6. Kerosene heaters & stoves

Shown
is a Toyotomi DC-100, rated at 17,500 BTUs. Other Convective
kerosene heaters are generally
rated at
20,000 BTUs or more. Either style is
well-suited to heat a home. Note the pull cord for moving
the
unit easily on a dolly made from the base of a shop vac.
|
By
Miles Stair
Millions of people worldwide are grateful to be able to heat and
cook with kerosene appliances, as their wood supply is scarce and
electricity practically nonexistent. Only in North America are
kerosene appliances given virtually no consideration, as for the
past 60 years the availability of inexpensive electricity plus
natural gas has lulled generations into taking for granted the
fragile infrastructure that keeps modern life in motion.

Why have kerosene heaters
and stoves at all?
First, they operate without the use of electricity, so your house can be
warm and livable even if the electric power goes out during a winter
storm - and you can cook meals, so you will not have to be at the mercy of
a public shelter. Second, kerosene itself can be stored in large quantities for
a long time.
In actual use for heating a home, a gallon of kerosene will provide about
the same heat output as a wheelbarrow load of wood! In the event of
a total societal breakdown, obviously you would not be able to store
enough kerosene to last a lifetime, and in such a case you would need to
turn to wood or coal, whatever is available locally, for winter heat.
But burning wood or coal means putting up smoke signals showing exactly
where you are and telling anyone who sees the smoke plume that you are
warm and most likely have other supplies - like food. Why make
yourself a target if you don't have to? If everything went to heck
in a hand basket, a hundred gallons of kerosene and a good radiant heater
would keep you safe in your home over a winter without attracting
attention, and that could be enough to keep your family alive - assuming
you also have made other
preparations. So
few people
actually prepare than
in a year after a major cataclysmic, the unprepared would not be around to
steal what you have.
Kerosene heaters have been used for
over a century in complete safety. Look at the advertisement for "Perfection
Oil Heaters" from 1918. There were more than 3,000,000
Perfection Oil Heaters in use in 1918! The background of the ad
shows people lined up in the snow to purchase coal. The first line in the
advertisement is: "Perfection Oil Heaters saved the situation last
winter." What happened in 1917? A great influenza pandemic
swept around the world
after WW I. People who had a Perfection Oil Heater did not have to
line up with strangers to purchase coal...and catch the deadly flu that
killed millions of people. Those with a kerosene heater and a supply
of kerosene could avoid crowds - and survive. The current situation
of "Homeland Security" is very unstable, with
Muslim terrorists just waiting for the
chance to release a
biological or chemical attack
on our cities. Kerosene heaters and
stoves
could again mean the difference between life or death...very inexpensive
insurance!
Ultimately, wood stove cooking and heating will be required (see
Wood
Cooking and Heating). But wood appliances are not the
answer for the short term, as their use means a smoke and heat
plume...dead giveaways as to your location and preparations. Why
send up smoke signals to advertise your presence?
Kerosene stoves
and heaters are ideal for survival use. They are inexpensive to
purchase, reliable, portable, safe and easy to use. A kerosene
convection heater costing about $150 can rival a pellet stove
costing $1,500 in useable heat output - cost a third less to operate,
and work without electricity. Smaller kerosene radiant heaters
are fine heaters in milder climates. Because kerosene heaters
operate most efficiently at their maximum heat setting, choosing
the proper model is very important. See
Kerosene
Heaters for eight pages of extensive details.
Kerosene cookers
(stoves)
have been used all over the world for almost a century, and are
marvelous for use when electricity is not available. They should
not be saved just for emergency use, though, as they have great
utility for many everyday tasks. I use mine for canning, for example.
As they are portable, I can use them indoors on the porch, or
outdoors on the patio, so canning need not mess up a pretty kitchen
or interfere with normal kitchen use. I use them for heating wax
to make candles, just about anything. Choosing a model to fit
your needs is covered under
Kerosene
Cookers.
You
can make your own mini kerosene heater and stove from an old
brooder house heater very easily. Century old P & A brooder
house heaters sell on eBay for about $10.00, and they have a very
fine tip-over burner unit which uses a 1 1/2" flat lamp wick.
Brooder house heaters made by P & A have a very well designed
burner and do not have an aroma when being used. It is
difficult to find one with a chimney, but it is easy to make a
nice chimney from a section of 4" metal stove pipe and some pop
rivets. These little heaters burn very little fuel, produce
about 1,700 BTU/hr, and are extremely useful in the winter as
greenhouse heaters, well house heaters, and storage shed heaters
to keep ATV's and other equipment warm enough to start easily.
You can see the ones I have made, and how I constructed the
chimney, at
www.milesstair.com/Mini_Kerosene_Heaters.html
You cannot
take a kerosene appliance right out of the box and expect it to
work properly: they need to be properly seasoned before
use. Read
Breaking
In New Kerosene Appliances before attempting to use them
for the first time. Kerosene appliances also require
regular
maintenance to maintain efficient operation, and that
may mean weekly maintenance. Do not ignore this important element
in their use!
The recommended
kerosene cookers and heaters are not "under pressure:" a wick
brings the kerosene up from the tank via capillary action to the
burner unit. It seems that every model of stove and heater uses
a different wick, so understanding how they work, and having spare
wicks, is extremely important. See
Kerosene
Appliance Wicks for more details.
One of the
great advantages of kerosene cookers and heaters is that fuel
for their use can be stored in quantity: try that with electricity
or natural gas! The best way to store kerosene is to use large
bulk tanks. I used a 220 gallon fuel oil tank which I found used,
and set it up in a shed in a protected area. Then I found some
old saddle tanks from a Mack truck, the old, heavy steel 110 gallon
tanks seen 30 years ago. These I set on
cradles I built from 4
x 4 and 2 x 4 pressure treated lumber. I had previously found
an old 30 gallon service station bulk engine oil tank, at least
70 years old. After cleaning, it holds and dispenses kerosene
perfectly. The result? With a little work in cleaning and painting
the tanks, I now have 470 gallons of kerosene storage. Last winter
I used 250 gallons of kerosene for heating and cooking, so if
I'm a little careful, there is enough to last for 2 years. See
Kerosene Fuel Primer
for more details.
Of course
you must use pure kerosene fuel. This product has several names:
1-K (clear), or #1 stove oil. The main difference is price. Clear
1-K is sold in small containers and generally priced at more than
$3.50 per gallon. No. 1 stove oil is delivered in bulk by
heating oil distributors to your tank...at about $1.50 per gallon for
quantities over 100 gallons. There is generally a surcharge of
25 cents per gallon for deliveries of less than 100 gallons. No.
1 stove oil also has a red dye (since July, 1998) to indicate
the road tax has not been paid, as it can be used in some diesel
engines. The red dye does not change the burning qualities...it
just looks weird.
Site Index

Related links:
Kerosene Heaters and stoves -
sources of supply
Kerosene
Appliance Wicks - Heaters
Kerosene Heater Wicks - a list
of heaters and the wicks that fit them.
Installing Kerosene
Heater Wicks - generic for Radiant Heaters
Breaking
In New Kerosene Appliances
Kerosene Heater Carts - build
something with wheels!
Burning
Kerosene Heaters at Night
Regular
maintenance for kerosene appliances
Kerosene
Cookers (stoves in general)
Kerosene Stove Wicks - and
installation.
Setting
Up A Butterfly Multi-Wick Stove
Build a Support Stand for a
Kerosene Stove
Kerosene Fuel Primer
Kerosene tank
cradles
|
|