With the recent generator topic and the fact that heating oil prices are going to be wicked expensive, I was thinking of getting one of those indoor kerosene heaters and was wondering if any had any suggestions on them. I know of all the basic safety stuff, I think, but just trying to get people’s thoughts and ideas.
Thanks. Tom
I have not seen any that had proper venting, i.e. intake/output hoses or duct connections. The ones I looked at all required you to at least keep a window open - kind of defeats the purpose. 
djm
Hmm, yeah, that would really defeat the purpose. Kind of like leaving the fireplace flue open, eh?
I once had them, and also ‘portable’ gas heaters (Supergas and Calorgas) in an old house many moons ago. They smell, in spite of claims to the contrary, and the amount of moisture they emit is astonishing. In the mornings, my windows would be streaming with condensation, and damp was a big problem… my wooden windowsills began to rot. I had to switch to electric convector heaters to dry the place out.
make sure (they probably all come this way now) that you get one with the safety “tip over” feature, that if the thing falls over, it shuts off automatically.
We use an oil filled electric radiator on our 3 season porch (with storm windows, it will stay ok unless it gets really windy, or gets below 10 F). It has two heaters, and a thermostat, so it cycles on and off -it’s not always “on”. The oil stays warm for quite a while after it shuts off. I’m honestly not sure how much electricity it uses vs. some other means of heat, but it works well for our purpose.
We’d like to someday put a pellet stove out there…
(the rest of the house is baseboard, hot water heat).
Yeah, I was wondering about those oil-filled heaters, also.
Is your heat “electric fired?”
We have oil heat w/radiators.
Tom
Yes, exactly. Fireplaces heat by thermal mass. A kerosene heater has no mass. Fireplaces cause drafts and can actually cool the rest of the building down, unless it is a Rumford-style, designed to radiate heat. But the most significant thing is that a fireplace does have a flue - a way to vent spent gases out of the building.
Kerosene heaters do not have a way of venting to the outdoors, and that’s what leads to deaths by carbon-monoxide poisoning. The folks in the accompanying thread should have at least installed a CO alarm if they were planning on adding a generator to their home. I think a CO alarm is a must in anyhome that heats from a combustible fuel source.
djm
[quote="djm] I think a CO alarm is a must in anyhome that heats from a combustible fuel source.
djm[/quote]
Yep, that’s a great point. We have that
beginning to sound like a Monty Python skit …
Well…just to add my 2c worth…
Our gas company has just raised rates another 14% for the fifth year in a row… I’ve started to turn down the heat in general and use those oil filled electric radiators to “spot heat” the rooms we occupy the most…yah, my electric bill goes up a bit, but not nearly where my gas bill would be at.
Thanks, Tyler.
Fortunately, we aren’t turning our heat on here, just yet.
Tom
our boiler is gas fired… but after the report I heard yesterday (gas heating may cost $600 more this year in this area, oil $30) I’m about ready to convert!!! Not really - I don’t have anywhere for a tank!! 
Checks and balances. They may very well make electric heating economical again if they keep raising the gas prices. A lot of places are making wood heating illegal for air pollution reasons, as well as fire risks. Its no wonder more people are turning to kerosene or propane, but as we know, those have inherent dangers as well. Where will all this lead us?
djm
Reallly? Currently, our fuel oil is double the price of last year.
I had oil-filled radiators when I lived in Washington, DC. Loved them! Thermostatically controlled, they weren’t “on” all the time, but even when “off” they kept radiating heat as the oil cooled.
My impression at the time was that they were economical.
Growing up in Duluth Minnesota, we heated our home with a wood stove, and used a kerosene heater to aid in the upstairs heating. No special ventilation was used… and I must say that I haven’t been harmed in … BIG DOGS!!! BIG DOGS LANDING ON MY FACE!!!.. in any way. FRUIT BATS!!! FRUIT BATS!!!
I burst out laughing so loud I think the neighbours are getting a bit scared (as well they should be).
djm
before my dad died, he has installed a combination wood / oil forced air furnace in their house (he had an inexhaustable, free, source of wood).
There were two chambers on the stove. One for wood, one for oil. When the thermostat called for heat, the pilot light would go to the side, and if you had wood ready to burn, would light that (it could have also burned coal, he had purchased two sets of grates). If the temperature dropped another 2 degrees, the pilot light would instead light the oil grates and that would produce the heat for the house.
He only lived three years after installation, and my mom sold the house one year after he died, so I have no idea how this furnace would have been over the long haul (the previous oil furnace lasted about 30 years before it cracked the chamber).
… Robin Wialliams is great in that. One of my fave flicks.