Can I heat my shop with a kerosene heater?

[Pat Whatley]

Ignore the fire hazard part of that....if I try to heat 1000 sf of my shop with a 28,000 btu kerosene heater am I going to die of carbon monoxide poisoning or oxygen deprivation?

I've researched the heck out of it online and like most information I find on the internet "facts" are hard to come by, they are buried under a mountain of "I know the answer because I think I heard somebody say something like that but I can't really remember".

I just remember as a kid we heated half a house off of kerosene and I'm not dead so....

 

[weaselboogie]

Kerosene burns 99.9% clean. PLUS, it always smells like I'm camping *BONUS!*

 

[Gino]

Kerosene heaters produces carbon monoxide, so it must get oxygen from a fresh air source, be it a cracked door or window.... it needs some air circulation. Otherwise, you'll deprive yourself of oxygen. It is truly 100% efficient, in that, even it's exhaust can be used towards heat. When dowsing them for the day, they should be burned off after each use, to prevent smell and headaches.

We have a 160,000 btu heater that we use to initialize the heat in our truck bays. I don't mind the smell, but I'm used to a lota bad smells and odors. Don't say it.

Make sure none of the stuff you're using in your area to be heated has any problems with open flames and check with your insurance to see if they have any problems with your conditions and using kerosene heaters.

 

[Bradster941]

A 25' x 40' room with a 10' ceiling is 10,000 cu. ft.
Even if your building is Extremely tight, a 28,000 btu unit
couldn't deplete the oxygen levels to an unsafe level imo..

Check Kerosene price averages over the past few years for your area.
Down here in Florida, it runs $4.99 a gallon. Cheaper to use electric heat.


.

 

[Pat Whatley]

Not cheaper to use electric when you have to replace an $8000 heating unit on a rented building to do it. Heated it last year with a forced air propane heater but that thing was way too loud and I got tired of turning it on and off all day. Even as inefficient as it was it cost me about $80 a week in propane....which is about 1/2 what the only heating unit running on natural gas was. With kerosene at $5 per gallon I'll come out way ahead. Maybe by next year I'll be in my own building.

 

[John L]

The fumes from our torpedo heater are tolerable until they combine with the smell from some types of paints and glues. I know that in particular, contact cement fumes and kero fumes, combined, get me looking for my old Doors albums everytime.

 

[Techman]

Only if you vent it to the outside.

I did the kerosene heater deal last winter at my shop; It lasted about 3 hours before it was taken back. Very bad. Smell, fumes, oil vapor, soot, you name it.. I didn't like it at all. It warmed well enuf. But the side effects were not worth it.

 

[Tifosi]

We heat our garage work space in the winter with a combo of kerosene and propane heaters. The Kerosene heater is louder than the radiant propane heaters so we use that one to warm the place up in a hurry. We will switch over to propane after that. The garage is not air tight and we never worry about the CO levels but the fumes from the kerosene do bother some people around the shop.

 

[GAC05]

Tried and true:
http://store.colemans.com/cart/military-yukon-m1950-space-heater-p-2393.html
These kept the cold out of the field tents (sort of) during the winters in Hokkaido Japan.
Seem to remember them being hard to get lit without a fireball removing your facial hair.

wayne k
guam usa

 

[Pat Whatley]

By the way, I'm thinking radiant heater....not a torpedo heater. Torpedo is too loud and annoying for me.

 

[OldPaint]

if you got a chimney or can get one installed you could try this.
http://www.amazon.com/Woodeze-5VZ-B...GGAA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1315445390&sr=8-4
if you got natural gas look for used REZNOR like i have in my shop. this is a little one 30k BTU, and i got propane orfices in it. heats the shop fine. get a week on a 30 lb tank.

 

[Techman]

pat. that is the heater I tested. It was not good because of the fumes and soot.

 

[weaselboogie]

pat. that is the heater I tested. It was not good because of the fumes and soot.

I have one of those 22,000 btu heaters also. You need to baby sit them. If they get a charcoal buildup on the wick they will blow out soot like crazy. ( Ruined my freshly painted garage ) . Since then, I run it at about 75% instead of the full wick and it has been great since. They take a bit of adjusting , but work ok as long as you're not too far away from them.

 

[weaselboogie]

If you're friends with a HVAC guy, grab yourself a used fuel oil furnace. I run one of these in my bay and you can run kerosene through them with GREAT results. I ran mine without an exhaust for about 2 years before biting the bullet and running it into a chimney. No ill effects, just thought it might be wise to vent it.

 

[Salmoneye]

Have natural gas? Put in a blue flame heater if you don't have a vent, 28k prob won't cut it unless your shop is in Panama.

 

[Farmboy]

Have you looked into wood pellet stoves?

 

[Jillbeans]

I hate torpedo heaters, they can cause paint to fisheye from the residue they put out.
And the only good thing about they way they sound is when you shut them off.
I hate the heater you pictured because in my experience, they really stink.
I have a natural-gas sucking ancient REZNOR from a department store, can't afford to use it.
I've tried radiant portable electric heaters, they work quietly and pretty well but they eat the juice, man.
Most insurance policies will not cover you if you are using a wood burner. Not sure about those corn stoves but they do work.
Winter sucks.
Love....Jill

 

[btropical.com]

You can get a sliding glass door and make a 2by 4 or 2by 6 frame behind it and put a piece of black coro behind it face it south . On one end put a solar fan and duct it inside . basically free heat . a sign frame would also work

 

[ddarlak]

WOW, can't believe your responsible for the heat unit in a rented building. the last shop i rented, if the lights wern't working i'd call and get someone down to replace the bulbs/ballasts.

back to the question at hand, growing up we had a kerosene heater smack dab in the middle of our dining room pretty much like the one you have pictured with no ill effects...................IMHO

 

[signswi]

I think I'd be looking for a new place to rent (or buy...if your area is like ours there's as much empty commercial space as there is occupied).