On Jun 11, 8:47*pm, Ivan Vegvary wrote:
I have two 30,000 BTU propane heaters that I want to install high in my shop. *Make is Schwank and they are of no help.
Problem is that I want to mount them about 10 feet off the ground and do not want a pilot light burning all winter. *In order to light them you have to hold the starter button in for a good long minute. *No fun on a high ladder.

Would like to convert this to electric ignition but unable to find any information that would help me. *The advantage of the pilot light is that it is a safety in case the flame should ever blow out. *The pilot (thermocouple)keeps the solenoid valve open. *If flame goes out the main gas valve shuts in about 1.5 seconds.

Anyway, anybody have any ideas oh how to reconfigure this and still have a safe system. *Would putting an electric ignitor BUT keeping all the existing controls work? *Guess not, ignitor would be able to light the main burners but not the pilot since there is nobody there to push the button. *This must have already been solved somewhere, somehow.

All ideas appreciated. *Buying new units not an option. *How about the freestanding heaters used in outdoor restaurants? *How do they work? *Does somebody stand there for a minute lighting a pilot???

Thanks, Ivan Vegvary

The first question I would ask is what are you saving by changing from
a standing pilot?

What I mean by this is a building looses heat faster the greater the
difference between the inside and the outside. Since the pilot is
inside the heated space, you have no problem having the pilot on while
the building is occupied in between the times the thermostat calls for
heat and when it is in stand by mode. So at night if you shut off the
thermostat the building will cool, but the rare of cooling slows as
the building gets closer to the outside air temp. The gas that is
burned at night when the building is unoccupied first off is not
really much gas but secondly the few BTU's that are expended when the
building is cooler tend to stay in the building and so the next
morning the burner will run just a little bit less. If I recall
correctly a standing pilot gives you something like 600 BTU's per
hour. If your main burner consumes 30,000 BTU's per hour, that is, by
my calculations, about 3 1/2 minutes of burner time per day of
overnight pilot if you didn't factor in the heat that was banked. If
you are trying to save money on propane, it seems to me that you would
be better off spending the same money for insulation or a programmable
thermostat.

Roger Shoaf

On Sun, 12 Jun 2011 19:28:21 -0700 (PDT), Ivan Vegvary
wrote:

My hope was that I could work this winter by 'spot' heating a small
15'x15' open space area. I would only go in there maybe once or
twice a week and ergo my concern about the pilot light.

Ivan, forget propane and all the extra air you'd need to import from
the frozen hinterlands to breathe after firing it up. Instead, build a
simple house (2x4s and OSB) around 16x16x10' area (less cutting) and
insulate it cheaply with fiberglass. Now use a single 1,500W ceramic
heater to make the whole "room" toasty in minutes. Slap on a couple
gallons of eggshell white paint and four 4' dual fluors and you're
good to go.

I'll bet you could build the whole thing with the same budget you'd
need for propane in one winter.

--
The ultimate result of shielding men from the
effects of folly is to fill the world with fools.
--Herbert Spencer