The last few winters I'd been starting to suspect that my radiant tube heater has not been working as efficiently as in years past. It is a Superior Radiant Products GR45 (https://www.superiorradiant.com/products/residential-garage-heaters/series-gr) that was installed roughly 10 years ago.
I have not been using the garage for projects much the last few years, mainly just storage, so while I had suspicions it was never something I looked into too much. This year I moved my stationary bike out to the garage to ride before hockey games to loosen up, it has become apparent something isn't quite right. The heater is cutting in constantly and never really throwing off the significant heat that I remember it throwing off in the past. I did some work in the garage one day, and with the heater cranked it never really got to that "sweating in just a t-shirt and jeans" type of heat that I'd been accustomed to, rather it was just barely comfortable.
I started taking a look at how it is functioning by monitoring it with an infrared thermometer, in the normal heating cycles it isn't reaching much over 100 degrees celcius before it shuts off. Cranking the thermostat up so it runs constantly, it takes about 10 minutes for it to reach a max temperature of about 200c throughout the majority of the tube. My father has the same heater in the 30k BTU model, and in comparing them his will reach 300c in about 5 minutes. The intensity of the heat in his garage is much more noticeable, and the heater doesn't cycle on nearly as often.
I'd taken a look at some obvious things like intake and exhaust restrictions, nothing obvious is wrong. Watching the flame through the sight glasses on both heaters, I do not see much of a difference between the two. One other thing I've observed is that there is very little condensation from the exhaust. I used to have a thick, tall buildup of ice below the exhaust every winter while this year there is next to nothing at all. I assume the fact that it isn't reaching a normal operating temperature is leading to less condensation.
I've tried googling a variety of terms, but I can't seem to find much information on any necessary maintenance on these types of heaters. Lots of troubleshooting info for various no run conditions, but nothing about running inefficiently. Is it at all common for the tubes to have any sort of carbon buildup that would cause this? Burner needing cleaning? Fresh air restriction that just isn't entirely obvious?
I have not been using the garage for projects much the last few years, mainly just storage, so while I had suspicions it was never something I looked into too much. This year I moved my stationary bike out to the garage to ride before hockey games to loosen up, it has become apparent something isn't quite right. The heater is cutting in constantly and never really throwing off the significant heat that I remember it throwing off in the past. I did some work in the garage one day, and with the heater cranked it never really got to that "sweating in just a t-shirt and jeans" type of heat that I'd been accustomed to, rather it was just barely comfortable.
I started taking a look at how it is functioning by monitoring it with an infrared thermometer, in the normal heating cycles it isn't reaching much over 100 degrees celcius before it shuts off. Cranking the thermostat up so it runs constantly, it takes about 10 minutes for it to reach a max temperature of about 200c throughout the majority of the tube. My father has the same heater in the 30k BTU model, and in comparing them his will reach 300c in about 5 minutes. The intensity of the heat in his garage is much more noticeable, and the heater doesn't cycle on nearly as often.
I'd taken a look at some obvious things like intake and exhaust restrictions, nothing obvious is wrong. Watching the flame through the sight glasses on both heaters, I do not see much of a difference between the two. One other thing I've observed is that there is very little condensation from the exhaust. I used to have a thick, tall buildup of ice below the exhaust every winter while this year there is next to nothing at all. I assume the fact that it isn't reaching a normal operating temperature is leading to less condensation.
I've tried googling a variety of terms, but I can't seem to find much information on any necessary maintenance on these types of heaters. Lots of troubleshooting info for various no run conditions, but nothing about running inefficiently. Is it at all common for the tubes to have any sort of carbon buildup that would cause this? Burner needing cleaning? Fresh air restriction that just isn't entirely obvious?
