Ventless propane fireplace
Any of you folks use them? We've has one for 25 years but it broke. Looking for a new one.
There was a time when we used ours as the primary heat source. Since I've burned wood the Las few years we only used propane on really cold days.
I've always kept a CO monitor and it has never alarmed while using propane.
Now I'm seeing on the internet that they are not to be used as the primary heat source
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I know I would never use one.
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Consult with a good HVAC tech about your CO monitor. The one that came to my place for a pre season tune up told me they're generally unreliable. He got into specifics but I forget what he said.
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Growing up propane was our main heat source and I think we turned out pretty good š, don't understand the warning about it being the "primary" heat source. I miss the old days of backing up to propane heat after being outside in the coldā¦ā¦instant heat, love it. Even now days I keep a propane space heater stored away for back-up.
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Every place I was ever in that had one of the 'ventless' propane units it always felt like there was a fine film of something on every hard surface. I'm with Mr. P on this. Spent hydrocarbons belong outside.
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notnow: 32613666606619/comments/
Consult with a good HVAC tech about your CO monitor. The one that came to my place for a pre season tune up told me they're generally unreliable. He got into specifics but I forget what he said.
For the systems we build where I work, we recently did some CO testing. It took several minutes in an all CO environment for the several types of detectors we tried to ever indicate/alarm. YMMV.
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It's not a matter of propane, just ventless. It's fine to use propane or even nat. gas, just be sure it's a vented system.
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I have a vented propane fireplace insert installed. They are much more costly. I researched vented vs non vented before I spent the extra money. Vented is the only safe way.
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We use ventless LP wall heaters for auxillary/supplemental heat. No problems in almost 20 years. Co2 and smoke detectors in 3 areas also never had a trigger. Might have something to do with the leaky windows and doors allowing a bit of outside air coming in.
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I use a ventless wall heater in the shop. Just on a few hour basis. I think it smells & I can feel like I need fresh air after a while.
I have a Co detector out there & it's only gone off when I've had an engine running for a bit. By the time it went off, I knew it was time to open the door anyway.
I think I'd go with a vented option.
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When we moved into this old house it had zero heat source at one time it had a very old propain heating stove not a very big one even , in the living room . Not even close to being able to keep even one room warm
That was 30 + years ago
First winter here I installed a ventless wall heater upstairs and one down stairs and asorted electric heaters
Next year we had a furnace and a/c installed
Any way we still have the ventless heaters and added the automatic fans to them and keep them in working order
I left the ventless heaters in place after installing a whole house system
one good thing they do not need electric to operate The fans just make them more effecent over the years we have used them during power outages and glad we had them
We also have smoke and carbon dioxide dectors in every room . Over kill maybe but safe can never be over done
JMHO the ventles are great and saved our butts many times
however If posibe I would go with a vented system Just For the peace of mind and the vapor issues the non vented make
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"MHO the ventles are great and saved our butts many times"
^^^THIS
The ventless wall heaters are an excellent 'back up' heating option. They can run w/o AC power but even the smallest genset or even one of the bigger UPC's can run the fans. A big plus for us is the wall heaters warm the space they're in rather than heating the entire house if there's just a bit of chill.
DO NOT use these in sleeping spaces nor would I recommend them for well sealed houses in which Mother Nature doesn't 'recirculate outside air'.
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Unless your burning hydrogen your going to create carbon monoxide, with anything you burn, even wood.
Are house is over 130 years old, and I thought of alternative ways to heat it over the years without vents, but was just a skeptical of using something ventless that burned any type of fuel, specially when we were sleeping. Some of the electric space heaters made today work pretty well for alternate heat sources if your house is insulated fairly well.3 -
I have one in service since 1999 and a place I worked had several wall hanger models. You need a little ventage with them, but I have no complaints. Jim Deere a new thermocouple and thermopile will fix the main parts except maybe the regulator. I have taken mine a part a couple times and cleaned good but still have it original.
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I've installed & used vent free units in my houses as a back-up or temporary heat source. One small rental unit had an Empire Floor furnace that was vented as it was the only heat source. They have wall mounted units that are vented also. I like that they run on millivolts produced by the pilot light and don't need an outside power source.
