Who owns an Empire DV215 heater??

[rickwalley]

Is it practical to run one of these off a pair of 20# tanks? Not so much from a run time aspect, but as far as providing the correct pressures or vapor volume needed for that size of heater. Last year I tried with an auto changeover dual regulator, and I struggled to get things going right. People are saying I should ditch the auto changeover dual regulator and go to a 2 stage single regulator and combine both tanks together as one before I feed the regulator with a single line? A better way to have more vapor volume available, especially in the coldest weather? What brand of regulator is considered the better quality, especially for real cold usage?

[JSK76]

I had one in the house I sold this spring. I went with two 20# the first year I installed it and never had a problem but I wanted more run time so I put twin 30's the next year.

Some correct me if I'm wrong but 20#, 30# even 40# will all have the same pressure. Its the evaporation of liquid propane and all three of those tanks are the same diameter so same surface area for evaporation, just more volume in each bigger size. Now if the tanks laid on there sides like you home tank it would be a different story.

I had problems with the auto change over valves too and I agree with last part of your post too.

[rickwalley]

So does anyone know if I bring two 20# tanks together into a single line feed before it goes into the single input regulator, do the pressures from each tank add up to a higher pressure into that regulator? Or doesn't it work that way. I've heard that a tank's pressure is around 100-150 psi each. Can I use a brass Tee fitting I'd find at Menards or H.Depot and it be OK with the pressures we're talking about?

[federline]

Yes to manifolding multiple tanks together - two tanks manifolded together have higher pressure than one. I did this on a -30F weekend with two 20 pounders and a finicky heater once, worked like a champ. I had a local propane supplier make me a dual POL pigtail from spare parts lying around. The brass T won't be a problem, but make sure all the hoses are in good shape if they've never been at higher pressures.

No to 20#, 30#, 40# being same pressure because they are same diameter and thus same surface area. Its more complicated than that. A higher volume of liquid propane drives higher vaporization pressures due to the lack of a meaningful liquid meniscus - higher vaporization pressure at all usable temps from a larger cylinder even if same diameter. I had a 150000BTU propane garage heater that would freeze up a 20# tank, but ran fine on a 40#.

Auto-changeover = unreliable in cold conditions, leave those for the fair weather RV industry. I stick with manual flip overs and a pilot relight at 3AM (you know how it goes...) I haven't found a regulator brand that doesn't work yet.

I own two DV-215's and a DV-210. Great heaters those Empires. I've run mine with 20#, 30# and 100# tanks without issue. I have a B.S. in Chemistry, and some would say the B.S. is not a reference to a college degree, so take all this with a grain of salt... but I've been down this path and you are getting OK advice. Best solution is a nice big tank like a 100#-er, but failing that, manifolding smaller tanks together is second best.

[rickwalley]

I'm trying to source out a Tee that will feed my 2 tanks into the single inlet on my regulator. I'm seeing a choice between a manifold Tee like this:

http://www.dyersonline.com/mb-sturgis-manifold-tee.html

or one similar but also mentions it is a Tee Check:

http://www.shoprvparts.com/product/10889F/tee-check-lp-propane-fitting.html

I guess the one with the check feature would let me leave one tank running while I switch out the other? In the end I want to generally have both tanks running at same time to maximize vapor volume available. Would the one with the Check feature designed into it possibly have more restriction to it? Not a Full Port idea?

The one at Dyers Online looks different, but maybe it has a Check feature also, they just don't mention it.

The check feature seemed like a good thing, as I wasn't wanting to add 2 more shutoffs directly off the Tee to isolate the one tank that would be left running temporarily.

[Tom7227]

If you hook both tanks up to one manifold once you run out you're SOL. If you want to run that risk go ahead, but why not just get a bigger than it run time is the issue? I am just using logic and have no real experience with this stuff.