Kerosene heaters for the prepper or camper

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evan price
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Kerosene heaters for the prepper or camper

Post by evan price »

To go along with my posting about kerosene lanterns I'm going to give some general info regarding kerosene space heaters.

I have used a kerosene space heater to provide auxiliary heat for my home for about 15 years. I keep my thermostat at a lower temperature (around 65) and then put the space heater in the family room where we spend most of our time. My last house had a log burning fireplace which was nice but there are also times when you want to watch an hour of TV before bed and don't want to light a fire. Then the kerosene heater was great.

The unvented space heater is used all over the world. In Japan it is quite normal to have a kerosene space heater as the primary heat source in your home. This is true all over Asia and India where electricity is not always available. The Japanese have made many advances in the science of kerosene heaters and many of their models are quite advanced including fuel injection and direct vent technology. However here in the USA it's not as common to see primary kerosene heaters, even though fuel oil furnaces are still common.

There are really only three basic style of kerosene heater, of which there are a few minor design differences in those styles.

The first style is the torpedo or forced air jet heater ("Salamander"). These are used in barns, garages, construction sites, etc. for fast and large volume BTUs. These are NOT appropriate for use inside a residence because they produce a lot of emissions and CO and smell. Small ones are moved with a handle on top, large ones have wheels and handlebars. These can be rated to produce a lot of heat. Small units are in the 25,000-60,000 btu's, while large ones are capable of 180,000 btu's or more!

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The second style is the convection heater. This is the large barrel type of heater. The old style heaters are similar to the Perfection Heater or the Aladdin Blue Flame heater. The most basic description is a large kerosene lantern with a metal bucket on top. They emit heat in all directions. Many of the older heaters can also be used as a crude stove by putting a small pot or pan on top. Convection heaters typically produce the most BTUs for the size of heater, around 20,000-30,000 BTUs typically. This is great for heating up a larger space but not as good for a small space. Combined with the amount of free air space that needs to be around the heater, you need a large room to efficiently use a convection heater.

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Perfection heater

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Aladdin Blue Flame heater


These older style heaters use a wick and flame spreader to produce heat. They make a lot of heat but as they are older designs they do not have modern safety features like the guarding, automatic extinguishing wick, anti-tip-over protection, etc. and they should best be placed on a hard flame resistant surface, not carpet. There are also new manufactured versions of these heaters that are modern designs with safety features available.

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Modern DuraHeat convection heater


More modern convection heaters use a dual combustion burner with a catalytic converter to extract the most heat from the fuel and not emit odors or smoke. These also burn more efficiently by producing more BTUs from the fuel. The catalytic converter is a glass cylinder that incorporates a grid or mesh design that traps the flame and extracts more heat than an open flame/flame spreader design.

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Catalytic convection heater


The third type of heater is the radiant heater. These heaters are a smaller size and typically shaped like televisions. They have a large reflector surface behind the burner to reflect the heat energy forwards towards the room. These are safe to place quite close to a wall and have the heat radiate in towards the center of the room. The focused heat is nice in a smaller room. Older designs use a fuel tank under the burner which requires waiting to let the heater cool, then take the heater outside to refuel. Newer designs use a removable "cartridge" style tank that can be pulled out of the heater while it is running, filled outside, and replaced in the heater without shutting it off (Although I'm sure the manuals all say to shut the heater off and let it cool before removing the fuel tank for liability reasons.) Radiant heaters produce less total BTUs (Typically 8,000-10,000) and are quite appropriate for smaller rooms and spaces. Nearly every radiant is a catalytic design and thus emits almost no odor when in use. My heaters, with good clear fuel, will give a slight smell when starting up, and again when you turn them off as the wick cools and stops vaporizing kerosene.

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Base-tank radiant heater


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Sengoku cartridge-tank radiant heater with catalytic converter
This heater uses an auxiliary 120-VAC circulating fan for better heat distribution. This style of heater can be gotten with or without the fans.

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Removing cartridge fuel tank from radiant heater
I prefer this style of radiant heater and I have several, as well as spare tanks so that I can keep a full spare tank on hand at all times ready to swap out.


