Try it if you want to. It WILL burn, but you might want to do the experimenting OUTDOORS, so the whole house doesn't get all smoked up.
 
any diesel, clear , dyed or summer or winter stuff will burn but it will stink and smoke the place up. definitly dont want that in the house. i tryed it in shop with the hermon nelson type also and after a while its just too much, as have to shut the unit of. kerosene is what you want to burn. have used the space heater type in house and no smell with kerosene.
 
I had 2 torpedo heaters for my garage. One was 175,000 btu the other was 210,000 btu. Both do not work any longer. I have taken them in to the dealer for repair as well as fixing them myself. They are a pain. I know this isn't exactly what you have. What I have learned kerosene is the best. Diesel stinks and smokes a lot. I have never been able to get a fuel fired heater last more than 2 years without it screwing up even with the recommended maintenance. I am installing a good old wood burner in my workshop in a few weeks. If I need quick heat I have been looking at the propane heaters. I have had no luck with fuel fired heaters ! But kerosene would be best.
 
Going with kerosene but you want K1 for your heater. No sulpher and very clean. If you want to clean your unit this stuf is even better. Go to home depot or lowes and pick up a gallon of Synthetic kerosene. Cost is around $10.oo but this stuff is Super clean and makes NO SMELL. I do mean None! I use it in my kerosene lamps and it works great!
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If you have a small airport nearby any jet fuel will work great. No sulphur and cheaper than retail packaged kerosene.
 
I've read not to use diesel in wick type heaters, it burns dirty, stinks, and messes up the wicks. So I haven't.

I do burn diesel in the torpedo heaters in my shop. There does seem to be a puff of smoke when they first ignite, then they're fine.

Fred
 
A deacon in our church used farm diesel in his kerosene heater (with a round wick). After a period of time, his wife noticed that every sheetrock nail in the home had a spot of black soot on it. It reminded me of the holes in a saltine cracker. They tried to clean it, but it would not come off. They had to repaint the whole house interior. Luckily, their insurance covered the repaint.

In addition to the soot, it smelled like running a diesel engine inside of a shop. They got used to the smell, but momma couldn't tolerate the soot.
 
Couple of you guys mentioned winter diesel. Here in south central Montana, there is no such thing any more called "winter Blend", usually some sort of mix of #1 and #2 diesel. according to the local Co-Op, they only add additives to "winterize" it. When it get below zero, I usually pick up a 5 gal. bucket of #1 and add it to my Kubota. You can tell the difference in power and smoke, but it will start and not jell up.
 
My wife and I used a wick heater with kerosene 40 years ago for a short time.
I woke up one night very groggy and could see a yellow glow out in the hallway.
Rolled off the bed and crawled to a window and opened it took a couple of breaths and got my wife awake and to the window.
I figured we were a couple of minutes away from never waking up.
Never again will I have one of those things.
Richard in NW SC
 
(quoted from post at 00:30:04 11/20/17) If you have a small airport nearby any jet fuel will work great. No sulphur and cheaper than retail packaged kerosene.

Haven't bought any jet A in a long time, but Number 1 kerosene here where I live is 4.39 a gallon.
 
An unvented gas heater with the ceramic glowing spikes almost killed myself and my freind. All doors and windows closed, the heater burned all the oxygen in the house up and went out. My pal sleeping on the couch got cold, got up and lit it. Blew up in his face, burned his eyelashes and eyebrows off. I wake up from the boom, opened the bedroom door and he's standing there with the deer in the headlights look telling me about getting his face singed. I laugh, he didnt think it was funny. I walk in the living room, look at the pink shag carpeting in front of the heater, theres about a 3-4 foot semi-circle burn mark on the carpet. He probably had his face right in the front of it. I figure enough oxygen had come through the cracks for it to fire up briefly for him. After opening the door and getting some oxygen, I told him we both would have passed that night if he hadnt lit it. He still doesnt like to talk about it. I didnt know they had to be vented. Any flame needs oxygen to burn.
 
If you run anything less than K-1 kerosene, you'll foul the wick. Wicks are not cheap and changing them is a messy job.

Also, to maximize the life of your wick, be sure to run the heater out of fuel every two or three tanks. It will smoke a little, so it's best to put it outside when it's nearly out of fuel.

The last time I replaced my wick I had to buy two wicks to get a good one. Don't waste money on Chinese Wicks; the best wicks are made in England. The English wicks are all made by Aladdin although they're sold under other brands. I haven't seen any made-in-Japan wicks for many years, but I would expect those to be OK, and original equipment wicks are mostly made in Korea.
 

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