Aaarrrgh! Heater Won’t Work

[Gina D.]

and I am not even out of the driveway

My heater no worky! I have power to it, and can trip the fan switch and get it going, but.. no heat!

It worked great last time out.. until I ran out of propane. The heater was running at the time the bottle pooped out.

Any suggestions on where to start without making it a major project? I can use my black cat for back up, and will have my cube heater, but I am going to some chilly places and would REALLY like to have the big burn!

It's a Cat (Brand) heater, vented. I have propane at the stove. The line was attached to the empty tank, and ince I have propane at the stove, I am assuming no block on that end.

Does it take awhile for propane to waft into the line?

[Chester Taje]

"Does it take awhile for propane to waft into the line?"

Turn stove burners on.That may help get air out of lines.With stove burning wait a few min and try again.

[Chester Taje]

And don't yell no more.You woke up Santa

[Gina D.]

Thanks Ches, I'll try that.

Santa needs tp get up early.. he has got a busy week ahead of him!

[Chester Taje]

No Santa will not be busy.Hes only got one stop this year My place

[Byron Kinnaman]

I just fired mine up for the first time. Even running the stove to help get the propane lines filled it took a long time. You just gotta keep trying.

[Ronny W]

Gina
Is this a heater with a pilot light? Im not fermiluar with your kind of heater.

But i remember i thought i broke my heater once. When actualy i forgot to push the knob in. I turned the little red knob to "pilot" setting and struck the lighter.... nothing. 2 hours later i read the directions

Ok im a dork.
The first step to recovery is admitting it

[BobB]

Bon Voyage, Gina D!

[Gina D.]

Ches, Santa is your next door neighbor, isn't he?

No pilot, this one has technology firmly imbedded in the 80s.

I will try the stove thing this morning. I have not heard of that, but it makes sense now that ya think about it.

This is the first time I have let it sit with an empty tank for longer than 1/2 hour.

[John & Sandy M]

Gina; I went through the same thing with the refrigerator. It took me almost 45 minutes to get the the thing lit after the stove had been lit (our frige is "hold button A and depress button B unitl it lights" type of gas system). The orfice for the pilot is tiny so it takes a LONG time to bleed the air out of the system.

I'm also assuming you have the furnace isolation valve in the open position.

[Gina D.]

No valve to open.

My heater is a wall type cat heater. Not a furnace.

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Gina,
As John said, the orifice opening is small and it does take a while to push all the air out of the line. It also may have accumulated some of the aromatic oil that collects in the bottom of a propane tank. the orifice could be partially plugged by the oil. If you can hear the hiss of moving propane/air it's OK. If not, probably plugged.
Can you still take a "back-up heater"?
You just "gotta get outta Dodge"! And try it again later.
See you when you get back and have lots of interesting tales to tell!
Kurt & Ann K.

[pjanits]

I know when my house furnace won't light it's because some little tiny critters or their nest have blocked the very small hole that the gas goes through. I open the line and blast some canned air down the tube and that clears it out.

You can use the canned air for cleaning computer keyboards to do the job.

You can clean all the crumbs out of your keyboard at the same time and feel like you really accomplished something.

I know it took a long time to purge the air out on my old stick built heater. The stovetop was in line so I would open the stovetop valves first and get the stovetop light/ That seemed to shorten the time needed to get the furnace going.

[Frederick L. Simson]

Once the propane has been purged from the lines, as when the bottle is really drained, it takes a lo-o-o-o-o-ong time to get it to light again. Have patience and determination, and it should light again.

[Gina D.]

It finally went. Knowing the power is blipping where I am, I tried REALLY hard so I had a back up for the cube in the abscence of AC. Took about 45 mins of the burner going.

Kurt, yes...I have the black cat with me. I never forget that!

[Roger H]

Stay warm Gina. It's -3 here this morning with a -14 wind chill! Keep that in mind as you enjoy going where it's warm enough to camp!
Have a safe trip and a Merry Christmas.

Roger

[Kurt & Ann K.]

Gina,
Ah, the sweet, sweet smell of success, er...propane. Now that you've achieved most of the comforts of home, We pray you can get through the rain easily. Enjoy the freedom.
Kurt & Ann K.

[Gina D.]

I have discovered, quite by accident, that the fan can be disconnected and the thing will still heat up. I have one faston connector that is broken, and it jostled loose from the fan assembly. Bumpy roads.

I had heat coming from the surface of the heater, with no blowing, or I should say, sucking out.

Is it safe to run it like this? It sure would be great when boondocking. (Yes, I use proper ventilation, even with the fan going.

[Mike-B]

Hello Gina, sorry about the weather. One of the functions on my heater, the fan comes on for a moment before the flame trys to light. This exhaust any gas outside before before the sparker turns on. Just a safety issue. MikeB

[Chester Taje]

Hi Gina
My Boler has a heater without fan,BUT it is vented to the outside.It was made this way.The option on this as I understand was a fan.To date I have not found a need for a fan.