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Catalytic converter from radiant heater
The height of the catalytic converter determines how cleanly the flame burns. A taller converter unit will combust more efficiently but a wider converter will produce more heat (larger wick). It's a balancing act to design for the most clean burn and efficient heat. When completely cold, a catalytic converter can be cleaned with a soft cloth to remove carbon deposits but in most cases will self clean. Be careful not to scratch, chip or crack the converter glass. Replacements are available but are not inexpensive. I have spare converters for my heaters that I salvaged from junk heaters.


Buying Heaters:
New heaters will cost in the $125-$200 range and are available on line, or from home improvement and hardware stores.
I get used heaters by shopping Craigslist and garage sales. Lots of people bought them for Y2K preps and never used them, or only used them a few times. People move, or they want their space in the shed back and sell off the heaters.
I can get nice heaters for about $50-$75, and heaters that need a little servicing for $25 or less, sometimes "Hey, if you can take it, it's yours." Even a rusted-out junker can have some good parts. My spare catalytic converters and fuel tanks came from discarded heaters.

Service required on a used heater is usually pretty simple. In most cases a good cleaning inside and out is all that is required, new batteries for the igniter, and maybe servicing the wick. Unlike a lantern which uses flat wicks, the wicks used in space heaters are tubular in shape. Modern heaters use fiberglass-edged wicks which periodically need to be burnt clean. Over time contaminants build up in the wick and form tar balls and carbon deposits in the wick that block the ability of the capillary action to bring kerosene to the burner. Then you get inefficient and incomplete combustion, odors, soot and loss of heat efficiency. Using water-contaminated fuel speeds up the tarring process. In extreme cases the tar deposits build up so thick that the wick can't retract into the wick holder and the fire can't be extinguished. In that case, manually lower the flame to the lowest possible setting, remove the cartridge fuel tank (if equipped) and let it run out of fuel. It will probably start to smell like oil during this process. You can sometimes smother the wick with a wet cloth but be careful of the hot catalytic converter.

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Fiberglass-edged space heater wick


To clean a wick, you take the heater outside and burn it on high flame until it runs completely out of fuel. This burns the tar and carbon out of the wick. Then you clean the wick edge by brushing it lightly to remove char and debris and refill with fresh, clean fuel.

Older heaters use cotton wicks which CANNOT be burnt clean, the wick itself will burn up. These can be trimmed or evened off if ragged, otherwise they must be replaced.
Replacing a wick is something for another article if desired. It's not a difficult process but it does require basic hand tool skills. Every heater is different but generally the process is that you strip away the housing, remove the burner, remove the wick holder, and remove the wick. Wicks are available for most common brands at hardware stores, home improvement stores or on-line and many heaters use common wicks. There are some caveats with wicks, some brands or styles are harder to find or more expensive than others. If you have a heater in mind that you might buy, go online and see what sort of wick it takes to make sure it's available especially if its an older heater.
Here's a resource:
http://www.milesstair.com/kero_heaters.html

Another problem is the igniter. Older heaters were lit with a match. New heaters use a push-button igniter which is basically a flashlight bulb without the glass. A couple of flashlight batteries provides power- when the ignition button is pressed the igniter glows and ignites the wick. There are electrical contacts and wires used and they can become corroded over time. Some emery cloth and contact grease fixes this. There are basically two igniters- ones with pins parallel to the coil, or perpendicular.

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Igniter- installs like a light bulb with bayonet socket


Other than cleaning the tank and wick fount area to make sure there is no water or debris, that's about it for maintenance.

Safety precautions:

These are open flames and unvented heaters. You should be aware of anything that is in the area that might catch fire including draperies, bedding, floor coverings, and be aware of your kids and pets. My dogs love to lay down in front of the heater. I put a metal fireplace screen in front of the heater to keep them away because one of my dogs managed to almost set her tail on fire once upon a time. It also kept the little fingers away when my kids were younger. I would not set the heater up on a carpet. I keep a square of Masonite that I put down under the heater. I'm sure that's overcautious but it makes me feel better. All in all a space heater is no worse than a wood stove, and has the benefit that you can trip a lever and turn it off instantly. If your house has no air exchange at all it might be a good idea to crack open a window from time to time to get ventilation. These heaters are designed and intended for indoor use in a dwelling so they are as a safe to use as anything else. When I run my heaters I do remain cognizant of them and what is going on around them. I keep fire extinguishers in several closets readily accessible just in case but I would do that anyway regardless of if I used kerosene heaters or not.

