Vented Kerosene heater

[DannyB1954]

I like most everything about kerosene, except for the smell. I was thinking about making an enclosure for a kerosene wick style stove, and venting the exhaust.  I could also run a hose to the outside for the burn air. The stove puts out something like 9,000 BTU. I was thinking an ammo can with an aluminium dryer hose for a chimney. The chimney would be semi horizontal so it would give up the max amount of heat possible. 

Any thoughts about this?

 

[djkeev]

My first thought is "risky".
A home made chimney setup to vent potentially fatal fumes?

You don't get a "do over" second chance card when you wake up dead.

Dave

 

[Sameer]

The smell of kerosene is nostalgic to me. 9000 BTUs is a lot of heat for a van. If I were to choose between flammable liquids and flammable gas I will pick the flammable gas to use for heating and cooking. If you prefer kerosene heat I think it's going to make an interesting project. Where does a person purchase kerosene these days? That could be something to consider.

 

[highdesertranger]

ha ha ha, how do you "wake up dead". lol. just messing with you dj, the point is well taken. highdesertranger

 

[Headache]

I bought 2 old Bunsen Sports Heaters off of flea bay after reading a post about them from this thread:

https://vanlivingforum.com/Thread-Heater-in-high-elavations

I am hoping to learn more about them.  Next month when I'm actually readying the van I'll clean them up and put all the best parts on one so it's working in top shape.  The wick was $20 but since I can use them for both cooking and heat I felt it was worth it.

The smell is important because it tells you three things: either you just lit it and it hasn't gotten to proper burn yet, it's not burning properly or you were a goof and spilled some.  Anyone using kerosene is going to spill some.  

I'm just going to light mine outside and wait til the smell burns off.  As far as making your own fume outlet that sounds like a decent idea except that the smell shouldn't last long if it's burning right.  It's no more "dangerous" than burning an unvented propane unit.  I have no idea where that kind of fear comes from.  Either unit will kill you in the same way if it's not burning/vented properly.  You just aren't going to blow up with a kerosene unit and I think anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together will have a CO detector onboard.

 

[DannyB1954]

I was thinking that It would be better to not breath any combustion gasses. I have used kerosene heaters in the past, but most of them are only set up to operate at a high setting, (a lot more than a van needs). With a wick type stove, I was hoping to be able to turn it down and if there was not complete combustion as a result vent the fumes to the outside. Maybe something as simple as a coffee can cover with an aluminium vent hose going out a window will work.

As far as where can you buy Kerosene, in most towns there is at least one gas station that sells it. Also Walmart, and most hardware stores. It has more BTU's per pound than propane, so 5 gallons goes a long way. Not sure what I will take this next trip to Lake havasu build out. I have been a camper a long time, so I also have Coleman white gas stove and lantern. The lantern probably will put out enough heat.

 

[Headache]

The ones I bought have quite a range where I can dial in the wick flame. It's marked on it that the highest setting is to light it. You're right that they have only one burn rate because the adjustment is mostly for the wick, not what temp you want. There are caveats with everything. I'm choosing flammable over combustion.

A wick burning device does NOT play well with standard kerosene. I've found this site to be very helpful:

http://www.milesstair.com/

and in particular this about fuel:

http://www.milesstair.com/kero_fuel_primer.html

On it they list "Low Odor Mineral Spirits" as a cheaper and better burning fuel for some kerosene burning appliances.

 

[skyl4rk]

I made a homemade kerosene/diesel heater for my boat. I made a concrete bell with a 1" copper tube as the chimney, and then routed the exhaust through a flexible dryer vent outside the cabin. The concrete bell was placed on a stove burner which ran on kerosene.

It provided some heat, but mainly at the top of the cabin. The concrete bell was a mistake, it took 15 minutes to warm up. A metal hood would have been better. The heater did not really provide enough heat to keep the boat warm, although it was better than nothing.

If you had a metal can of some kind, cut out the bottom, attached a dryer vent as an exhaust chimney and put a wick kerosene heater under it, it might work. The wick stoves are good as long as you can keep them from tipping over. http://www.kerosenestoves.net/10wickkerosenestove.html

I eventually got a Fab-All diesel heater for my boat (similar to Dickinson) used on ebay. If you want a real heater, that is the way to go. They are expensive but produce no water vapor like a catalytic heater does. http://dickinsonmarine.com/product/lofoten-floor-mounted-heater/ You can cook on top of this one. The Dickinson types do not use any electric. The Webasto types use way too much 12V electric.

Here is a good one, Refleks are probably the best diesel heater of this type: http://www.ebay.com/itm/OIL-HEATER-...f1c1485&pid=100005&rk=3&rkt=6&sd=152275505439

 

[ccbreder]

When my propane heater is knocked about, it turns off. When the kerosene stove was bumped, it burnt the outhouse to the ground.

 

[DannyB1954]

When my propane heater is knocked about, it turns off. When the kerosene stove was bumped, it burnt the outhouse to the ground.

I have a propane heater that will not shut off if tipped over and a Kerosene heater that will shut down in an earthquake, (just needs to be bumped). So both types of heaters are available with or without a tip over shut off.

 

[Headache]

You know what Danny, what about using an old hood from a fan above a stove? Small like the ones you'd get from an RV stove. I think I'm going to do that and hang it on the top of my passenger side window. Hmmmm...

 

[Headache]

Mine has a tip over switch, but the bunsen sports heaters do not.  They are a great choice though, and I just rigged a dog chain to the handle, and attached it to a hook on the ceiling, to make it totally tip over proof.

OOOhh thanks for that!  I definitely want to know more!  I'll start a thread specifically for them in this section.

 

[DannyB1954]

You know what Danny, what about using an old hood from a fan above a stove?  Small like the ones you'd get from an RV stove.  I think I'm going to do that and hang it on the top of my passenger side window.  Hmmmm...

I think a lot of your room air would also be going out the window. I was thinking about the heater being a somewhat sealed system.

 

[Headache]

DOH! Great point! I like the coffee can idea. Kind of like the umbrella looking hood over a gas water heater? That would be smaller. I know with the heater I have now it wouldn't work too well since it's similar to one of those big round portable kerosene heaters, only in miniature.

 

[AngryVanMan]

There used to be a great little vented heater called a Monitor kerosene heater, I believe they are discontinued.  I found a comparable option made by Toyotomi in a small version called a L-30 or Laser 30 which is 5,000 - 15,000 BTU/hr.  Fairly expensive new at around $1,100+ but it looks like a good 87% efficient heater.  They use a bit of power too, 26 watts while burning and 260 watts while they are preheating the chamber.  If you could find one used on eBay or something it might be a good option, the only one I saw on there today was $750.

We used one of those old wick-style round heaters and also a radiant-style in our garage when I was a kid and when the power was out, they still sell both types on Amazon under the Dyna-Glo brand, but they put out too much heat and are too large for the average van I think.

 

[DannyB1954]

With wood stoves sometimes they would run the chimney across the room, then out the building. This allowed the pipe to give up as much heat as possible to the room.
With a kerosene wick stove, the temperatures will not be as great as a wood stove. The heat would go through the dryer hose and as it traveled through the van it would give up it's heat. No need to worry about creosote with kerosene. You could put a large candle under the can instead, and not worry too much about breathing fumes.

One could also point a small computer fan at the pipe.

 

[skyl4rk]

The fan will improve heat distribution quite a bit. You could also put a fan in a dryer vent and blow arm air near the cabin top at your feet.