Kerosene Heaters

[Ironyak]

Last night it was 4 below at my house in West Jordan. My furnace was able to keep up but it ran often.

It made me think seriously about alternative heating. If we lost power, our house would become frigid rather quickly! Growing up, we had a kerosene heater for our basement. I remember it working quite well.

From what I have read, kerosene gives off carbon dioxide when it burns rather than monoxide. So as long as you don't burn off all of the oxygen in your house, it is safe to use indoors.

There are mixed opinions on the storage life of keosene fuel. I remember growing up we would use a 5 gal bucket of kerosene for more than one season. Any thoughts?

Do any of you have a preference to a particular brand of heater?

Lowes and Home Depot carry nearly identical 23000 BTU heaters. I still need to check Cal-Ranch and IFA to see if they have anything better.

[Aldon]

This is teh best site I have found for educating yourself on Kerosene heaters. http://www.endtimesreport.com/kerosene_heaters.html

I believe Ace Hardware sells one, the bigger size, which is a clone of one of the ones that the fellow suggests.

[Julie]

I have used a kerosene heater for my cabin to warm it up before the wood heat would kicked in and I was quite impressed. Kerosene stores quite well and it is actually #2 diesel. In the olden days it used to be quite smelly but they have now made it orderless. I got my heater at home depot. You can buy 5 gal containers of kerosene or you can go to where they sell fuel wholesale and buy it by the drum (that's what we did). Call around. I would recommend it as a secondary heat source.

[prairiemom]

When we lost power for 10 days (1st of April--we still had temps around 0?) we used Mr. Heater. It uses propane--for some that may be easier to store than kerosene. There are some new models that work even better than what we have. They are safe for indoor use. And there are burner attachments you can use to cook food.

[mirkwood]

I've been told it will take 100 gal of kerosene to get through a Utah winter.

[Ironyak]

I've been told it will take 100 gal of kerosene to get through a Utah winter.

Is this assuming you use keorsene as your primary heat source? I imagine you could get by with less if times got tough.

Thanks to everyone for the useful info!

Prairiemom -

How did the propane heater perform? I have something similar for camping and it works great if you stand in front of it since it is a radiant heater. Did the Mr. Heater heat the room/house very well?

I am weighing the benefits of going with all propane for cooking and heating or using two fuels. I have not seen a propane forced air/convection heater that I would feel comfortable bringing into the house. They work great for the garage though.

I will let you know as I find out more. Thanks for the link Aldon.

All I can say is lets hope whatever disaster we're dealt hits in the summertime!

[prairiemom]

I think we used 1, maybe 1 1/2 10# canisters--can't really remember. We only heated the ground floor: Living/dining room and kitchen. It was quite sufficient for that.

[thermocouple]

Kerosene will store for long periods of time if treated with deisel preservative. I use Pri-D, bought it online. I bought all of my kerosene from Rhinehart Oil in American Fork, UT. Rhinehart will sell it by the gallon with your own containers, or in prepackaged 5 gallon lined steel cans, or in 55 gallon drums. I bought the 5 gallon steel cans. Good for stacking and long term storage. I have a kerosene stove, which is my primary use for the kerosene, but I also have kerosene heaters, which I would use if necessary. For emergency heating I use the same heater that prariemom has, the Mr Heater. It's propane and has a low oxygen sensor, with an auto-shutoff if oxygen levels reach a certain low point. Im more comfortable with the propane heater for indoors, but would use the kerosene heater with a cracked window for ventilation, if I needed to.

[Earthling]

We like Jardine. Whenever I have called around they are the cheapest in the Salt Lake area. They also have an Ogden location.

Jardine Petroleum Co

1117 N 400 E North Salt Lake, UT 84054-1933

(801) 298-3252

[signseeker]

All I can say is lets hope whatever disaster we're dealt hits in the summertime!

You know, I've been wondering about this very thing. Do we really want a disaster in the summer? Anyone read Hatchet and Brian's Winter by Gary Paulsen? He had an easier time of things during the winter.

There's the bug factor. The heat-stroke factor. (I hate the heat.) The food spoilage factor. But you do have the fruits and veggies available and natural water sources...

For winter you obviously have the freeze to death factor. But you can keep your food (meats or whatever) out buried in the snow and they will stay pretty fresh for a while. There's no bugs.

