Kerosene heaters while roughing

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tallgirl

Senior Member
Location
Great White North
Occupation
Controls Systems firmware engineer
It's miserably cold here these days and I'm toying with the idea of getting a kerosene forced-air heater to take out to job sites for use when roughing in a house. Any of y'all use them in the winter? These are the heaters that look like small jet engines -- air gets sucked in one end, heated up, and blown out the other by an electric fan.

I'm posting this under "Safety" because I'm expecting someone to lecture me about carbon monoxide ...
 

JohnJ0906

Senior Member
Location
Baltimore, MD
I can't really speak on the kerosine heaters you are refering to, but I see a lot of propane heaters used in houses. The builder has them for heat so the drywallers can do their thing. Sometimes guys will set them up earlier and people will use them during rough-in. I hate them. If they aren't adjusted right, I get an instant headache. (CO, I'm sure) I just make sure I'm dressed for the weather. Of course, this is my 17th winter in this trade, so I'm about as used to the cold as I will ever be:rolleyes: and own good winter gear:cool:
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Miserably cold?

I can only imagine. :D

What is it 50 F?

Anyway those heaters do get the job done but the fumes are nauseating IMO.

Given the choice I would choose a propane powered heater. (Said in my best Hank Hill voice)

Heater
 

mdshunk

Senior Member
Location
Right here.
I use them on maybe the 10 coldest days of each winter. The kind you speak of, Tallgirl, are often referred to as "torpedo heaters" or "salamanders" for slang. That's the type I have. If I was your boss in the area of the country where you're working, I might just tell you to toughen up a little.
 

tallgirl

Senior Member
Location
Great White North
Occupation
Controls Systems firmware engineer
iwire said:
Miserably cold?

I can only imagine. :D

What is it 50 F?

Anyway those heaters do get the job done but the fumes are nauseating IMO.

Given the choice I would choose a propane powered heater. (Said in my best Hank Hill voice)

Heater

Lows in the mid-30's, highs in the high 40's. That's pretty cold for an area where the summer time highs can get north of 105F.

I'll see if I can find a propane heater. Cold is one thing, stunk out by kerosene fumes is another. Thanks for the info :)
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Another nice thing about the propane is you can get units that need no electricity to run.

The down side is the tanks can be heavy to handle.

Usually a construction site has a enough air leakage not to worry about CO to much as long as common sense is used.
 

tallgirl

Senior Member
Location
Great White North
Occupation
Controls Systems firmware engineer
mdshunk said:
I use them on maybe the 10 coldest days of each winter. The kind you speak of, Tallgirl, are often referred to as "torpedo heaters" or "salamanders" for slang. That's the type I have. If I was your boss in the area of the country where you're working, I might just tell you to toughen up a little.

Marc, we're all old farts and deserve to stay warm and cozy. :grin:
 

jim dungar

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Wisconsin
Occupation
PE (Retired) - Power Systems
Up in the real north, the "salmanders" are very common. Big sites use propane (fumes are no worse than with the fork lifts). Kerosene is common for the "throw in the back of the truck" ones.

Temperature this morning is 2.7F, which they say will be the high for the weekend.
 

yanici

Senior Member
Location
Atlantis
Occupation
Old Retired Master/Journeyman Electrician
I was told that the salamander was to keep the wire warm so it wouldn't crack, not to warm us workers. :grin:

I'm glad my construction days are over.
 

Davis9

Senior Member
Location
MA,NH
30's isn't that bad. But it is all relative to what your used to. The Propane, I've found don't need regular maintenance. The kerosene units seem to work fine the first year and then begin to give you problems the next season,IMO. As previously stated, Propane burns cleaner, so less chance of major CO problems. I bought a Portable CO detector tyhat gives you continuous CO levels, I got the idea from National Grid Workers that wear them on their sleeve. They walked into a job I was working on and the meters started going off and they went outside. Turned out that someone had a generator(10KW) byt the back door with the exhaust pointed in the building.

