Hello All,

I purchased a Kerosene heater last Winter. Long story short we live in a 900 sq foot apartment and have those small in the wall electric heaters that just don't work well at all. When the temperature started to drop and they started to kick on more our electric bill tripled and it was still uncomfortable in the apartment. I Purchased a Dyna-Glo RMC-95C6B Indoor Kerosene Convection Heater, 23000 BTU, Black and 20 gallons of K-1 at a local fuel station.

It was great last winter however this winter we are getting a considerable amount of smell on shut down with smoke and last night it wouldn't shut off easily as it normally would. I have been dry burning the wick every two full tanks and I just dry burned it prior to using it last night before refilling the heater and using it for a 4 hour period. I have followed the directions and using the correct wick height when running. When i finish dry burning the wick it is white and soft to the touch. I read that the issue with it now shutting off is due to possible tar deposits on the wick. I find it hard to believe that running it for 4 hours after a complete dry burning resulted in enough tar to now allow for normal shut down.

For those of you who use these heaters regularly how often do you replace the Wicks? Is it possible my wick became damaged due to myself being paranoid and dry burning to often? I have used about 15 of the 20 gallons i purchased last year does that seem like the usual period of time to replace to wick?

Also, due to the fact that the K-1 supplier is about a hours drive away during low traffic times (last year i paid around $3.70 a gallon all other places to buy around here are as high as $8.80) I am considering switching to a indoor propane heater like the Big Buddy. Would I be better served to just switching to the big buddy because it is easier to get and don't have to deal with the wick issue?

Would really love any input on possible things I am doing wrong and if others have come across these problems.

Kerosene (and fuel oil) is the most BTU's packed in a gallon. That said many Kero burners have negatives like smoke at startup/shutdown, fuel storage and transfer is more messy etc.

Propane - now is cheaper (depends on your local) burns much cleaner and you can swap out BBQ sized tanks all over with little fuss. Neg's are you may go though more propane requiring tank replacements more often. All tanks swapped out are not as full as getting the tanks filled due to DOT mass shipping rules.

My 1300' shop has central heat (propane from 500 gal tank) but my 800' shop is not insulated or heated. For short sessions or only heating a limited area I run a propane heater. When I want all 800' nice and toasty for several hours out comes the Kerosene unit. Propane is easier and cleaner and is not subject to spills but there is a cost for such convenience. Since pennies is what I'm down to, I have to put forth every effort to save every penny I can so I will use the Kero when ever it will save money.

Ideally you need to have both - my original reason for buying the Kero was as a power outage backup to keep my shop from freezing and bursting the pipes. I been through that headache once already when a thief broke a shop window to get in just before a sub zero storm came in. In the house I have a wall mount propane furnace for use in a power outage when the central heat would go down.

Not far back Propane prices spiked to over $9.~ here. Being able to shift to Kero and electric allowed us to conserve the propane for when we were not home and yet keep the tank reserve up long enough that we did not need to buy propane again until prices had returned to much more sane levels. People running off the small tanks were hurt badly because they just didn't have the capacity to last through the price spike.

Recently the shop furnace glow plug igniter burned out - no one locally had the right type in stock and it took about 18 days to get it here and installed. Meanwhile - I was using 3 1500W electric heaters to keep the shop at 40°-46° F. That was long enough to double my electric bill for the month, and it will carry over into the next months bill too.

When all else fails share blankets, its warmer that way.

I'm by no means an expert, I have a Corona 23 which I use as a backup.  It does seem excessive having to burn your wick dry every two tanks or having enough tar deposits on your wick in that amount of time to affect operation.
Most of what I learned about heaters was from this site, maybe you find some information which will help.
http://www.milesstair.com/Kero_Heater_wicks.html    

Wicks are cheap. Just replace it and only burn it clean once a week or two.

Yes your right I should just have both. Tank fills seem to be the way to go as it seems to be way cheaper from what i see (sometimes 1/2 the cost) and I didn't know they were 75% full.



Thanks for the link. I took a look at all the information and I seem to be dry burning way to often. He states that you shouldn't need to dry burn for 20 gallons on a new wick or 15 if your Kero is not good quality. Looks like I may have damaged the wick due to excessive dry burning.



Thanks man, yes I will replace the Wick this weekend. Looks like I may have been dry burning to often.

Are Big Buddy Propane heaters the way to go for a small space or should I look at another product?

I love my buddy heaters for smaller spaces. They are cleaner burning and very convinient. I refill the 1 lb canisters all the time and it's super easy once you learn how.

Actually I think they are only about 60% full - but it is measured by weight. The max they will fill is about 80% because they must allow space for heat expansion. The actual Volume is very dependent on temperature.

Buddy heaters seem to have a good rep.  I only use portable heaters when I will be present.

This is like the model I have for backup heat - Mine is a earlier version which does not have any fan or require any batteries.

Mr. Heater Vent-Free Liquid Propane Radiant Wall Heater — 30,000 BTU, 5-Plaque, Model# MHVFRD30LPT

It is undersize for my 1700' house but it is just a backup. It will heat about 70% of the area to about 64°F and does not use any external power - the thermostat is powered by the pilot light. The gas is normally off and the unit has a push button piezo to light the pilot. (Edit: That is on setting 2 or 3, I'm too cheap to really crank up the heat unless guests are present.)

Quick update. Replaced the Wick, was a bit of a bitch but I got it. Runs way better now! Looks like i was too worried about dry burning.

Thanks ProfGAB101 I will be picking up one of those Mr. Heaters for sure!

It has been a few years but I lived in a place with no heating system.

Propane buddy heaters were used for short term heat.  Like waking up and getting ready for work and then leaving, propane is easy to fire up and quick to shut down.

If home all day then the kerosene tower heater came into play.

I only burned the wicks clean when they were looking awfully nasty.  I probably let em run a bit too far nasty, but even in east tn I was going through a decent amount of kerosene.  I bought it from the gas pumps, so not as nice as the 5 gallon cans at home depot or lowes, but it was not all that nasty.

I kept extra ones around and after burning a cotton wick clean and a fiberglass wick clean I went to fiberglass I think.

I never ever took em out and soaked em and scrubbed em.

Come spring time I found my specific wick model on clearance and cleared em out.

I have 2 or 3 tower heaters still around, place I am in now has central heat and air and I feel so spoiled with an actual working thermostat.

The tower heaters all took a different wick and since I had bought extras I never really compared em to see how different they were.

I generally only ran one tower heater at a time.

I shut everything down at night, being east tn and me being in a brick building with draft windows the temp did drop overnight inside a fair bit but not enough to be an issue.

I pretended it was a friend's hunting cabin or something, so sort of roughing it but not really that bad.

May not apply to OP's model, but the old Perfection I have says to NEVER burn the wick dry.

Never burn dry a cotton wick. It will get shorter when you do.