For emergency use only, with a window cracked, I use;
If Nat Gas is still flowing I use a battery array and inverter to fire up the furnace.
Bulk Kero [my container] is $4.95 gal here vs prop. $19 refill of 20 lbs tank
Is propane cleaner for indoor use?
Smell of either?
kerosene heaters seem to have issues with the wick [uneven, smoke, needs burn off] ?...
propane hazards?
using a hose to outside propane tank
needs fire proof surface to stand on?
need to crack a window?
what size for say 1000 sqft ?
breathing fumes from unvented heater?
any experienced advice is welcomed...{can't cut holes in roof or walls.]
I’m VERY interested in this myself; thanks for posting this thread.
Whichever you use, only use a heater indoors rated for indoor use.
http://www.mrheater.com/product.aspx?catid=41&id=116
http://www.ehow.com/about_6560608_propane-vs_-kerosene-heaters.html
for my situation propane is better because kerosene is hard to find. And I can always use the propane for something else.
No comparison. Propane all the way. Propane is easier to store and will basically last forever. Ever burn a kerosene space heater? They’re sooty, they smell, and they suck all the oxygen out of the room.
Propane is cleaner burning, although of course, it emits deadly CO2 gas and will kill, but it is easier to manage than with a kerosene burner.
When I lived in the mountains, we had a propane tank outside. Truck came to fill it now and then. It did not smell, it gave wonderful heat, we never had a problem, seemed cheap enough. For what it’s worth.
A large kerosene heater needs filling about every 12 hours and it can have an odor but it cranks out more heat.
I have both, propane torpedo requires power and doesn’t smell.
Kerosene is a good heater, when we lost power, I cooked on the top of it and even made coffee. Very safe and little smell.
I have a Kholer 20kw genset on Natural Gas. I love it. If I spend a little more money, I’ll make it dual fuel with a propane conversion kit. Our HOA doesn’t want propane tanks, but they are the best fuel storage out there. Diesel gensets are the best, last a long time, and good fuel storage with sta-bil, but a nightmare to store fuel.
Also, go to your local box store to find larger propane tanks. You can readily get 20lb, 30lb, 40lb, 60lb, and 100lb tanks, although the bigger the tank the less convenient it is to move around.
If you are talking about unvented heaters, kerosene produces less humidity then propane. If you use it a lot this could be an issue. The smell of kero is noticeable but perfectly fine for emergencies- just don’t spill it.
For emergency use only, with a window cracked, I use;
If Nat Gas is still flowing I use a battery array and inverter to fire up the furnace.
We use propane for backup heat. However, when the temperature dips below about 15 or 20 degrees, we often use it for primary heat, since our heat pump struggles to keep up in colder weather. I have no data to back it up, but I would guess that, below a certain temperature, propane is even cheaper to use than a heat pump.
I am just going to add a disclaimer as we have all heard of tragic accidents.
Un-vented combustion heaters of any sort, give off by-products to the combustion that are poisonous like carbon monoxide — kills, silent, no smell and deadly.
Our furnaces keep this deadly aspect of combustion on the vented side of a heat exchanger, thus the combustion is never actually in the air stream, it is vented.
There are heaters and fire places that have claims to be 100% efficient at burning off the combustion by-products without venting. If you use one you are betting the lives of your family on it.
I have known instances of a heater in a garage without duct connection to the main house, still poisoning a family sleeping in the attached house, even with the door cracked in the garage. There are methods to keep your furnace going with auxillary electricity for pilot, fan and t-stat. If that solution is used you are probably using the safe bet as long as any generator is exhausted clear from the dwelling.
I look at it this way:
What kind of Kerosene heater would you use (Vented or non-Vented). Vented ones work fine much like an oil furnace. Used one up in Maine for years and it had a thermostat.
I currently have a propane fireplace (vented as well) and I like the point & click vice the 4 wood fireplaces I grew up with in Maine as well prior to the kerosene heater plus I also use the propane to cook with on our Jenn-Air Range and it’s hooked up outside to me BBQ grill.
I'm just sayin'.
Go propane, get one rated for indoor use with a tip over shut off. Never put it on the rug.
Read the reviews from several sites, have gotten a lot of good pointers.
I do think I'm going to a wood stove, however. I live in a grove of trees. The downside to a wood stove is that you have to be there to tend it, and I'm not, always. If it gets cold enough the pipes freeze, so something that needs less tending fits my needs better. But wood heat requires nothing in the way of electricity or a propane dealer to support. Smells nice, too.
I think you’re getting the drift that propane is preferable, and I would wholeheartedly agree *especially* for indoor use.
Fuel handling; dealing w/liquid fuel and the opportunity to spill it. Not a big deal outdoors but not nice if you spill indoors trying to fill your heater. Bad deal for kerosene. In a truly rotten situation, should the heater fall over (think: big dog) and produce a leak, say, on an absorbent rug that gets ignited, that’d be a hell of a problem. That is not to say that the same dog knocking a propane heater onto a flammable surface could not ignite things; but there isn’t a spilling liquid involved.
The amount of time a tank might last: Propane, no contest.
The only bad thing about propane is that the vapor is heavier than air. That’s one of the reasons why boaters tend to dislike it. You can have little leak after little leak accumulate in the lower part of a boat’s bilge, and without ventilation, can build up to an explosive mixture over time.
With people walking around and doors being opened from time to time, I can’t see this being an issue.
I have also heard, but it has not been my experience that burning propane in stoves, etc; produce lots of condensation = humidity in a home. That’s a nat gas vs propane comparison, you don’t have that option, otherwise you’d be using nat gas.
I live in the country and have a main furnace propane and 2 decorative fireplaces that also use the propane. We have a 500 gallon tank. There is no bad odor whatsoever when using the main furnace, and the fireplaces when lit have an initial propane odor that lasts about a minute, and then they are a nice aesthetic addition to our 2 family rooms. I don’t need them for the heat, so I can’t really keep them on that often. They’ll heat you out of the room.
I think propane is cheaper and definitely easier. Kerosene is more btus but far more expensive at 4.95 while propane was under 2 last time I filled the tank.
