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bu3ali t1_ja6wc91 wrote

Back home we used these kerosene heaters all winter. But, we always stored the fuel outside. Please be careful.

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omw_to_valhalla t1_ja6xcyu wrote

Kerosene heaters in a garage are the shit! It gets it so warm so fast.

I work in an unheated garage all winter. My 100k BTU kero heater is a lifesaver for me!

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scummy_shower_stall t1_ja73m1k wrote

Can you boil water on top of it? Thatā€™s what people here in Japan do!

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WikiSummarizerBot t1_ja7gcj3 wrote

Kerosene

Toxicity

>The World Health Organization considers kerosene to be a polluting fuel and recommends that ā€œgovernments and practitioners immediately stop promoting its household useā€. Kerosene smoke contains high levels of harmful particulate matter, and household use of kerosene is associated with higher risks of cancer, respiratory infections, asthma, tuberculosis, cataract, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Ingestion of kerosene is harmful. Kerosene is sometimes recommended as a folk remedy for killing head lice, but health agencies warn against this as it can cause burns and serious illness.

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samc_5898 t1_ja7h31x wrote

Because it burns much cleaner. No worries running a salamander on kero in the garage all day

No worries running it on diesel inside all day either but I think that's a side effect lol

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Declan_Mulqueen t1_ja7qm83 wrote

I got burned by one of those bastards as a child in the late 80ā€™s.

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fenek6665 t1_ja7va6a wrote

So if the risk is small, we should ignore it? Besides, this heater produces fumes that are harmful to the environment and toxic to humans. I think that's reason enough to replace it.

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blanutz t1_ja7xqwx wrote

You would be right if it risks were complementary but sadly they are cumulative. If you die in a car crash, you won't die of cancer. But that does not mean that daily drivers don't need to worry about cancer...

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Tacpacker t1_ja7ykn3 wrote

Yeah, 1300 die from cold exposure, so the calculus is in favor of the heater almost 3:1. As long as your garage has some sort of venting, or you crack the door just a hair, I don't really see an issue. I'm in the garage drinking poison(beer) and getting exposed to all manner of "harmful" substances when I work on projects. No reason to add freezing to that list.

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ChalupaCabre t1_ja82kgt wrote

AvGas is just 100 octane (aviation) gasoline that also has a small amount of lead added to it.

Jet-A fuel is refined kerosene, used on turboprop and jet turbine aircraft. Kerosene is considered #1 diesel fuel and typical car/truck diesel is considered #2 diesel.

Anyway.. definitely not the same.

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fordag t1_ja88jcu wrote

I grew up using one of those.

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hifidood t1_ja8ai5n wrote

Put a mini split that does AC and is a heat pump in my garage last year. It's been a game changer.

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Declan_Mulqueen t1_ja8hz3r wrote

I grew up hanging around shops with dad and his friends in the Midwest, those heaters were ubiquitous. Thatā€™s what they called them anyway. šŸ¤·ā€ā™€ļø I dunno where the term came from or when. Maybe cause they are low profile long bois that move around wherever? Lol no idea

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Hairy-Medicine8173 t1_ja8orb7 wrote

We had one in our basement around the year 2003 of so. My mom and I were upstairs playing Halo. We paused the game while our shields were beeping, but the beeping didn't stop. Our fire alarm downstairs was going off. The wick inside didn't get fully snuffed and the whole thing was smoking/burning. My mom grabbed a towel, got it by the handle and chucked it outside while yelling for me to get the hose lol.

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eperker t1_ja8plnq wrote

My uncle, Owen bought one of these thinking it was semi-agricultural. Damn thing had a mind of its own.

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Ems_belle t1_ja8ps1b wrote

Literal life saver growing up in cold ass NY in the early 90's. Had the exact one!

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Gnarlodious t1_ja8sivg wrote

That must be why. I have a Chinese Diesel Heater in my van that I feed kerosene and it burns a lot cleaner than diesel. The combustion chamber doesn't carbon up either, and it ignites easier at high elevations.

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Annihilator4life t1_ja8vbig wrote

Holy blast from the past. My dad had one of these in the garage when I was a kid. Was terrified of accidentally touching the top.

