Judson TNT Refurbish

milspec6 wrote:That exchanger looks like it is on fire....it glows.

If someone touches that, they really are an idiot.

It doubles as a reflector at night for safety purposes

OK cleaned out the little giant heater  pressure relief valve 
. I't doesn't  leak any more more not sure if it was the cleaning or it wasn't tight enough, one of the pieces didn't have teflon tape.

Buy the valve at www.jeadams.com  for 35.00 and not 80.00 

That reminds me what a Stuip I am. lol

After accidentally blowing up my last heater coil, I bought a PR Valve, and it's still sitting in my garage.

Hey guys just wanted to let you know that I was servicing a couple of tnt units today and my customer had a guy to come and service his LG heaters and 1 of them was a 4ht. So I stopped and had to ask the question about the regulator and hoses. He said that a 4ht should be fine with 1/2 in @ 1/2 out lines and a regulator rated for 11 in of pressure or around 1/2lb of psi. Then I asked about cleaning remove or not to remove the jets. Well he was reinstalling the jets as we talked. He said he prefers to remove them because it gives more places for the trash in the ring to come out of which he had done and had around a tablespoon full of on his work area.

ACE Services wrote:Hey guys just wanted to let you know that I was servicing a couple of tnt units today and my customer had a guy to come and service his LG heaters and 1 of them was a 4ht. So I stopped and had to ask the question about the regulator and hoses. He said that a 4ht should be fine with 1/2 in @ 1/2 out lines and a regulator rated for 11 in of pressure or around 1/2lb of psi. Then I asked about cleaning remove or not to remove the jets. Well he was reinstalling the jets as we talked. He said he prefers to remove them because it gives more places for the trash in the ring to come out of which he had done and had around a tablespoon full of on his work area.

Awesome help Ace.....that made a difference for me.

According to the Little Giant site the hose should be 5/8 inches ID not to exceed 15 feet. The regulator should be rated at 15 psi and 575K BTU

Steambrite has it


http://www.steam-brite.com/little-giant-pressure-regulator-575000-btuhr-hotomatic%C2%AE-heater-p-14688.html

Isn't that funny? Three sources that should be experts all have different advice.

I actually find the 1/2 inch hose plausible from the man working with them in the field. After-all, the heater is a 185,000 btu heater and my 1/2 inch regulator can suppy 425,000 btu with that 1/2 inch hose, so why couldn't it work?

Even the email that I received from LG said that you could use any regulator that was rated above the btu of the giant despite the claims on the site.

Isn't it annoying how something so simple can create such a headache?

I hear especially frustrating when it come to something so important like a LG heater. I think the info on the site is CYA

I went with the recommendation by Little Giant on the regulator, it is there heater after-all.

What size were those burner jets? I might just order new jets since I don't think any of the wok rings are large enough for the #4 heater.

I find 2 sizes listed.

I believe the wok burner with I think it's 32 jets is the right one for 4 heater.......I posted a link to it earlier in this thread........or maybe it was in your propane thread.

I saw the thread, but without counting, I think it is short a few jets. Maybe ACE knows for sure how many jets there are in a #4?

Funny about the conflicting information, I ordered the regulator suggested by Little Giant (regO LV404B39) at 525,000 btu rating. When you go to the product site (regO) you find that it is rated for 450,000 btu AND it has the same 1/2 inch outlet as the fisher that I have now.

So, even with the suggested regulator, I will end up needing an adapter for the 5/8 inch hose.

Basically, I just ordered a regulator that I don't actually need....it is the same as the Fisher brand I already have.

Oh, boy am I annoyed now.

I've been thinking about this regulator confusion all night and now I am ready to throw the whole heater into the river!

The Little Giant website lists the regO LV404B39 as the correct regulator for the #4 heater at 525,000 btu rating.

Well, guess what, that is apparently a typo. As the regO website stated, that regulator is a 1/2 inch outlet 450,000 btu model.

The correct regulator should have been the regO LV404B96 which I confirmed with LG.

So, I now have the wrong regulator.... AGAIN!!

If anyone needs the smaller one (LV404B39), let me know and I will make you a bargain deal. Just act fast before I use this thing for target practice.

What!!! So you cant make any of those regulators work.

I tell you what the more I experiment with these two heat sources the more I like the heat ex changers.

I tested the little giant with my cheapie thermometer and it topped out at 175 ATM. I'm going to pull the unitrol and make sure its nice and clean to see if I can increase the temp.

ATW is the important data, but most don't want to know it and brag about the at the machine temp.

Even my fossil butler reaches 200 degrees at the machine, but drops as much as 30 degrees by the end of the hose.

Then, factor in the temperature drop when it leaves the jets and hits that cool air being drawn up by the vacuum and you have yet another major decline.

The actual temp that hits the fibers is probably only about 140 degrees (just a guess).

That heat exchanger is no different, it will drop at the wand as well, but it can be a lot simpler and reliable.

As for the regulators, yes, they both could still be used with a hose adapter.  The btu and pressure ratings still work, but it will reduce the speed of flow due to the smaller opening.

Will it matter that much, I really don't know.  I do know the neither regulator is recommended for use with bbq tanks.......the process continues.

Maybe I bite the bullet and install a new tank with regulator in addition to carrying a couple bbq tanks up front.  I will always have propane available in one or the other tanks and could just change hoses/regulators as needed.

140 at fiber might not be a such bad thing, because if it was 200+ hitting all those poly fibers we now clean, we'd be melting them.

Heck if you slide a piece of furn across it too fast you cause a friction burn.

Excellent point on the poly.

One of these nights, I'm taking out the IR thermometer and finding out how accurate that 140 degrees might be.

It has me really curious now.

Spose that also has a lot to do with ambient temp, and your house run length.

That's why I've never understood running a live reel.....loose heat, loose vac for your convenience at the customers expense. I choose to give my customers the best I can.

I don't think you lose heat with a live reel, actually gain some with the coiled hose holding in the heat on the reel.

As for the vacuum hose, yes, a performance robber all the way.

So I hooked up my Dynamite Stick " Heat Exchanger" again. If you guys recall I was getting 165% ATM last week. On this test I hooked up a 100 feet of solution hose and barely cracked 100 degrees. So I can now officially call it a pre heater

That's quite a drop, must be due to the size of the exchanger.

Still, this has been a good experiment and that thing will still be valuable with your set-up.

Mo what gallon of jets are you running. Just curious if its over 4 just for fun reduce it to no more than 4 and set psi to 400 and test again. Just interested in what the difference would be.

Im running 6 flow right now Eddie. If I touch the hose out of the hot side of the pre heater it is hot and its cooler at the end of the hundred feet so this is definitely a pre heater. I would Imagine the exhaust would get hotter once I put a load on the engine and connect the vac hoses. Im going to clean with it tomorrow.

What size is the exhaust outlet on the hx

I think it's 1.5 same size as the muffler exhaust

Check it out if it is 1.5 then all the judson units I've worked on have a 1 in exhaust so if you can reduce the outlet to 1 in. It will hold the exhaust longer and may help keep the temperature up when in use