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Guest Mike - Oregon

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Guest Mike - Oregon

The boat and kids. Well...looks like I may need to build a bigger boat some day. (a plan takes shape);)

Just received a kerosene heater through the generosity of a Father who's into "the dream" of building a sailboat. So, should be able to fiberglass through the winter. Thanks Dad!

Anyone out there ever heat with Kerosene? Lots of -do nots- in the manual. Anyone heating a two car garage and how does it work for you?

October-2002-004.jpg

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Guest Russ Sylvester

Boy do I remember those days! Seemed like every neighborhood kid figured out that the boat was really just a big playhouse. Most days I just didn't have the heart to chase them out so I would just go work on some other area until they found something else to do.

The one in the purple shirt looks like she's ready for a tiller and a mainsheet.

Oh yeah, the boat looks really good. Nice job!

rksylves@rockwellcollins.com

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Guest Ray Frechette jr

The kerosean heater should have plety enough BTU to heat thee garage for you.

I do have a number of concerns of having an open flame heater in a garage though.

I once woke up in my house to a strong odor of gasoline. My car had been parked in the garage before bed, and I had just filled the fuel tank that evening. The fuel filler pipe had developed a rust hole and spilled about a gallon of fuel on the ground.

Had we used an open flame heater toheat the garage. Kaboom.

Aside from obvious care to prevent gas leakage in same space as open flame heater, taking precautions to store gas cans in anther structure as well as engines that use gasoline, you should also take care with any solvents used while building the boat. IE acetone, thinners etc. when finishing the boat.

Airborn sawdust in the right concentration if fine enough can also create an explosion hazard. Good dust collection both through source specific collection and an airborn dust aircleaner is important both for health reasons as well as fire issues when you are running an open flame heater.

Finally, buy a carbon Monoxide detector that has some sort of digital readout to alert you should the keroseane heater start throwing off excess CO. Excess co means time to service.

When I built my Boat last winter, I heated my garage with a propane construction heater that was open flame. Most of my shop tools have exhaust ports which I hooked up to my shop vac when using. My son held the shop vac hose near the outlet of the skill saw when I made cuts with it, and I have a Delta Air cleaner hanging from the ceiling to cut down on airborn dust.

CO detector was plugged in and never ventrued above 100 ppm. I also kept a window crakced open to allow some fresh air in when the heater was running.

refent@prodigy.net

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Guest Mike - Oregon

I like the CO detector idea and I hadn't thought of dust being an explosion risk either. thanks.

I always store the gas can in the shed with the mower. should I store paint, thinner and acetone in a separate room or just a safe distance away from the heating unit?

Oh, the tree was an accident. Like the kid who's ready for a tiller. (I should say surprise)

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Guest T. Nelson Surbrook

I atttempted to use a Kerosene heater and in an uninsalated shop of 30X30 feet it did very little in the coldest part of winter. Epoxy took over a week to set. Of course it may get colder here than where you are.

tnelson@surbrook.org

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Read a warning somewhere about heating with kerosene and trying to epoxy. The author found that the exhaust from the heater was depositing a film on his boat which prevented the epoxy from curing properly. So you might want to keep the heater as far away from your work area as practical.

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Guest capt jake

Very, very nice!!

All I remember about my former Kerosene heater is that it stunk! Don't use dyed kerosene either. The dye gumms up the wick, and wicks are no fun to replace.

I am using propane these days.

jwentz4@attbi.com

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Guest capt jake

Airborn sawdust in the right concentration if fine enough can also create an explosion hazard.

The concentration has to pretty high for this to happen. Like, can't see across the room.

The CO detector is a good idea. Leave some windows cracked.

jwentz4@attbi.com

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Guest P Doug (WA)

capt jake, what kind of propane heater do you have? I helped a friend finish the inside of his garage recently and he is deciding on heat. Not enough amps for electric heat and running tools. He has been looking for a propane heater. The garage is 30' x 24'

pp.doug@att.net

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Guest Arnie Eaton

I would recommend a natural gas direct vent heater. A direct vent unit gets its air for combustion from outside and then vents exhast to the outside. No flame in the room at all. Mine is 90,000 BTU. Shop is 18' by 36' and has 6" insulated walls and ceiling.

aeeaton@cybernet1.com

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Guest capt jake

Arnie has a good reccomendation. They aren't cheap though.

I bought a cheap catalytic tank mounted heater from either Harbor Frieght or Home depot. About $25. My shop is 21'x40', I have to turn it off after a few hours, as it gets very warm.

I leave the 2 windows in the shop cracked about 2-3" all of the time.

jwentz4@attbi.com

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Guest Ray Frechette jr

I figured it would take quite a dust cloud to have an explosion hazard. I suspect it would be a serious lung hazard long before it becomes an explosion hazard.

I have a small construction typoe propane heater with variable output. It can be either 15,000 BTU, 30,000 or 50,000 depending on valve setting.

Cheap at Home Depot I think it was less than $50.00.

Worked fine in my insulated 28X28 garage. 20-30 minutes after firing up, I would take off my jacket and notch it down to 30000 btu, 1 hr after firing I would notch back to 15,000 btu and keep it there for another 1/2 hr before shutting down. Usually spent 2-3 hrs in garage at night. Most mornings it would still be in upper 40's in garage here in Maine.

From February 10th till late April when I no longer needed any heat in garage I used about $21.00 in propane.

refent@prodigy.net

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Guest Jim Stumpf

If you want the Cadilac of garage heaters get a "low profile unit heater" I have seen them made by Modine and Sterling (I'm sure there are others out there). They look like small wharehouse "reznor" heaters but they have a sealed combustion tube and are rated for residential garages. I have a 75kbtu unit in my garage and I installed a 40 kbtu in the garage of a friend of mine who had set his wood scrape pile on fire with his kero heater. They are safe and clean burning. Natrual gas is by far one of the cheapest fuels if it is avaliable. It is thermostaicly controled and has a blower. Check with your local HVAC supply house (make up a company name and print a purchase order on your computer). Home depot carries them here in Ohio but they are very over priced there.

Jim

jamesjjstumpf@aol.com

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Guest T. Nelson Surbrook

I have seen Arnie's shop and it is very nice, no I mean very, very nice. Fully finsihed and set up just right. If I could have any shop I wanted it would be just like Arnie's

tnelson@surbrook.org

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Guest Ray Frechette jr

I sort of forgot to mention it earlier;

However, NEVER store or use a propane tank with in your house or garage. The propane heater I used had a 15 foot long hose that ran out though garage door to outside.

Propane tanks are designed so that if pressures inside the tank build up too much, they will vent outside the tank. This could mean in your garage or house. Definitely a real bummer if this happens to you with a flame source present.

Propane is stored as a liquid in the tank under pressure. As gas is used, pressure is reduced and the liquid evaporates into a gas to maintain constant pressure. If the tank was cold and then warms up pressure could build faster than the gas was used and vent to outside the tank.

When used on boats, propane is always stored in a very expensive propane locker that is airtight, with a hole in the bottom of the tank with a hose attached and vented overboard. Propane gas is heavier than air and sinks.

Never bring a propane tank into a closed in area.

refent@prodigy.net

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Guest Ray Frechette jr

Mike asked:

should I store paint, thinner and acetone in a separate room or just a safe distance away from the heating unit?

Biggest issue with these solvents is to not use them with open source flame present, and not to have open flame source after you use them untill air is quite clear of solvents.

Also remember to keep solvent soaked rags safe to prevent spontaneous combustion.

I keep my solvents stored in a metal locker.

refent@prodigy.net

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