Bill Seurer wrote in message ...

Of the fires caused by heating equipment most of the fires and even more
of the deaths are due to space heaters. I've never seen a space heater
that was run by natural gas, most of them are electric.


Where I grew up, in western New England, gas space heaters were (and are)
quite common. A lot of the housing stock was built before central heating
was the norm, so places had no ductwork. Putting in a gas line was a
relatively cheap retrofit - the line would feed a "gas and gas" stove (gas
cooking and gas space heating) in the kitchen, probably a gas hot water
heater also in a corner of the kitchen, and a gas space heater in the living
room.

The kitchen stove space heater wouldn't have a fan to distribute the heat,
but the living room space heater usually did. If you wanted heat in the
bedrooms, you left the bedroom doors open so that warm(er) air could drift
in from one of the heated rooms. The heaters were thermostatically
controlled but you couldn't set a temperature - settings were marked Off, 1,
2, 3...,9, Max. The spiffier models had a glass panel in front so you could
see the fire. While visually somewhat obtrusive, they're pretty cosy.