Trade-offs, I guess.

[thermocouple]

You can garden in the summer, if you can irrigate. Not so easy in the winter...

[phylm]

Back in the 30s and 40s, my parents had a couple of kerosene heaters that they used all winter in my grandmother's room and for auxiliary heat in one bedroom or another. Our main heat was a logwood stove, and the wood cookstove in a very sparingly insulated farmhouse. (I can remember my mother pouring boiling water down the sink drain to thaw it on sub-zero mornings.) This was before rural electricification on our Vermont hill.

If you need to keep warm, you'll probably want to consolidate into fewer rooms, and so will have some unheated rooms. They'll be fine refrigerator units. I'd expect some starving dogs could find anything I tried to keep in a snowbank. By the way, did you know that ice cream will thaw in a snowbank?

I really appreciated the post on that solar "fridge," developed by that English girl. Going to give it a try here in sunny Florida. Incidentally, our temps have been below freezing the past two nights. My husband had to put up his "warming hut" over his Charlie Brown Meyer lemon tree tonight, too.

[Ironyak]

After weeks of researching this, I ended up buying the Kero Heat CV-2230 New In Box from a seller on KSL.

The heater works very well. It does give off a little odor when you light and extinguish it. The manual recommends that you do this outside then bring it in if the odor bothers you. It puts out A LOT of heat!

The realistic burn time is somewhere between 8 and 10 hrs per 2 gallon tank.

$10/gallon for kerosene is pretty expensive, but not uncommon for Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc. It's all about that price for the prepackaged stuff.

I found it for about $3/gallon if purchased in bulk. I picked up 5 gallons from Jardine Petroleum in Woods Cross to see how it burns. I've been happy with it so far and will likely get more. I picked up some 5 gallon metal cans with screw-top lids from a bucket distributer up by Smith and Edwards when I was in the area last week. They work well for storing the kerosene since they are stackable.

Kerosene is very similar to diesel fuel, which is much more stable than gasoline. (combustible vs. flammable!) The folks at Jardine say as long as you store it in clean containers and out of the heat, it will last for several years. Apparently there are also some additives you can use to preserve it.

Here is a great link on Kerosene Fuel:

http://www.endtimesreport.com/kerosene_fuel_primer.html (http://www.endtimesreport.com/kerosene_fuel_primer.html)

As far as the heaters go, here is the review that pointed me in the right direction:

http://www.endtimesreport.com/kerosene_heaters.html (http://www.endtimesreport.com/kerosene_heaters.html)

It has been difficult to find the good heaters locally that mentioned in the review. I finally found the KeroHeat Model CV-2230 at Smith and Edwards for $140. (I got it for less off KSL) They were sold out last week but should have more in soon. Avoid the models sold and Lowes and Home Depot. They are the heaters that are not recommended in the link above.

Here is the link to the manufacturer's web site:

http://www.sengokula.com/heaters.htm (http://www.sengokula.com/heaters.htm)

This is a lot of info, hope it helps!

[ghostcat]

Thanks for the information Yak!!!

[Julie]

Ironyak, That heater is similar to the one I have and I have been very impressed with it.

[Ironyak]

Overall it is a pretty good design. There are a few things that could be imporved, such as the handle. I have found this to be the weak spot on every heater I've looked at.

[Justme]

A question or two regarding kerosene that I can't find the answers to on the Endtimes site: How does one pump the kerosene out of 55 gal. drums? I remember a reference to a pump similar to the plastice pumps we bought for water drums. The reference said those plastice pumps won't work, or wont't work for long with the kerosene and reference a site for a better pump for the kerosene. I should have purchased the pump recommended at that time but didn't and now can't find it. Anyone know about this?

Also, I bought a few 55 gal. drums of kerosene last year and was told not to use an additive as adding it gives a stronger odor when burned. I was told the fuel would be fine without it. Now after reading at Entimes and here I am not sure. The drums are stored outside in the elements though I do put a board on top to catch the snow. It is possible to remove the board in winter when necessary to pump the fuel. It would be hard to move the heavy drums but I suppose I could find a way for my burly son-in-law to do so.

What are your recommendations on the pump, the additive, and outdoor storage?

