anyone thinking of a paraffin heater for this winter

[DAPPH]

One reason not to use paraffin / kerosene Toxicity​

In the 1950's & early 60's we used it & coal / hedge roots for light , cooking energy & heat as we had no running water , gas or electricity , all six of us in the family suffered evil green snot chest infections during the heating lighting season due to the fumes . Several years we all had a pneumonia or a double pneumonia .
Mum got lung cancer due to it & died earlier than most folk

COPY & PASTED from Wikki

The World Health Organization considers kerosene to be a polluting fuel and recommends that “governments and practitioners immediately stop promoting its household use”.[57] Kerosene smoke contains high levels of harmful particulate matter, and household use of kerosene is associated with higher risks of cancer, respiratory infections, asthma, tuberculosis, cataract, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. [58]

Ingestion of kerosene is harmful. Kerosene is sometimes recommended as a folk remedy for killing head lice, but health agencies warn against this as it can cause burns and serious illness. A kerosene shampoo can even be fatal if fumes are inhaled.[59][60]

People can be exposed to kerosene in the workplace by breathing it in, swallowing it, skin contact, and eye contact. The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit of 100 mg/m3 over an 8-hour workday.[61]

 

[gaz1]

whilst small it produces alot of heat but advisable to swap to a core build or firebrick build method

whilst i prefer a bigger firebox as i hate loading alot

 

[waddycall]

Awesome - I am famous at last

So you haven't died yet?
No brain damage?
According to some esteemed members of this forum an unvented fire is a recipe for disaster - gas cookers need to be banned as well then
Glad it's working well for you. Love mine.
If you use dirty fuel you may need to service it - give me a shout will talk you through it.

Nothing wrong with flueless fires if they’re burning the fuel they were designed for and are used in accordance with the instructions.

 

[Seadog]

We had paraffin heaters, in the house, for years. I'm 70 now and don't suffer respiratory problems. What a load of tosh

 

[8ob]

Anything burned inside the same space we breathe has to be bad, indirect as per post #18 is the only way to go for many reasons. Good ventilation and paying to heat what is ventilated doesn't make much sense to me.

Bob

 

[fizzy]

Anything burned inside the same space we breathe has to be bad, indirect as per post #18 is the only way to go for many reasons. Good ventilation and paying to heat what is ventilated doesn't make much sense to me.

Bob

What about a gas cooker?
And if you are burning a ventilated heater it is still drawing in fresh air from outside.

 

[fizzy]

One reason not to use paraffin / kerosene Toxicity​

In the 1950's & early 60's we used it & coal / hedge roots for light , cooking energy & heat as we had no running water , gas or electricity , all six of us in the family suffered evil green snot chest infections during the heating lighting season due to the fumes . Several years we all had a pneumonia or a double pneumonia .
Mum got lung cancer due to it & died earlier than most folk

COPY & PASTED from Wikki

The World Health Organization considers kerosene to be a polluting fuel and recommends that “governments and practitioners immediately stop promoting its household use”.[57] Kerosene smoke contains high levels of harmful particulate matter, and household use of kerosene is associated with higher risks of cancer, respiratory infections, asthma, tuberculosis, cataract, and adverse pregnancy outcomes. [58]

Ingestion of kerosene is harmful. Kerosene is sometimes recommended as a folk remedy for killing head lice, but health agencies warn against this as it can cause burns and serious illness. A kerosene shampoo can even be fatal if fumes are inhaled.[59][60]

People can be exposed to kerosene in the workplace by breathing it in, swallowing it, skin contact, and eye contact. The US National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit of 100 mg/m3 over an 8-hour workday.[61]

Coal is far far worse than kerosene!
Look at the London smogs. As recently as 1962 they used to get them. The last one is estimated to have killed 12,000 people. Sulphur dioxide is the biggest problem.
Modern Kerosene is ultra low sulphur.

 

[fizzy]

And I suspect a woodburner is far more dangerous than a kerosene heater. Ours is very efficient and the flue hardly had any soot even after 2 years without sweeping - but I still get the odd whiff of smoke coming into the house when putting more wood in.

 

[daleyd]

What about a gas cooker?
And if you are burning a ventilated heater it is still drawing in fresh air from outside.

Should be installed by a professional and needs certain sized window to outside/fresh air. Also lower power than a heating appliance (may not be if you have all rings and gas oven on but that’s not likely to be often or for long period, whereas you may have heater on all day) and would probably be expected to run for much shorter period - as well as this you would typically have an extractor fan above a hob.

