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Kerosene or diesel in a torpedo heater?

rockyridgefarm

rockyridgefarm

Well-known Member
Just bought a 400,000 btu LB White torpedo heater. It says right on the side of it that it will run on diesel, kerosene, or fuel oil, but that kerosene is recommended for cleaner burning and lower maintenance. I can buy kerosene in town for 5 bucks a gallon, of course farm diesel is closer to 3.50 I haven’t filled the tank in a couple months, so I don’t know the exact amount.

Is it worth paying the extra buck fifty to burn kerosene?
 
8651.jpg
 
Burning diesel fuel will give you a fuel smell in the air in your building is obnoxious after while and can cause other problems.
 
If I had a fully enclosed building I would
pay the extra and run kerosene. If it was a
garage with say no doors and you wanted to
keep your hands warm
 
In an enclosed space like that deffinately
kerosene or number 1 diesel or it will
smoke. You will get some odor no matter
what but it is a lot worse on diesel. If
you were trying to warm a tractor in a
mostly open pole shed it wouldn't matter.
 
All I've ever used is diesel for my
heater. It did see kerosene a couple
of times when I ran out of fuel & had
to throw something in it to keep it
going while I ran for more. Not a fan
of the smell of K1.... or the fuel
bill from either of them. Currently
saving up for a Modine for the corner
of the garage.

Oh, the filter cruds up a little more
with diesel. More water to drain, too.
No biggie. Also, keep the cone burning
orange, not cherry red. Well, maybe
Rainier cherry would work.... but no
Fuji.

Mike
 
I cannot say on the new ones. Back when I bought both of my 95,000BTU Knipco heaters in manual it said kerosine only DO NOT USE Diesel. And as I do not have anything that uses diesel I never considered trying it. These heaters have been used every year for close to 40 years now.
 

Turns out if you upload a photo from a smart phone, the phone automatically reorients the photo in the direction it was taken. It apparently doesn't then tell the website that the picture is sideways. i'm now on my computer and manually reoriented the picture.

8652.jpg
 
i have the smaller one you have pictured. if inside a building i would stick with kerosene. i tryed diesel and it stinks and get a headache from it. outside should not matter.
 

I'm gonna run up town and get 10 gallons to try it out. If it works, I may just have to get a 50 gallon tank with pump. Will a diesel approved pump also pump kerosene?
 
One thing not mentioned so far is the issue of fuel gelling. I had one of those heaters given to me some time ago, and it was filled with diesel fuel. On a cold day, it simply would not start up until I warmed it up a bit with my other torpedo heater. Once it got going, it was not too bad. There is a bit more smell and smoke from using diesel fuel.
 
BTW, I did burn what was left in the tank yesterday. It seems like the worst is at startup. It blows a lil' poof of black smoke out. After the torpedo heats up and starts glowing, it seems to burn cleaner.

Also, what you don't see in the pic is that this is the middle room in an 8000 hen layer barn. one side has a 44 by 185 room and the other side has a 32 by 150 room. That's why i bought such a big one. We're gonna start pressure washing this weekend if anyone wants to have a go.

I also bought a MiTM HHS3005 hot water pressure washer that is sitting behind the big heater. I've run them in the past where I used to work, but it's the first time I'm trying a hot water washer in the barn. This one is also diesel fired, 3000 psi and 4.8gpm. The water lines were froze, so I bought the heater to thaw them.
 
Where do you folks live? In Ankeny at Fleet Farm Kerosene is $3.69 a gallon; it was $3.50 back in November. Kerosene won't last as long as #1 Diesel (less energy) but it sure burns a lot cleaner.
 
I was out on a farmers place working on burned wires on a Farmall
450 diesel with a 2MH D corn picker mounted on it. . He said,
heat, yup I have heat. A diesel fuel burning torpedo hunkered
under a tarp pointed at the tractor

Turned it off before it could kill me. Wrong fuel for that
heater.Of course that was when I was young and could take a little
cold.
 
If you have never used hot water pressure washer for cleaning building you will like it as long as building is wam enough that it does
not turn into a steam room. I used fuel oil or kero when usin mine in shed cleaning hog building but use disel in pressure washer any
other time.

Joe
 
Actually the cleanest you can use is K1. That has very low sulphur and
is make just for heaters used where you need to breath.
 
(quoted from post at 07:45:06 01/05/18) Where do you folks live? In Ankeny at Fleet Farm Kerosene is $3.69 a gallon; it was $3.50 back in November. Kerosene won't last as long as #1 Diesel (less energy) but it sure burns a lot cleaner.
Click to expand...

