For what its worth I'm with Ray, too. I thought the Southern Burner heater
was ungodly expensive when I bought it but its what "everyone" was using and
I didn't know there were alternatives. A friend used a plain old home wall
heater (vented to the outside) in his GH, figuring that when it rusted out
he'd just get another one. He figured he could replace the wall heater 5-6
times for what a Southern Burner cost. But I'm not that knowledgable or
handy. (I was amased at myself for actually being able to properly identify
and instal the replacemnet part for the southern burner.) So, Gene, if
Resnor makes an affordable model, go for it.

I believe many parts are interchangeable and can be purchased at places like
Grainger's. I think I wound up replacing the valve assembly with a Robert
Shaw valve assembly that operates the same etc, but wasn't the
manufacturer's part. For what its worth, Grainger's has some neat
thermostats etc for GH control too.

K Barrett

"Ray" wrote in message
...
OK. Contrarian is not an unusual stance for me , so...

I avoided the Southern Burners as my greenhouse would have needed several,
amounting to a severe loss of plant-growing space. (If they only made a
higher-output unit.)

I was a long-time Modine user until the "specially for the greenhouse"
unit turned out - as yours did - to be not worth a damn in the humid
environment of the greenhouse. At that point I decided to go with the
separated combustion type, but Modine's smallest was overkill for my GH
size.

I found that Reznor made one that suited the bill perfectly - it has the
high efficiency heat exchanger design of the Hot Dawg from Modine, plus
the separated combustion.

Combined, my propane usage was cut by 40%.
--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
For what its worth I'm with Al.

I have a Southern Burner heater, vented to the outside.

Like an idiot, I decided to turn it off over summer (why pay for the
pilot light when its summer time, I thought.)

Big mistake.

The humidity in the GH froze, rusted or whatever name you want to call it
the valves shut. dead dead dead. I was ****ed.

Luckily, I had a Grainger's catalog and for about a hundred dollars I
bought a replacement valve assembly and was back in business. I have not
shut off the heater ever since. The heat from the pilot light keeps
enough heat at the valves to keep them from rusting over the summer.

While this isn't the same as your squirrel cage assembly, it does lend
credence to Al's comment that you can fix this yourself or get someone
else to fix it for you for much less than you'd think.

K Barrett
(if a girl can do it so can you.)

"Al" wrote in message
...
I feel for you...
look up the part number of the squirrel fan at
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/start.shtml,
if it is what you need and a good price buy it
and find somebody ELSE to install it for you.

Those heaters that draw the combustion air from outside the greenhouse
are better for a variety of reasons.

My heaters have both been on very good behavior this year. Only one
nozzle replacement needed on one of the two. On the subject of rust...
When they came on last fall they spewed out a fine coating of iron red
rusty dust on all the plants below. I can not imagine them lasting 20
years.

"Gene Schurg" wrote in message
news:MwV%f.6575$MU4.6227@trnddc03...
If I had hair I would have pulled it out by now. A week ago my 4
winters
old Modine HotDawg natural gas heater stopped working. It would not
fire.

Luckily it's been warm enough to keep the greenhouse warm with house
heat so
I am not too concerned. If this had happened in January I would have
been
frantic. After numerous phone calls to the manufacture and their rep I
was
told that any HVAC company should be able to work on it. I called a
local
company who took their good old time coming out and the repairman took
two
hours to figure out what was wrong ($255.00). The squirrel cage that
exhausts the heater has rusted and fell apart. The HVAC company took
the
part and today 4 days later called to tell me the part was going to
cost
$650.00. I was shocked since the whole heater only costs $550 online
at
numerous sites.

Once again I called the manufacturer's rep who told me the part lists
for
$141.00. The HVAC company says too bad that their price is
$650....plus
installation.

Now I'm thinking about cutting my losses and just getting a new heater.
I
need 45,000 BTUs and it has to hang from the ceiling. The Modine Rep
said
the greenhouse environment is why the furnace failed after 4 years. He
says
the new ones that vent air from outside are better because they don't
have
the humid air of the greenhouse rotting the insides.

The ones vented from the outside are double the price of the model I
have
now.

I thought I'd ask the experts in here what their experience is with gas
furnaces. How is your greenhouse furnaces holding up? Would you
recommend
it?

I'm hesitant about making another investment in a Modine product.

Good growing,
Gene