Hmmm...I have this compulsion regarding redundancy on certain safety items.

Even though we live in Fla. (and often gripe about how hot it gets) we do have a few days (every few years) that find us using heat of some sort, generally the electric strip heaters in the air conditioning system.

That said, we also have a kerosene heater that is a back up.

As others have indicated, flow through ventilation is good for the life expectancy.

Not to be content with the existing smoke detectors, I also installed two carbon monoxide detectors. The batteries are changed 1-2X per year and recycled in other 9V appliances as they still have some life left in them. This unit does not have a low O2 cutoff, but even if it did, I still would install the carbon monoxide detectors. Hey, in your case Craig, you could take them with you when you leave the current domicile.

And yes, watching the soft glow of the kero heater reminds me of visiting my grandmother and being intrigued with her kero heater (more years back than I care to think about).

Regards,
Comanche7