LP vs Kerosene

[Rick S]

I have a 30'x50' shop with 16' high ceiling insulated walls and ceiling and I am looking for input on the pros and cons of each type of heater. This forum should help me out. Here's what I'm looking at,a 125,000 ready heater for 170 at northern with another 90 for a 100# tank (deposit) and 80 bucks to fill,or a175,000 ready heater kerosene at tractor supply for 299 that has a thermostat built in,kero is about 3.29 around here. I only use the shop a few hours a week and on nothing that could not wait. Questions are :smell of kero heat is it a big problem or are the heaters better than older ones at burning cleaner.Any help from people that are using propane or kero heaters would be helpful.Honestly I'm just looking to not be dressed like an Eskimo to work in the shop so 50 ish I can live with. Thanks

(natural gas not available also can not have bulk LP tank outside dumb a## rules)

 

[Sokoloff]

I sure as hell wouldn't have a bulk LP tank INSIDE either. Propane is a fair bit more dangerous than NG as far as explosion risk.

 

[Rick S]

No, I can have the 100# tank out side and just run the hose in when I'm using the heater but I can't leave it out all the time.

 

[charlie_nj]

I have a much smaller garage than you, 23 x 25 with 12 foot ceiling, I run a 60,000 BTU reddy heater on diesel fuel @ 2.59 per gallon. Kero here is still above $4. There is a slight smell, but I don't mind it much. Heats the garage (insulated and drywalled) to 70 deg in the middle of winter in around 10 minutes, when the outside temp is 25-30.

Biggest downside of the reddy heaters is the noise they make. They are loud.

If you can't keep it outside, I don't think I would personally want a bulk propane tank in my garage. If I had the money, and was going to do something more permanent, electric heat would be the way I'd go.

 

[Rick S]

I know about the LP problems just worried about the possible problems with kerosene as far as the smell but if people don't think it is too bad I'll look at it

 

[blazemaster83]

i use propane daily for my work, have to keep it outside as well. A buddy of mine makes covers for outdoor pools, and made me a cover for my #100 tank. I used to have to bring it in every night, but now its totally weatherproof, even the regulator fits in there no problem.

 

[shovel]

I swapped over from a propane heater to the kerosene heater. The Kerosene heater heats up the garage in a few minutes and kicks off. The propane heater took much longer. The smell is worse with kereosene or diesel, but I dont mind it. I hate the propane dealers in my area so that is a factor too.

 

[E30bimmer]

Make sure you crack open a window or door and have venting to the roof w/kerosene. You can die from the fumes, especially if you're on a creeper.

I went with propane and am much happier--no deadly fumes, cheaper, no electricity usage. Propane burns much more efficiently than kerosene.

As long as you don't have a leak and make sure your heater and tank is totally off before you leave the garage you're not going to have any problems. It's when people start getting stupid and smoking in their garage that **** blows up or fires start, but not a bad idea about building an outdoor enclosure for the tank and running it inside though. Common sense rules here.

 

[charlie_nj]

Make sure you crack open a window or door and have venting to the roof w/kerosene. You can die from the fumes, especially if you're on a creeper.

I went with propane and am much happier--no deadly fumes, cheaper, no electricity usage. Propane burns much more efficiently than kerosene.

As long as you don't have a leak and make sure your heater and tank is totally off before you leave the garage you're not going to have any problems. It's when people start getting stupid and smoking in their garage that **** blows up or fires start, but not a bad idea about building an outdoor enclosure for the tank and running it inside though. Common sense rules here.

OK, some math here. His price to fill his propane tank is $80 for a 100 lb tank. They fill these to 80 percent capacity, so his cost is $1 per pound. There are 4.2 lbs in a gallon of propane, so his propane cost is around $4.20 per gallon. Propane's BTU content is around 85,000 BTU per gallon, so his propane cost is $.049 per 1000 BTU.

Kerosene, at the OP's cost of 3.29 per gallon and with a BTU content of about 130,000 BTU per gallon works out to $.025 per 1000 BTU.

Kerosene is about half the cost of propane using the OP's prices for the fuels in his area. And if he uses diesel instead of kero, it's even less than half, assuming diesel at around $2.69 per gallon.

You are supposed to vent your space with either propane or kerosene and I have a plug in CO detector as well. It is digital and has never registered any CO even when my diesel fueled heater's been running for several hours. The bigger danger is oxygen depletion, hence the need to vent any fossil fueled heater, propane included. You are venting to replace the depleted oxygen.

My apologies to Hank Hill.

 

[E30bimmer]

Well, I didn't compare the cost of propane to kerosene. Kerosene's fumes are just nasty and it also leaves a nice sticky film on everything in my garage. Just not worth it to me.

 

[charlie_nj]

I went with propane and am much happier--no deadly fumes, cheaper, no electricity usage. Propane burns much more efficiently than kerosene.

Not trying to argue or anything, buy you did say that propane was cheaper than kerosene. Just wanted to clear that up for the OP.

 

[FXR]

Just google the VAL6...If I had a larger shop I would have one.

 

[OccupantRJ]

You better get a bigger tank for the LP at 125,000 btu. You'll get tired of filling it. At least get 2 and manifold so you can hot-swap them. It will always run out on Sunday.

 

[hotwke]

OK, some math here. His price to fill his propane tank is $80 for a 100 lb tank. They fill these to 80 percent capacity, so his cost is $1 per pound. There are 4.2 lbs in a gallon of propane, so his propane cost is around $4.20 per gallon. Propane's BTU content is around 85,000 BTU per gallon, so his propane cost is $.049 per 1000 BTU.

Kerosene, at the OP's cost of 3.29 per gallon and with a BTU content of about 130,000 BTU per gallon works out to $.025 per 1000 BTU.

Kerosene is about half the cost of propane using the OP's prices for the fuels in his area. And if he uses diesel instead of kero, it's even less than half, assuming diesel at around $2.69 per gallon.

You are supposed to vent your space with either propane or kerosene and I have a plug in CO detector as well. It is digital and has never registered any CO even when my diesel fueled heater's been running for several hours. The bigger danger is oxygen depletion, hence the need to vent any fossil fueled heater, propane included. You are venting to replace the depleted oxygen.

My apologies to Hank Hill.

Sorry for the correction.... but 100lb cylinders actually have around 130lb capacity... they are only filled to 80% (100lbs of liquid) because the tank needs room for gas expansion. So it's actually $3.36 a gallon for LP.

 

[ratdoggy]

I know this is a "Zombie" thread. Propane dealers that I dealed with want you to guarantee a certain amount of usage otherwise you still get to pay for what you didn't use.

 

[Randy in Maine]

When I was building my shop, I used a 35K-60K propane heater from Northern Tool and my propane guy "gave" me a 50 gallon tank to use as long as he was filling it at $2.50 a gallon. When I was done with it, they came and picked it up and sent me a bill for what I used (about 40 gallons if I recall correctly).

Call your guy and see what they can do.

 

[neel2008]

i figured this HAD to be an old thread when they were talking about 2.69 diesel and 3.29 a gallon kero. lol