Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Modine garage heater..... ????

New house has a 130,000 but hanging natural gas heater. Single speed fan. Everything seems to work, but doesn't put out much heat.

Burners have a nice blue flame, but only about an inch high flame. Don't see any adjustments.

Any ideas, don't feel like paying someone 200+ just to look at it.

I had a Modine of about the same BTU output, NG, same flame height in a 30x40x12 well-insulated steel building (not a pole barn; 18' to the peak) and it heated it adequately, however I had two 54" ceiling fans circulating the air. The burners had shutters similar to a Weber gas grill to control the flame, although it was for flame color, not height. Much happier with my new building at this new farm is heated floor. No cold corners. I wish I had at least 170-220K Btu at the old shop. What size building is your Modine in, and do you have fans?

28x32 insulated fair. Running it an hour plus yesterday it warmed the garage from 38 or so to 45. My fish house heater would work better I believe.

No other fans except on the unit. Top of the heat exchangers remain cool to the touch.

what size gasline feeds the heater,and how far from the source?
really need to check insulation and doors+windows for draft.
130k btu is quite large for 900sq' with proper insulation.
here in NY we figure roughly 30-35 btu's /ft.

It isn't drafty at all.

Not sure on the gas line and probably 60 feet to the house and city line.

I don't remember our small Modine ever heating our building much past 50 in the winter, however the heat exchangers were quite warm. I do remember it having a filter at the NG input, but don't remember any type of regulator for flow or pressure to the burners. I never changed the unit out, as we sold that farm, but had we stayed, I would have probably exchanged the heater out for one of higher BTU. At the very least, it kept the building warm enough to work in, and nothing in it ever froze. I would get at least one good-sized ceiling fan in there. I would much rather have a Modine forced-air than those infrared NG units. They don't work worth a damn, IMHO.

Get a ladder and see if it's not a lot warmer up near the ceiling

I suspect you just need more circulation to get that heat back down to floor level

I'll check it out again, but for a 130,000 BTUs it just doesn't feel hot enough near it. Feels more like a house furnace vent (warm) and cool to cold on the upper half of the exchangers.

Does have a regulator. No filter that I'm aware of.

I'll take pics tomorrow.

Clock your gas meter. Shut down all other gas appliances, turn on that heater and time how long it takes the 1/2 dial, 1 or 2 cu ft dial to spin a complete revolution on your gas meter.

Google clocking a gas meter and you will see charts that will tell you btu per the dial you used.

Should be burning pretty close to those charts or you have an issue assuming you are not at altitude.

Guessing you are not very high in altitude from when I played your golf course this summer.

If you come up long on time, you are not burning the correct amount of gas and have pressure issue. Either supply or manifold. If this is the case, its time to spend some money for a tech.

Good info, that..

We had Modine gas heaters at the old greenhouse my parents owned. I don't recall the size (btu rating) but two of 'em would heat a 24'X75' plastic covered hoop house fairly decently - and the insulation factor on those things is next to nothing - even with an air layer between.. IIRC, it was a one-inch line that fed 'em..