Old gas heaters ? ? ?

[Ray]

Years ago it was common to see in many houses those open, grated gas heaters. I once lived in an apartment which had one of these heaters in every room. As I recall, they weren't even vented. And yet I don't recall any warnings against using these heaters, nor do I recall any fatalities.

I've been thinking of installing one of these -- you can still find them in various places -- as a substitute for a wood fire.

Is there a danger?

Also, is it possible to use a flexible gas supply line so that these heaters can be moved around. I'd like to put it in the fireplace when it's not in use, and pull it out onto the hearth when it is in use.

[Speedy Jim]

No!!

Those old heaters have no protection against consuming the room's oxygen. And they have no protection against pilot outage.

And, no, flex gas lines are not intended for frequent flexing.

Jim

[thrugoodmarshall]

I do--My Dad used to tell us to crack a window if we had the (gas) space heater running.

Also, remember that houses were a lot more "leaky" back then.

[IBM5081]

I have two of these units that I converted to propane from natural gas. They work OK in a shop environment except that there is no forced air, so a box fan is helpful to spread the heat around. When they were used for home heating with NG the supply hoses were rubber. The ceramic elements are fairly expensive to replace though everything else on these units is fairly robust. They provided excellent radiant heat. The houses that they were used in had no insulation in the walls and were so drafty that the curtains would move when it was windy outside. The windows were wood sash with channels for weights, adding to the "natural ventilation" that was available. NG was so cheap that no one put in insulation.

[CBHVAC]

Jim,

Actually you can get a gas line that designed for commercial use in kitchens that IS designed for flexing on a daily basis, but he wont like the price on a 3 foot, 1/2 inch line...I have to carry them for a resturant chain we service, and the WHOLESALE price for the good ones is over $120.00 course..it comes with all fittings, and a couple of snap self sealing connections

[TURTLE]

This is Turtle.

If these heater that your speaking about here is the real old Grate heater / no pilot lite / no shut downs / lite with a match and if gas goes off and back on , the gas keep coming. These heater are good to heat with but are not made anymore these days and the only ones aviable is the old second hand ones left over from yester year.

First They are very much dangerous in if the gas is cut off and comes back on. It will fill the house with gas and kill you.

Second They can burn up all the air in the house and will kill you before the flames goes out. They call this CO or the thing burning all the air up in your house. In any case it will kill you.

Thirdly I was raised up with these heater but as todays tim,e goes i would not want to trust my life to a heater that could malfuction and kill you.

Forthly Do fool with them.

TURTLE

[Steve Kraus]

Was that the gas hose Moe used to inflate the birthday cake? ("Better pump in a couple more slices!") Of course you know what happened when the fellow blew out his birthday candles.