L.B. White Heater Value

[Stuart]

I recently bought a house and shop and the shop has a 168,000 BTU LB White non vented heater in it. I want to put in a vented heater with a chimney and was wondering how much my LB is worth. It works good and is in great shape but I want a heater that does not consume all the oxygen and leave you smelling like a corn drier. Thanks for all the help. Happy Thanksgiving

 

[JDseller]

Unless your shop is tighter than most of the ones I have seen then the oxygen worry is very small. Also if the heaters are burning correctly then they don't have a smell. The smell you might be smelling is the moisture in the air will smell funny when super heated.

When you go with a vented heater your going to be using more propane. Some of the heat goes out the vent. With the vent free one you have now you get all of the heat.

Do what you want but I have eight LB white heaters that all are vent free. I have not had a problem with any of them. Most are in live stock buildings but two are in my son's shop.
New LD white 170,000 btu heater

 

[Anonymous-0]

Well my shop must be tighter than most because the heater goes out due to lack of O2 and I get light headed. How much more propane will I use? do you have any figures?

 

[Stuart]

Well my shop must be tighter than most because the heater goes out due to lack of O2 and I get light headed. How much more propane will I use? do you have any figures?

 

[WV2CYL]

There is a heater made very much like the whites, maybe same with a different name, that hangs outside the building and uses fresh outside air and blows all the heat into the building. I have a L B White in my shop. works wonderful but I am always concerned with cans and vehicles with gasoline in the shop that could cause an unwanted bang.

 

[Russ from MN]

Another concern with an unvented propane heater is the amount of moisture that they put into the air. I learned on this site that for every gallon of propane that you burn you get 3 quarts of water in the air. I knew it was a lot but was surprised at that amount. It will cause your tools to rust.

 

[JDseller]

The better vented heaters are 85-90% efficient. The cheaper ones can be as low as 75%.

Another way to go about your issue is just make a small heat exchanger. Then put a small computer cooling fan on it. Let it draw out side air into the shop through your heat exchanger. I have seen them made out of a car heater core. You have one small fan pushing air out through the heater core. Then the other pulls air in through the fin side of the core. It steels the heat from the exhaust air.

My SIL built one this way for his attached wood furnace room. So it does not pull the air out of the hose to burn. His is not any bigger than a shoe box. He is a mechanical engineer so he had a blast figuring the CFMs out and all.

 

[Chris from L.B, White]

Gentleman,

I find it important to address some incorrect facts that have been introduced to this site regarding burning propane in a heater. All heaters use oxygen to ignite gas, regardless of whether it is vented or not. That means any heater being used in a space needs air exchange to burn. Most rooms have natural air exchange (perhaps 1 exchange per hour). What non-vented units do is introduce elements that are left over when combustion occurs (products of combustion). These elements take the space of the air we use and force those out of the room.

The other item has to do with the amount of liquid produced when burning a gallon of propane. Three quarts of water are not produced from one gallon (4 quarts) or propane. If this was true, livestock would never need their drinkers filled. Warm air holds more moisture than cold. Moisture from objects is "sucked" faster into warmer air, and therefor contributes a small amount of liquid into a room. (This is why you can put a glass of water out in a room in your house to moisturize the dry air during the winter (it evaporates into the air). Writing very generally (and I mean very generally), non-vented propane heaters put approximately .1 to .2 lbs. of moisture in the air per 1000 cubic feet every hour. This is in a room with an average temperature and with a small to medium heater (around 200,000 btuh). This small amount of moisture is quickly mixed with the other air in the room.

All of the information I have provided is very general and stated more simply than it really is. There are a lot of calculations involved. Please feel free to research this information on your own. I hope this helps.

Some of this information can be found at www.engineeringtoolbox.com.

 

[Dusty MI]

I use a tube type radiant LP fired heater. It is a 4" dia. tube with an aluminum reflector over the top of it, the tube is as long as needed for the BTU's that it is rated at. This is a very nice type of heat for a shop. They are a vent type of heater. Also they can be installed so the combustion air is draw in from outdoors.
To me it is the best type of heater for a shop.

Dusty

 

[Pair-a-dice farm]

Everyone is giving some good information but I believe the question was how much is it worth. I don't know about the LB White heaters but good used Hired Hand heaters of that type can be bought for $100-150. I bought 3 used HH heaters a couple of years ago for $75 each.

 

[Chris from L.B, White]

Not sure what model we are talking about, but if it is around 170,000 btu/h's it is probably the pilot light "Classic 170". The LP version has a list price of $1070, while the NG version is $997. If you are missing the accessories (including thermostat) it will be worth less. L.B. White heaters have a strong following in the midwest. Depending on the age of the unit, and if it is in good shape, I've seen used units sell from $300 to $100.

 

[Chris from L.B, White]

I forgot to mention the $300 to $100 I wrote about previously was for 25 year old heaters. If this unit is newer it can be worth a lot more.