Valor paraffin heater

[MetalMonkey]

I have unearthed an old Blue flame Valor paraffin heater - the type with the circular wick.

it needs a new wick and some TLC but otherwise is complete, we are on oil so not short of kerosene.

Workshop although insulated, is getting mighty cold (either that or I'm just getting too old), so I've been contemplating putting it in to service to try and take the edge off.
What's putting me off the idea is the condensation - I'm just wondering if anybody is using one or if its generally a bad idea.

I know the answer is probably a Chinese diesel heater, but I don’t have one of those and I do have this.

 

[gaz1]

for me its the smell and fumes that they give off

otherwise there fine to use

as goes for condensation you will get that anyway with most devices on cold tools

also ive noticed they can be upgraded from just a heater burning and going upwards with there fumes as they burn

 

[Redsailor]

I tried using kerosene in a wick type greenhouse heater and found that it did not burn too well. Ended up with lots of smoke and soot. Paraffin being less viscous than kerosene travels up the wick more easily, horrifically more expensive though these days.

 

[Craig-S]

oof i have an oil filled rad in the garage (insulated) but not only does that take a while to heat up it obviously makes the leccy wheel spin. Id like a diesel heater but I dont really want to drill ruddy great holes in the garage walls.

 

[rtcosic]

Beware, Domestic kerosine for use in flued boilers is BS2869 C2 and for unflued appliances with wicks is Class 1.
Class C1 is lighter and lower sulphur. It is never a good idea to use C2 in these.

The amount of water generated and hence condensation will be pretty much the same for any fuel for the same heat output.

 

[premmington]

Paraffin heaters - that takes me back to my childhood at my Grandparents house - wet smelly horible things.

Nobody had central heating then - my other Grandad - would have roaring open wood fires in all rooms - inc bedrooms.

Not a drop of coal to be seen - it was his lifes work to collect firewood for nothing.

As he got older and less able to swing an axe - me and my Brother used to save wood and take it round on trailer - his old face used to light up when you arrived with it - like all his Xmases had come at once.

But there again - if you cut a cheap white cabbage in half and took it round to him - you would get the same grateful level of thanks...

No fuel efficient cast stoves round my Grandad Fred's - no restriction plate that could be altered in the chimney to reduce the draft - no firegrates with adjustments - or plates to bank up overnight to keep a fire in. Just straight fire basket welded from rebar - few old firebricks at bottom to move into the mountain of ash to hold it all together. Big black cast iron kettle (with no whistle)- big/huge black cast iron skillet/frying pan thing - some sort of big dutch oven stew pan - with chipped broken lid. Yeah he had an electric cooker - but he did lots of meals over the fire in the winter.

 

[Cobbler]

We had a couple of Aladdin paraffin heaters when I was growing up, horrible dangerous things. I’d rather go cold than use one. My other hate is portable Calor heaters, my in-laws ran one from about October to May, took your breath away as you walked in the door. My mother in law was complaining about a cough that wouldn’t clear up, I said “get rid of that heater” but they wouldn’t listen.

 

[oldbikedavey]

Used to use the things, but the condensation produced by them was horrendous.
Got the Deville multi-fuel heater, and the difference was like chalk and cheese....

 

[oldbikedavey]

I have unearthed an old Blue flame Valor paraffin heater - the type with the circular wick.

it needs a new wick and some TLC but otherwise is complete, we are on oil so not short of kerosene.

Workshop although insulated, is getting mighty cold (either that or I'm just getting too old), so I've been contemplating putting it in to service to try and take the edge off.
What's putting me off the idea is the condensation - I'm just wondering if anybody is using one or if its generally a bad idea.

I know the answer is probably a Chinese diesel heater, but I don’t have one of those and I do have this.

If you can route the exhaust to the open air , you might well be on to a winner.
But the exhaust must go outside .
Any metallic flexible conduit will do, if of a suitably large diameter.
Or some sort of trunking, even.....

 

[Dapph2]

I tried using kerosene in a wick type greenhouse heater and found that it did not burn too well. Ended up with lots of smoke and soot. Paraffin being less viscous than kerosene travels up the wick more easily, horrifically more expensive though these days.

25mm hole max for exhaust out through brick and if you feel like it 30 mm for air in .,having the heater inside the garage . Saw a diesel heater for £54 on Ali express last night .

 

[magnet]

We had one of those pressurised bowlfires where a metal gauze would glow red in our bathroom when i was a nipper, No central heating in our house then. It was still colder than a well diggers a*se in there with it running at full chat.
My Granny had one of the valor wick heaters in the kitchen, the fumes were that bad you couldn't taste the sandwiches she fed you........ With hindsight probably for the better

 

[premmington]

We had one of those pressurised bowlfires where a metal gauze would glow red in our bathroom when i was a nipper, No central heating in our house then. It was still colder than a well diggers a*se in there with it running at full chat.
My Granny had one of the valor wick heaters in the kitchen, the fumes were that bad you couldn't taste the sandwiches she fed you........ With hindsight probably for the better

I remmeber it well - ice on the inside of the windows - my Nan was an early riser and she loved me - she used to put my clothes in the bed with me to warm them up - in the mornings.

