Paraffin heater

matelodave

SAC2334 said:

alanwsg said:

Strange reading these posts - when I was a kid, we always used paraffin heaters indoors, notably on bath night to warm up the bathroom.

Never bothered about any ventilation or anything, but we were lectured about adjusting the wick to ensure a "safe blue flame", not a dangerous yellow one!

Lots of people used them when we only had one coal fire  in the main room.
The Esso Blue man came round every week in a van supplying it by the gallon  with his knock and call of "Esso Blue " 

They advertised on the TV alongside Pepsodent and  John Blooms  ( the washing machine entrepreneur )  "Flatly " clothes dryer with the catch phrase "Mum deserves a Flatley "

It was my job as a kid to light it and adjust it to the blue flame but it did smell quite strongly. 

Ventilation ? not in the late 1950 s and early 1960 s .Health and Safety had not been invented. 

The place we lived in had plenty of ventilation through ill fitting doors, windows and even the floorboards so it wasn't an issue.

 Nowadays most houses and apartments are much better constructed so there's a lot less passive ventilation unless you open a door or window,. Even older places have had better windows and draughtproofing added over the years thats why its more important to take it into account.

It's usually when situations like this occur, when people try to make do, buy unsuitable appliances or dont use them correctly and cause accidents. I guess well see a few more gas explosions or elecrocutions this winter when even more people try to by-pass meters to save money.

QrizB

Shedman said:

maxmycardagain said:

which brings us back to my idea
a BLOW air heater on diesel working outside, blowing hot air through an airvent (like wot i have) built into a weather proof ventilated housing

Bet your neighbours would love you with a diesel engine running constantly outside lol

See this thread - no engine involved. Hardly any moving parts, just a couple of fans and a fuel pump.

thriftytracey

Back in 1980 I lived in a bedsit and sometimes left the paraffin heater on all night because the electric meter ate up my 50p's.  I used to wake up with awful headaches and felt groggy.  

I don't know if they are safer now.

I then went out with a chap, an electrician, who fiddled the meter for me.  Naughty.  

SAC2334

thriftytracey said:

Back in 1980 I lived in a bedsit and sometimes left the paraffin heater on all night because the electric meter ate up my 50p's.  I used to wake up with awful headaches and felt groggy.  

I don't know if they are safer now.

I then went out with a chap, an electrician, who fiddled the meter for me.  Naughty.  

I had that excuse from many younger  women when I found their meters fiddled , They would let me in to see the meter  usually prepayment meters . " My  idiot ex boyfriend did it when he lived with me and I ve no idea how to put it back to normal "

They would be rebilled on an estimated amount on historic usage . Never prosecuted. 
There will be meter tampering in the millions once the Oct cap hits home .  It was bad enough when I retired in 2017 

facade

SAC2334 said:

Lots of people used them when we only had one coal fire  in the main room.
The Esso Blue man came round every week in a van supplying it by the gallon  with his knock and call of "Esso Blue "

The Shell-Mex/BP version was Pink Paraffin. I have an idea they used to put a perfume in the paraffin for domestic heaters.

The modern electric versions I keep going on about do say that they smell on start-up, then once they are going they burn so hot and efficiently that there is no smell. They push it as a "feature" the whiff of paraffin (actually the expensive Special Fluid they run off) tells you they have started up if you didn't hear the fan coming on.

daveyjp

thriftytracey said:

Back in 1980 I lived in a bedsit and sometimes left the paraffin heater on all night because the electric meter ate up my 50p's.  I used to wake up with awful headaches and felt groggy.  

I don't know if they are safer now.

I then went out with a chap, an electrician, who fiddled the meter for me.  Naughty.  

Well done for surviving carbon monoxide poisoning.

thriftytracey

daveyjp said:

thriftytracey said:

Back in 1980 I lived in a bedsit and sometimes left the paraffin heater on all night because the electric meter ate up my 50p's.  I used to wake up with awful headaches and felt groggy.  

I don't know if they are safer now.

I then went out with a chap, an electrician, who fiddled the meter for me.  Naughty.  

Well done for surviving carbon monoxide poisoning.

