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Maksim

Fireplace Help (LP)

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25 minutes ago, Maksim said:

Thanks.

The thing is new and never been used.  Of course completely understand there may be leaks.

By HVAC I meant tearing apart the condenser and figuring out what failed...  can I figure it out?  I am sure but at that point I would get someone who deals with it on a regular basis.  Same thing for hard wiring a generator into a manual switch and plugging into an existing panel.

It really is about plugging in a tank.

Can we pressure test the system?  Sure... just like I suppose we should be chamber checking every piece of ammunition that we reload or even buy new... would I rather a gun blow up in my face? 

As soon as I am done with the generator will take a look at the fireplace but... there is no long gas lines, that stub literally goes a foot into the fireplace on the outside wall.  Inside, the vent pipe still has Styrofoam in it. 

If we take everything to the safest level, we would not be shooting guns or driving outside. =)  Yes there is risk with everything and I am comfortable with essentially using the fireplace.  Not installing it or running gas lines, etc. 

Believe me,  I get and value professionals and everything is a balance between time and willingness to pay... but I am not going to spend time or waste someone's time essentially coming out to change batteries in a remote. =)  

 

All the way is about a foot. 

Good luck! 

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Not poking a stick ,but

1 you have no knowledge of what system you have in there

2 We cant comment on it because we cant see to inspect

3 natural gas or propane will blow up a house sky high

4 Not checking the flue or venting will lead to death from carbon monoxide gas

So the best advice we could give it to have the system inspected by a qualified tech

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15 minutes ago, Bt Doctur said:

Not poking a stick ,but

1 you have no knowledge of what system you have in there

2 We cant comment on it because we cant see to inspect

3 natural gas or propane will blow up a house sky high

4 Not checking the flue or venting will lead to death from carbon monoxide gas

So the best advice we could give it to have the system inspected by a qualified tech

Thanks and you are quite right... but I am also not an idiot and posted quickly without ever looking into it until tonight, the only reason why being in case of power outage.

Obviously I was not just going to plug in a tank and turn it on.  Give me some credit. :facepalm:

I would clean and inspect the system and if I was still not 100% confident I would bring someone out.  I am quite conservative and would not willingly risk my family.

I also know there are tons of scammers around who overcharge for simple things or things that were not even wrong.... i.e. previous owner hired a "reputable" company to pump a septic tank.  They charged him $1,200 and pumped exactly zero gallons.  

How do I know?

Because when the owner redid the landscaping, those "professionals" covered over the septic tank access lid. lol.  The company, if anything, pumped from the secondary tank.

This is the beauty of the community, I can get honest help here, and with it, can decide what is within my limits or not, and then not get ripped off if I do hire someone for it.

But simply saying  "you don't know anything, call a professional" isn't really helpful. 

 

1 minute ago, BobA said:

CHINA SHOOT AT @Maksim‘s HOUSE. We can shoot the plates and saucers on their way down!

I got a few boxes of clays from the last meetup... no need to. =)  

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2 hours ago, Maksim said:

Got it up, Heat n Home/Heatilator 4236IL, propane model. 24,000 btu max.  

How is it vented? Up through the roof or out through the wall? You mentioned there was styrofoam in it. Is the vent actually hooked up?

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3 minutes ago, Sniper said:

How is it vented? Up through the roof or out through the wall? You mentioned there was styrofoam in it. Is the vent actually hooked up?

Vented up through the roof, pulls air in from outside behind the fireplace.   There was styrofoam plugged into the vent pulling in from outside.  I suppose to prevent pests. 

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1 minute ago, Maksim said:

Vented up through the roof, pulls air in from outside behind the fireplace.   There was styrofoam plugged into the vent pulling in from outside.  I suppose to prevent pests. 

I was just reading the install manual for that model. They spend a lot of time on the venting to make sure it's correct.

I also noticed it has different set ups (thermostats, ignition, fans, air settings) so just make sure you're comfortable with all these hook-ups and variables before firing it up.

https://downloads.hearthnhome.com/installManuals/2382_980.pdf

 

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8 hours ago, Maksim said:

I also know there are tons of scammers around who overcharge for simple things or things that were not even wrong.... i.e. previous owner hired a "reputable" company to pump a septic tank.  They charged him $1,200 and pumped exactly zero gallons.  

How do I know?

Because when the owner redid the landscaping, those "professionals" covered over the septic tank access lid. lol.  The company, if anything, pumped from the secondary tank.

It’s definitely one of those baffle systems?

Only ask because mine has two points of access (one tank). The larger one is not that easy to open, but the smaller one was definitely used by the people doing the previous owner’s pumping. It was to the point that lid was in need of repair, so I got a riser for a water pit that was a little larger than the hole, cemented it in, and picked up a blank lid with lock to allow easy access. Lot cleaner looking than having to remove dirt each time to pump the tank.

Just saying they necessarily might not have just charged the previous guy with no work being done. Depends on the system design.

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17 hours ago, fishnut said:

So no one has mentioned that before you hook it all up the gas piping needs to be pressure/ leak tested to insure you dont have any leaks. You might be comfortable with the piping your installing but do you know for a fact that the existing piping has been tested and is leak free?

Gas piping is part of HVAC I used to run gas pipe all the time when I was doing HVAC. You mentioned your not comfortable with HVAC. Do you know the difference between black pipe couplings and thread protectors? You should have seen some of the super dangerous homeowner installs I've corrected.  If not you could be playing with fire literally. 

Worst case scenario your house blows up and or burns down. Food for thought. 

 

I had one of those when I bought my house in upstate NY. It has a propane fired forced hot air furnace. I had the house 3 years and the furnace crapped out so I hired a professional to replace it. When they were pulling the old unit out the installer asked if I installed it. No I say it was in the house when I bought it, they told me it's about 15 years old. Installer said house should have burned down years ago this is a natural gas unit.

I was not surprised as there were several questionable repairs on all systems. My favorite was a Stewert's soda cup being used as an end cap on a waste water pipe.

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You're hooking up a generator..Get the thing retrofitted to LP and get at least a 100lb tank for it. Be nice if it was close enough to the heater that you could use it for both. Then bigger is better. uscarb.com has easy DIY kits for almost every genset.

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6 hours ago, brucin said:

When they were pulling the old unit out the installer asked if I installed it. No I say it was in the house when I bought it, they told me it's about 15 years old. Installer said house should have burned down years ago this is a natural gas unit.

I wonder if they installed smaller orifices in it? If not, the flames would have been huge, since propane runs at a higher pressure.

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31 minutes ago, Sniper said:

I wonder if they installed smaller orifices in it? If not, the flames would have been huge, since propane runs at a higher pressure.

They were huge and it burned a ton of propane. I had no idea because I have an oil burner here so I just thought that's normal for propane.

These people had a few stupid human tricks up their sleeve. Another one was cutting the plug off a upright freezer running it through a wall and reattaching it to 16 G lamp cord to plug it into an outlet. How that never started a fire I'll never know.

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