We have propane heaters. Why no gasoline/petrol heaters?

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Kerosene is more expensive than diesel in Alaska? It's much cheaper than diesel in Europe. It's an ideal fuel for a Webasto/Eber type of furnace because it doesn't carbon up the burner tube, and doesn't smoke. It's highly recommended to run a few liters of kerosene (sold as #1 heating oil in the UK) through the furnace every couple of months, a furnace which is otherwise run on diesel -- it will actually decarbonize it.

Here in Oz kero is quite hard to find in bulk, and in consumer quantities it is way dearer than diesel. Not a practical fuel for anything serious in these waters.

Jim

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Here in Oz kero is quite hard to find in bulk, and in consumer quantities it is way dearer than diesel. Not a practical fuel for anything serious in these waters.

Jim

A quick Google shows that all home heating oil in Oz is kerosene (in many countries home heating oil can be either No. 1, which is kero, or No. 2, which is gasoil or diesel, but in Oz it's all No. 1). Surely home heating oil is not that hard to find. I couldn't find any information about prices, however.

[Wotname]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

A quick Google shows that all home heating oil in Oz is kerosene (in many countries home heating oil can be either No. 1, which is kero, or No. 2, which is gasoil or diesel, but in Oz it's all No. 1). Surely home heating oil is not that hard to find. I couldn't find any information about prices, however.

Very very few Aussie homes are heated by oil. Most heating is electric with wood as the next most popular. There is some gas (natural and LPG) heating around.

Yes, kero is available with typical pack sizes of 1, 4, 20 and 200 litres. 1,000 litre and bulk tankers is a little harder to come by but not impossible.

Price for 20 litres is around $80 while a 200 litre drum is $500 (Sydney).

I haven't seen pumped (bowser) kero for a long time but maybe it is around somewhere.

FWIW, at 43 S, we use 10 to 12 tons of wood a year .

[Mr B]

Kero here in Victoria is between 4 and 6 dollars a litre,
Every servo sells it, You can buy it in Woolies and Coles,
Bunnings sell it, Repco and all Auto shops sell it,
A phone call will get it delivered in bulk,
From 4, 20 litre containers, to 44's,
Or bulk deliverys in a tanker, To your tank,
Oil hasnt been used for many years since the price went thru the roof,
Gas and electric heating in most homes,
Wood in rural area's alongside large LPG tanks,

Kero Heaters inside were very popular here years ago, Many people ended up in hospital and quite a few died, Carbon Monoxide poisoning,
You can still buy them here,
Kero fridges are still quite common in rural areas, They are very good fridges,

A house in Hobart used a gas B-B-Que inside their house, Last Week,
11 people got carted off to hospital for Carbon Monoxide Poisoning,

They are very good heaters,. Ive had them in my homes, \
As a Kid, Every home had one,
But they do need good ventilation, Very cheap to buy, $30-00 to $60-00

My 12 volt car electric heater has arrived,
Im not interested in how many watts it puts out,I just dont care,

I hooked it up to my battery and it does chuck out a lot of Fan forced heat,
It will heat up my salon and bedroom in my boat with no problems at all, ,

It did cost me a whopping $28-00 AUD delivered, Thats Twenty Eight Dollars, In Australian money,
About $20-00 USD,

Cheers, Brian,

[Jim Cate]

Price for 20 litres is around $80 while a 200 litre drum is $500 (Sydney).

Dockhead, FYI diesel here runs currently around 1.35 AUD/liter. This might hint at the reason we don't try to run Kero in our heaters.

Kero here in Victoria is between 4 and 6 dollars a litre,
Every servo sells it, You can buy it in Woolies and Coles,
Bunnings sell it, Repco and all Auto shops sell it,
A phone call will get it delivered in bulk,

Yes, commonly available in small containers (1 and 4 liter), but none of the servos around here have it in bulk. Must be that in Tasmania electric lighting replaced kero lamps a while back?

Seriously, there is not much impetus to switch from diesel to kero here in Oz for any purpose where diesel will suffice.

Jim

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Dockhead, FYI diesel here runs currently around 1.35 AUD/liter. This might hint at the reason we don't try to run Kero in our heaters.



Yes, commonly available in small containers (1 and 4 liter), but none of the servos around here have it in bulk. Must be that in Tasmania electric lighting replaced kero lamps a while back?

Seriously, there is not much impetus to switch from diesel to kero here in Oz for any purpose where diesel will suffice.

