Radiant heater OK for shop use?
 

I have a propane tank-top radiant heater (Dyna-Glo brand, purchased at
Home Depot). In the instructions, it says not to use indoors.
However, I've seen other such heaters listed as OK for indoor use. Is
there something different about this specific heater which makes it
unsafe, or is this company just more lawsuit-averse than others?
Thanks,


Kelly

wrote in message
ups.com...
I have a propane tank-top radiant heater (Dyna-Glo brand, purchased at
Home Depot). In the instructions, it says not to use indoors.
However, I've seen other such heaters listed as OK for indoor use. Is
there something different about this specific heater which makes it
unsafe, or is this company just more lawsuit-averse than others?
Thanks,


Carbon monoxide from improper burning could ruin your whole day. Kicking it
over without an automatic fuel cutoff might be a bit dicey as well.

In article . com,
wrote:

I have a propane tank-top radiant heater (Dyna-Glo brand, purchased at
Home Depot). In the instructions, it says not to use indoors.
However, I've seen other such heaters listed as OK for indoor use. Is
there something different about this specific heater which makes it
unsafe, or is this company just more lawsuit-averse than others?

Is this a catalytic heater that has no actual flame? If so,
they use up large amounts of oxygen. As you deplete the oxygen,
your body gets low on oxygen, and it starts using carbon dioxide
in its place, leading to you going to sleep and never waking up.

There are catalytic heaters designed for home use. They have
an outside source of fuel and an oxygen depletion sensor.
Look for the ODS label on the unit.

The problem with this one is that it is tank top, which means
that it can fall over or be knocked over and start a fire.
It also has the tank in the same room with the heat source,
which is not safe. Finally, the lack of an ODS.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

In article . com,
wrote:

I know that there is a CO2 threat from such a heater but I use one. You
need to use a little common sense. Don't use it in a small tightly
closed area. I only need to run mine for fifteen minutes to get the
chill out of the shop as I don not live in a really cold cllimate.
There are numerous places that leak air into the shop so there is always
a suply of fresh air.

Dick

I have a propane tank-top radiant heater (Dyna-Glo brand, purchased at
Home Depot). In the instructions, it says not to use indoors.
However, I've seen other such heaters listed as OK for indoor use. Is
there something different about this specific heater which makes it
unsafe, or is this company just more lawsuit-averse than others?
Thanks,


Kelly

In article ,
Australopithecus scobis wrote:

On Sat, 08 Jan 2005 15:41:14 -0600, John A. Weeks III wrote:

your body gets low on oxygen, and it starts using carbon dioxide
in its place, leading to you going to sleep and never waking up

(He meant carbon monoxide. Hemoglobin just loves CO, something like 200
times better than O2. Carbon dioxide excess will mess you up too, just not
as bad or as fast as CO.)

No, I meant CO2. A catalytic heater uses gas to create heat
without burning. The waste products are water and CO2. If
you are burning the gas, then you get CO. The catalytic
heaters are advertised as "safe" since there is no flame,
but they use Oyxgen. This reduces the oxygen level in the
air, which allows your body to start using CO2 in place of
the O2, which can cause brain damage or kill you. The big
issue is getting enough fresh air when you use one of these
things, or having an oxygen depletion sensor. I'd never
suggest using an open flame heater in an enclosed location,
so those are not even a question of being used.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

"John A. Weeks III" wrote in news:john-
:

No, I meant CO2. A catalytic heater uses gas to create heat
without burning. The waste products are water and CO2. If
you are burning the gas, then you get CO. The catalytic
heaters are advertised as "safe" since there is no flame,
but they use Oyxgen. This reduces the oxygen level in the
air, which allows your body to start using CO2 in place of
the O2, which can cause brain damage or kill you. The big
issue is getting enough fresh air when you use one of these
things, or having an oxygen depletion sensor. I'd never
suggest using an open flame heater in an enclosed location,
so those are not even a question of being used.

-john-



A catalytic heater would burn natural gas, LP, or propane just like a
furnace or stove burns it to generate heat. However, there is would be no
flame with a catalytic heater. Therefore the same applies as with
burning: gas + O2 -- CO2 + H2O.

High levels of CO2 would first make you sleepy, then at even higher levels
it would kill you (eventually) by changing the pH of your blood.

Finally, by displacing oxygen, CO2 would kill (at very high levels) by
asphyxiation. This is commonly used in medical research to euthanize
experimental animals. It is a humane death, without suffering.

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

"Australopithecus scobis" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 09 Jan 2005 23:40:03 -0600, John A. Weeks III wrote:

No, I meant CO2.
But, but, your body won't start using CO2 "in place of" O2. Most you could
do is start driving aerobic metabolism backwards, but the Km is such
that you'd be dead of other CO2 effects before that caused any harm.
Really. Carbon monoxide does directly replace O2 in hemoglobin.

I'm not disagreeing with you that CO2 in high concentrations is a Bad
Thing. I'm quibbling about the biochemistry.

Well, quibble a bit on the physiology, too. Normally our breathing trigger
is CO2 level, so a rise in CO2 would cause an increased rate of breathing -
hyperventilation, rather than the insidious falling away that hemoglobin's
affinity for CO would cause. Easy to recover from, since CO2 can be blown
out of the blood fairly quickly, while CO hangs in for a long time even on
100% oxygen.

Now if you're a COPD type, triggering on O2 level, 'nother story.