I came here to say this. Propane is a great heat source for power outage. kerosene is great as a last-ditch effort but I prefer propane just because it burns so much cleaner easier with less fiddling.

I've used a tower for years for backup and to save on heat pump cost when its too cold.

On low, I heat my entire house a little less than a week on 20 gallons.  
Fuel, I just use the pump at the station.

I use five gallon cans with the sypon hand pump.  They're cheap.  Simply squeeze until it flows, unscrew the cap to empty.  A little practice you won't spill a drop.  If you do, a good tower has a catch pan on the bottom, simply wipe out with a rag, put the rag outside or it will smell.

On smell, just keep in mind its a reburner concept.  It will smell till the cage gets hot enough to reburn.  I typically light mine outside and bring it in after it gets hot then keep it going.  Its kerosene not gas so you can fill it while its burning.  Trick here is knowing the level gauge and stop on the "F" mark so as to not overfill and leave yourself enough space to allow your sypon pump to drain the excess into the tank.  Then hold your rag at the bottom as you pull it out to catch the drops.

The real trick to these things is understanding its not central heat, its centrally located heat like an old pot belly stove or floor furnace.  You control the heat then by opening, closing, or partially closing doors.  If you don't have a door, old school is simply hang a sheet.  Keep in mind, walls with pipes need to have heat or the pipes will freeze.  It takes a little to get use to it but once you do its second nature.

Though very nice and very efficient, I stay away from the radiant style kero heaters.  They rely on light so a much tighter wick control so that either means way more wick maintenance or you live with the fumes.  The towers put out more heat and are way easier to use.

I keep spare wicks but honestly haven't used them yet.  I simply trim the wick when the flame is uneven and clean the old wick when needed.  Cleaning as you may have guessed is take it out and then clean with fresh kerosene to remove the gum.  They work like a very big lantern.  Its the same principles and same things.

Another neat trick, put a pan of water without plastic handles on the wire frame.  This acts like a humidifier.

Done right, these are very efficient with little to no smell.  The trick to that is understanding the principles of how it works.  You don't, its a smell nightmare and honestly that's a degree of how lazy we are or aren't.

I probably have five of the catylitic propane heaters, Heater Buddy and Coleman.  They make great room heaters and use them every winter but whole house for days, I much prefer the kerosene towers.

Tj

Sorry I can't be of much help.  My two are very old.  These things are so simple, if you keep up on the wicks, they last a lifetime.

My oldest is Kersosun but my newest is Dynaglo.

I think if you look for the features rather than who's, you will do fine.  I like one that's wire caged around the tower not the sheet metal.  It allows the heat out better and you can see what's going on better. Its also a burn safety thing and a way to move the stove when hot.  A door to the burner is a must because nice as electric starts are, its going to go out eventually like all electrical things do, however the mechanical stoves don't.  That allows you to match light and inspect the wick condition and burn height.  A fuel gauge even with a little learning curve saves on fill spills and a catch floor pan saves on your floor in case you have a fill spill.  I like a little window to see the flame but its not a must have. I also like an off button which is just spring loaded wick re tractor just because its convenient. A tip over off would be nice but these things are pretty darn big. When I buy a new heater, I buy a spare wick.  These things last so damn long, odds are when you need one, it may not be available anymore.

If I was buying one right now, it'd probably be the $109 23,000 btu Dyna Glo at Northern Tool.  These things are just so simple, there's no reason to go all expensive on them.

The real differences is in the little ones for single room heat but as I posted, I don't buy those for the reasons I posted above.  Single room heat, I go propane Heater Buddy.

What I do is whole house heat with the tower then use a heater buddy for like bathroom time of take the edge off the living room in the evenings.

Also worth nothing here is every winter we burn candles and oil lamps and lanterns.  Great mood lights but it also will take the edge off the cold just a little, the chill so to say.  A nice Dietz lantern or flat wick cheap lamp will put out a lot of heat for pennies of use.  On these I actually prefer liquid paraffin over kerosene and buy it only when I find it on sale.  Then, I stock up.  Took me a long time but found an old school gavanized lamp oil can, small metal can with spout.  That clear plastic they put lamp oil in dries and gets brittle long before the fuel will go bad.  A lot of lamp oil is a mix of kerosene and liquid paraffin but the best is pure liquid paraffin.  Liquid paraffin has a slightly lower specific gravity than kerosene so should only be used on small wick lamps, standard size.  My towers, I just use the pump at the station.  The towers put out a lot of heat so once the reburner cage is good and hot, they're not as fuel sensitive as the smaller stoves or lamps are about smell.

Tj