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biggswiggins OP t1_ja906dj wrote

I use a kerosene alternative called KLEAN-HEAT. I'm sure it's not what you would call "healthy", but is a good alternative to kerosene. I also have a fire alarm and CO alarm in the garage with me for a few more degrees of safety

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FakeSafeWord t1_ja93u92 wrote

Got one like this in black. We call it R2Heat2

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killallredditmods21 t1_ja94iwg wrote

Use to have one of these growing up that we used during winter storms. Always kept us warmer than a fresh pile of shit

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stdio-lib t1_ja95pp5 wrote

"Help me Obiwan Kenobi, you're my only hope!"

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lotr5693 t1_ja97bbn wrote

Nice! I like to keep a few kerosene heaters around Incase of power outages. I actually just restored this 1920s Perfection Firelight heater.

People will say these are dangerous and you shouldn't use them. As long as you follow basic safety precautions like having appropriate ventilation and a carbon monoxide detector you'll be fine. I would store the fuel somewhere else though.

Also, if you can find 1-K kerosene at a gas station, it's usually like half the price of that Kleen-Heat you're using.

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DEADB33F t1_ja99pw0 wrote

I used to have one of these things... https://www.nationalheatershops.co.uk/p/thermobile-val-6-1-step-infrared-space-heater/

I bought it for 50 quid off of ebay as a faulty unit then fixed it up.

40kW/135k BTU and all via infra red rather than a forced air so would heat the entire workshop fairly evenly via IR rather than just heat the air.

But yeah, for any of these make sure you have good ventilation and preferably a CO alarm or two.


It was too much for my shop though (even on low). In the end I sold it for Ā£700 and got one of those Chinese diesel heaters (Webasto knockoffs) which vent fumes outdoors instead. It doesn't get the place toasty like the big one did but is enough to take the edge off and costs 10x less to run.

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lyfshyn t1_ja9cypw wrote

I miss the way things used to look.

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omw_to_valhalla t1_ja9g89n wrote

The directional heat works well for me. I point it right at myself in the morning when it's cold and I'm doing my computer work.

Once I get moving for the day, I usually turn it off. My work is active enough that I stay warm.

>But yeah, for any of these make sure you have good ventilation and preferably a CO alarm or two.

Definitely. I open a garage bay door.

>costs 10x less to run.

Work pays for my fuel. They waste so much money on other stuff, my kero cost is negligible šŸ˜‚

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Boggie135 t1_ja9jkm9 wrote

The is a Korean camping youtuber who uses a similar one

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Regulator0110 t1_ja9lwya wrote

As long as you can keep getting wicks for it it should last forever. :)

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Serious-Sundae1641 t1_jaadpt2 wrote

Hey, I have one of these. It's on the third wick, but other than that, pretty reliable. We use it to supplement our boiler system when it gets really cold or as a garage heater. It's been a lifesaver during a power outage we had one winter.

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T_ommie t1_jaajyc1 wrote

I grew up with one of these in the living room of my dad's house. We had a 55 gallon drum of kerosene outside.

I don't know what my dad was thinking, I put fuel in it and lit it when I was home alone.

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Professional_Show918 t1_jaao7y2 wrote

I used that same model when our heat went out back in 1980, we kept a window open a bit for fresh air.

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Teutonic-Tonic t1_jaatl87 wrote

They do and add a lot of moisture to the air. The carbon monoxide could be a real issue if used in a small environment with little fresh air, like a bedroom in a modern home. Ok in a garage which probably isnā€™t super tight and you probably arenā€™t sleeping next to it.

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bishopyorgensen t1_jadqykl wrote

What kind of exhaust does this put off, u/biggswiggins ?

I want something that could heat my basement if a blizzard ever knocked out my power. How much ventilation would it need?

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biggswiggins OP t1_jadrohs wrote

Well I use KLEAN-HEAT, and it puts off very little in comparison to Kerosene.
I keep it in my garage which is a little drafty, but have heated my house with it when we lose power. If you have any daylight windows or anything, you may want to crack a window just for air movement/safety.

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