Mr Heater stopped working & propane smell

[Dr Jay]

A few weeks ago I installed my 50000 btu mr heater, checked for leaks and enjoyed lots of trouble free heat until today. Actually about three days ago i noticed the heat drop drastically after it had been running for several hours. I was running a newly filled 20lb tank as I don't have my 100lb filled yet. It was very cold out and it had been running for hours so I just shut everything down and thought the tank had ran out of vapor.

Today I went out and started the unit, felt for heat and went inside for a coffee as the garage warmed up. I ended up playing for a bit with my son and went back out about an hour later to find the garage was cold, heater was off and I could smell propane. I ran around the garage and turned off the tank and left the door open. What happened?

 

[jhelrey]

Lots of things could have happened

 

[Tim The Tool Man]

Tank valve froze? Tank empty? Did you include a drip leg on your install? If no, did debris get sucked into your regulator? 50,000 btu is a lot of btu's to run on a 20# tank. Are you using a 1/2" gas line? I would think you might not have enough line pressure/volume and the cold has exacerbated the situation.

Try a fresh tank but temporarily run it from inside your shop...

 

[Camper]

When my tank goes empty I get a propane smell in the garage.....I would start by putting a full tank on it

 

[Dr Jay]

Tank valve froze? Tank empty? Did you include a drip leg on your install? If no, did debris get sucked into your regulator? 50,000 btu is a lot of btu's to run on a 20# tank. Are you using a 1/2" gas line? I would think you might not have enough line pressure/volume and the cold has exacerbated the situation.

Try a fresh tank but temporarily run it from inside your shop...

I have 1/2" line with a drip leg. I agree the 20lb tank is small for the heater, I will try switching to the other full one until I get my two 100lb tanks filled.

 

[nehog]

You ran out of gas... A 20 lb tank won't last very long with that heater.

 

[Steevo]

Sometimes the small tanks aren't capable of the flow rate needed by something like a 50k btu heater. They can freeze up the valve or end up with liquid propane in the line.

 

[Dr Jay]

Thanks for the replies everyone, Nehog was right, to my surprise I had completely drained one of the tanks. Feeling a little stupid now, again thanks for the replies everyone.