Kerosene cabin heater stinking/burning eyes help appreciated

[CarinaPDX]

1) The additives to kerosene in jet fuel are not particularly harmful. I chased this down a few years ago, checking the MSDS for each of the additives and none were nearly as bad as the MSDS for kerosene itself. If you don't believe me then do your own research and show me the facts, don't just restate gossip as others did on that thread (apologies, but it was really annoying to have someone repeat unsubstantiated claims and reject my research).

2) As others have noted, your problem is probably (well, almost certainly) ventilation. The combustion byproducts should be going up the stack, not into the cabin. This is a very dangerous situation, and you should be protected by sniffers. Opening a hatch or portlight may or may not solve the problem depending on the location of the vent and the direction of the wind. For instance if your boat is pointing into the wind and you open the companionway you will likely backdraft the heater and put the byproducts inside the cabin (think the back of a station wagon). It is best to have a hatch or cowl open in the direction of the wind in order to pressurize the cabin and drive the exhaust up the stack. A good Charlie Noble helps a little, but it won't fix the vacuum problem.

Greg

[contrail]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Frankly mine never put out enough heat to be worth the trouble starting and smelling. If I was going to go Kerosene I would use one of the popular big box store units, they burn clean and put out massive btu compared with Force 10, Taylors etc.
Never burn without a hatch etc open!

Using one of those units is exactly what I did, for years, and boy did it put out great heat!

[Morequestions]

I have a home kerosene heater and it smells some too.Not really what I like.
But I want to ask those that have the wall hanging diesel fueled heaters and the diesel stoves in their boat. Do they stink too?
One day I may buy a boat and those heaters have appeal, but if it stinks up the cabin air then maybe it's better to find propane appliances.
Thanks

[CarinaPDX]

Burners should only smell when they are not burning correctly. My stove's kerosene burners don't put off much odor unless they are overdue for cleaning (although I am so used to it there may be more than I realize). My Sigmar bulkhead diesel doesn't smell unless it gets backdrafted or sometimes during startup - once up and running there is no smell and little or no soot either. The trick is to pre-heat with alcohol, similar to the kerosene burners, before opening the carburetor. And always have a positive cabin pressure to prevent backdrafting.

Greg

[Kalinowski]

Sail South.

[boatclassic]

I've ben using paint thinner which I buy in bulk.It is easier for me to buy,burns very clean,no oder and a good blue flame. I was advised that paint thinner,kerosene and stove oil have practically the same attributes.A couple of members have mentioned that pre-heating with alcohol irritates the eyes and I agree with that. I always have plenty of ventilation and I'm sure that helps.
Peter

[hpeer]

While I agree that ventilation is essential, especially with a heater that burns for hours, I don’t think that is the issue here. Cookers are not ventilated and do not produce the effects described. Watering eyes, fumes, etc.

So I don’t know what the issue is except agitating.

[hpeer]

AndDayRos

MAYBE it’s the kerosene? We have been having some trouble also I can’t explain. Not the time issue but the Kero is carboning up the diffuser. It clear going into the stove but BROWN coming out of the jet.

We bought Kero coming down the coast. Maybe there was a bad batch and we both got some. I know we bought 5 gallons in a Tractor Supply. And some in 2-1/2 gallon jugs at a hardware store.

It is a stretch but a thought.

[a64pilot]

I burn plain ole Jet-A, no prist. If you want Prist you pay extra and it’s added through a spray can during refueling the airplane.
I think maybe that Jet-A with prist already added is Jet-A+?

Prist is an anti icing, anti microbial additive, kind of similar to Biobor-JF

[P3sailor]

The manufacturer of your heating unit should have specs that recommend the type of fuel used in your heater. I would bet that jet fuel does not qualify as the proper fuel to use in your unit. Prist, is not the same as biobor, one keeps water in suspension while the other is used to prevent bad things from growing in stored fuel. Prist is usually added automatically when fueling turbine aircraft, while biobor is usually added to fuel and fuel tanks where fuel may be stored or if microbiological growth has been found in aircraft fuel cells. Both these additives must be mixed thoroughly with the fuel in order to be effective.
Again, I would go with the heater's manufacturer recommendations for fuel type. Jet and lower grade kerosene have a yellow tint to it. Good kerosene is clear.

