Dayton Torpedo NG to LP Conversion

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
  • Hope everyone has a wonderful and warm Thanksgiving!
  • Super Cedar firestarters 30% discount Use code Hearth2024 Click here

mtnxtreme

Member
Hearth Supporter
Jan 22, 2007
122
I have a Dayton 3VE56B NG torpedo heater, I called Grainger, who the heater is made for, and they said there is no conversion kit available. I have seen many heaters converted to LP. Is there anyone out there hat may make a kit or I can get the correct orifice ?
 
https://www.grainger.com/product/DAYTON-25-9-16-x-11-7-8-x-16-1-8-3VE56

The operating manual for this equipment is linked to above.


This heater is unvented equipment and has a very thin margin of safety. Anyone who operates it should READ, UNDERSTAND and FOLLOW ALL the safety warnings in the operating manual. Failing to do so can injure or kill people pretty easily.

Among those warnings are a warning against making ANY modification to the existing equipment. So what you want to do is prohibited by the manufacturer, and it is dangerous and foolish to make such changes. These are NOT idle warnings. They are real and must be respected by any responsible person.

You might try shopping around for a similar heater designed to operate on propane. Even so, unvented equipment has a thin margin of safety, and should be operated following ALL the manufacturers warnings.

But by far the best thing would be not to use unvented equipment. It's just too easy to injure or kill people with it.

What kind of situation do you want to heat? There may be a safe way to do it.

For example, when building a new house you might want to have heat to allow wallboard to be mudded. Rather than using an unvented heater, it would be far better to get the furnace for the house installed and operating so that the regular furnace can supply needed heat.
 
Last edited:
The weird thing is they sell the exact same unit for LP, but can't convert it ? Makes no sense, these are $500 units, hate to waste it ! We use them outside while working just to warm a little, but I've moved from where it was all NG to where its all LP ! And I have 3 of them !
 
We use them outside while working just to warm a little,

Ahh, then you are using them in conformance to the manufacturer's recommendations. That's good!


Think of it in these terms: many employers proclaim that "safety is job #1" or something similar to that. By using such equipment in ways that conform to the safety warnings of the manufacturer, you are carrying out that value.

I can understand that it might appear that such limitation make no sense, but they are recognizing the narrow safety tolerance of such equipment ----right on the edge of being unuseable. The opinion of the manufacturer is that there is NO room for people to make modifications in the equipment they offer. Any change, no matter how insignificant it might seem, has a significant potential to be dangerous. And I agree with that.

As I said earlier, such equipment can be operated safely if ALL the warning of the manufacturer are READ, UNDERSTOOD and FOLLOWED.

You appear to be doing that, most importantly by operating the equipment where there is abundant ventilation i.e. outdoors.

While it may be frustrating to have such sharp limitations, in my opinion and experience they are well justified, and in fact are too optimistic, since such warnings are routinely ignored by many users in practice.
 
The more traditional means of keeping workers warm in a cold winter climate has been burn barrels, fed with scrap wood. That can provide a pretty intense source of radiant heat which can keep men warm in very cold temperatures. Cheaper than propane, too!

It might do a better job of keeping people warm than your torpedo heater...

Is that something worth considering?
 
  • Like
Reactions: mtnxtreme
The more traditional means of keeping workers warm in a cold winter climate has been burn barrels, fed with scrap wood. That can provide a pretty intense source of radiant heat which can keep men warm in very cold temperatures. Cheaper than propane, too!

It might do a better job of keeping people warm than your torpedo heater...

Is that something worth considering?

I love my old radiant rig. Just stick it on the bottle and set it where you are working. Far better heat for me compared to the blast from the torpedo . It’s easier to move around than the torpedo too as it’s attached to the bottle.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
pressure regulator and orifice size would be the only changes needed be tween lp and ng. Unless these are auto ignite with a thermostat .