Anybody with Camco Olympian Heaters?

[Almot]

I know, I know - not vented, no thermostat, so Don Piano please have mercy on me. Couldn't get anything from Platinum Cat guy, the only maker of vented catalytic heaters with thermostat. Couldn't wait any longer, so bought Chin-Co Wave 6 on Amazon.

Ugly color (Platinum guy had choice of colors), no thermostat, instead it has 3 flow speeds - Low, Med, High. I'll probably have to keep it on low through the cold Mexican winter night (I'm serious about cold, it's a desert). Or will turn it Off before going to bed. Because turning it On when it gets cold before dawn, is not something that you can do in the night with your eyes closed. Pre-flight procedure goes like that: turn the valve to On, hold it, click piezo ignitor (conveniently located on the other side, to encourage you keeping face closer to the grill and to discourage those crippled one-handed), then, after the pilot lights up, hold it for a minute, then quickly turn it to High. You think you're done now and can go to bed? Not so fast, unless you want it to blast full 6,000 BTU. You wait 10 minutes, turn it to Med or Low, and then you can go to bed. Sorry for this rant - it's probably the ugly color that irks me subconsciously.

Now, the Question:
Description says "integrated safety shut-off valve to help prevent accidental non-ignition fuel discharge". I like how they call "integrated" anything that simply IS there in the device. This is not an ODS sensor for sure. It could be they simply meant the control valve with your brains attached to it - when you don't see the pilot flame after you click the ignitor, you turn it Off.

Or - an "Excess Flow Valve", like Brasscraft Excess Flow Valve. Opened the front panel - if it's there, then it's buried inside the big control valve with High-Med-Low-Off.

Also - and this is why asking phone reps in a big company is a waste of time, not to mention actual waste of time to reach any live person - according to Brasscraft, EFV valve should not be mounted on the appliance, but installed between the gas pipe and flexible supply line. I could, of course, count few inches from the control valve "High-Med-Low-Off" to the catalyst panel inside the heater as "supply line", sort of. Those flexible supply lines that I've seen, were all 2ft or longer.

So - does it or does it not have EFV valve?

[RJsfishin]

Mex quote:
These heaters are GREAT!
--------------------------
The only ones that badmouth them, are those that never had one.

[Almot]

Thanks.
20 lb pots are not for extended stay in Mexico with propane fridge. They are for short trips and/or while in the US/Canada, where you can exchange them easily.
I have a cylinder 66 lb = 30kg. 100lb cylinder is same height from the valve to bottom, only wider (and heavier). So mine should work fine. Have ordered that LPG filter anyway.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Almot at night in the dark on high setting note the pad will glow red in a big blotch. It's normal. Make a note. Examine for the red blotch annually and if it gets a lot smaller something's up. Also a 100 lb cylinder will keep things cleaner than a 20 lb pot. Lots of room for garbage to pool on the bottom and the bottom is a long way from the valve. From The School of Hard Knocks.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Get a barbecue lighter play the flame on the sensor tube when lighting the heater off and save 80% of the time needed to light the heater off. But I will mention this again -cat heater pads do not like dust accumulation. Use a computer duster air can and blow the dust out once a month and also I will repeat keep the heater covered in the off-season. Use a CO alarm across from the heater. I have another in my bedroom. CO is close to air in weight density. These heaters are GREAT!

[Almot]

Thanks Mex. The town is farther from civilization than you think.

I'm still learning my way around here, but I haven't seen LPG delivery service other than LPG truck for stationary tanks. They fill stationary tanks at homes and some LPG facility in town, as I understand. Then people fill their 30kg/45kg cylinders from there - I "think" they fill it, rather than exchange cylinders like in bigger towns. So... since I will be using the same 30kg cylinder for years to come, it looks like I will have to wash it with Magna when it gets empty.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Whomever you asked undoubtedly has not been closer than 4 airline hours from the Mexican border.

Your local propane gas delivery service sells inline filters. Forget what they might "say". Ask them if they want to buy two thousand dollars worth of equipment plugged with oil. Some, 14 pounds, empty, pots weigh 22 lbs with the valve wide open. I don't think they're filled with Chanel No. 5

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GOES BETWEEN THE TANK AND PRESSURE REGULATOR. High Pressure only. Take old heavy tank to Mexican LPG shop and have them remove the valve for you. Put 2 gallons of MAGNA into the tank. Shake to dilute accumulated oil. Then dump. BE CAREFUL or you'll smell like a bad propane leak for two weeks. Let the tank air dry for three days. Then re-install the valve. Should last 5 years or so until oil and crud load up again. This filter will save the valve on your heater ten times over. Mexican LPG can be horribly dirty.

[Almot]

MEXICOWANDERER wrote:
I use an inline filter down here because of all the oil.in the gas.

