-> The problem with burning natural gas as you suggest is that it
-> generates carbon monoxide (CO), which is an insidious killer. While
-> it's true they used it for lighting 100 years ago, it's also true
-> that people died from it.
Let's not get carried away here. An unvented gas heater isn't going to
up and kill you. There's one in my living room and one in the bathroom,
and both of them are on right now. My house was built in 1940, and most
of the houses in the neighborhood still have the original systems.
Any house old enough to have unvented gas heat isn't likely to be
airtight enough to be a problem. Even with the weatherstripping and
elimination of about half of the original windows, there's no problem
here. My nifty digital CO meter (yes, I was concerned, once upon a
time) reads zero even when we fire up the propane heaters for extra
warmth on cold days.
-> An unvented flame for cooking, lighting, etc. is probably OK, but I
-> would not use any unvented gas flame in an area where people are
-> sleeping. It's just too easy to "wake up dead".
If I wake up dead some morning I'll consider that. Until then, my CO
meter makes me ignore scare stories.
==dave.williams@chaos.lrk.ar.us======================================
I've got a secret / I've been hiding / under my skin / | Who are you?
my heart is human / my blood is boiling / my brain IBM | who, who?
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