Last winter I had a bit of trouble with my furnace which I think is fixed. BUT....I was thinking of buying a kerosene heater just in case. My home is about 1500 sqare feet divided into two stories. Any advice on the heater?
Thanks, Bonnie
I've used a small one for a week in 40 degree weather. It kept my 2800sf house tolerably warm; ought to be fine for 1500sf.
My wife objected to the smell, though I didn't notice it. I kept a battery powered CO detector next to it, but nothing happened.
Also, make sure that you don't let it run out of fuel (and go out). That's when you REALLY get the stink from the kerosene. DON'T FILL IT WHILE IT'S LIT!!!!
Kerosene heaters are a hazard. They may be okay for emergencies, but that's all. Ask your local friendly FD.
The Kerosene Heaters are cheap to run with no electric power and are a very effective way to heat but the smell and sute produced is kind of a problem.
I would go down and buy me 3 -- 1,500 watt elerctric '' Home Brand '' heater with thermostat controls and blowers at $29.99 each. They heat faster than the kerosene heaters , no flumes, and store in a closet but kerosene heater can't be stored in the house anywhere for fire danger. I can run you out of a 1,500 sq. ft. home with these three heaters on 30ºF weather. You need 4 heaters for 15ºF to 20ºF weather.
If you have no money and want long term heat. Yes go Kerosene heaters.
If you have a little money and want only short term heat during outages. Go Electric heaters.
TURTLE
Aaah, If there is an outage where do you get the power to run an electric heater.
Second warning is, kerosene burns the same air you need to breath in. Be on the lookout for carbon monoxide poisoning. The moment you feel dizzy, nauseous or drowsy walk outside and see if that clears the symptoms. Take appropriate measures.
This is Turtle
The Original poster was referring to a heating system outage / break down and was referring it as a outage of the heating system. I may have lead you on a little here but if you have a generator, Run the electric heater during a ''Power'' outage. There is Heat system outages and then there is Power outages.
Yea, these Helicoptor fuel heaters are a little dangerous.
TURTLE
I was talking about one my furnace going out but I do get paranoid about an entire power outage. I live alone with 2 pooches and a cat and would have no where to go. So my thinking was that kerosene would cover both.
When I used my neighbor's kerosene heater last winter, I had no problem with odor. I kept it at the bottom of the stairs on the first level of the house. I would store it in my shed. And I do have a CO detector in my home.
So I guess there aren't major differences in brands? Just get one with enough BTU's to heat my home?
bonnie
Bonnie Consider a through the wall heater. These have a vent and combustion air intake that takes the air to burn the fuel from outside the home and puts the soot and fumes outside. These are installed through a single four inch hole in an outside wall. They can be set up to run through a window insert so that you don't have to make a permanent hole in the wall. They are available to run on propane, fuel oil, kerosene, and natural gas. They require no electricity to run and they are much safer and healthier than the free standing ones.
-- Tom H
This is Turtle.
Hey if the oder does not bother you, they are a good source of cheap heat but be careful about operating it in areas where it can be kicked over and make sure you have the fall over kill switch on it. You can have the battery start on them but always have a box of matches on hand to light it with for everytime you really need it. The batterys are dead.
I run one in my hvac work [ which was for storage ] shop to keep stuff from freezing and it take about 1 gallon of kerosene a day [24 hours] to operate.
Also look at the btu rating and get the highest rating for you can always run it on low if you like but if your not big enough you can't go up in btu rating when you need it.
OH Yea, Keep the CO detector batteried up good and running good for these things can go hay wired.
TURTLE
This is Turtle.
Hey if the oder does not bother you, they are a good source of cheap heat but be careful about operating it in areas where it can be kicked over and make sure you have the fall over kill switch on it. You can have the battery start on them but always have a box of matches on hand to light it with for everytime you really need it. The batterys are dead.
I run one in my hvac work [ which was for storage ] shop to keep stuff from freezing and it take about 1 gallon of kerosene a day [24 hours] to operate.
Also look at the btu rating and get the highest rating for you can always run it on low if you like but if your not big enough you can't go up in btu rating when you need it.
OH Yea, Keep the CO detector batteried up good and running good for these things can go hay wired.
TURTLE
thanks turtle. sounds like good advise. it would only be for a day or two at the most since I have a service contract for the furnace. last year though they had to order a part which took a couple days to get.
bonnie
Are kerosene heaters REALLY cost effective?
Seems to me you might spend as much money heating with kerosene as with natural gas. No?
Any brand you recommend?
I live in an area where the power goes off frequently. I installed an Empire Direct Vent propane heater, 15,000 BTU. It gets it's air from outside and exhausts to outside, needs no electrical power to operate and is thermostatically controlled. The power for the thermostat is generated by the pilot heating a bi-metal strip. These things are not fuel efficient so they should be considered only for emergency purposes, but they are safe and there are no emissions vented to the living area, and no oxygen from the living area used for the flame. My brother heated with a catalytic kerosene heater, certified as completely safe, but eventually his clothes smelled and he developed a nasty cough. Perhaps if nothing else were available, for short term emergency I might reluctantly consider a kerosene heater but I think there are better ways to go.
Bob
Not really. They are OK for emergency heat or for a place where you don't need heat very often and you don't want to spend a lot of money on a real system. The last time I bought K1 Kerosene it was a couple bucks a gallon at the pump and hard to find. If you buy it in cans it is more like $4-5
This is Turtle.
The original Poster was speaking about use only during the hvac system failures or maybe during power outages.
TURTLE
I have been using kerosene heater for years, I have two: Dyna-Glow RMC-95-C7 made in S Korea and Heat Mate HMHC 2230 made in Taiwan. While the Korean are more solidly constructed, slightly bigger tank capacity therefore, heat much longer without the need keep on replenishing. However, the downside is changing the wick, it took me not less than 1/2 hr (rarely) to an hour and most often longer. The reason being there are two studs in on opposite sides of the wick you need to align to the heater mechanism, it took ages to get it right. While the Taiwan are not that rugged, it a pieces of cake to replace the wick, maybe less than 15 minutes.
If I have to buy another, I will almost insist that the wick have no studs so that I keep my blood pressure down.
There are downside using kerosene heater, it's dangerous and emit black soot, further kerosene is about $3.5/gal and at Home Centers more than $4.5/gal. I buy my kerosene, 40 gal each trip from an out of town farm's cooperative at $1.50/gal. I normally use around 120 gal per season, thus save me more than $700 per year heating bills. Another point to remember, you will have to clean and replace the wick at least 3-4 times during the season and this require removing the carbon and wax from the heater. Hard work to keep the heater operating properly.
Around here there are two prices, depending on what your will be using it for. I don't know what the other use is (probably something to do with farming), but home heating is the the high price. Sure, you can just lie and get the low price, but...
I have never replaced my wick. I have about 600 hours on my Kerosun (or something like that). Am I over due? What happens if you don't replace it? Seems to work the same as when new.
OK
That's what I thought... great for emergency use but not so cost effect rive for daily use
The cooperative sell kerosene to farmers does not have State's tax... that's what they told me.
You need to replace the wick otherwise carbon and wax harden the wick. Go read the operation manual.
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