[Justme]

Another question regarding emergency heating and water pipes. If the power goes out here where it can get -30 occasionally (Southeastern Idaho) I am planning on closing off one room in my walk out basement and heating that room with a kerosene heater, unless I can find a wood cook stove for that room. My question is what do I do about the probability of water lines freezing in the of the house? If this question was addressed elsewhere I would appreciate the reference.

[Earthling]

I use the additive to kerosene so it keeps way longer. You can get it at WalMart. Also make sure you use your kerosene heater a few times in the garage or outside as it will smoke the first few times. You don't want it doing that in your house in an emergency. DH uses it all the time in the garage in the winter when he has a project he is working on out there.

[BackBlast]

Another question regarding emergency heating and water pipes. If the power goes out here where it can get -30 occasionally (Southeastern Idaho) I am planning on closing off one room in my walk out basement and heating that room with a kerosene heater, unless I can find a wood cook stove for that room. My question is what do I do about the probability of water lines freezing in the of the house? If this question was addressed elsewhere I would appreciate the reference.

My first worry about using kerosene heaters indoors is the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning...

You can turn off your water and drain the pipes if you fear the water freezing in the pipes. This will save the pipes in the house at least. The problem with this is when there is zero water usage your pipe to the street can freeze under the ground. Normally this isn't an issue with even a minor flow, but with no flow, I've heard of it happening.

I don't know of a sure fire way to keep your pipes not frozen other than keeping them above 32 deg, or draining them.

[Justme]

Thanks,BackBlast.

I worry about the oxygen issue also. I have read everything on the Endtimes site where he states that Kerosene heaters are used safely in many locales, even Northern United States and Canada by just leaving a few windows cracked. I wish I knew how to quantitate a "crack". Will check into that further.

So if any area in the house gets close to 32 degrees I should drain the pipes. That sounds like a big operation, but now that you mention it I know people do that sometimes when they leave for the winter so I will find out how to do it. Since I am on a well there are no pipes to the street and I believe the piping from the well is actually buried more than 4 feet deep which should prevent freezing, I think. Am I thinking correctly?

[Aldon]

Get a Carbon Monoxide detector(S) that has battery back up potential. Crack the windows(not all, jsut a couple, a minor amount, half inch or less, and make sure the batteries are good. Have some extras in storage. By the way, there is wax in Kerosene that can solidify in extreme temperatures. On teh railroad we would use the additive to make certain that the engines would start in cold temperatures. Small orafices were at risk. If you utilize the kerosene over a couple of years, for portable heater, I would not be concerened. But if very long shelf life is, then I would use the additives.

[BackBlast]

So if any area in the house gets close to 32 degrees I should drain the pipes. That sounds like a big operation, but now that you mention it I know people do that sometimes when they leave for the winter so I will find out how to do it. Since I am on a well there are no pipes to the street and I believe the piping from the well is actually buried more than 4 feet deep which should prevent freezing, I think. Am I thinking correctly?

It's only a big operation if you have no valves to facilitate it. If you don't have any of those things now, it might be worth looking at making that change. Then it's a 5 minute operation with a couple of buckets.

I believe 4 feet should be fine.

[faif2d]

If you drain your pipes add some alcohol to the stools and drains or the water in the traps will freeze. I used a kerosene heater for years and only cracked one window about 1". We also had to do that when using an unvented propane heater, I up graded my unvented propane heater to have a thermostat and pilot light. Worked just swell.

[DMGNUT]

Reviving a 4.5 year old thread...

I thought I posted this somewhere before, but since it wasn't mentioned above, I thought I'd toss it out there again...
Anything that is designed to run kerosene will also run Odorless Mineral Spirits.
Odorless Mineral Spirits are more expensive but I bring it up because if you really want some "long term" storable fuel, Odorless Mineral Spirits has no shelf life/expiration date.
You can get the kerosene to last maybe 3 years (with additives), and I suggest using it for your day to day needs and having a couple years worth that you rotate through as well.
But if you want something that will last beyond that first couple years (of a break down) and if you have the funds for it, you might consider a 55 gallon drum (or 2) of Odorless Mineral Spirits.
Because its ignition point is above 150 degrees, it's not regulated as a flammable or combustible product, so you can store as much as you want.
I don't have or use kerosene burning devices, but for emergency backup, I have 2 kerosene lanterns and a Butterfly brand kerosene stove, so I bought a 55 gallon drum of Odorless Mineral Spirits... just one small part of my preparedness plans.