I was thinking of getting a Mr. Heater unit for emergency use as well, but one thing that I wasn't sure about is the fact that it says not to use it indoors with a 20# tank. Why is it unsafe to use the bulk tank indoors while it's fine to use the 1# tanks?

Also when the power goes out and your dealing with outside temps of 0deg. or colder wouldn't having a window open negate the use of the smaller (like Mr. Heater Buddy) heaters? I was planning on using it in the central room of the house and having blankets up over entrances to the other rooms to conserve the heat, but I don't want to put my family in any danger.

I forgot to mention that important part. It's not a good idea to have any propane container in your house because it can leak and turn the house into a bomb. 1 lb bottles are just as likely to leak as the big ones, just not as much to leak. Also, bear in mind that the catalyst heaters have real trouble passing the oil typically present in the big tanks when they get filled and the oil gets transferred from the station pumps into the tanks.

The bottom line is you don't want a 20 lb tank leaking propane into your house, especially with ignition sources present. It'll look like something from Burt Gummer on the Tremors movies.

About 2 years ago, I attended a presentation by a guy named Tim Woolf. He was a preparedness specialist for the Mormon Church (He had a website but it is no longer working).

He addresses this issue. The Mormon church tasked him with investigating home heaters. He decided on a kerosene heater. He described it as having a flat top on it that could double as a cooking surface (he just described it and I never saw it). Anyway, as part of his assignment, he allowed the natural gas to be shut off to his house for an entire winter (he lived in the Provo area of central Utah - not Minnesota, but still significantly cold). He said that it heated his house to the point that other than having to shut it down daily for refueling, they could not tell that their furnace was not running. (I'm guessing that he had 2 or 3 of them running, one in sleeping areas, one in living areas, etc., but he implied that they only used one). For the entire winter he went through less than a 50 gallon drum of kerosene.

His points were:

-Propane is not safe for indoor use because of carbon monoxide.
-It takes a lot of Propane to use as a heat source.
-The amount of propane that would have to be stored for long term heat is probably illegal to store.

Anyway, I have several propane heaters. I use one for ice fishing and I just bought the Home Depot version of the Mr Heater, and for their intended purposes they are great. I also have a Coleman 2 Burner and a Camp Chef 3 burner and I love both (I just went to Sportsmans Warehouse and bought the correct adapter hose and can run any of them off of 20 lb bottles). But if you are looking at a backup to heat your house, especially potentially for a week or 2 at a time, propane is probably not the best choice. I actually checked Home Depot on their recent clearance of space heaters to see if they had a kerosene heater and they were out of the ones that seemed appropriate for the purpose you describe.

Hi MichaelJ,

We run a similar system as benjammin in our wall tent while moose hunting.

At the rear of the 14' x 16' canvas wall tent (we sleep on cots along the sides) is where the "kitchen" area is. Here we have a 40lb propane tank with a Coleman extension pole mounted to it, a Coleman lantern sits on top of the pole to provide light for cooking. Off the lower-side port runs a short hose to a 3 burner Coleman stove on a stand and off the upper-side port a long hose snakes across the ceiling of the tent to the mid-point where a second Coleman lantern is suspended. All lanterns are the Piezo ignition type or have a twist-sparker installed (very handy). There is usually a third lantern attached to a 5lb propane tank that sits on the centre table or is used outside to provide area lighting.

We tried using a propane burner type heater (Martin brand I think) but found that a sheet metal woodstove works better as it provides a lot of heat (often too much) and the fuel is free on-site so you do not have to haul it in.

I have often used this equipment indoors in my garage during power outages but as others have already mentioned be very careful about poisonous gas build-up.

Mike

I would think that kerosene would emit as much if not more CO (carbon monoxide) than propane. They're both hydrocarbons.

What/How do indoor-safe heaters do to make them safe? Do they convert the carbon to C02 (carbon dioxide) instead of C0 (carbon monoxide)?

The 'safe' heaters have lots of features. Catalysts to burn off some of the harmful gasses, oxygen sensors that will shut the heater off if there isn't enough O2, bump switches that will shut it off if it gets bumped, tipped, etc. I've even heard of some heaters having an electronic proximity sensor so it will shut off if anything comes within 2 feet of it (like a dog or a child).

So in any case, kerosene or propane back-up heat, I should expect to add the expense of a battery powered CO detector, correct?

I'm kind of leaning toward Kerosene now since I'll have to use 1# tanks if I have a propane heater It also seems like it would be easier and safer to stockpile/replenish kerosene than propane for any extended outages. But on the other hand, the propane heaters have the built in safety features. I'm torn.

If you decide to use a Mr Heater/Big Buddy Heater off of anything other than a one lb disposable bottle, be sure to install one of their in-line fuel filters. If you don't, you will ruin the heater. I speak from experience...

i'm in MN too..i had the same thoughts..but my answer was to
pick up a small generator at a big box store..i have a new
gas furnace and all i need to do is run the fan..i have several
older kero burners that were made for cooking indoors..

In most areas I've been you can install a residential propane tank without much bother. I've seen 500 lb tanks in backyards and I can tell you 500 lbs is enough to last just about any household through the winter.

I haven't found a kerosene heater yet that catalyzes sufficiently. I can always tell when I am near one that is lit because my eyes burn after a while. I like their heat to fuel efficiency, and if it weren't for the off gassing of direct heat versions (those that the combustion process is directly vented to the surrounding environment), I would prefer them to propane as well. Indirect heating (where the exhaust is vented away from the combustion source and the local environment) eliminates this problem but reduces the heating efficiency considerably.

I bought an $8 hose with the right fittings to convert my lil buddy heater to run on the big 20 lb tanks instead of the screw in 1 lb bottles. I did not put an in line filter in mine, so after a year it quit when the oil in the tank hit the generator assembly and plugged everything up.