did wrap an old blanket around the tank for insulation, just in case.