Adding a little giant

[TConway]

Ok, I bought a little giant heater from a friend, we found a little tm that he bought for 5oo.oo and it came with a heater so I split the cost and got the heater.
My ? is this if I wanted to run it WITH my Legend would you put before or after the TM. Pre heat my water to the TM or let the TM pre heat the water to the giant ?
Another thing is it normal for the flames to POOF when it kicks on ? I don't know much about LG type heaters but it is kinda nerve racking when the thing comes on sometimes it makes a good size BOOM. Could this be from the pilot light not being close enough to the burner ring ?
Thanks for your input

 

[Royal Man]

A poof is normal. A Boom not normal. Wonder if the jets on the burner ring were reamed out of perhaps it needs a new orifice for the pilot.

 

[Mike Draper]

Tom, you want it to be last in line for the water. Also, the poof is normal, but there is a reigniter that cost about $30 that is easy to install. It will keep the pilot from ever blowing out and allowing propane to build up inside. Give me a call if you have any other questions on it.

 

[Out of Character - 0]

after the tm, you may have to adjust the thermostat on the lg though. Your pilot is either too small or to far from the burner ring. There is a flame adjustment under a screw off cap on of the thermostat housing. It takes a flat head screw driver.

 

[Mike Draper]

You'll also need an regulator. Not sure if it came with one, but I would purchase a brand new one so you know everything is correct.

 

[trojancarpetcare]

poof is normal i love when it makes that soud it means its time to start steaming some carpets

 

[mahlonzehr]

Sometimes the pilot orifice plugs up giving you a small pilot flame. You can try to clear it or order a new orifice.

 

[TConway]

I was messing around with it today and it seems when the temp setting is on warm not so big of a poof but if I turned it up to high wow big flame kinda scary really. I do think the pilot may be a little far away because the gas seems to build up and the flame kinda comes out of the bottom of the housing when it first hits after its going its fine, just when it turns on.
But the water gets VERY HOT so hot I had steam, very nice cause it only takes seconds to get it. Just not used to flame thing kinda nervous about it. I guess if I would have started out with a burner it would be no big thing.
I kinda thought it needed to go after the TM easier on pump and maybe less propane to get water up to higher temps.
The auto pilot would be nice to have because it did blow out the pilot one time from the start up. I wish there was someone around me that could tune it up just to be on the safe side.
Thanks Mike I will give you a call for some input.

 

[Shane T]

I put mine after the TM. I found it worked best if I turned down the temp on the TM. If the water is too hot going into the LG the burner wouldn't come on when it needed to. If your LG isn't the high pressure model install a valve and bypass for when you need to turn up the pressure for T&G. Check pilot baffle to insure it is directing the pilot flame to the burner jet on one side and the thermocouple on the other.

 

[renegade_cowboy]

I was messing around with it today and it seems when the temp setting is on warm not so big of a poof but if I turned it up to high wow big flame kinda scary really. I do think the pilot may be a little far away because the gas seems to build up and the flame kinda comes out of the bottom of the housing when it first hits after its going its fine, just when it turns on.
But the water gets VERY HOT so hot I had steam, very nice cause it only takes seconds to get it. Just not used to flame thing kinda nervous about it. I guess if I would have started out with a burner it would be no big thing.
I kinda thought it needed to go after the TM easier on pump and maybe less propane to get water up to higher temps.
The auto pilot would be nice to have because it did blow out the pilot one time from the start up. I wish there was someone around me that could tune it up just to be on the safe side.
Thanks Mike I will give you a call for some input.

Judson made a great detail video regarding LG heater care.. may want to watch it so you can clean you burners.

 

[Total_Rookie]

Check out this video on YouTube:

http://youtu.be/gyzkimwcBFk

 

[TConway]

Ok thanks for the link to the Judson video it was very helpful. My heater is not a little giant. It is out of a steam genie I believe. It is a SS unit that has insulated sides that are very heavy, it has clips to allow you to open it up by removing one side at a time. I think it is basically to same idea. But the pilot was to far away from the burner so the gas would not light right away and cause a pretty big BOOM sometimes.
Also the bottom of the unit was very open unlike the LG with the small nickel size holes on the bottom, I assume this was because the unit was built as part of the original TM it was on. I made some plates to go over the bottom to close it up a bit because to much air was getting in there and messing with the pilot light. Works awesome.
I have done a lot of mods to my TM one of them was raising the RPMs up to give more vac and HEAT. Most of our work is empties and we have been able to drop rpms down and still have 200 + temps at the wand. Very nice. The added heat is really making a difference in the final outcome of the carpet cleaning job.
The cool thing about 42 door or 2.5 hose is you can lower your rpms and still have better performance than stock. We now only need to bump rpms up when doing a customers house to get better dry times. Very nice option.
Like I told my son we really don't need to dry the carpet any faster on empties the only ones that will notice are the mice and cockroaches.

 

[KP]

Sounds like the tortoise shell heaters that HM made,I have 2 of them.They are built like tanks.Do you have a supplier up in Redding?You can get a welding tip cleaner or if you have a supplier near they might have the jet cleaning tool.I run mine after my coolant HX,but as somebody mentioned earlier,you will have to turn up the thermo because of the heated water coming in.

 

[TConway]

I will snap a pic because I would like to know what it really is, but I think you are correct about HM. I'm really not sure what it came off of I thought he said Steam G. I really like the heat it is very nice to have. In the summer I don't think will need it much.