LP versus Kerosene

[Rollerman 290]

Just curious if some of you members are useing one of the two?

I have a mid sized keroseen salamader that does a good job heating my drafty shop.....but.

It's noisy & seems to be overkill somedays when you want to just keep the chill off.

Lately I've noticed a few of the LP style salamander heaters with two or three heat ranges?

Keroseen's pretty salty...just curious if some of you members might have the LP type & what you think?

[Jim_M 179]

I've got an LP salamander that I use in the main part of the garage when I need some heat. It makes about the same amount of noise as a kerosene salamander. I think it's probably cheaper to operate than kerosene, and there's no smell. I have noticed though that if I run it a lot with the doors shut tight it will give me a headache, just like the kerosene salamander that I used to have. It still produces carbon monoxide just like the kerosene does.

[Butch 194]

The tin can types don't make as much noise as the salamanders. The biggest tin can types are only around 100,000 btu. That heats my 22x36' garage which is not insulated with no problem. But it does have an 8' sheetrocked ceiling. These type don't have fans and run about $200. You can get them in LP and NG although

NG is very hard to find.

[rustbucket 4]

i stay away from Kero cause there is a chemical mixed in with it that is a carcinogen and i had a cousine die from cancer caused from breathing in kero fumes so yeah i stay way clear of that crud.

[Teddy da Bear 11]

I prefer LP.

Kerosene can leave a film on things. Not too noticeable unless

you go to paint something and the paint does not hold up

like you thought it should.

[jerrell 1]

:hide: JUST A SAFETY WARNING GUYS, I know you all know this but both of those things produce carbon monoxide, odorless, and a deadly killer, headaches are one of the first symptoms along with blurry vision, just something i remembered from my medic days, i also just remembered , carbon monoxide is accumaulative, it builds up in the blood stream and takes a heck of a long time to disapear..

with the price of kerosene so high, i use #1 diesel, (can be used in certain blowers) works just as well but using it in a well ventilated shop is almost useless because you need so much ventilation....double edge knife.. i have a small LP convection heater i use to sit right beside me while i'm working ,,,beats nothing,

[stevebo-(Moderator) 8,527]

I use my electric heater that is the box type that hangs from the ceiling and I love it !!No smell or fumes.

[HorseFixer 2,013]

Jerrell ~ has about best answer I have seen Stephen anything you use that does not vent the combustion air to the building exterior will enter in the workspace carbonmonoxide or in some cases carbon dioxide depending how the unit is tuned and burning.

There is no safe ventless heater period!! You have to enter fresh air in the space to decrese the ppm of these harmful gases. That being said you have more complete combustion with LP altho less BTU's per gallon. # 2 home heating oil is 144,000 btu's per gallon, propane 96,000, and natural gas 92,000 based on same equivilents. If yer gonna get a portable heater then go with LP just use ventilation. When ya get ready to do it right well I got the right stuff! Thats all I have to say about that!

[linen beige 15]

There is no safe ventless heater period!!

I heated my last garage with an electric heater. I kept a pan of water just above and in front of it to replace the humidity the heater removed which makes it feel even warmer.

Another thing to think about is how safe it is to spray even a small amount of primer near an open flame. Although electric heaters can ignite fumes as well they are much less apt to do so.

[Duff 206]

I'm lucky enough to have an old box-type wood stove in my shop - antique unit my folks gave me years ago. Looks like h*ll, but it's solid and keeps the shop "right toasty!" Too toasty, in fact - a couple nights last winter when it was -15 outside I had +90 inside and had to open the windows and crack the door. Wife (and neighbors) think I'm NUTS running back and forth from the house to the shop in shorts and a tee-shirt when it's below zero. :horseplay: I'm sure if I wanted to invest in a newer "air tight" unit I could get better heat control, but hey - this thing will burn anything up to 24" long and about 10" in diameter. No problem with CO, but occasionally if I don't set the damper right and the air pressure is dropping she'll smoke me out of the place.

I've got an LP salamander but only use it in really cold weather to preheat the shop while the wood stove is getting up to heat and BEFORE I start working out there. Like the other guys said, it doesn't take much to get some CO going from that rig and I, too, have had the headaches.

Cheers to all!

Duff :hide:

[Jim_M 179]

I should clarify my earlier post. I have electric heat in my shop. I just use the LP heater out in the main part of the garage when I have do anything on the truck or the wife's car. And I don't do much of that anymore either.

[69DEZ 6]

Ok so what is the answer? I have a 2 car garage, no insulation no ceiling. Thought about putting plastic up. Last winter I used propane. This winter my neighbor is letting me use his diesel with a thermostat. Which is GREAT!!. But last week I spent 8 hours out there. No headache but I did have blurry vision. I had asked about a wood heater which is what I would like to use but my insurance man said they would cancel my policy. Insulation is out of the question right now. But you guy's have me thinking. I always thought it was the cocktails that slowed me down the next day. An electric heater really wouldn't pay. Any thoughts? I always thought my garage was drafty enough that it would be ok. :hide:

[Brian1045 28]

A 30,000 BTU one of these will down right make a 24x32 garage liveable.

