Any one use a ventless gas stove for heating.???

[kenmac]

I do have one of those double burner reflector units that mounts directly on top of a 20lb tank... don't remember the BTU output on it and never felt like it put out the heat I wanted. I guess it worked okay on second thought, but I was always worried about it falling over due to dragging an extension cord or swinging a piece of wood around or whatever. I would love something more permanent mounted on a wall and out of the way. Same issue with my kerosene heater. It's always out in the middle and in the way.

I was talking about mounting a ventless heater (28-30 k btu) on the wall , and using a 20# portable propane tank supply the propane if you can't run a line off your large propane tank

 

[kenmac]

Gravity furnaces still had a flue to vented to a chimney. They did not have a blower to circulate the air inside the home- thus relying on "gravity"...hot air rises. My Grandfather installed them, my Dad converted them to a gas burner from oil, my Dad and I ripped those out and installed an "efficient", 60%, furnace, then I replaced that with a 90% model.

Yes ,,some time later (don't know what year) some of these units down here were retrofitted with a blower.. It was a huge improvement over the gravity only

 

[tbrooks26]

I was talking about mounting a ventless heater (28-30 k btu) on the wall , and using a 20# portable propane tank supply the propane if you can't run a line off your large propane tank

That's what I did for my greenhouse heater, except I built a small stand for it. A few fittings and a grill kit and regulator. Now I use it for jobsite heating and have let people with electric heat borrow it for emergencies

 

[kenmac]

in my 30+ yrs of installing and working on all types ventless.. I have never seen a case where a ventless heater, logs consumed enough oxygen in the room to activate the ODS pilot system, and shut the heater / logs down..

I believe the low O2 was the result of a combination of the high altitude (8850'), plus running both the ventless propane heater and the wood stove (without outside air provisions) in the same room. The room is 24x18 vaulted ceiling and with a ceiling fan. At any rate, cracking a window seemed to solve the problem after a few minutes. I have only seen this happen maybe once or twice in 12 years, although we are only there for about two weeks at a time every few months.

And kenmac, thanks for posting the link to the explanation of how the ODS works. If you have any thoughts or suggestions re this potential problem, I would appreciate your insight.

you are most welcome.. It's really hard to diagnose from behind a computer screen, but I would look at the pilot assy, or maybe a regulator / supply issue.
.

last week my MIL called and said her propane logs work sometimes, and sometimes not..I already know,,I'm not getting paid for this job.
So, I go ,and check out the pilot on the logs is very low,, I go check her propane furnace,, furnace cycles on for a few min. then goes off..
I now know that she doesn't just have an issue with her propane logs...

Long story short.. The little pig tail line that comes off her large propane tank was stopped up..It was a small enough opening to allow enough propane to fill the gas line with nothing on.. As soon as her furnace kicked on ,and used up what was in the supply line, it would shut down the pilot on her logs, because no more gas was in the line.. With everything off ,, the gas would build up in the line again, until the furnace came on again ,and uses up all the gas.

I cleaned out the pigtail, checked the gas flow at the furnace,, MIL is now a happy camper..
Guess I'll just have to right this repair off on my taxes !

 

[John White]

So I have a couple more questions. Like I said when I started the post, we just use a fake fireplace 1500 watt. It keeps our house fairley warm. If I go into my computer room I might turn on another 1500 small box heater for awhile. We turn every thing off before going to bed and even set our furnace so it wont come on. When we get up it is a little cold, probably around 55 or 60. During real cold weather if my wife is going to be working in the kitchen she will turn on one burner on the stove. Not all the way up. This burner is not controlled by a pilot light, only elec. ignition. Is there any way this could deplete the oxygen?. Last night the temp was supposed to fall to 0. Wife said since it was going to be so cold in the morning she was going to just leave the burner on about 1/3 and see how warm the kitchen would be in the morning. When we got up she said she could hear a very faint beep from the smoke detector in the hall way. (at first she thought she had left the phone off the cradle and it was beeping) I got to looking and could see the green light flashing and figured the battery must be going dead. A few minutes after I turned on the furnace it stopped. (probably reculating fresh air) Is there anything in the kitchen stove that would shut it off like a vent free stove if oxygen is depleted. (I do probably need to change the battery in my smoke detectors, they are hard wired also but I think the battery needs replacing)