Last year I used up about ten gallons of kerosene to heat my family room. Since we had an all electric house this saved about $50 a month on heat. Worth it in my opinion. Now I know the house was un-insulated. (That explains the $400 electric bills.)
The new house is much better insulated even than normal and I expect that I will be able to really cut my bills.

Keeping 5-10 gallons of Kerosene and a space heater or two and a couple kerosene lanterns will enable someone to keep their household operational in bad weather or emergency. We had a major ice storm pass through our area a few years ago and several of my family members had no heat. I dropped off heaters and jugs of kerosene and they were all warm until the power came back on. I recommend storing your heater in a dry, temperature controlled area such as a garage or basement because condensation can form in the fuel tanks and water will settle to the bottom of the tank. If you need to keep them in a shed or barn that's OK, just be aware that you may need to service the wick and tank more often.

Just as with lanterns, be careful to use only appropriate fuels. K1 clear kerosene only. Do not use kerosene that has been contaminated with gasoline or any contaminants because it can cause a runaway flame and possibly explosion.

Here's a court case filed against Corona Heaters of Japan from a heater fire that wound up being caused by gasoline contaminated fuel.
http://caselaw.findlaw.com/dc-court-of- ... 31684.html

I find that using red dyed kerosene, the red dye clogs wicks faster than clear kerosene.
Last edited by evan price on Tue Oct 14, 2014 5:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Aesop
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Re: Kerosene heaters for the prepper or camper

Post by Aesop »

You are herewith nominated as Kerosene Heater Czar, and Professor Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kerosene Combustion Arts.
There's a sash and sword that goes with it, and you'll have Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion as your assistants. :lol:

Seriously, if there's a Kerosene Heater/Anything question, You Da Man!
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Denis
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Re: Kerosene heaters for the prepper or camper

Post by Denis »

Wow! Now I want one, just because.
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Netpackrat
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Re: Kerosene heaters for the prepper or camper

Post by Netpackrat »

In addition to the power outage I mentioned in the other thread, AlaskaTRX and I used mine while we were in the process of installing the gas heater in his hangar. It didn't do much to heat the large air volume in the hangar, but it made for a nice "campfire" that we could use to warm up while taking a break.
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Old Grafton
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Re: Kerosene heaters for the prepper or camper

Post by Old Grafton »

Aesop wrote:You are herewith nominated as Kerosene Heater Czar, and Professor Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kerosene Combustion Arts.
There's a sash and sword that goes with it, and you'll have Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion as your assistants. :lol:

Seriously, if there's a Kerosene Heater/Anything question, You Da Man!
Nomination seconded, with as much bowing and scraping as my arthritic knees and shoulders will permit. Chinese-style gongs and medallions recommended. :lol: I really have learned a lot and look forward to putting some of it to use!
I'm not old--It's too early to be this late.
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Weetabix
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Re: Kerosene heaters for the prepper or camper

Post by Weetabix »

I once had a stove, that must have been a convection style. It had a drip regulator that dripped fuel in to a pan where the fuel just burned with no wicking. It had an oven on the side of the firebox where you could slowly bake a pizza with much careful turning. It used no power, so it was great for the frequent power outages we experienced. I'd get another one if I knew where it came from. It was vented, so we burned diesel in it. It had a 55-gallon drum outside piped to it.

Are you familiar with that type heater?
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evan price
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Re: Kerosene heaters for the prepper or camper

Post by evan price »

Weetabix wrote:I once had a stove, that must have been a convection style. It had a drip regulator that dripped fuel in to a pan where the fuel just burned with no wicking. It had an oven on the side of the firebox where you could slowly bake a pizza with much careful turning. It used no power, so it was great for the frequent power outages we experienced. I'd get another one if I knew where it came from. It was vented, so we burned diesel in it. It had a 55-gallon drum outside piped to it.

Are you familiar with that type heater?
The old Harmony and Nordic style drippers? Perfection made them, too, and another company starts with a P like" prewar" or something. I know guys that took old cast iron potbellies and rigged a gravity fed orifice tube to drop used motor oil too.
Those all require a stove pipe and some insulation like a real stove would. I'm more focusing on temporary shtf or grid down type stuff.
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