LP Direct Vent heaters?

Started by beckhamk, September 22, 2011, 06:50:18 PM

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beckhamk

Anyone got any good recommendations for nice solid and reliable direct vent lp gas heaters?  MountainDon - I know you mentioned the housewarner from northerntools. How is that working for you and which size do you have?

MountainDon

18K with AC blower. Works well, no problems. It is okay to operate with or without the blower, unlike some makes. It is not a smooth looking as some and does not have the ability to use a wall mount thermostat, but that doesn't bother us.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.


considerations

Ditto for me.  IMO the price more than compensated for the lack of a wall mounted thermostat.

maxdog

I am having a Hearthstone Tucson heater installed this week in my 30'x24' cabin, i'll let you know how it works out.  By all acounts and research I should have plenty of heat.
Karl

beckhamk

how large is your place that you guys are heating?  Do you need to leave your bedroom doors open to get the heat in back there?

Can you place the 8K model in a bedroom or is that not recommended or over kill?


considerations

My cabin is 14 x 24 with a loft and the heater is backup for the wood stove. (chilly mornings etc)

hpinson

#6
I have the Hearthstone Tuscon direct vent natural gas heater, without blower.  It is rated at 18,000 BTU's an hour as I remember. We use it to heat a 20'x 14' bedroom, that has two adobe walls.  We use it when temperatures outside are in the -5F to 15F range. It does an adequate job, as parts of the room far away from the heater do not get comfortably warm.    It probably would be completely satisfactory with the blower.  It does not get roaring fire warm like a wood stove does, and does take a while to warm the room in colder weather.  It is very attractive, and being able to the see the flame is a really relaxing feature.  We really like the direct vent feature, as it seems much safer.  It uses a special double walled pipe straight to the roof for intake and exhaust.  I think it can be vented to the side as well.  The autopilot and ignition has been reliable over six years, and I have not had to do much adjustment of the flame (a little a first). It has a remote thermostat controller, and intensity of flame can be varied via the control panel below the stove.  Build quality is very high.  My memory is that cost installed about six years back was around $1300.

I think the companies claim that it will heat 1200 sq. feet is much exaggerated. A 600 sq foot open plan cabin would really be pushing it in cold weather.

Despite that, I really like it.  Think I would go larger for a primary cabin heat source though, or place this unit in individual rooms, which would be sweet.