Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Kerosene Heaters- Safe Indoors?

i was idly spending time at a large hardware store yesterday afternoon while my wife was shopping... the gun racks were a bit on the bare side so i wound up on the tools/shop side of the store...
i found some kerosene heaters which the boxes proclaimed to be safe for indoor use... one was a 10,000 BTU unit, the other was 23,000 BTUs...

i've always figured that any type of combustion heat source needed a chimney or vent to be safe...
the picture on one box was of a family in a large den type room with a glowing kerosene heater near the middle of the room... the unit was depicted as freestanding with no chimney or observable venting...

Are these safe used in this manor???

I don't know about inside a house but my dad has had one in his office for over 10 years, maybe more. It really gets it warm in a hurry.

Long long ago, like way back in the eighties an early nineties, this was a very popular and economical way to heat rooms in a home. K-1 kerosene was sold at convenience stores and gas stations everywhere. I heated a cheap basement apartment with a Kerosun heater for a couple of years this way. The biggest drawback is that when you first start the heater or the heater runs low on fuel, you get a burned kerosene smell in the home. Back then the store down the street had a pump dedicated to K-1 and it cost less than gasoline. Since moving to Wyoming, I've not seen a K-1 pump anywhere and it costs about $5.00 a gallon at the hardware store.

Back some 30 years ago the knock on these units was that if you tripped over it or knocked one over they would start a kerosene fire.

I think someone told me that the newer units aren't supposed to leak kerosene if tipped over, but that could be my imagination.

I think anybody that uses any combustion device inside would be smart to have a CO detector (or two) We heat with Coal and have two, one down stairs near the Boiler and the other upstairs, cheap piece of mind.

I wouldn't use one even if the thing came with a carbon monoxide control that shut it off if levels got too high. Too many what if's

Back in the mid 70's when I was stationed in the U.K. just about everyone heated their house with a parifin heater (same/same). Thought it was kinda odd till we returned to the U.S. durring the gas shortage and they became popular here. The new models are safe if they tip over, wouldn't fill one while it was still running...

Thay are safe I used one all winter two years back my daughter is using it now.

I don't think I'd be comfortable just taking the "box's" word for it. If you buy one, get a carbon monoxide detector with a readout on it. Sometimes there may be an acceptable level for the manufacturer or the government inspectors they paid, that might not be acceptable to you for your family. IOW, don't rely on the instructions and don't rely on a carbon monoxide detector that just buzzes. I've got both types of detectors and had an unvented propane heater that somebody else put in a house we bought. The detector probably saved our lives.

I use one in my garage, but I wouldn't use one in my house, or anywhere else that I might sleep.

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yepper,

sounds like good advice, to me...
i'm not figuring to use one for normal heating... i have family in Arkansas that was without grid power for weeks last year...

i've got the hand pump for the well... a kerosene heater and a bit of fuel put back might make a difference in bad circumstances... a battery operated CO detector is already in our bedroom hallway... another one sounds like a good bet if i needed to use auxiliary heat...

I had one years ago when I was single and on a tight budget. Big pain, really, for not a large amount of heat.

Today, there'd have to be a huge price differential between kero and electricity for me to think it's worthwhile.

YMMV.

- Tom

I have 2 of them for back up...haven't used them for years. Used to use a small one as an ice house heater. Worked great and we always had an exhaust hole. We're all still here.

If you want something for the house, the Mr. Heater Big Buddy and Little Buddy heaters work nice. They run off the 1lb propane canisters and have low oxygen detection that will shut the heaters off. The Big buddy heaters are rated upto 18000 btu. I use a couple of the little buddy heaters in my house when we lose power in the winter. Nice thing also is there is no smell. Pretty important to me to keep the wife from complaining with her sensitive nose.

Before we put in the woodstove we used one to supplement the propane furnace when the temps got below zero. Worked great, but you have to use some common sense around kerosene.

The 23K unit heated our entire 1700 sq-ft house in temps down to -30s, with a fairly low flame. It's basically 100% efficient.

we used propane and wood .both have been used for years you have to be careful with ventilation ,fresh air dectectors allways a good idea..norm

thanks, guys...

some good ideas here... starting a new thread- "safest aux. home heating"

Exactly.. I wouldn't put one in a home, pure and simple...

Ever see one malfunction? I'd never use one in my home, even if it was free.

I stayed in Tokyo in 1983.
All the houses had empty kerosene jugs out front, like waiting for the milk man.

They do not keep those homes very warm.
The average 1000 sq ft home there was worth $1,000,000 when such a home in Seattle would be worth $50,000.

Sure. Follow the directions - use the correct fuel, don't close off the heater in a small room, open the window a 1/2 inch, etc. That said, I would buy a quality unit. Just because I don't know for sure some guy in China wants to kill me doesn't mean there isn't one.