Empire heater

[bae501]

I just bought a house with an Empire heater. The spark ignitor sparks good, but does not start the heater? Any suggestions?

[berke99]

When you turn the knob to pilot and push it down can you hear the propane hiss coming from the burner??

[bae501]

Yes, the heater works when lit with a match. The ignitor for some reason just won't light it.

[hanson]

I assume you are talking about a fish house??

My Empire has been a tad finicky this last winter too. What I found the best is too keep the button pushed in on pilot for a good 30 seconds to a minute and push the starter button. Sometimes it takes awhile for the propane to get up to the furnace. Once lit, keep holding the button pushed in for another 30 seconds or so or it might go out again.

Another thing with the direct vent Empires is the flue length, both fresh air & exhaust. The instruction manual states the heater needs a required length of duct to operate right. When you install an Empire into a fish house, there isn't enough depth in the wall to get the required flue length, thats why they recommend the extension kit for outside the house. It will gain you an extra 3 inches or so in flue length. But even with the extension, I don't think the length meets the min. required in the manual. I believe this causes a draft into the furnace from outside that affects how it lights.

A few times this winter, I've gone outside and covered the vent with a jacket until the pilot and burners were lit and then had someone quickly take the jacket off the exhaust vent. Seamed to work.

There were a few nights that I thought we'd have some cold sleeping conditions.

[pikechaser]

When liteig the pilot it is good to hold the pilot knob in for 30 seconds or so before hitting the ignitor...it purges out the line..that should help..may also need to adjust the electrode on the pilot hood there & possibly turn up the pilot gas a tad. I found a little battery powerd spark ignitor for a grill that i installed on mine. It takes a AA battery. Lites it in right away no problem

[FlyingV]

I put a direct vent Empire wall heater in my cabin last fall. The spark igniter would not work on mine either. I gave up and used a match. It worked on the first try.