Kerosene questions?

[CharlieTR]

I have not purchased a kerosene heater, but I have rented them twice.
Both times the mechanic at the rental store said to fill it with diesel before returning it. He said it has diesel now and that all they used in their "kerosene heaters". I sure was glad I didn't have to buy Kerosene.

 

[duber34]

K1 is about $5.00/gal. at the big box stores here in NY. I can find K1 available at a few gas stations around town for about $3.50/gal out of the pump. I have the same TSC heater for the house and use it sparingly simply because of the high cost of Kerosene. For the garage I use a salamander type 55,000 btu Reddy Heater. It can burn K1, HHO, diesel or even JP-8 jet fuel. I run diesel through it at about 2.70/gal. Still hurts the pocket but not quite so bad.


Regards,
Duber

 

[EastTexFrank]

I have one of those kerosene heaters that I use in my 600 sqare foot shop (and for emergencies) and it works pretty well to take the chill off during the winter. The only problems I have found is that it does smell a little bit when you first walk in from outside but you can buy an additive to add to the kerosene that helps disguise it and secondly, my shop has 12' to 15' ceilings and all the heat gathers at the top. So, you need a fan running to keep the heat circulating. If I want T-shirt temperatures, I supplement it with a propane patio heater that also works great. If all else fails there is always electric heaters but I've never needed all 3 running at the same time. Whatever route you decide to go would depend on cost, availability and fuel storage capacity and ability but that kero heater should work on a shop your size.

 

[mjarrels]

Back in the good ole days, we had to take fuel samples from each tank on aircraft... about a pint per tank. Two fuel tanks per aircraft and twelve aircraft on the flight line (JP-4/5 fuel). Didn't need to buy any kerosene because the samples could not be reused. Went into a five gallon can for anyone who wanted it.

mark

 

[Skerby]

I bought a 110kbtu unit from wal-mart. it can heat my 3car garage up comfortably in like 10 minutes from near zero. i use diesel fuel in it as it's cheap. but you want to open up the door when you start it as it puts out a large plume of grey diesel exhaust. this unit (pro heat or something w/ the word PRO in it) runs on diesel, kero, fuel oil, and the jet stuff.. says so right on the box too! i'd put in a CO detector if i were running it a long time (fyi diesel produces far less CO than gas combustion).. i think the fuel oil is the cheapest followed by diesel, then kero (not sure what jet fuel costs). they sell a thermostat you can put on the unit, but that would be a problem with the plumes of smoke everytime it kicks on... i think the kerosene would burn much cleaner however.. good luck ..

 

[Mickey_Fx]

One need to take energy content into consideration when comparing cost. Kerosene = 134k btu's/gal, propane - 91k btu's/gal (that's US gals and not Imp gals. That mean it take almost 1.5 gal of propance to equal 1 gal of kerosene. Also need to figure in heater efficiency. Non-vented one can consider 100% efficiency. If vented efficiency may be in the 70% range.

 

[RonMar]

I heated a house when I lived in Upstate NY years ago with 2 kero heaters. one 20KBTU and the other 12K BTU. We only really ran the 20K unit to warm up a cold house then we shut it down. the 12K went in the living room and we used a small circ fan to distribute the air. That house was pretty well insulated and at the time it was the cheapest option as kero was petty inexpensive at the local gas stations. For the standalone type heaters, there should be a ventilation requirement right on the operating label. I still have the 12K unit and use it in my 24X24 garage. It specifies 80 SQ/IN of vent or an 8 X 10 hole. The garage is uninsulated and that heater can't keep up when it dips into the 30's. It can be placed where you are working(as long as you are not working on flamables like a fuel system and it is nice to go stand in front of to warm up. It will probably work OK once I get the garage insulated and a ceiling put up.