DIY Heater for a Small Space: pulse jet heater

[lornaschinske]

DIY Heaters for a Small Space January/February 1986 if you have Mother Earth News on CD...

Ran across this while looking for something else. It's cheap to put together even though the price have gone up since 1986. Uses kerosine which seems to be non-existent in NM (Isn't that strange?). It does need to be vented (needs fresh air intake & exhaust). Could be of interest. I do think it is a viable alternative to one of the marine kerosine heaters (like a Dickerson) and cost would be far, far, far less.

[chev49]

kerosene is a rip off now days.. my dad used to buy it by the 8000 gal truck load, and it was cheap...
your diagram looks great,, i think one could take a space heater and modify it a bit with a smaller orifice and make a great heater for the bus. i have worked on them, as they occasionally quit, and they are quite simple, and you could fab up a 12v blower motor to use instead of the 110v one..
problem is that it costs about a billion dollars for a gallon of the stuff, unless whilst at the FBO, you borrow some outta the fuel truck on the tarmak.

[lornaschinske]

We used to heat one of our houses with Home Heating oil (S#1)/Kerosine (K-1) when we lived in NC. We ran portable kerosine heaters for decades while in NC, SC, GA & TN. We were in NM for a year before I realized we had not seen any of the "Kerosine" fuel pumps like we were accustomed to seeing back East. Then we started looking for them and still haven't seen any. We would have put a Kerosine space heater in the bus but I'm not buying kerosine, Kleen-Heat or low-odor mineral spirits at Wal-Mart! $$$$ We have an LP space heater that's made for interior use.

kerosine fuel primer
Make Sweet smelling Kerosine

In case you wonder why I know this, I have an Aladdin Kerosine lamp. Beautiful thing with expensive mantles & wicks. The following statement is why I know this stuff...

http://www.milesstair.com/B_&_H_lamps.html
These large center draft lamps will burn kerosene, but they were actually designed to burn "low odor mineral spirits." The same "lamp fuel" is available today, but marked "Paint Thinner with Low Odor Mineral Spirits." ["Low Odor" then meant low sulfur content.] It works just as well in center draft Kosmos lamps with the #15 burner with flame spreader or an Aladdin lamp. Virtually no odor, no tar buildup, wicks seldom have to be trimmed, the flame is a nice bright white (see lamp above on the left), and it's less expensive than hardware store kerosene! It also stores extremely well.

[ol trunt]

Lorna, while I was a graduate student at DOOK The old house I lived in had kerosine heat. I remember trying to repaint the dingy grey walls and the "fish eyes " that poped up in the paint from all the oil.--I'm surprised I still remember that and that I lived long enough to comment on it!

PS as a kid I tried not to eat the lead filled paint chips ( tasted like Ruffels mmmm) Phenelketinuria anyone?

Does this have anything to do with SKOOLIES? I wouldn't be here without it!

[lornaschinske]

Well I THOUGHT it was a good small space heater but since you are so flaked out about it, I won't post any more heaters.. Solar, fueled or otherwise. Sheesh! BTW, You should have learned how to fix your furnace. We heated with oil and knew how to take care of ours. Same with the wood stove we used, now THAT was messy! Guess you are one of those "over educated" people who can't do **** without it being taught in a college class.

[mightybus]

I ran kerosine in my Reddy Heat forced air heater as required for many years. The round disc is the catalytic converter. The directions said no diesel. Well, by golly, kerosine hit 2.25$ a gallon. I said screw this. When I got cold one night I said fill it with diesel and let's see what she does. Danged if it didn't work perfectly. The new commie low sulfur diesel(which is most diesel nowadays) works better than kerosine, lasts longer and burns cleaner. No odor. It's been easy money for me in the heat dept. now for many years when I am low on wood or to lazy to bring it in. And Lorna, trust me when I say this , you are way smarter than most college freshouts I see day to day. Even so, don't quickly discount folks with a sheepskin. Many have worked their patooties off to get one. I have two degrees and I read your posts religiously. As a matter of fact you ought to be an instructor. Be proud of the high calling in your daily work. You have taught us much. We are thankful.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by mightybus

... The new commie low sulfur diesel(which is most diesel nowadays) works better than kerosine, lasts longer and burns cleaner...

Read the primer on Kerosine I linked to about the reason it worked better.

When OTR Diesel ended up cheaper in GA than home heating oil in NC, my cousins loaded a 55 gallon drum into the back of the pickup and drove the 30 miles to the truck stop just across the state line. Lot's of folks were doing that. It was a variation of what many of them had done during their teen years (drive to to the liquor store just feet across the state line because the county was dry at the time). They also discovered that their burners were cleaner on the diesel than on the heating oil. It's similar fuel but now the OTR diesel is cleaner thanks to the environ mentalists (yes it IS two separate words... Those nut cases were hard at work in SW NC for many years... almost as bad as the revenuers! One home per 100 acres my foot!).

[chev49]

sheepskins... some of us have gone to 6 colleges...

environmentalists..

"Always keep chainsaw handy in case environmentalist is chained to a tree"

[ol trunt]

Lorna, I'm sorry I annoyed you--I really wasn't attacking you or your post. Sorry, Jack