Indoor Kerosene Heater

The indoor kerosene heater certainly has a long track record of success: in 1918, 3,000,000 of them were in use! One of the main benefits of using a portable kerosene heater is that it does not rely on electricity, so even if the power goes out in the middle of the winter, you will be able to heat your home.  Having gone through a major ice storm in early 2009 that resulted in our power being out for 7 days, I can tell you that without a kerosene heater, we'd have been sunk.

Some feel that a propane space heater is more economical, which it can be as propane is generally cheaper than kerosene.  That may be true, but I found using a Kerosene heater much easier that a propane unit.  As with any heating source that uses organic fuel, you aren't going to want to leave your indoor kerosene heater unattended, especially while sleeping.  Not only is there a concern about a fire starting, an even bigger concern is the massive amounts of soot and carbon monoxide that can be generated when the unit runs out of oxygen.

So while an indoor kerosene heater can be a very effective source of heat when you've lost electricity, you've got to be sensible when using it.  Always ensure that someone is monitoring the unit when it's in operation and ALWAYS shut it down when there is no one in the same room as the heater.

Sengoku OR-77 Indoor Kerosene Heater

The Sengoku OR-77 Indoor Kerosene Heater has proven to be a very reliable and user friendly heater.  It’s got a 10,000 BTU heating capacity, which means it can warm up rooms up to 380 square feet.  Fuel capacity is 1.2 gallons, which can provide heat for up to 12-14 hours, but that depends greatly on how you are using the unit.  For example, if you are heating a large area, you may find you only get 3-4 hours out of a full tank of fuel.  However, if heating a small area, you may find that the spec 12-14 hours is correct.

The Sengoku OR-77 comes with a fuel gauge, and automatic safety shutoff, a protective grill and a stable base that helps keep it from tipping over.

There can be no mistake about it, however – this unit heats up a cold room quickly and heats it up very, very nicely.  This is a great indoor kerosene heater for back up to your normal heat source in your home or office.  It’s comforting to know that if the power goes out, you’ll be covered if you have this unit on hand.

I would not recommend this heater – or ANY indoor kerosene heater – as a supplemental heat source designed to save you money on winter heating bills. 

As with many kerosene heaters, they can be difficult to carry when moving them outside to refill the fuel tank – even more so when coming back inside.  It would be easy to say, “ah, forget it – I’ll refuel in the house”.  Not a good plan because unless you run the unit completely dry, there will be a foul smelling sooty cloud of black smoke that fills a small room when shutting the unit off.  Hope you enjoy the smell because it’ll linger for 30-45 minutes.

Another issue with this unit in particular is that it really should be taken apart every few days of use to remove the carbon build up on the wick.  It’s a tricky job as it’s very difficult to get all the carbon off the wick.

However, the upside is that this unit does a great job and assuming your power doesn’t go out for days on end, the cleaning process in a non issue because you’ll likely only have to do it once per power outage.

Sengoku CV-2230 Indoor Kerosene Heater

The Sengoku CV-2230 Indoor Kerosene Heater is a fantastic backup heater for your home or office.  It’s got a 23,000 BTU heating capacity.  You can heat up to a 1,000 sq. foot room without a problem, or an entire floor or even an entire home, depending on the size.  Fuel capacity is 1.9 gallons, which can provide heat for up to 10-12 hours, but that depends greatly on how you are using the unit.  If you've got it wide open and keep it wide open all the time, you'll likely have to refill every 4-5 hours.

While some do, I would not recommend this heater – or ANY indoor kerosene heater – as a supplemental heat source designed to save you money on winter heating bills.  With the ability of this unit to heat a large area, and the fact that is more economical than electric baseboard heat, you may be tempted to put this unit to work full time.  DON'T cave in to this temptation!  Kerosene Heaters can be VERY DANGEROUS if not monitored and used properly.  If you end up using it full time, you or members of your family will likely pay less and less attention to the unit as time goes on.  That's when disaster can strike.

As with many kerosene heaters, they can be difficult to carry when moving them outside to refill the fuel tank – even more so when coming back inside.  It would be easy to say, “ah, forget it – I’ll refuel in the house”.  Not a good plan because unless you run the unit completely dry, there will be a foul smelling sooty cloud of black smoke that fills a small room when shutting the unit off.  Hope you enjoy the smell because it’ll linger for 30-45 minutes.

To deal with the smell, you can purchase an additive to the kerosene so that the unit will give off a more pleasing scent while burning, or turning the unit off.