Reddy Heater help needed

[Opie11]

Have a wall mounted Reddy Heater ventless propane heater in a fish house. Bought the house 2 seasons ago with it in there and it worked great the first year as best as my old brain can remember. Left it running set on very low temp to keep spear hole mostly open if we were going to be there a few days in a row. Last year it wouldn't stay lit overnight when we were spearing early and later on when we were fishing for walleyes out of it would not even stay lit for a couple hours while we were there. It seems to light fine when it's cold and burn for half an hour or better then it acts like it just starts running out of fuel. Burner flame and pilot just keep getting smaller and smaller until the pilot isn't keeping the thermocouple hot enough to keep the gas on. Changed the regulator last winter thinking it might have been that. Didn't seem to change anything. At the end of last season I took apart some of the lines and used air to blow them out a bit. Hoped that would have it solved for this year but guess it didn't. If anyone has ideas or has had something similar to this happen I would love to have some suggestions on what to look for.

Opie

 

[Davey Crockett]

I'd try a different propane tank just for the fun of it.

 

[Opie11]

We have tried it with several different tanks. Thought that might be the case to begin with too.

 

[jer79]

if your using just a 20 pound tank, try a 40 pound or bigger one. sounds like maybe the tank can't keep up the pressure the heater needs. maybe try putting the tank inside the fish house. I used to heat my garage on occasion with a similar style heater.

 

[Davey Crockett]

When it quits working if you shut it down and relight it does it fire up nice again or does it have to cool down ?

 

[raider]

it's cold, and the colder it gets, the less pressure you have...

with the new(ish) pressure relieving system that is used now, you end up with less pressure in the tank when it is filled... when it gets colder outside the pressure drops... it sucks,but it is what it is now with the new regs...

2 things... when i used to get them filled i would have them turn off the bleeder valve when they got close to full to increase the pressure... some attendants will, and some won't... if you had a tank filled when it was warm outside it will also have less pressure than it would have being filled now at the colder temps...

bringing it inside will help... it has to warm up to increase the pressure...

out here in the patch the racking crews use the 40's with a weed burning torch to heat the ends of the casing to get the caps off so they can drift the pipe... when the gas is cold like now, when they lose pressure, they will heat up the tank with the torch to warm up the propane, which gives them pressure again... every bottle on a racking truck is black with soot from doing this...

 

[Opie11]

The tank pressure thing makes sense. Will have to try it with the tank inside and see if it works that way. It does usually relight fairly easily after it goes out, but seems to work for shorter and shorter periods each time you get it lit again. We have used 30# tanks some times, but don't remember if that helped or not. Thanks for all the input! That's why I love this site!

 

[raider]

here's a simple test... next time the flame starts to get weak, go outside and pick up the tank, while it's hooked up and the heater is running, and turn it on it's side (slightly if it's close to full), and shake it back and forth for a few seconds... if your flame increases, it's a tank pressure problem as shaking it will increase the pressure like shaking up a soda can... best to have 1 person shake the tank with another watching the flame to see if there's a difference, cuz it may not last long...

 

[bowcarp]

propane was once used as a refrigerant and is being used again by true mfg. as stated earlier as you use the heater the liquid propane is boiling off giving you the vapor for the heater as it boils off the liquid cools hence less pressure , another possibility but I really doubt it is the gas valve itself is going bad , i would bet keeping the tank warm or a larger tank (more volume=more vapor) will do the trick my buddy heater will frost the 1 pounder's and go out so I just hook it to a ll# tank and no problems , like Raider said giving the tank a careful shake or a side to side swish and if the flame comes back you nailed , I have to do that when I run the turkey cooker to clean skulls and they get low if its cold outside helps for a short time

 

[dbad]

Have a wall mounted Reddy Heater ventless propane heater in a fish house. Bought the house 2 seasons ago with it in there and it worked great the first year as best as my old brain can remember. Left it running set on very low temp to keep spear hole mostly open if we were going to be there a few days in a row. Last year it wouldn't stay lit overnight when we were spearing early and later on when we were fishing for walleyes out of it would not even stay lit for a couple hours while we were there. It seems to light fine when it's cold and burn for half an hour or better then it acts like it just starts running out of fuel. Burner flame and pilot just keep getting smaller and smaller until the pilot isn't keeping the thermocouple hot enough to keep the gas on. Changed the regulator last winter thinking it might have been that. Didn't seem to change anything. At the end of last season I took apart some of the lines and used air to blow them out a bit. Hoped that would have it solved for this year but guess it didn't. If anyone has ideas or has had something similar to this happen I would love to have some suggestions on what to look for.

Opie

I believe these types of heaters have an oxygen depletion sensor, don't know how it works but I would think that it is powered by and disrupts the voltage from the pilot generator "thermocouple" to the pilot valve in the main gas valve. Could be jumpered and bypassed just to test it. Although it sounds more like a fuel pressure issue to me as well. Any way to get the tank inside and keep it warm to see if that works? Be safe and good luck.

 

[LBrandt]

If all else fails change out the thermocouple, it could be the rotten apple in your bag.

 

[wslayer]

Do you have good ventilation ? Mine overnight with 1 window cracked open, would burn all the oxygen out. If left 2 open for x- vent, would he fine. I drilled 1" hole in wall underneath heater and ran PVC pipeup the outside for fresh air. Didn't have to have 2 window open anymore

 

[Kickemup]

Buy a vented heater and be done with it. Not having to worry about not waking up in the morning is worth it.

 

[NDwalleyes]

When I was young and dumb I had a similar problem as a result of not using an inline filter. Ended up being a piece of junk from the inside of the tank that was floating around in the gas orifice.

 

[Farmer]

I would be suspect of the oxygen depletion system as the pilot flame gets lower it heats a bimetallic spring that shuts the pilot down, just buy a vented heater

 

[wslayer]

I don't stay in mine overnight, without vented, just asking for trouble. It just sucked leaving on the night before and coming out the next morning with the wife expecting it to be warm. Heater out, holes froze unhappy lady, makes for long day...

 

[Opie11]

As a side note, we do not sleep in the house either. Might be worth switching to a vented just to be rid of the water vapor though. I hear you on the bummer deal of arriving at a frozen house that you expected to be nice and toasty!