I called everywhere I could think of. New horizons doesn’t sell it. Allegiant wants $6. Menards sells it for $8 In a steel can. Farm and fleet has it in 2.5g jugs on sale for $6. $5 is the cheapest I’ve found
 
We burn diesel in ours but don't stay too close to it while it's running. We keep buckets of fuel ahead in a warm room so it doesn't gel up.
 
Loaned out mine a few years back. Borrower
was decent enough to bring it back refilled
with DIESEL. Burned it OK, but fumes drove
you right out of the building. Had to dump
the diesel and burn a couple tanks of kero
outside before it was usable again. Pay the
extra cost and use kero.
 

How much do you hope to save and how much soot and CO do you want to breath?
Kerosene burns inherently cleaner vs diesel , similar to how a gasoline engine switched to propane has lower emissions .
 
I have a salamander heater in one of my shops I got 4-5 years ago from Tractor Supply. It is rated for kerosene or diesel. I
have tried and noticed absolutely NO difference. Maybe back when diesel was high sulfur it mattered. I use #2 diesel and my
heater burns fine, and clean.
 
Here in NY many gas stations carry kerosene, but you can't just swipe your card and pump it yourself like gas or diesel.

You have to go in, pay up front (guessing how much you need, no refunds if you can't pump what you paid for) AND sign some sort of log where they track who you are and how much kerosene you've purchased.

I use straight diesel. If your heater is burning clean, there is no smell.
 
I last bought kerosine back in jan of 2005 after the big ice storm. When the storm was on Lowes ordered a big bunch in 5 gallon cans. it did not come in untill after everybody had power so they did not need it then. They found out they were not allowed to have it in the stor so were selling at way under cost to get rid of it. I still have several cans and cannot see that it is any different than whan I bought it. So that is now 13 years.
 
Back in history somewhere I had a torpedo heater that would burn K or D. It ran more heat on D but it stunk the place up a lot more. I blew under the crawl space to thaw pipes once and thought the wife was going to shoot me before the pipes thawed, pee-ewe! gm
 
Boy are you ever talking old school! They mount in the trunk and run
on 6 volts will drive you right ouy of the car. Also take up most of
the trunk!
 
I burn diesel in mine all th time it will gas you if the
fuel has an anti gel additive if it?s blended fuel it?s
not bad at all
 
Oydnar ..... man, haven't seen one of those for years. Had one in a VW station wagon (did they call them a square back
sedan)? Also had one in a transporter window van. Neither one worked, up here they were a constant chore to keep working it
seembed back in the day.
 
kerosene will burn cleaner.

if you don't care about the smell diesel is cheaper... not just the $1.50 gallon cheaper but diesel also has more BTU's/gallon than Kerosene so more energy for your buck.

diesel and fuel oil are pretty much the same thing but no road tax on fuel oil.
 
I like to use Jet-A when I can get it from the airport at a discount. Sometimes they drain aircraft tanks for inspection and can't put it back in, so I get it for cheap. Otherwise I will run winter blend diesel if no Jet A is available. Straight diesel smokes too much.
 
I'v had an LB White LP torpedo heater for 20 years, had to replace the switch and cord in that time. Nothing else. Even it stinks a little. But at least it does not hang on your clothes and skin. My recommendation return for lp, gobble
 
I burn Kersoene in my jet heaters. I remember back in the olden days guys used to burn up to 20% gas in with winter blend diesel. That made heater smell better anyways. Good luck!
 
I'm currently burning diesel in a 100,000 BTU heater that's at least 20 years old. It's never had anything burned in it except diesel and other than a 'tune up kit'once, with a new fuel and air filter, it's never had anything else done to it.
 
I just bought a new torpedo heater last week. It is rated as a multi fuel
heater, including kerosene, #1&2 fuel oil and diesel. I used to have an older
heater that burned clean on kerosene, but smoked and smelled bad on diesel. I
have tried the new unit on both kero and off road diesel, and it seems to burn
just as clean on diesel as it does on kero. There must have been some
technical improvements made in these units in recent years. I will be burning
farm diesel in this heater.
 
I'm an aircraft mechanic so I tend to burn a lot of jet A. I have also burned winter blend diesel and it was fine in a 165k btu Multi fuel Reddy Heater. I've got an older 45k btu Reddy heater now and it doesn't seem to make the heat is should on Diesel but I haven't run it on Jet A and I think it needs the nozzle cleaned. On any of mine I haven't noticed any bad smell with the diesel.
 
Well, the testing phase is over. I burned 10 gallons of kerosene through with no noticeable improvement in burn cleanliness. Also, I was mistaken on cost of diesel - about $2.50 a gallon. So, it doesn't burn cleaner, it costs twice as much money, and it has slightly fewer BTUs. I'm going back to diesel.
 
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