Tom
 

electricmanscott

Senior Member
Location
Boston, MA
I have a couple that can run on either kerosene or diesel. I use diesel because it is more readily available. They work well and surprisingly the fumes are very minimal.
 

George Stolz

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Windsor, CO NEC: 2017
Occupation
Service Manager
Scott, good to see you back again. :)

I tend to view heaters in roughs as being a spot to wander over to, to thaw out the hands and feet real quick so you can function.

My recent changeover to commercial has opened a whole new perspective on cold - romex and wood floors/wall framing are much less brutal than concrete and steel structures working with EMT. It's as though they are designed to suck the heat from your body.

All things being equal, I'm acclimated to sub-30 degree days now, so the thought of buying a heater for highs in the mid-40's is laughable, IMO. :D If the temperature drops below 10, we've got alternate jobs to work at, thankfully, because that's when it really gets hard to stay productive. When that sensation comes along that the drip in your nose has frozen before it's gotten out, that is cold.

I bought some composite-toed Redwing boots, I've been wearing two pairs of socks, and have been going through insulated gloves like crazy. The biggest help against the cold in my experience is simply long underwear, it's amazing how much a couple layers on the legs helps with the overall misery.

On the commercial jobs, the salamanders are most common around here. When in resi, I had a standing unpowered propane burner (advertised itself at 100,000 BTU) that thawed hands and feet in a hurry, but tended to freeze up a small five-gallon tank quickly. A larger tank is needed to keep it burning for an extended period.

For forty degree days, mechanic's gloves (uninsulated) keep blood in the hands in my opinion, and provide more dexterity.
 

don_resqcapt19

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Illinois
Occupation
retired electrician
One thing that should be mentioned...the standard PVC insulated wiring products should not be installed at temperatures below 14?F.
  1. Store cables in a warm warehouse prior to installation.
  2. Avoid, if at all possible, installation of cables when temperature is lower than 14 F.
  3. If necessary to install below 14 F, avoid all types of impact - for example: dropping cable on the concrete floor, sharp bending or kinking.
  4. Avoid long pulls or those with an excessive number of bends.
  5. When cable must be bent in a manhole or cable vault, do it carefully and slowly using a mandrel if space permits.
The above is from here.
It does say that you can install PVC insulated cables at temperatures down to -22?F to - 40?F depending on the size, but the insulation may shatter on impact if it is below 14?F.
Don
 

lowryder88h

Senior Member
Location
Massachusetts
heaters

heaters

tallgirl said:
It's miserably cold here these days and I'm toying with the idea of getting a kerosene forced-air heater to take out to job sites for use when roughing in a house. Any of y'all use them in the winter? These are the heaters that look like small jet engines -- air gets sucked in one end, heated up, and blown out the other by an electric fan.

I'm posting this under "Safety" because I'm expecting someone to lecture me about carbon monoxide ...


Tall Girl,

Propane is the way to go look at the choices you have at W W Graingers. lots to choose from.:cool: :cool:
 
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wireman3736

Senior Member
Location
Vermont/Mass.
Did a rough in last january in Vermont were the temp was a little below zero for a few days and no heaters, I bent alot of nails and broke alot of plastic boxes, thank God for coveralls.
 

dduffee260

Senior Member
Location
Texas
Hi Julie, basically what we do is get the project roughed in so fast we turn on permanent heat. Boy how I wish that was true.

I know what you are talking about Julie. I am in Texas also. I snowed about 6 weeks ago and is still on the ground here. There were several days where the highs was 20 and the lows were 12 degrees. Our guys were freezing on some jobs also. We use propane, it works like a champ with no smell.

Today the high was 51 here. It was so warm I worked in flip flops and a thong. I will post pics later.
 

Tori

Senior Member
Location
Maryland
I was using two salamanders just the other night - the wire reel was set up outside and we were pulling wire but it was so cold the the plastic sleeve on 6oo mcm thhn was tearing because it was so brittle , two salamanders blowing on it and the wire was warm and very pliable and the plastic stretched like it was supposd to.

They use K1 kerosene in those heaters - the same as I use in my free standing heater in my home - no fumes I notice at all
 
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