Empire Heater Question??

[hanson]

OK, my first year with a permanent sleeper fish house. I'm doing an Empire direct vent heater, it'll help me sleep better!

My question, my house is going to be 7'x12' with 1.5" pink rigid (Foamular) in floor, walls, & I think 1" pink rigid in ceiling. The couple windows I will have will be insulated. I like to fish in comfort.

Will the 10,000 btu Empire be enough for this house or do I need to upgrade to the 15,000 btu Empire?????

There have to be enough people out there running these furnaces to help me decide.

Oh yeah, and while I'm at it, how long will a 100lb tank run one of these heaters. I know there are variables involved, outside temp. etc. but on average how many full days will a 100 lb tank get me?

[hawkeye43]

i have a 8x17 and all have is a 10,000 btu Empire and it heats that just fine and i have 4 windows, 2 very big ones.
the last couple of winters I used 3 100 lb tanks if it cold maybe 4 , I leave the heat on 24-7, sucks coming to a cold house at night. last year the heat got turned the day after thanksgiving and turned off feb. 28

[Ears]

I have a 7X14 with 4 non insulated windows and I have the 15,000 BTU heater. It takes a long time to get up to temp, but when there, it holds nice. As to amount of LP, I was at lake of the woods for 2 nights and red for 1 night when it was -25, and we used about 30lbs of propane in about 80 hrs. My 2 cents, go with the bigger heater. The price is 50 bucks more, and if that makes the diffrence one time, that is well worth it in my book.

[minneman]

Hanson, why would you put less insulation in the roof than the walls? 2" would be better there, and also the floor.

A friend of mine has a 10x14' that he keeps heated all season, its not an empire heater but one of those blue flame non vented heaters. its 30000 btu and on average it takes him 5-6 100lb tanks per season, he has 2" in floor and ceiling and 1-1/2" in the walls and 2 2'x4' insulated glass windows, and the door is a 30" steel insulated.
It keeps the holes open!

[beer batter]

hanson,

Just a word of warning to you about putting in a spendy furnace like that is to make sure you've got it secured really well into your house. I had mine pried right off the wall of my shack last season. Left me with a big hole in the wall. I'm now looking for a junked out vented furnace that will not be worth anyone's time to mess with.

Other than that, I had a 15K btu. Set it to full when I got there and after 10 minutes the thermostat would rarely kick it on at all. It would only run for about 5 minutes every 20 minutes. You should be fine with a 10K btu, but I'd also follow the recommendations of others and add more insullation to the roof.

[kevfish]

i have a 10.000 btu ventless in a 17x7' house 1 3/4" of insulation. I can go 4 full days and nights on a 20 lb. There are a couple times I wished I had a bigger heater just to get it up to temp a little faster . I would go with the bigger one

[Aqua Eye]

Empire added a new "slimline" series this year. Now instead of jumping from the 15,000 btu all the way up to 25 or 30,000 btu's,...empire has a 20,000 btu heater that takes up even less room than the old DV-15. Just a little heads up to some.
Troy

[Redlantern]

Kevfish, what brand and model of ventless heater do you have? Do you feel it's pretty safe, as opposed to a regular vented heater? I'm thinking about putting one in my cabin. I have a woodstove already but would like something to run at night so I don't have to get up in the middle of the night to add wood. Any info you can share with me is appreciated.

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Erik Torgerson

[road kill]

Don't get the 20,000 empire its not the same as the 10,000, 15,000, or the 25,000.
The 20,000 is made in china and it has the dial thermostat that is built on the furnace.
The other empires are american made and has the wall mount thermostat. You want the thermostat away from the furnace!

[hanson]

Picked up the 15,000 btu Empire earlier this week. Its going in this weekend.

I didn't realize that the thermostat mounted on the wall separate from the heater unit. Pretty sweet! If this sucker doesn't keep a house of my size warm, I don't know what will