Hi there,
I searched the archives for this but didn't come up with any answers. I need to buy one-maybe-two portable gas heater(s) and I'd like to get some opinions on whatever brands you guys might be familiar with.
I found this one on line,
and
Thanks in advance!
Best,
Lesley
"Lesley" wrote
and
O.K. I am dumb when it comes to natural gas (since I live in oil country), but I always thought that natural gas was piped into one's house and propane is delievered in tanks (whether filled on the spot or swapped out with full tanks). There are small propane tanks such as the ones on grills. I would think that a PROPANE heater could be "portable", but a natural gas heater could (practically) NOT be portable.
How can it be "portable" if it has to be hooked up the the pipeline coming into your house? To me it sounds as sensible as a solar powered flashlight, but as I said, I don't know that much about natural gas.
BTW, your link doesn't work......
Sorry, I didn't mean portable. I guess I meant "compact". I always think of something "small" as being "portable". I need to stop that. :)
I'm looking for a vent-free, open flame, compact natural gas heater with a fan that has a programmable thermostat in addition to automatic shut-off if oxygen is depleted or if the pilot light goes out.
If anyone has any recommendations, I would be interested in hearing them.
Thanks again,
Lesley
Usually the manufacturer's definition of portable is to install a handle. Smallness nor lightness doesn't seem to enter the picture.
There are CNG machines out there that are not super cooled. I used to work on them at the university I work at for a while. They converted a lot of the vehicles to run on CNG. (compressed natural gas). The compressor took the gas from the regulator and compressed it into another tank. Which we then used to fill vehicles from. It worked pretty good as long as the ambinet air temp was not in tripple digits. Then the limitation of the compressor kicked it and well,,,, refueling daily or every 30-40 miles was a reality. With better equipment maybe the experment would have lasted longer.
I have heard that some of the auto makers want to produce CNG cars but that means a network of CNG stations or ........... a compressor at your home. Now that is a scary thought
Just to clarify this a bit, unconstrained propane (1 atmosphere pressure) is a gas at room temperature. It's boiling point is -44 degrees F. But if you constrain it in a tank, then it can easily be made liquid at room temperature: e.g. at 200 PSI the boiling point is
110 degrees F. [Disclaimer: these numbers are from random websites.]Cheers, Wayne
Do yourself a favor an stop looking at vent free heaters! No mater what the manufacturers want you to believe they are not that safe. Many areas do not allow they because of problems the heaters can have.
Similar styled heaters in wall vented models are available, safer, and better for you and your home. Greg
How would like to live inside a chimney? Because if you get an unvented heater, that is what you are doing.
Stretch
I have never been in a area where a vent free heater was being used that I didn't get a headache or lousy feeling. Combustion byproducts are always present no matter what it says on the box. Do your family a favor and look for a high efficiency *vented* heater.
Propane is mostly a liquid and just partially a gas at room temperatures. Because of this, it is relatively easy to store in large quantities. You can safely have a small container of LP (liquid propane) for a BBQ grill, or a big tank in the backyard to heat your home for the winter months.
Natural gas is delivered to your house by a utility at medium/low pressures and is in the form of 100% gas (no liquid). To store it, you would need special tanks and compressors which would generate all sorts of safety issues for residential service and this is simply not done.
Natural Gas does exist as a liquid but at super low temps and extremely high pressures for bulk transport such as LNG Supertankers. It's not something you would want to have in your home though.
In a sense, the gas utility is more like the electric utility in the sense that the utility company provides the storage (or grid) function and you simply use whatever your system demands and no more.
Beachcomber
I DO understand what you and Beachcomber are talking about, but I'll go back to my same question:
How or what would be a natural gas PORTABLE heater? If it's piped in (and not propane), how can it be PORTABLE???
WW Granger sells what they call "portable" NG heaters. (I didn't think that anything like that existed). It looks like they are used for construction sites. The one I saw (Dayton model 6BY70) looks like it comes with a flexible hose and some sort of NG connector.
You might have a hard time finding anything smaller or code rated for residential use that isn't a permanent NG heater.
The Granger Site is at:
(No affiliation)
Beachcomber
Hi - The vented/ventfree and code issues aside. I have had experience with two types in my cottage. The blue flame type and the infrared type.
I have a blue flame type on LP although they do have NG as well. The Blue flame style heats the air and would not have the clearance restrictions of a infrared style. I have a couch about 2 feet away from mine and the material doesn't even get warm to the touch. My blue flame has the features you are looking for except a programmable thermostat. It just has a regular thermostat, I assume by programmable you mean that you can tell the unit times of day to come on and off or what temps you want at different times. My blue flame has a fan as well, fan can run with thermostat or on all the time.
Mine is similar to
The infrared units will feel warmer at first. You can stand in front of them and really feel the heat. You need to keep things farther away from them. They are better in smaller areas.
Home Depot sells them under the name "Comfort Glow" and Harbor Freight has a similar line calld "Procom" (Maybe spelled "Procomm") They are not available in all areas and are not permitted under code in some localities.
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