Hello,
I have found your site very useful
and this is my second season ordering wicks and parts
from you. I thought I would include my experiences for
you website readers.
First some background. I live in new
construction home built 2006 in upstate New York. Even
in my new home the oil fired hot air furnace has to
work really hard to keep the home warm on really cold
days. Sometimes it seems to cycle continuosly. So I
started using kerosene heaters to supplement my central
heating system. I chose kerosene, because it is
relatively cheap in the scheme of things. Kerosene can
be stored, and the major feature that I like is most
kerosene heaters can operate without electricity. Here
in upstate NY we lose power a few times a year. Various
ice storms and people driving their cars into utility
poles are the leading causes. So with my kerosene
heaters I can be toasty warm, and not have my house
freeze up should there be a winter blackout.
I purchased my heaters from
craigslist and a local junk store. All of them worked
perfectly by cleaning them out and replacing the wicks.
Do not waste your money on a brand new one. They
usually do not work as well as the older designs. I
once bought the brand new Walmart convection model and
ended up giving it away because I couldn't keep it
lit.
I am presently buying my kerosene at
a gas station that has a kero pump. However I am in the
process of building a dispensing station out of an IBC
tote. This will allow me to receive deliveries by truck
and save money.
An IBC tote is a pallet mounted tank
that holds a frame with a polyethelene "bottle" inside.
You can see a picture here:
http://www.jmesales.com/item/122626/Schutz-IBC-Tanks.aspx I
have several of them that I use for my biodiesel
business. They come in different sizes with 275 gallons
being the most common. I purchased them from container
recycler for $100 each. They are available from a wide
variety of sources, including Ebay and Craigslist. I am
going to contruct a platform to hold my tote off the
ground so I can use gravity to draw the kero out of the
spout. You must remember to loosen the cap on top to
let air in else you will collapse the bottle. Totes are
cheap, can be moved easily and will never rust, plus
they are transparent so you can see your fuel level at
a glance.
I am paranoid about carbon monoxide
and I have several detctors in my house. I went so far
as to purchase a handheld instrument that measures CO
in PPM for occupational exposure. I found that kersone
heaters actually put out very little CO. You would have
to run your heater in an airtight room for a long time
to build up dangerous levels.
Get yourself a good heater, follow
the excellent maintenance and repair advice on this
site, and you will have an excellent supplemental or
backup heat source.
philip p.
