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Ran D. St. Clair · 03-03-2010, 06:26 PM

My Platinum Cat is one cool heater

It took one day less than forever, but I finally got my propane heater. I ordered my Platinum Cat heater from A & L Enterprises, back on 8/18/09. It seems A & L stands for Arnie Lind, who is a very nice guy, but also a bit of a one man band.

I got my heater on 12/1 and realized that I had ordered the wrong one. It was the larger size and my design was based on the smaller one. It was entirely my mistake, not Arnie’s fault. Fortunately Arnie was willing to work with me and exchange the heater for the smaller one. I sent the heater back, and my correct heater, the 3P12B, arrived on 2/18/10. To be fair, I told Arnie that I wasn’t in any rush. Of course I figured that might slow things by a week or two, not a couple of months. All is well that ends well though. I have the heater now and it looks and works great.

I really like the idea of this sort of heater. It’s very efficient, and I think very safe for a propane heater. There are lots of catalytic heaters in the world, but this one is different. It has a blower that pulls in combustion air and forces the exhaust out a small 1 1/2” ABS pipe. It does not use up all the oxygen in the room, nor does it fill the room with combustion gasses.

It’s a very small package, only 14” high, by 12” wide, by 6” deep, not counting the exhaust pipe.

My little unit is rated at 3000 BTU maximum, which is roughly equivalent to 750W. It is recommended for up to 100 square feet, but of course that depends heavily on how well insulated the space is. My living quarters are almost exactly 100 square feet, and very well insulated. I also don’t expect to spend any significant time in places where it freezes.

The heat is pure radiant. It “shines” on the surfaces opposite the heater and they in turn warm the air. Wall space is at a premium in my truck, so I mounted it under the desk top in the computer nook. If I am working at the computer with the heat on it will be shining on my feet and legs, or at least just to the side of my legs. That suites me fine, as when I get cold it is my feet that get really cold. If I can keep my feet warm then nothing else seems to matter. I have a similar size electric heater under my desk at work for that very reason.

The unit itself is very well designed and made. It may be hand assembled by one guy but it was clearly designed for reasonably high volume manufacturing. I can appreciate that whoever designed it knew what he was doing and took the time to do it right.

It only requires propane and 12V to operate. The propane consumption is rated at 34 hours per gallon at full tilt. I expect it will use a lot less in my application. The current consumption is 5A (at 12V) for 2 minutes to start and then less than 0.5A continuous to run the blower while it is on. It has an effective thermostat so I won’t need to turn it on and off manually all the time. It also has timers and safety interlocks to run the blower for a time after the thermostat turns off and to prevent the flow of gas without the blower being on.

My one minor disappointment is that it draws combustion air from the room. That implies that I am drawing in cold outside make up air which has to be heated just to get it up to the temperature of the inside air, let alone to warm the inside of the truck. I suppose the good news is that I will never suffocate in the truck when it is running because I will be getting a constant influx of fresh air, and not just the air to support combustion, but also the replacement air for what is blown overboard with the exhaust.

In my truck the make up air vents are in the floor, which means I will have a pool of cold air down by my feet when the heater is running. I don’t like cold feet (grumble). I added a filtered air inlet directly under the heater so hopefully most of the inlet air will come through there, but I can’t absolutely prevent inlet air from coming in the other floor vents. Those other vents have closable registers, but they don’t seal perfectly. It’s not my idea of an ideal design, but it will have to do.

I wanted to make sure that my heater exhaust doesn’t find its way back into the truck. The heater exhaust is down through the floor of the truck right next to the make up air inlet. Hot air rises, so it would easily find its way back inside. My solution was to pipe the heater exhaust through the side skirt to the outside of the truck below floor level. That way the warm exhaust will rise and drift away from the truck. I used a standard small sink drain to make a nice looking outlet and connected it up with standard plumbing fittings.

I was a little concerned about using ABS pipe for the exhaust, but I needn’t have been. When the heater is running flat out the exhaust gasses are barely warm. I am impressed by the efficiency that implies.

Arnie has an excellent web site that explains it all better than I could. It can be found at:

http://www.ventedcatheater.com/index.html

The price was $450 plus $20 shipping, or at least it would have been if I hadn’t screwed up the order. The larger 6P12B unit is about $550 plus shipping and is about twice the size with almost twice the heating capacity.

It remains to be seen how I will like the heater after long use, but so far I like it just fine.