Jim

None of the servos here sell it in bulk either, You have to ring up and get it delivered in Bulk,
Kero now is just a cleaning agent,

LPG is King now, 12 Lb bottles, 4 foot tall bottles, Or large tanks in your yard, 100's of gallons in those ones,
Every servo, Bunnings, Etc Etc sells the 12 Lb bottles Australia wide, B-B-Que bottles,
4 foot tall bottles are home delivered, Every where, Australia wide,

I have four 12 Lb bottles in my RV and two 12 Lb bottles on my Boat,
Fiji sells a smaller bottle of LPG, Readily available as well,

I have found the 12 Lb bottles come in three sizes in the tanks, The smaller ones fit my gas locker,
The taller ones dont, There is about two inches difference in the height of the 3 bottles, Same contents in all the bottles, 12 Lbs,

Cheers, Brian,

[Lepke]

In the US, #1 diesel is a lighter grade of diesel not kerosene. It's mainly used in very cold temperatures. It also burns much better in a stove than #2. Much less soot and hotter fire. Same in an engine.

[Chotu]

better late than never. I’m definitely moving my boat to where it’s colder. So heat will be necessary.

rather than messing around with a gasoline system and trying to figure all of that out and keep it running, I will just go with the status quo and add a diesel tank and diesel heaters. maybe I can just time things so it is empty when I am traveling.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Chotu

There is already 150 gallons of gasoline below.

Why are people so petrified of these things ?

Do you just imagine some jerry cans half leaking sitting below? Or do you understand that the gasoline tanks (50 gallons each) are built by Moller, attached to deck fills and vents, have fuel gauges, pickups out of the top of the tank and use uninterrupted, heavy duty marine fuel lines to an outdoor area (like a propane locker) that has all the plumbing in it?

Don’t just regurgitate what you read on this forum. Think.

Do you really think a boat of that caliber has just some random crap tank a step up from a jerry can below decks with gasoline done wrong?


One of the recent posts is comparing gasoline and propane is if they are just spraying out all over the place. Who is going to have a system like that?

Gasoline is inside metal plumbing in the case of supplying a heater. With no joints. A single, uninterrupted piece of tubing from the propane locker area to the heater. Exactly like you do with propane.

No gasoline heater on a boat would meet ABYC Standards.
No insurance company will insure a boat with gasoline heater.
Go for it if these are not important to you.

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

No gasoline heater on a boat would meet ABYC Standards.
No insurance company will insure a boat with gasoline heater.
Go for it if these are not important to you.

can you show me the line where it says you can’t have a gasoline heater out on deck?

I also already have insurance.

You were already in this thread. Lol and you were fine with it when we were talking about it. I’m pretty sure you’re aware of my explosivea box up on deck.

but why are you saying any of this anyway? Did you not read the post I just made?

I like you. You’re a good guy. So I don’t want to get into it with you. However, I’m really lost on your post here.

[Mr B]

I see Diesel heaters are al the rage here at the moment, In Caravans and Motor homes, \
Not too sure how they will stand up with the diesel price of $2-40 a litre, AUD,

About $9-12 a US gallon, Or about $10-08 a AUD gallon, Australia uses British gallons,



From what I have seen a Diesel heater is about $300 AUD, Fitted,
These figures come from the Caravan and Camping Forums, Which I also follow as I have a 36 foot RV,

[Chotu]

Originally Posted by Mr B

I see Diesel heaters are al the rage here at the moment, In Caravans and Motor homes, \
Not too sure how they will stand up with the diesel price of $2-40 a litre, AUD,

About $9-12 a US gallon, Or about $10-08 a AUD gallon, Australia uses British gallons,



From what I have seen a Diesel heater is about $300 AUD, Fitted,
These figures come from the Caravan and Camping Forums, Which I also follow as I have a 36 foot RV,

I had been thinking the same thing. But, not really sure what else there is to heat with. I have done wood stoves on boats. I enjoyed that. But it’s a lot of work. Also, you have to get up at night to add some more wood. And I didn’t really like that part.

Are you thinking of other heating sources?

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Chotu

I had been thinking the same thing. But, not really sure what else there is to heat with. I have done wood stoves on boats. I enjoyed that. But it’s a lot of work. Also, you have to get up at night to add some more wood. And I didn’t really like that part.

Are you thinking of other heating sources?

I put canvas covers over my whole boat, It keeps out the cold and the heat from coming thru the fibreglass,

The cover goes over the top of the Boom, tied to the sides of my cabin,

We dont get the cold you do here, Down to 0 Celcius, or there abouts, We dont get snow here,

I just put more clothes on,

[donradcliffe]

And you never used an old Coleman lantern or Stove??

[Lepke]

I have seen Chinese heaters mounted outside the cabin, but heating outside air isn't as efficient. I suppose that would make a gas heater safer.
Years ago there were many gas engines in smaller fishing boats. Most had a tank for diesel, usually on the cabin top, gravity fed to a diesel stove.
In 2 1/2 years the diesel price will get better.