 

[k0ua]

So I have a couple more questions. Like I said when I started the post, we just use a fake fireplace 1500 watt. It keeps our house fairley warm. If I go into my computer room I might turn on another 1500 small box heater for awhile. We turn every thing off before going to bed and even set our furnace so it wont come on. When we get up it is a little cold, probably around 55 or 60. During real cold weather if my wife is going to be working in the kitchen she will turn on one burner on the stove. Not all the way up. This burner is not controlled by a pilot light, only elec. ignition. Is there any way this could deplete the oxygen?. Last night the temp was supposed to fall to 0. Wife said since it was going to be so cold in the morning she was going to just leave the burner on about 1/3 and see how warm the kitchen would be in the morning. When we got up she said she could hear a very faint beep from the smoke detector in the hall way. (at first she thought she had left the phone off the cradle and it was beeping) I got to looking and could see the green light flashing and figured the battery must be going dead. A few minutes after I turned on the furnace it stopped. (probably reculating fresh air) Is there anything in the kitchen stove that would shut it off like a vent free stove if oxygen is depleted. (I do probably need to change the battery in my smoke detectors, they are hard wired also but I think the battery needs replacing)

I think the battery in your smoke detector needs changing. But there is nothing in your electronic ignition gas burner that will shut that burner off if the oxygen level gets low. The cook stove is not designed for room heating. While they burn extremely efficiently, if your house was tight enough to use enough oxygen to drop below 18 percent, it would start putting out CO instead of CO2. Not a good thing.

I would not recommend burning the burner overnight. You are taking a risk without an ODS system in the stove. In a drafty old house, it would probably not be a problem. In an efficient tight house, it might be.

Oh, also if the drafty old house was drafty enough to blow the lowered flame out, it would spew raw gas into the atmosphere of the house. and when/if you got up to check on it and flipped on the light switch, you could find your self, or pieces of yourself on Mars. Leave the burner on the stove off at night when you are not around to monitor it.

 

[kenmac]

While I don't think 1 burner on a stove / range top would use up the 02 in an average sized home..
As been stated,, Your gas range wasn't designed to heat your home.. Your furnace is..
If you had an emergency where your furnace was broken ,and couldn't be repaired for some time, and had no other heat source,would I use the range to keep from freezing to death ?? YES !!.. On a regular basis ? NO !! I sure wouldn't leave it on over night.. There is no safety device to shut off gas flow should the gas flow be interrupted for some reason, then start flowing again, there's nothing there to re light the gas as it starts back to flowing from the burner.. Now you have raw gas flowing from the burner.. That would not be a good thing to wake up or not wake up too
You aren't gaining anything by turning your furnace off..Set it to a lower temp ,but not so it won't come on at all..

It's cold here in the Heart Of Dixie this am.. I've got to get busy..Use your head... Remember Murphy's Law ?? Be safe

 

[ultrarunner]

The old gas ranges here are vented with a chrome pipe to a tile chimney through the roof.

All of the 1920's bungalows in my first neighborhood were sold with no heaters and the old time residents used the oven to heat... remember this is a vented oven... even back then they were told not to use the stove top burners because they are not vented.

Over the years most added very small floor furnaces that were turned on with a gas key... some were later retrofitted with thermostats.... the floor furnaces worked well.

My home was unusual in that the original owners had a connecting to a sheet metal business and they installed the big gravity control heater after digging out the basement for it... going strong after all these years.

 

[John White]

Finally traced the beep down. Wife had left cell phone on in purse and battery was about gone dead. Bought a new Co 2 alarm today , will plug it in hall way. I think my smoke alarm is co 2 also but not sure. Really don't plan on leaving kitchen burner on any more, during while we are asleep.

 

[GPintheMitten]

Finally traced the beep down. Wife had left cell phone on in purse and battery was about gone dead. Bought a new Co 2 alarm today , will plug it in hall way. I think my smoke alarm is co 2 also but not sure. Really don't plan on leaving kitchen burner on any more, during while we are asleep.

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