Kerosene Heating - Your Opinion, Please . . .

[wolfenzee]

Originally Posted by jobi

Thanks I will look into this now...as for wood the only wood id burn in good consious is fallen trees...drift wood or construction discards...all of wich are abondent and free...but not the best?

Construction discards (like 2x4s) are chemically treated, though around the boat yard you might be able to pick up other scraps, if you don't mind burning teak and such, drift wood is often wet at the core. The solid fuel heater is not really very picky...I just have a temperamental stove.
I sneared at "manufactured firewood" all my life, keep in mind it is made from lumber mill scraps, you are not causing a tree to be cut down, but using up waste that would otherwise be trashed.

[bljones]

A kerosene heater without a chimney on a boat is a bad idea. Go with the dickenson, or similar.

Diesel / Kerosene Heaters

[bljones]

If you've got the room (and the cash) a "little cod" is a beautiful stove.

LITTLE COD INFO & SPECS.

[bljones]

If you want solid fuel, go with a "tiny tot" or a "pet" from fastco

Fatsco Stoves

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by jobi

my boat no engin...kerosene lamps...kerosene stove...kerosene anchor light...the choice of a kerosene heater seems natural...also from what I hear in case of emergency I can use diesel in all these appliences.

at the moment I have an alchol stove and like it alot...however I fund a kerosene stove with oven that fits perfect in my boat...was sitting beside it and cauld not smell a dang thing...figure it will do the job.

I had a brass Taylors Paraffin heater on a boat of mine years back... it was just great...
Dunno if that's the same as kerosene tho...
Could just be the language difference... I'm not good at American..

[First Mate]

We have a kerosene/diesel heater with the chimney.

big problem is price of kerosene - $10/gal from hardware store and no one else sells it in our area. Closest place that sells it at a decent price is a 3 hour drive from us and is a feed and seed store not too far south of Blaine, WA.

we will probably start putting diesel in it when we run out of kerosene, rather than drive 3 hours to get the kerosene.

[zeehag]

boatman's heater is "dA bomb"-- liquid parafin is the goood stuff --purer and cleaner than kerosene. less soot ... no smell.

boatman--ye do perfect.

[otherthan]

Originally Posted by boatman61

I had a brass Taylors Paraffin heater on a boat of mine years back... it was just great...
Dunno if that's the same as kerosene tho...
Could just be the language difference... I'm not good at American..

from what I know kerosene K-1 is the same as parafine...in anycase its very close...a good thing sins paraphine is available in just about every food mart...many restaurants holds this in 5 gal containers and would sell some for a small make up...still cheeper then hardware stors...so if I think right...kerosene , paraphine,diesel can all be used in the same heater...wow that would be close enough to world wide availability.

[SaltyMonkey]

Im a huge fan of kerosene heater and stove. I also had a Taylors stove and heater on my old boats along with a pressurized tank. Diesel is too dirty. Solid fuel heaters are extremely messy. For any, you absolutely should have chimneys - with exception to small stoves like my Taylors.

It's extremely frustrating because finding Taylors is difficult - used ones. And I want one

BTUs I believe are much higher for Kerosene.

[zeehag]

k-1 is kerosene. liquid paraffin is purer. i have asthma. i cannot use kero or k-1 kero. i CAN use liquid paraffin. k-1 is purest kero i know of, but is still with smell and soot of kero. once you find liq paraffin you wont go back. i can read by liq paraffin and i get warmer also-- burns cleaner and hotter.

[otherthan]

Originally Posted by bljones

A kerosene heater without a chimney on a boat is a bad idea. Go with the dickenson, or similar.

Diesel / Kerosene Heaters

The chimney is a problem for me...its in contradiction with the heaters primary function witch is heating...when a heater advertises 99.9% burn efficientcy and the safty of product (I mean the heaters pictured in a kids room while they are sleeping) thats the front lable on the box...the unit is also approuved and complys with all regulations...so hears a unit made for your house safe for your love ones...its safe for your camp...safe for your caravan...safe for your garage...and all you need is provide a little airflow...why c'ant it be good for a sailboat?

you see if the unit is use in accordence with its limitations thers no reasons for it not to be good for boat use...sure if someone wants to use it underway (stupid if you ask me) then its not a good unit...if someone leave it on the floor a midship sure this is not a good idea and can lead to accidents...but a sane and responsible pearson will do whats needed to appreciate this unit.

The problem with the chimney apart from driling a hole in my boat...3in pipe and 4ft long is a wast of energy, it will blow out heat that should travel the cabine befor exiting the boat...imagin the heat going out faster then the unit can radiate...this vacume will bring in fresh air as fast as it exits...been working all my life with thermoregulation and the onld saying about indians making small fires and sitting close, white man make large fire and sit far away really makes sens...This is what I see in those fancy heaters (wast of energy) probably marketing? my new maxima burns more gas then my old !!

[DeepFrz]

On a different thread last week I think, Gord posted a link to a cross reference to the different names for Kerosene, paraffin, et.al.

There was also much discussion on where to buy it and someone suggested that Jet A is an equivalent fuel.

Check down at the bottom of this thread for links.

[SaltyMonkey]

it doesn't waste energy. It's quite efficient and uses the metallic pipe as radiation. It actually warms up the area faster this way.

The volume of air in a sailboat is smaller. The airflow is also restricted. If you want to die from CO go right ahead. You need a chimney for any heater - whether charcoal burning, kerosene, or propane. I've been in those situations so I know.

[bljones]

Jobi,
Do the math and see if you are still comfortable with running that heater on a constant basis through a Canadian winter. Your boat is a lot smaller than a house, with less lower level ventilation- there is no place for the carbon monoxide to go. if you have a lifetime of experience then you know how often people have died due to carbon monoxide poisoning, thanks to heaters like this being used in poorly ventilated areas- like a trailer, or a boat.
The advantage of a dickenson stove is the chimney also ducts exterior air IN- so you get BETTER thermal efficiency and don't have to keep a hatch cracked for airflow.

[zeehag]

you would have to keep all your ports open during use. would be a good idea to get a co alarm thingie...portable is good.