Get dressed at speed - straight downstairs to sit in front of open fire - Nan would ask you if you had a wash - you would respond by lying - then Nan would start feeding you...

(no running hotwater = equals no washing for a small boy)

You might of been lucky - get some glowworm thing in your bed before you went - cage with a light bulb in it - but you had to be near death with illness - before Grandfather would light a fire in a bedroom (well bring a coal shovel full of embers up).

 

[oldbikedavey]

I remmeber it well - ice on the inside of the windows - my Nan was an early riser and she loved me - she used to put my clothes in the bed with me to warm them up - in the mornings.

Get dressed at speed - straight downstairs to sit in front of open fire - Nan would ask you if you had a wash - you would respond by lying - then Nan would start feeding you...

(no running hotwater = equals no washing for a small boy)

You might of been lucky - get some glowworm thing in your bed before you went - cage with a light bulb in it - but you had to be near death with illness - before Grandfather would light a fire in a bedroom (well bring a coal shovel full of embers up).

And the rest of the world marvels at British endurance.....

 

[premmington]

And the rest of the world marvels at British endurance.....

I survived it - they all lived to a "good old age".

Maybe turning the thermostat down a bit - putting some extra clothes on - is the elixia to a long life...?

 

[Smallfry]

I remmeber it well - ice on the inside of the windows - my Nan was an early riser and she loved me - she used to put my clothes in the bed with me to warm them up - in the mornings.

Get dressed at speed - straight downstairs to sit in front of open fire - Nan would ask you if you had a wash - you would respond by lying - then Nan would start feeding you...

(no running hotwater = equals no washing for a small boy)

You might of been lucky - get some glowworm thing in your bed before you went - cage with a light bulb in it - but you had to be near death with illness - before Grandfather would light a fire in a bedroom (well bring a coal shovel full of embers up).

Happy days, both I and SWMBO remember all this well.

When I was a child we had the "luxury" of a two burner paraffin heater on the landing, and a single in the kitchen.

Do not run a paraffin heater on kerosene (heating oil) it will not burn properly. Any device that burns fossil fuels is going to produce condensation, and LPG is the worst.

 

[fizzy]

Beware, Domestic kerosine for use in flued boilers is BS2869 C2 and for unflued appliances with wicks is Class 1.
Class C1 is lighter and lower sulphur. It is never a good idea to use C2 in these.

The amount of water generated and hence condensation will be pretty much the same for any fuel for the same heat output.

C2 has a higher sulphur limit yes but in practice it is far lower and much closer to C1. Just look at the sulphur content of diesel these days.
I have been running a kerosene inverter heater for 4 years now with no problems at all. and I am VERY sensitive to fume. I can't even cope with a gas cooker.

 

[Dapph2]

We had one of those pressurised bowlfires where a metal gauze would glow red in our bathroom when i was a nipper, No central heating in our house then. It was still colder than a well diggers a*se in there with it running at full chat.
My Granny had one of the valor wick heaters in the kitchen, the fumes were that bad you couldn't taste the sandwiches she fed you........ With hindsight probably for the better

The health of the nation took a massive leap forward when most people stopped using the paraffin heaters . At school out in the sticks in the 1950's it was easy to see which families used them as the sole source of heating & often for cooking too .. red rimmed eyed kids with yellow snot candles were the majority in most classes me included.

From the start to the end of the heating season most kids with paraffin heaters had chest infection after chest infection .

 

[eddie49]

Boom boom boom boom Esso Blue.
It was my job to go and collect it every week from a local hardware shop, dispensed from a tank inside the shop into an empty engine oil tin, at 2/- a gallon.

 

[premmington]

The health of the nation took a massive leap forward when most people stopped using the paraffin heaters . At school out in the sticks in the 1950's it was easy to see which families used them as the sole source of heating & often for cooking too .. red rimmed eyed kids with yellow snot candles were the majority in most classes me included.

From the start to the end of the heating season most kids with paraffin heaters had chest infection after chest infection .

Big roaring wood fire up an open chimney - drawing a draught under the room doors - far healthier for sure mate....

 

[rtcosic]

C2 has a higher sulphur limit yes but in practice it is far lower and much closer to C1. Just look at the sulphur content of diesel these days.
I have been running a kerosene inverter heater for 4 years now with no problems at all. and I am VERY sensitive to fume. I can't even cope with a gas cooker.

Quite true in practice, depending on the source. I was referring to specifications. There are many other differences, including Smoke Point, distillation points etc. ! I was trying to keep things simple.
No quantum computing needed here.
The Milford Haven refinery was one of the few that hydrotreated kerosine, so the sulphur content was extremely low.
EtA: We only made Dual Purpose Kerosine, which met both C2 and Jet A1. Didn't meet C1 and we found one distributor was selling our C2 as C1 at a much inflated margin because its low sulphur and better than specification smoke point meant it burned cleaner than the competitor's supply.
He didn't last as our distributor after that. Texaco snapped him up - make of that what you will.