OK, all the talks about how expensive fuel cost gonna be this winter, I dusted off my old kerosine heater just in case. Well, the old girl won't light up. What's the deal? The pilot light comes on, full tank of kerosine. What else do I need to check out? OK, the kerosine is about 5 years old, does it have a expiration date like gasoline?

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95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204

uhm, isn't kerosene and fuel oil pretty much the same thing? As far as price goes as well?

On a serious note; be super careful with that heater, especially if it hasn't run in a while. They have a nasty tendency to not correctly combust and put out a lot of CO - you die in your sleep. Might be worthwhile investing in a CO detector.

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-livin' in the terminally flippant zone

Can't you light it with a match?

Kerosene degrades just like gasoline,the lighter volatile matter evaporates and the rest turns to varnish which will clog your wick,not to mention a sticky brown residue in your tank further impeding proper capillary wick action.

If you're serious you must take it apart and replace the wick as no amount of solvent will loosen the junk in it.

I use Aladdin kerosene mantle lamps at my non-electric Vermont place and each season I must drain the fonts and burn off the remaining Kero 'til the wick is dry so it will not degrade and gum up.

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How often do you trim the wick on an Alladin? How long should a wick last? Thanks

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Lawrence Coppari

2002 SLK32 AMG
2005 Acura TL
1987 328GTS
1986 944T

Every few months with continuous use,longevity of the wick is chiefly dependant on how you extinguish the flame,if you blow it out the wick will ember a little which burns it away,if you turn the wick below the burner this does not happen.
http://www.oillampman.com/Page31.html

I've had many last several years,but then they are used maybe every evening for 4-6 months.

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Yes, kerosene is probably around $3/gallon. Have not checked on the price yet. But a 5-gallon container will probably lasts me the entire season, if not more. I will be usng the kersosene heater as a supplemental heating source, not primarily. My intention is to turn it on long enough to warm up the room and when it gets too chilly. But the main source is still going to be my central A/C. This season I intent to keep the house around 60F as oppose to the 68F that I normally would and see how that goes.

My house is equiped with CO detectors in every room. A feature most new homes come with (mine is not even 5 years old).

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95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204

Interestingly the kerosene did not degrade at all. I fill the heater with the 5-year old vintage kerosene left over in the container and the sucker lit up. Reason it did not light up yesterday was the batteries. They did not have enough juice to light up the heating core. I took the entire unit apart this afternoon in my driveway in case something blows up. I cleaned up all the moving parts, checked the wick and lit the heater up to burn off the old wick. The unit works like a champ now.

Thanks for everybody input!!

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95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204

I hate to ask you, but I'm tenitivly thinking i want a kero heater for my uninsolated garage... I have an electric one, but that doesnt do squat...

What the price range on them, and where can you buy them?

~Nate

Start here dude,a good one ain't gonna be cheap unless you go the ebay route.

http://www.endtimesreport.com/kerosene_heaters.html

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I paid a little over $250 when I bought mine 7 years ago. Like everything in life, you get what you pay for. Mine works very well and it was made by RMC International. You can get one from hardware stores like Ace or Home Depot.

I bought mine because of the family room (the other house we had) was on the ground floor and was always cold due to the concrete underneath even with the heat set way up. We had a real fire place, but cleaning up after every use was a little too much work for us. My wife then (I am divorced) was always cold and I could not bear to see her freezing her b-hind off while watching TV. The kerosene heater puts out tremendous amount of heat, all we needed was to have it on for a short time and it did warmed up the room very quickly. Ever since we bought the kerosene heater, we never used the fire place again.

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95 R129
04 Infiniti G35.5 BS
10 X204

I've got a circular heater in my uninsulated garage. If it's say, 20 degrees outside, it'll heat it up to about 45-48 degrees... if you give it a couple hours and keep the doors closed. My wife is bad for pulling the car in when I get it warmed up, hence, starting the process over again. I've since solved that problem by disconnecting the door when I'm playing with something.

I forgot how many BTUs mine is, but it's one of the bigger ones. BTW, fresh kerosene SHOULD put out more BTUs as well. This year, I'm thinking of getting a used salamander which will heat it up WAY quicker, then using my circular one to help keep it warm.

Next year, I'll have my gas heater installed on the ceiling. That'll be a luxery, it's hard to keep a 26x28 garage warm... it'll also have insulation and sheetrock by then.

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In the house of the hanged, nobody talks about the rope.

1973 Ford Maverick
1977 Ford F150 shortbed stepside ripping 429
1978 Ford F150 shortbed stepside 4x4
1979 Ford F100 'Free Wheeling' shortbed stepside
4 more 73-79 Ford parts trucks
1988 BMW 735iL
1994 BMW 540i
1992 Mercedes 190E 2.3

http://www.backwoodsmanmag.com

One winter we used one a lot. It warms up really nice, but after a while strange dust was forming everywhere. It was probably soot from the heater and I imagine we were breathing it in as well. Just be careful and do some research before cranking it up.

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Kerosun make a very good heater and they are reasonable,
WARNING kerosene heaters EAT up oxygen so be careful in an enclosed space.

Thanks for information. I had been blowing mine out.

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Lawrence Coppari

2002 SLK32 AMG
2005 Acura TL
1987 328GTS
1986 944T