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Kerosene Heaters

Viking

New member
Site Supporter
I have never owned or operated a kerosene heater. What are the safety concerns and ventilation concerns I should keep in mind?? Every winter I always here about a family or two that have burned down their house while using a kerosene heater. I will NOT be using these to warm my house and the heater will never be left unsupervised.

I have a 3 1/2 car garage space with a high ceiling and I want to keep it warm this winter when my teenage boys are using the space for batting practice. The heater will not be positioned so a batted ball will be able to strike it. Will one of these do the trick?
0c0e4d19-535a-45e6-9936-b9ba1461245a_100.jpg
It's what they sell at home depot. 23,000 BTU per hour.

Also, I want to buy one of these:
9877f163-c7ec-4f1a-9bba-2fbb31809847_100.jpg
to use outdoors. It is a 210,000 BTU model also at home depot. I basically want to warm up an area of about 70' by 15'.

Thanks!
 

DaveNay

Klaatu barada nikto
SUPER Site Supporter
Are your spaces insulated? What do you expect the outside temperature to be? How warm do you want it inside?

I own one of those heaters you are considering for the garage, and from my experience it would have hardly any effect in a 3 1/2 car garage with high ceilings. Also, since it sits on the floor in the middle of the room and considering your intended use, I would be concerned with someone running into it while chasing a ball. I think the torpedo heater would be better here.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I'm not a big fan of torpedo heaters in any closed in areas. They generate too much carbon monoxide. When I use my torpedo heater in a 2-bay garage sized area, the CO detector will go off in under 1 minute.
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Go for the torpedo heater. The kero-sun will take a long time to heat up an area and is a lot of work keeping after the wicks. I own both and would take the torpedo hands down. You will need a supplier where you can buy clear kero to run the kero-sun. Regular kero will give a lot of fumes and you have to stay on top of the wick adjustment. Consider getting the thermostat for the power cord on the torpedo. I own 2 torpedo heaters and a kero-sun and I have not used the kero-sun in about 6 years but run the torpedo all the time. They are handy for instant heat wherever you need it. I put an 8" elbow on mine to aim the heat in close places and even used it to thaw frozen ground and put in posts at -10 deg. they are great.
 

Big Dog

Large Member
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
.............. a lot safer and efficient!
 

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Viking

New member
Site Supporter
Are your spaces insulated? What do you expect the outside temperature to be? How warm do you want it inside?

I own one of those heaters you are considering for the garage, and from my experience it would have hardly any effect in a 3 1/2 car garage with high ceilings. Also, since it sits on the floor in the middle of the room and considering your intended use, I would be concerned with someone running into it while chasing a ball. I think the torpedo heater would be better here.

The garage is partially insulated. The ceiling, the front wall and halfway back the sidewalls are insulated. The batting practice area is contained by netting so no balls flying around or kids chasing balls.

Based on the replies it sounds like I could use the torpedo heater for the garage and outside. As far as ventilation goes I could open up one of the doors. It will not normally get to much below 20 degrees outside. The 210,000 BTU heater packaging indicates it can heat an area up to 5000 square feet so it should do a more than adequate job in the garage even with a door wide open.

Thanks for the replies. I knew I could count on a wealth of info from you guys.
 

bczoom

Super Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
.............. a lot safer and efficient!
And will most likely get your homeowners insurance canceled if put in a garage or shop area.

The best solution I've found is to put in a propane Reznor heater.
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
If I would put in a woodburner inside my policy would be void as per the fine print. Failure to disclose it results in zero payout if you have a fire. They insisted on a 100 ft. distance on my outside woodburner to any occupied structure. But the premiums are a whole lot lower and I don't have to have some fool inspecting it for the insurer like an inside woodstove either. The extra pipe was a one time expense to get a much better rate.
 

Erik

SelfBane
Site Supporter
I suspect the insurance thing varies by company and state and also has to do with attached vs. detached, and garage vs. shop.
 

Snowtrac Nome

member formerly known as dds
GOLD Site Supporter
here is the quick easy way to heat your garage toyo laser 73 should cost you about 1000 bucke but its direct vent so no fumes or gases takes combustion air from outside and wont eat up your oxygen in your living aera they traditionaly run 20 years before they need work and they will burn #1 diesel and jet-a for fuel we heat our homes here in rual ak with them they work good and with the thermostat you can keep the heat down low and it shuts down when you don't need it also wount affect your home owners policy. you can also use a 55gallon drum for a fuel tank and in warmer climates get several months out of a drum
 
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