Thought about it, asked, and was told not to worry. What filter do you have, and where did you buy?

[RJsfishin]

I don't know that they have a limit. I do know that they burn fine at 6300 ft.....Meeks Bay...Lake Tahoe

[NinerBikes]

What is the elevation limit or considered "high altitude" with these Camco Wave cat heaters?

[RJsfishin]

Almot,
I bought my 1st Olycat in 1974, and used it 20 years in 2 different RVs. Near the end of that 20 yrs, we could smell something whenever I left it burning while we were out for a few hrs. And I could see the pad was not burning as evenly as it once did, and was much harder to lite,....took a full minute or more to release button. I always left more ventilation during that time. The problem was diagnosed as needing a new pad because of dust contamination. A new pad was expensive so I deep sixed the heater when I sold the RV.

Just stating some of my long experience w/ these heaters.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Totally agree with RJ. My heater has the pilot light. Keep breezes away from the cat pad. I use an inline filter down here because of all the oil.in the gas.

[Almot]

Thanks RJ, this makes sense. Camco probably discontinued them shortly after taking over, those 578xx models are still in the catalog but nowhere on the market. People complaining on propane appliances at high altitude don't understand basics of chemistry.

I don't know if contaminated catalyst may cause increased CO emissions. The article says that CO emissions increase when there is insufficient oxygen supply. I tend to believe them, their research looks very thorough. There is always some CO emission, though under normal burning conditions in catalytic heaters it's not heavy enough to worry about.

[RJsfishin]

I'll rephrase my original post, there will be no noticeable "fumes" from these olycats. If there ever is, it is not burning correctly, probably from a contaminated catalytic pad.

Both my Olycats do have the ODS in them. The previous company to Camco, ?? made them for only a year or 2, then discontinued them because of complaints of not burning at hi altitudes. I bought 2 of them at a close out, at an unbelieveable price, at the big RV show in Quartzsite AZ. These ODS models, unlike the non ODS, have an actual pilot lite that stays burning all the time, kinda nice when turning it off for a while, leaving the pilot on, then back on and not needing to relite it.
Neither of the heaters has ever failed to burn because of lack of oxygen, even w/ no venting at all. But not to say that my RV is air tight,.....actually a long ways from it.
I have a 3rd wave 3 heater identical to these that is non ODS.

Almot wrote:
Thanks people. Looks like they mean that control valve - it will shut-off if you let it go too soon during the initial light-up.

Golden_HVAC wrote:
the lighter needs to stay above 300F or so to keep 75 mV applied to the gas valve. If the pad gets too cool, then the gas valve will shut off.

Fred - this is only for initial light-up, right? I understand that it won't shut off by itself later on, if heating pad stops functioning or there is a leak. I will install EFW valve anyway, for such incidents.

RJustfishing - catalytic heaters do emit all the usual by-products of propane combustion: H20, CO2, CO, according to govt publications: CO emissions from a portable propane catalytic heater. See the end of the Executive Summary on the 1st page.
But they emit 5 times less CO than open-flame heaters, 70 ppm vs 370 during the testing time in closed chamber. There was another article by the same govt body, on non-catalytic heaters: CO emissions from portable propane radiant heaters.

Olympian Wave 3, 6 and 8 models 573xx don't have Oxygen Depletion Sensor, according to the manufacturer: Page 24. Similar models 578xx do have ODS, they are not shown on the photo and I don't see them sold anywhere.

Don - yes, those Empire heaters must be blue flame. I don't see the word "catalytic" anywhere. They are pretty big.

[Almot]

Thanks people. Looks like they mean that control valve - it will shut-off if you let it go too soon during the initial light-up.

Golden_HVAC wrote:
the lighter needs to stay above 300F or so to keep 75 mV applied to the gas valve. If the pad gets too cool, then the gas valve will shut off.

Fred - this is only for initial light-up, right? I understand that it won't shut off by itself later on, if heating pad stops functioning or there is a leak. I will install EFW valve anyway, for such incidents.

RJustfishing - catalytic heaters do emit all the usual by-products of propane combustion: H20, CO2, CO, according to govt publications: CO emissions from a portable propane catalytic heater. See the end of the Executive Summary on the 1st page.
But they emit 5 times less CO than open-flame heaters, 70 ppm vs 370 during the testing time in closed chamber. There was another article by the same govt body, on non-catalytic heaters: CO emissions from portable propane radiant heaters.

Olympian Wave 3, 6 and 8 models 573xx don't have Oxygen Depletion Sensor, according to the manufacturer: Page 24. Similar models 578xx do have ODS, they are not shown on the photo and I don't see them sold anywhere.

Don - yes, those Empire heaters must be blue flame. I don't see the word "catalytic" anywhere. They are pretty big.