Using a propane heater.

[Ernie G]

Hey, does anyone know if it is against any law to run a propane heater inside a building-we use to do it in the 70's. We never asked if it was okay, we just did it. Back then I was working in s.cal cleaning lots of restaurants with a portable.

 

[scotty747]

i have several heaters that are propane. they werent built to heat the outside.propane is clean. i even turned a few into carpet cleaning heaters. moister is the bigest problem. and a 5 gallon tank dosent last verry long.

 

[Bill Soukoreff]

Propane burnishers are used all the time.

 

[Ernie G]

Bill, I thought of that also, but I'm working with an account that I've had for over 20yrs.-they seem a little nervus about using propane inside there bldg. We have always used a truck mount on this account, But now there neighbors are not happy because of the noise. All the work is done late at night-in about a 4-5hr. window of oppurtunity. Their are condos on both sides of bldg. so its a challenge-because they want the same level cleaning with what ever equip. we use. Alot is at stake here , I don't want to loose the account-its a 80,000 a year gig. If I invest in portable equip. we must get the same results as the truck mounts were now using.

 

[Dolly Llama]

some food for thoughtt;

make up for the lack of heat with a roto scrub and porty extract


yea you'll lose some efficiency/time, but you'll not gain the same efficiency w/porty and propane heat either compared to a TM
it's the vac and flow that makes the biggest increase in productions times compared to portys.
imHo, of coarse

For an $80K a year account, you might want to consider a pimped out Bane/hybrid set up like Vincent and Odin's TMs

There's a million Banes for sale, and for what you'd spend in a couple quality hi-performance portys, you could modify/pimp a Bane and have a heavy duty lectromount


I hear good things about the Steamon Demon type extractors too.
Though honestly, I've never been all that impressed with them from the "very little" demo time I've had with them


..L.T.A.

 

[Scott S.]

can you make your tm quieter? maybe a silencer or additional muffler? how close are the buildings?

 

[Bob Savage]

You need quiet, and still plenty of power?

Our E-BEAST will fill the bill.

As far as propane inside, it is probably OK if the area the heater is in, is a large, open area.

Could you move the propane heater closer than your van and possibly put it just outside a door, or inside a stairwell? A propane heater setup on a dolly would then work well.

 

[Ernie G]

Larry, thanks for the advice, I will look into that -what ever I use -dry times are important, this is a huge health club and they open early in the morning.

 

[Greenie]

It's hard to imagine not being able to run an LP heater in a commercial environment assuming you have adequate ventilation, in fact I doubt local regs will hold you back, but safety might, just be sure to keep the air moving (you would use air movers anyways with a porty, so it's probably not a big deal as long as the building's HVAC system is working.

I had a porty built by Mytee for a customer with the exact scenario, he wanted as much power as we could cram on two 20 amp circuits, and a BIG pump to give 1.5gpm flow rate so he could run his Greenhorn wand, the unit also had auto fill, and auto pump out, he ran 100' of 2" hose with it, and a LG #3HT Heater. Anyone of you here would have proudly used this equipment, it was no whimp.

 

[Ron Werner]

got any more info on that porty Greenie?
Most porties on the market just seem to fall short

 

[Greenie]

The "Greenie" pump, is a 1/2hp dual capacitor motor, not light, not small, it would probably develop 600 psi but we don't restrict the water flow, it has a high flow cam installed, I'm only looking for 350 real psi while operating.
The large 3 stage vacs are in air parallel, (separate stacks, separate shut offs) 200 cfm, all 2" plumbing, no heat as the amps are reserved for vacuum and pump, and pump out, 15 gal fresh and waste tanks, just a solid performer, not fancy.

 

[Johnny]

HydraMaster used to make a propane-powered Boxxer on a cart for use inside buildings. Maybe they still do.

An electric rig would certainly be quieter and more power-efficient.

 

[The Great Oz]

Ernie,
If you're going to run inside, get a couple monoxide detectors and place them about 50 feet from the unit. They'll let you know if you have enough air space or airflow and only run about $40 each.

 

[floorguy]

Propane burnishers are used all the time.

yeah but thats a bit different then just firin up a flame inside a building, plus the exahust is different...

 

[Shawn Forsythe]

Steam Genie stopped the manufacturing of the model Electro Genie, which was equipped with a Little Giant 3HT, for one reason. Open flame heaters are preclude from use in nearly ALL fire codes, local and state. In the late 80's, fire jurisdictions followed in a domino like fashion to make it nearly universal. The net result? sales plummeted as it became a unit which could no longer be operated indoors.

Closed combustion, such as in an engine are entirely a different matter.

 

[bob vawter]

How do you KNOW this Shawn.....?

 

[John Olson]

Ever see that head of Shawns? He has so much stuff crammed in that head of his you would swear it is gonna explode at any time!

Seriously though Shawn is one smart dude.

 

[bob vawter]

Ya...i suppose that he'd fit the description of a "Savant" of some sort...huh?

"I'm an excellent driver"
It's a 1949 Buick Roadmaster. Straight 8. Fireball 8. Only 8,985 production models. Dad lets me drive slow on the driveway. But not on Monday, definitely not on Monday

 

[Farenheit251]

I would not bring propane inside both for liability and image issues. Consider this option. Leave the heater outside with an electric pump and run alot of solution hose. Then just run vac hose from your extractor. I had a Kleenrite flood pumper w/ 2 3 stage vacs that seemed equal to a 33 blower when it had 25 feet of 2".

 

[Ernie G]

Hey Shawn, I had one of the first electro-genies around & ran that sucker inside malls & com.bldgs.-no one every said a thing. But of course that was many years ago & things have changed since then.I also had one hell of a time keeping that thing running. I had trouble with the paloma heater,the auto-matic dump system etc: every time I turned around there was something breaking down. I'm not sure what we're going to go with, if you want alot of vac,heat,pressure,& auto-dump somethings gota give. I'm gonna start looking now & I'm sure this board will help,hell it already has. Thanks everone for the input.

 

[floorguy]

I would not bring propane inside both for liability and image issues. Consider this option. Leave the heater outside with an electric pump and run alot of solution hose. Then just run vac hose from your extractor. I had a Kleenrite flood pumper w/ 2 3 stage vacs that seemed equal to a 33 blower when it had 25 feet of 2".

BAM he gets the gold star

solution line is cheap vs other methods...

I have thought about this option many times...though it has never came up yet..but i will be prepared :shock: