Noise from Mr. Heater Big Maxx Liquid Propane unit

[Chris_Hawkins]

I'm considering buying a 75,000 BTU / hr liquid propane heater for my barn. I'm wondering if the noise from it will be unacceptable. For me unacceptable is greater than 70dB. The unit is described here....
http://www.mrheater.com/upload/newsl...SpecSheet.pdf. Does anyone know how loud this would be? I called the Mr. Heater company and they told me it was "quiet." How quiet is quiet? They didn't have a dB rating, but said less than one of the forced air torpedo heaters. Still not specific enough for me. Can you help?

[GaryM]

Not an expert on heaters, and perhaps looking at the wrong thing, but the fan motor is 1/20 HP at 1050 RPM, and the total power draw is 6A with a 3 blade 14" fan. I can't imagine that it could generate too much noise.

[Chris_Hawkins]

Thanks Gary. My only experience with reasonably high intensity heaters is the ole' kerosene torpedo heaters many years ago. I remember them being are louder than heck. I wonder why they are so loud.

[GaryM]

I have one of those and they do make some noise.

Several reasons I can think of.

The actual noise of the pump forcing kerosene out of the nozzle.
Then the flame noise itself.
Then the relatively small fan forcing the air required for combustion through the whole tube.

The heater you listed the URL for appears to not have a fan for combustion, at least not a big one. And the fan for moving air over the heat transfer surface shouldn't be too loud.

Hope it all works out.

[Pat]

A good alternative is a gas heater that burns the gas-air mixture inside of a long pipe. It is terrifically simple and super efficient. It is like an elongated Bunsen burner with the flame inside an elclosed stack (horizontal.) It does use a fan for forced combustion air but the flame is inside of the long horizontal run and they are pretty darned quiet.

The tube where the combustion takes place and the long horizontal run of exhaust pipe is placed at the extend focus of an elongated parabolic reflector. Most of the heat is radiant heat and heats objects not the air. A distinct advantage to this is that drafts or air leaks don't make that much difference. I have also seen these used outdoors to heat a large long porch area open to the weather except for a ceiling. Worked really well.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[GaryM]

Pat,

I've seen heaters similar to what you describe over the dock doors at HD and Lowes. At least I think they are similar. A box at one end, then the pipe you describe and looks like the heat tube extends right into the vent. Guess they work pretty well.