I'm just now starting to run the black 3/4" pipe for natural gas into my garage. These things will also convert over to propane too.... but of course you'll need to provide a regulator.

http://www.everyspaceheater.com/Glo-Warm-H...PT-GLW1016.html

My neighbor uses this one in his garage/barn and it is plenty. The one I have is a 25,000 btu and it has a blower built in :hide:

[Butch 194]

Brian that's just like the heater I gave to a friend of mine. I have a closed in 8' ceiling but that heater wasn't enough to heat it. I also had the optional fan blower. My neighbors garage is about 30x40 and well insulated and that heater heats his place with no problem. In fact once he gets it warm he can cut back on the flame. A huge difference between insulation and no insulation. I wish I had insulated my garage. I sheetrocked it but didn't insulate it. We're also on natural gas which is nice. No more tanks. I now have my gas grill on natural gas and installed a natural gas starter in my fireplace. I don't use gas to run the fireplace, just gas to start the logs.

[HorseFixer 2,013]

I dont see where that unit has ODS AND OTHER SAFETY FEATURES Be safe live longer

U.S. manufacturers of vent-free gas products adopted oxygen detection safety(ODS) pilot technology in the early 1980s. The technology originated in Europe more than 50 years earlier and had a solid track record of safety, according to those in the industry.

[jusjeepn 59]

I have and have used all of these. My well pressure tank is located in my shop bathroom so I have to keep it above freezing. Last year LP cost me $1300 to keep my shop 45deg (+ work days at 60deg). At the end of the heating season I installed 4 electric tube heaters after my gas ran out. This year I installed a Fisher wood burner. On chilly days I just fire up the K-1 heater (residential type). Now so far this year. I have used 5 Gal of K-1, around a rick of firewood, no gas and my electric bill has only went up $30. I use the electric (thermostat regulated) to keep the shop a constant 45deg. If I'm gonna be working, I'll start a fire in the stove. A bonus to the wood stove! The Wife will come out to the shop, I'll stoke the fire and turn the lights off... She loves that stove... . So far I'm very happy with the wood stove/electric combo. Anybody want to buy an LP hanging heater that heats a 30x30x12 with no problem?

[Butch 194]

a rick of firewood,

A "rick" of firewood? That'll confuse the East coast boys. I never heard that term until I moved to OKC 30 years ago. "Ya'll don't know whata rick is" he asked. That's ok. He didn't know what "A slice and a coke" was!

But as I recall a "rick" a wood was 1/3 of a cord.

[Coadster32 793]

But you guy's have me thinking. I always thought it was the cocktails that slowed me down the next day. An electric heater really wouldn't pay. Any thoughts?

How about bringing the horses into the living room and working on them there?

:horseplay:

[linen beige 15]

A "rick" of firewood? That'll confuse the East coast boys. I never heard that term until I moved to OKC 30 years ago. "Ya'll don't know whata rick is" he asked. That's ok. He didn't know what "A slice and a coke" was!

But as I recall a "rick" a wood was 1/3 of a cord.

A rick is different in different areas. It is one half a cord where I'm from. Then you have to figure out just how much is in a cord! Then is it a loose cord or a tight cord? :hide:

[Duff 206]

A rick is different in different areas. It is one half a cord where I'm from. Then you have to figure out just how much is in a cord! Then is it a loose cord or a tight cord?

Up here in northern New England, we buy and sell so much firewood the State actually defines a cord as 4' by 4' by 8' when stacked (guess that would be a "tight" cord"). This may be one instance where government intervention has some value.

Most of the long-time dealers throw in about a tenth extra for good will, although a few of the younger guys measure it out to the stick. My own dealer gives me an extra quarter cord free if I pick it up at his place myself - well worth the effort!

Duff :omg:

[Butch 194]

It may have been a half cord. It was long ago. I've never seen a true cord of wood which would be 4x8x4. If you had 16" logs then you would need 3 stacks that would each be 4'x8'. Or two 4'x8' stacks of 24" logs. I've never seen anyone who sells wood cut them in 24" lengths.

[bk-scouter 93]

A rick is a 1/3 of a cord...

link

-BK

[jerrell 1]

:hide: here in arkansas the state has declared a rick is two things, either 3 ricks mearsuring 16" long to a cord 4' high and 4 ' wide by 8' or 2 ricks measureing 24" long all in a 4 foot tall and 4 foot wide by 8 foot long stack , we have a lot of the fly by nite shysters here that try to pawn a pickup load as a full cord of wood when it is probabley 3/4 of a cord

[linen beige 15]

here in arkansas the state has declared a rick is two things, either 3 ricks mearsuring 16" long to a cord 4' high and 4 ' wide by 8' or 2 ricks measureing 24" long all in a 4 foot tall and 4 foot wide by 8 foot long stack , we have a lot of the fly by nite shysters here that try to pawn a pickup load as a full cord of wood when it is probabley 3/4 of a cord

There's a couple of good points in there!

A cord is 128 cubic feet. 4' X 4' X 8' is the most common stack size to yield that amount. A rick is one row of 4' high X 8' long. Until the early '70s when smaller wood stoves became popular most folks did cut their firewood 24" long (My dad burned 36" logs in our fireplace, my grandparents burned 30" wood.). That made a rick one half a cord. But when the smaller stoves began to show up folks started cutting their wood shorter and a row 4' high X 8' long no longer had a half cord in it. Some even called the short stacks "Face cords" or "Face Ricks". But a true Rick is still half a cord, meaning 64 cubic feet. There was so much confusion over the meaning of a rick in this area a couple decades ago that the term is rarely heard. Most folks sell wood by the cord, half cord, or truck bed full.

Good point about the truck bed not being a cord. The old 8' full size beds would hold a cord, but the new 6' so called full size beds don't come close.

[Duff 206]

The old 8' full size beds would hold a cord......

Must have been a helluva set of sideboards on that thar truck bed, eh?

Duff :D