I know.  Did some crazy stuff back then.  Now I am 62 I know better LOL.

wrf12345

If you want to make a long term investment, £800 off ebay will get you a monoblock, all in one, wall fixed air source heater, COP probably around 3 so it costs the same as gas under the new rates. There are two large holes in the wall that allows it to vent in and out air, and it plugs into a standard socket. No messing about with gas for the compressor as it is all in one. It sits on the wall, covering the holes.

If you just want a cheap heater then infrared, sited directly where you sit will work, decent ones (not the plastic junk for a tenner) cost £20-40 on Amazon or eBay. There are two or three elements, typically 600-1000W each. I like the ones that fit on the wall so they can't accidentally be knocked over.

I have used a paraffin heater in the distant past, more recently just a gas fire - the radiant types much more efficient than others but with fitting by a GasSafe engineer then you are looking at £500-600 including the fire. Depends how much dosh the govn has thrown into your bank.

JohnMars

Hi!

Just wanted to chime in as an owner of both a Zibro laser fan assisted paraffin heater and zebra wick heater.

I had to laugh at some of the comments on here with concerns about using a liquid fuel heater in the house! Its a very safe heater to use and very effective but Ill also outline some of the negatives.

First is the use of liquid fuel in the house - paraffin is stable and not easy to set light too - its not at all like petrol, and lots of people have oil lamps in their homes or oil candles - its the same stuff!

Ive always had oil based heating too, and actually the time the boiler sprang a leak on the oil line was the worst thing I have smelt - but never had this with he paraffin heaters.

Other on here are right - its currently about equal in cost to heat with paraffin vs gas or electricity - if you can get a 20L container for about £45, you can get about 16 hours from 4L tank full @3KW - so 56p per hour for 3kw of heat. If someone is paying 0.520 per KW currently then a 3kw electric heater would be £1.56 per hour to run!

The heater is small, very well made and with lots of safety features - if you do so much as bump it it turns itself off, if the room gets to hot it turns off and if the O2 level falls it turns off.

It's easy to use, just a push button to turn on and off, and modern thermostat to turn temp up and down.

Now the bad things.....

Smell - no matter what the sales hype says they still smell of paraffin - I love it when its going, but its the start and stop that are the worse ( ill go onto that in a bit). Burning normal paraffin from the 4L plastic cans from hardware / DIY chains is fine and you'll just get a slight smell when using.

The worst smell is when you start and stop these heaters, and this is basically the deal breaker. Starting is not so bad but when you turn it off it really emits a strong paraffin / oil smell. People vary but you may find you have to open a window wide to air the room when you turn it off, which kinda could your room down!

For this reason you cannot use them in the advertised way of turning it off an on, once its lit it stays lit - the laser ones can be turned down to min 800w, but I would not want to keep turning it on and off because of the smell.

The other bad thing is what that smell is, and the fact its not vented. That smell is unburnt paraffin being slightly vaporised due to you shutting off the fire - so your now breathing that. Unburnt paraffin can contain all sorts of nasty things like benzene and toluline  - things that have negative health consequences.

Now, at 42 Im not too bothered, we use the heater as an emergency back up in case of power outage and as a summerhouse heater, but I'm not sure even I would want to be breathing that in on a regular basis.

The extra carbon dioxide they emit is also linked to exacerbation of health issues such as COPD and asthma etc - have a read around indoor pollution before making your decision.


Lastly is the filling, paraffin is messy and smelly and I always come in stinking of paraffin on my hands which lingers no matter how much you wash it off. Its just the nature of these oils, they creep and even a surface that looks dry makes you smell of paraffin! Storage and carting of 4L at a time is a pain and if your buying 20L you do need to watch where you store it, if you get a leak its really horrible stuff that persists in your soil and contaminates your waterways - it will kill all aquatic life if it gets into your pond etc.

So in summary - yes they have a place, I love them and think they make great back up heaters, but you need to consider the possible consequences of breathing in fumes on a regular basis if your going to rely on it as a sole source of heat.

Ive never felt its dangerous in its use, in fact I feel more uneasy with a calor fire (which we also use), and the technology for monitoring and auto shut down is a world away from old 70's Aladdin heaters people think of.