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have one in the basement, put it in place of an old wood stove over 30-40 years ago, usually light it November/December and let it run till March/ April. It keeps the basement abourf 65-70 and the upstairs floors are warm to the feet. Also keeps the furnace from running as much as it used to, just about cut 1/3 to 1/2 off the gas bill. when it gets below 20 I will go down and sit in front of it in an old recliner and watch TV, as the blood thinners I take make me freeze. Never have had any issues and have monitors down stairs and upstairs never seen them go off but once, when grandson put one of his sisters toys next to the pilot light and it smoked up the house for few hoursā¦ā¦ā¦ā¦.
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We have this guy in our living room. Ventless propane heater. We work it with a remote, the heater doesn't use electricity, so it works when the power goes out. We get the guy from the propane company to come out every year, he cleans it all up and restacks up the [fake] logs.
We also have a big wood stove in that same room each heater does half the work in cold weather. I have an expensive $52 CO detector, plug in, I hung it over this heater for three days and it never registered any CO. A rating of 50 causes headaches and 200 will kill you. This thing has to produce CO, but not very much. This heater is 8 years old and we do sleep in this room. We have a CO detector up high, and a propane leak/CO detector near the floor.
Great little heater it looks like a wood stove.
This is the Townsend II by Buckstove.
https://hvacdirect.com/buck-stove-townsend-ii-vent-free-gas-stove-26-townsend.html
But, you can just ask your propane company what they recommend, that is how we got this stove. It is in the interest of the propane company to sell you a top quality stove.
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They are very well regulated here. They cannot be installed in a bedroom. Like Mr. P said, ventless can be very dangerous and the CO detectors don't always work. We even have some towns that have a total ban on them in new construction. We install vented propane heaters only. Personally, I have never heard of someone in our area dying from one, But I have seen a few articles where people have died from ventless stoves.
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we have two wall mount vent-less natural gas heaters mainly for back up if electricity goes out
we hardly ever use them but when we have I noticed that I get real sleepy
If I was going to use them much I would crack a window for some fresh air to get in
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Sounds bad Daniel. Do you have a CO detector in the room?
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no sir
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Cannot be sold in Commiforina. But we did look into them. Because after all Oregon is 80 miles away. But what I learned is that they don't do well in humility. And that's all we have lol
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November 2023, a young man, his father and grandfather went to sleep in their hunting cabin in NE Arkansas - the grandfather woke up next morning and could barely get out of the cabin and collapsed but survived. His son and grandson were not as fortunate. Carbon monoxide from faulty propane heater.
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I remember seeing that in the news
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As bad as Propane ventless is a wood burning stove is very dangerous also. I have seen several houses burn from a wood burner including a neighbor last year.
Are Wood-Burning Stoves Safe for Your Health?
According to the American Lung Association, wood-burning stoves produce toxins that are damaging to your lungs and can increase the risk of lung disease, heart disease, and even cancer.2
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A lot of us are just a couple generations from burning coal in a Warm Morning stove.
When I was about 7 years old, my mom and dad bought a house that had a coal furnace. Dad was a boileremaker and worked out of town. Mom had my infant sister. I remember breaking the large stoker nut coal into small pieces so I could fill the furnace. Coal went from 7$ per ton to $11.
To get coal for heating, we'd have to drive 100 miles to Cucumber, WV and pay $145 per ton.
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I had a coal furnace in the house I lived in before I moved here. In 1973 moved into and rented an old farm house with a coal furnace. Owner only charged me $70 a month to rent it, stayed there until 1992.
I eventually ended up putting a blower on the furnace and attaching the cold vent pipes to it, it was stoker feed. I use to burn wood in it, as basically it was just a big pot belly stove surrounded with a fire box casing around it. It was always a nice even heat to the house.Canāt thank William enough for letting me stay there all those years for only $70 a month, was able to really get ahead financially. I asked him once if he wanted to raise the rent, he said, āno your kind of like family to usā. I will never forget him, may he rest in peace.
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Old houses were so well ventilated that it probably wasn't an issue. Homes today are sealed drum tight.
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We woke up yesterday to a 1/2" of ice on every thing and no power. The wood stove and vent free propane stove are keeping us OK. Not as good as with fans to move the warm air around. I run a 3200/4000 generator 2 - 3 times a day to keep the freezer and refrigerators going.
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