To be continued….

03-03-2010, 06:26 PM	#166
Ran D. St. Clair Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 212	My Platinum Cat is one cool heater It took one day less than forever, but I finally got my propane heater. I ordered my Platinum Cat heater from A & L Enterprises, back on 8/18/09. It seems A & L stands for Arnie Lind, who is a very nice guy, but also a bit of a one man band. I got my heater on 12/1 and realized that I had ordered the wrong one. It was the larger size and my design was based on the smaller one. It was entirely my mistake, not Arnie’s fault. Fortunately Arnie was willing to work with me and exchange the heater for the smaller one. I sent the heater back, and my correct heater, the 3P12B, arrived on 2/18/10. To be fair, I told Arnie that I wasn’t in any rush. Of course I figured that might slow things by a week or two, not a couple of months. All is well that ends well though. I have the heater now and it looks and works great. I really like the idea of this sort of heater. It’s very efficient, and I think very safe for a propane heater. There are lots of catalytic heaters in the world, but this one is different. It has a blower that pulls in combustion air and forces the exhaust out a small 1 1/2” ABS pipe. It does not use up all the oxygen in the room, nor does it fill the room with combustion gasses. It’s a very small package, only 14” high, by 12” wide, by 6” deep, not counting the exhaust pipe. My little unit is rated at 3000 BTU maximum, which is roughly equivalent to 750W. It is recommended for up to 100 square feet, but of course that depends heavily on how well insulated the space is. My living quarters are almost exactly 100 square feet, and very well insulated. I also don’t expect to spend any significant time in places where it freezes. The heat is pure radiant. It “shines” on the surfaces opposite the heater and they in turn warm the air. Wall space is at a premium in my truck, so I mounted it under the desk top in the computer nook. If I am working at the computer with the heat on it will be shining on my feet and legs, or at least just to the side of my legs. That suites me fine, as when I get cold it is my feet that get really cold. If I can keep my feet warm then nothing else seems to matter. I have a similar size electric heater under my desk at work for that very reason. The unit itself is very well designed and made. It may be hand assembled by one guy but it was clearly designed for reasonably high volume manufacturing. I can appreciate that whoever designed it knew what he was doing and took the time to do it right. It only requires propane and 12V to operate. The propane consumption is rated at 34 hours per gallon at full tilt. I expect it will use a lot less in my application. The current consumption is 5A (at 12V) for 2 minutes to start and then less than 0.5A continuous to run the blower while it is on. It has an effective thermostat so I won’t need to turn it on and off manually all the time. It also has timers and safety interlocks to run the blower for a time after the thermostat turns off and to prevent the flow of gas without the blower being on. My one minor disappointment is that it draws combustion air from the room. That implies that I am drawing in cold outside make up air which has to be heated just to get it up to the temperature of the inside air, let alone to warm the inside of the truck. I suppose the good news is that I will never suffocate in the truck when it is running because I will be getting a constant influx of fresh air, and not just the air to support combustion, but also the replacement air for what is blown overboard with the exhaust. In my truck the make up air vents are in the floor, which means I will have a pool of cold air down by my feet when the heater is running. I don’t like cold feet (grumble). I added a filtered air inlet directly under the heater so hopefully most of the inlet air will come through there, but I can’t absolutely prevent inlet air from coming in the other floor vents. Those other vents have closable registers, but they don’t seal perfectly. It’s not my idea of an ideal design, but it will have to do. I wanted to make sure that my heater exhaust doesn’t find its way back into the truck. The heater exhaust is down through the floor of the truck right next to the make up air inlet. Hot air rises, so it would easily find its way back inside. My solution was to pipe the heater exhaust through the side skirt to the outside of the truck below floor level. That way the warm exhaust will rise and drift away from the truck. I used a standard small sink drain to make a nice looking outlet and connected it up with standard plumbing fittings. I was a little concerned about using ABS pipe for the exhaust, but I needn’t have been. When the heater is running flat out the exhaust gasses are barely warm. I am impressed by the efficiency that implies. Arnie has an excellent web site that explains it all better than I could. It can be found at: http://www.ventedcatheater.com/index.html The price was $450 plus $20 shipping, or at least it would have been if I hadn’t screwed up the order. The larger 6P12B unit is about $550 plus shipping and is about twice the size with almost twice the heating capacity. It remains to be seen how I will like the heater after long use, but so far I like it just fine. To be continued….