Vent Free Gas Heater

tfdchief said:

Webmaster said:

G6 at Snook said:

I started the thread and my house is tighter than it was, but it was built in 1936. It will never have any trouble with mold because it breathes well. Also, it has modern insulation under the floorboards and in the attic--the spray in type. Also, it has modern vinyl windows; we punched out the wood framed windows when we remodeled.

The modern homes may have the problems described in previous posts, but as I said earlier I have never experienced nor heard of the issues described earlier.

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I've had various problems over the years....everything from someone throwing Xmas wrappers on the log sets to mis-positioning of the logs making the entire house black.

IMHO, vent free has it's place - but not as a full time or almost full time house heater. If I had to use one indoors, I would look hard at the catalytic models if they still make them (VC did at one time)....they were even cleaner than the others.

Other than that, I would limit them to breezeways, shops and possibly in a fireplace where there is some exhaust - i.e., you could slightly crack the damper.......

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+1

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Hmmm..I wouldn't put on in a shop, at least not if you are painting, sanding, etc. Open flame+conbustibles=bad idea to me. I'm making DH put a DV heater in the wood shop we are building, and got him interested in a pellet with a OAK for the shop/garage (we own our own business so it will be part production/packing area and part garage-or so he thinks. I think all production and packing, but we'll see).

I'm not sure how much cheaper these are. My Woodstock came as a factory demo for $1,500 shipped + another $750 for the Duravent. The install cost I won't include, cause most of that was for running gas pipe to the appliance, which you would have vent or no vent. For peace of mind, I think the extra money was probably worth it. As Hunter S. Thompson once said, if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing right. We already have issues with moisture in the summer. If I wanted extra moisture, I could run the gas dryer vent into the room, which I learned from experience is a poor idea.

I don't know how it works but it puts a whole lot more heat in the rest of the house than the woodstove ever did.
Cheers-
Kenny

Well, we've got our Vent Free installed and running...can't compare to the wood stove, but it works.

eclecticcottage said:

Well, we've got our Vent Free installed and running...can't compare to the wood stove, but it works.

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That thing is burning clean. Look at that blue flame. My gas stove burns yellow, so they probably have the fuel / air mix set leaner on your to get that blue color.

It probably has to, to be 99% efficent. Our two DV's at our old house are yellow too-looks better, but eats more gas. It does get a bit more yellow if it's on for a little while, but with the Lopi cranking it usually doesn't stay on long, just enough to take the edge off. It's 10 outside right now and it's off.

I have no care if anyone else uses them or not but I will say we have 2 of the Infrared LP vent free heaters in the house and like them a lot. We have one in the basement. It has thermostat control with a pilot light and we leave it on low all the time. It hardly ever kicks on but but we don't have to worry about the pipes freezing if we are not home to tend the wood stove. Today's temperature will be too warm to build a fire so I turned on the one in the living room just to take the chill out of the house.

wetwood said:

I have no care if anyone else uses them or not but I will say we have 2 of the Infrared LP vent free heaters in the house and like them a lot. We have one in the basement. It has thermostat control with a pilot light and we leave it on low all the time. It hardly ever kicks on but but we don't have to worry about the pipes freezing if we are not home to tend the wood stove. Today's temperature will be too warm to build a fire so I turned on the one in the living room just to take the chill out of the house.

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This is exactly why I got the Woodstock gas for my house. I never have to worry about pipes freezing if the furnace malfunctions.

That's what our VF is for also. It also backs up the Lopi when it's single digits.

Last year I installed a new, small VF unit in our kitchen which does not retain heat from either our pellet stove nor oil boiler via baseboard. I've insulated as best I can but need to replace a large, three window picture window which is nearly as old as the house (100 years). The unit (can be either used on the floor on mounted on the wall) is used in the morning for about 2 hours or so on really cold days and works nicely. But, I turn it off completely (no pilot burning even) when not in use. Propane isn't cheap any longer and it burns it up pretty quickly. But I think I'll be saving some money vs oil -- after a couple more years of use. I too am concerned about emissions, so never keep it on overnight or when not at home. Airing out the house is pretty much done by the use of opening the doors, leakage, etc, I believe. No signs of moisture build-up, a little on the windows.