 

[fizzy]

Should be installed by a professional and needs certain sized window to outside/fresh air. Also lower power than a heating appliance (may not be if you have all rings and gas oven on but that’s not likely to be often or for long period, whereas you may have heater on all day) and would probably be expected to run for much shorter period - as well as this you would typically have an extractor fan above a hob.

A lot of extractor fans just have a carbon filter in them. Pretty useless.
I really do suffer a lot from fumes - diesels before Euro6 came in, classic cars with no cats, gas forklifts, gas heaters ,cigarette smoke, scented candles etc etc
They all set me off. Trust me the kero heater puts out no fumes that anyone can detect. Only when first starting and when turning off.

It's funny how the only other person who actually has one thinks it's great. Seems experience counts for nothing these days

These things are very popular in the rest of the World. And they are fully CE approved.

 

[daleyd]

A lot of extractor fans just have a carbon filter in them. Pretty useless.
I really do suffer a lot from fumes - diesels before Euro6 came in, classic cars with no cats, gas forklifts, gas heaters ,cigarette smoke, scented candles etc etc
They all set me off. Trust me the kero heater puts out no fumes that anyone can detect. Only when first starting and when turning off.

It's funny how the only other person who actually has one thinks it's great. Seems experience counts for nothing these days

These things are very popular in the rest of the World. And they are fully CE approved.

If your talking about ignoring people’s positive experience I guess you could say the same about solar panels but there you go.

Only giving my reasons why cookers aren’t really comparable - I’m sure they are fine but there’s no regs around where you can put them or things like fresh air supply, so you could be in trouble pretty quickly without knowing if you got it wrong.

It wouldn’t bother me but I can see why people would be wary.

 

[fizzy]

Obviously I have several CO detectors dotted around - but I do for my AGA and woodburner as well.

 

[gaz1]

Anything burned inside the same space we breathe has to be bad, indirect as per post #18 is the only way to go for many reasons. Good ventilation and paying to heat what is ventilated doesn't make much sense to me.

Bob

whilst i agree alot of stoves have now an outside fitting to them its down to the user if they install it instead of under the door drafts or an air brick/air vent at rear of the room

And I suspect a woodburner is far more dangerous than a kerosene heater. Ours is very efficient and the flue hardly had any soot even after 2 years without sweeping - but I still get the odd whiff of smoke coming into the house when putting more wood in.

whilst i get hardly any to none

i also dont get all the heat going up the chimney under temp reference im hitting 260f ample enough lift up a chimney alot better than firing over 500f directly up a chimney

whilst i will turn to alternatives if i have a chimney i also will vent through a window if need be but the better option is to create a hole with rented propertys this can be harder to do even i would turn to a diesel heater with a 1" hole is better to fill

as goes for gas heaters and parafin heaters they both need replacement air makes no diffeence new air is still needed to burn correctly the more a room is sealed its more advisable to crack open the window drafts in double glazing units

the wood stove being the one that needs the most replacement of fresh air

 

[brightspark]

yeah for inside the house

stinky things . put it in the middle of the room and u have central heating though

 

[AVI_8]

And I suspect a woodburner is far more dangerous than a kerosene heater. Ours is very efficient and the flue hardly had any soot even after 2 years without sweeping - but I still get the odd whiff of smoke coming into the house when putting more wood in.

Open the door very slowly fizzy, it more or less stops that puff of smoke, took me years to discover that.

 

[fizzy]

Open the door very slowly fizzy, it more or less stops that puff of smoke, took me years to discover that.

I do that. A lot is down to the design of the wood burners. They should have a bigger lip at the top I reckon.

 

[armalites]

I must admit the thought of having to fill up a paraffin heater to heat my house sounds like misery. For sure it will end up empty just when you need it, guaranteed you spill some on yourself.

 

[fizzy]

I must admit the thought of having to fill up a paraffin heater to heat my house sounds like misery. For sure it will end up empty just when you need it, guaranteed you spill some on yourself.

Not at all.
I use a cheap syphon pump to fill.
It beeps at you when running out and then you have about 10 mins to refill. The tank is removable and can be refilled whilst it is running.
Lasts about 12 hours on full blast and probably 2 or 3 days on low.

 

[Blobber]

I think the biggest problem with this energy crisis is people are going to try and find different ways to heat the home, I can see lives being lost

 

[minimutly]

IIRC One pint of hydrocarbon burnt produces approx 8 pints of water in the fumes given off & that included the catalyst burners
I was using 25 litres of high grade paraffin per day to heat just one of our small mammal breeding sheds had to buy it in 25 litre containers 10 at a time to get any worth while saving then hump the bloody things to the car & out the car into the fuel store shed .

Surely something wrong there?