Bob Lang writes:
> Paul Osborne touched on my latest winner in the category for heater, an
> old warm air furnace. However my suggestion is that you convert the furnace
> to kerosene (you need a different oil nozzle) and then you can put the tank
> outdoors and not worry about it.
Hi Bob. I just put kerosene heat in my (detached, 2 car) garage last fall.
The heating system is an old 6 burner coal stove which some enterprising
Yankee converted to kerosene aeons ago. I found it in the kitchen of my
first house, and everybody loves it. So I took it with me when I moved,
and it sat in a corner of the garage for 5 years until I got around to
installing it.
It manages to keep the garage bearable even in horrendous cold like we've
had in New England this winter. I'd guess it's capable of 30-50K BTU/hour,
and manages a 30 - 40 degree F temperature rise. My garage is uninsulated,
has a high loft, and drafty slide-by barn type doors. If I weatherstripped
the doors and put in a ceiling fan to pull the heat back down, I'd probably
manage another 10-20 degree rise.
My oil burner man told me the trick thing to do is buy a used mobile home
kerosene furnace (typically 100K BTU/hr) with a cracked heat exchanger
for about $100, and weld up the heat exchanger. Allegedly heats a 2 car
garage to 80+ in about 5 minutes. I thought about it, but I'm too attached
to my antique. Besides, the price was right.
OB britcar content: I'm done at Phoenix this week, and looking forward
to a few weeks off between gigs so I can finally spend some time sorting
out the LBC that's been hibernating in the lukewarm garage all winter.
Maybe even a month. Yo Mijo! Izzat you lurking under that Technalon?
timd@ptltd.com (Tim Dziechowski - Phoenix Technologies - Cambridge, Mass)
timd@world.std.com (Tim Dziechowski - Atkinson, NH)
"Now if I can only resist Shipwright's Disease..."
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