[Midnight Son]

Originally Posted by hpeer

While I agree that ventilation is essential, especially with a heater that burns for hours, I don’t think that is the issue here. Cookers are not ventilated and do not produce the effects described. Watering eyes, fumes, etc.

So I don’t know what the issue is except agitating.

As you use your cooker, you are consuming the O2 in the cabin (closed hatch) and increasing the CO2 content in the air, not much else, also NO2 from the propane, minor irritant, normally. If after a long cooking session, with the hatch closed, you feel bushed. It's the low O2 remaining in the air (20.95% normally), 18% or lower will make you feel tired, if you are not too intent on something, to notice.
Cheers

[Dave9111]

You have more than one issue. Your wife is hypersensitive to Kerosene and your heater is not burning properly. My wife is also hypersensitive to kerosene. You can fix both issues, but divorces are expensive. ;-) Instead, I would scrap the kerosene heater and go to propane. It burns much cleaner. I don't know what size boat you have but a 100 lb tank contains about 24 gallons of propane. Propane has about 90,000 btus per gallon. It is also a lot cheaper than K1 Kerosene. Don't use Kerosene that has the red dye in it. It tends to clog wicks and you will get a bad burn.

[hpeer]

He has a PRESSURE kerosene burner, NO WICKS.

These burners have been around for going on a hundred years. I believe they are still widely used in India. They were for a long time the preferred stove for arctic/Antarctic expeditions. Basically they are rock solid if a bit fussy. Safe and simple.

24 gallons of kerosene, if bought at the pump, would cost under $100 and last someone a couple of years of cooking.

These are NOT wick cookers or home kerosene heaters

It’s a simple bulkhead heater with a 1” chimney.

http://www.blakes-lavac-taylors.co.uk/taylors_079k.htm

Owners Manual Diesel version

http://www.plaisance-pratique.com/IM...rsHandbook.pdf

[Dave9111]

I looked up that heater. I worked on a heater very similar to that. They can be *very* fussy. Everything needs to be clean so the heat generated by the burner conducts back into the burner properly and vaporizes the fuel which feeds the burner. I would not use Jet A. In fact the paraffin that is sold in Europe is not the kerosene sold in the US. Euro paraffin is what is sold as lamp oil here. Lamp oil has almost no odor even when burnt. It also generates very little soot. Lamp oil here is NOT cheap and I have never seen it sold in bulk.

https://www.nationwidefuels.co.uk/di...sene-paraffin/

That's a dinky little heater. Again, you might want to remove that and install a propane heater. Sure they used them for years, they also used to burn coal for heat on boats, are many people still doing that?

I installed a 10K BTU propane heater in the cabin of my 33 ft sailboat and put a small tank on the back rail. Its an 11 lb tank. Make a cover for it and it looks like everything else mounted on the back rail. I ran copper tubing through the boat with a tap for the stove and a tap for the heater. The heater is unvented. It works great. I keep the hatch cracked, even though it leaks air. It has an oxygen depletion sensor built in. I use it with a carbon monoxide alarm sensor and it has never gone off. One gallon will last for 9 hours at full heat. 10K BTUs will drive you out of the boat if it is 25 degrees outside.

Propane refills around here are $1.99 per gallon even for an 11 lb tank.

[sailor_ed]

If this is a pressurized Primus burner you probably have a small leak at the burner base. The fuel will vaporize so quickly as to be unnoticeable but will be very irritating. Try reinstalling the burner with new washers and/or sealant.

My advice would be to install a Sig Marine bulkhead heater and retire the Taylor AND the Espar.