Just let me know if you have any more questions.

JohnMars

Section62 said:

JohnMars said:

Hi!

Just wanted to chime in as an owner of both a Zibro laser fan assisted paraffin heater and zebra wick heater.

I had to laugh at some of the comments on here with concerns about using a liquid fuel heater in the house! Its a very safe heater to use and very effective but Ill also outline some of the negatives.

First is the use of liquid fuel in the house - paraffin is stable and not easy to set light too - its not at all like petrol, and lots of people have oil lamps in their homes or oil candles - its the same stuff!

Ive always had oil based heating too, and actually the time the boiler sprang a leak on the oil line was the worst thing I have smelt - but never had this with he paraffin heaters.

Other on here are right - its currently about equal in cost to heat with paraffin vs gas or electricity - if you can get a 20L container for about £45, you can get about 16 hours from 4L tank full @3KW - so 56p per hour for 3kw of heat. If someone is paying 0.520 per KW currently then a 3kw electric heater would be £1.56 per hour to run!

The heater is small, very well made and with lots of safety features - if you do so much as bump it it turns itself off, if the room gets to hot it turns off and if the O2 level falls it turns off.

It's easy to use, just a push button to turn on and off, and modern thermostat to turn temp up and down.

Now the bad things.....

Smell - no matter what the sales hype says they still smell of paraffin - I love it when its going, but its the start and stop that are the worse ( ill go onto that in a bit). Burning normal paraffin from the 4L plastic cans from hardware / DIY chains is fine and you'll just get a slight smell when using.

The worst smell is when you start and stop these heaters, and this is basically the deal breaker. Starting is not so bad but when you turn it off it really emits a strong paraffin / oil smell. People vary but you may find you have to open a window wide to air the room when you turn it off, which kinda could your room down!

For this reason you cannot use them in the advertised way of turning it off an on, once its lit it stays lit - the laser ones can be turned down to min 800w, but I would not want to keep turning it on and off because of the smell.

The other bad thing is what that smell is, and the fact its not vented. That smell is unburnt paraffin being slightly vaporised due to you shutting off the fire - so your now breathing that. Unburnt paraffin can contain all sorts of nasty things like benzene and toluline  - things that have negative health consequences.

Now, at 42 Im not too bothered, we use the heater as an emergency back up in case of power outage and as a summerhouse heater, but I'm not sure even I would want to be breathing that in on a regular basis.

The extra carbon dioxide they emit is also linked to exacerbation of health issues such as COPD and asthma etc - have a read around indoor pollution before making your decision.


Lastly is the filling, paraffin is messy and smelly and I always come in stinking of paraffin on my hands which lingers no matter how much you wash it off. Its just the nature of these oils, they creep and even a surface that looks dry makes you smell of paraffin! Storage and carting of 4L at a time is a pain and if your buying 20L you do need to watch where you store it, if you get a leak its really horrible stuff that persists in your soil and contaminates your waterways - it will kill all aquatic life if it gets into your pond etc.

So in summary - yes they have a place, I love them and think they make great back up heaters, but you need to consider the possible consequences of breathing in fumes on a regular basis if your going to rely on it as a sole source of heat.

Ive never felt its dangerous in its use, in fact I feel more uneasy with a calor fire (which we also use), and the technology for monitoring and auto shut down is a world away from old 70's Aladdin heaters people think of.

Just let me know if you have any more questions.

You laughed?  Then went on to list a good number of short and long-term disbenefits and safety concerns over using paraffin as a fuel in the home.

I didn't find any of them funny myself.  There are some serious health and safety issues relating to the use of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbon fuels in the home.  Nobody should be using a forum like this one to suggest otherwise.

Use one of these appliances incorrectly and it can kill you.  No laughing matter.

"Nobody should be using a forum like this one to suggest otherwise"


Someone asked an opinion on a fully legal and quality standards passed indoor home heater, that is legally obtainable in the UK and conforms to our standards.

How is my posting about my experiences and dare I say  "recommending" a fully compliant appliance available in the UK wrong?