Emberglow Blue Flame Heater

[email][/email]alot of folks say heating a 1500 sqf home with Emberglow Blue Flame Heater   won't work

http://www.homedepot.com/Appliances-Heaters-Humidifiers/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xj1Zaqjr/R-100672695/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=

anyone have any thoughts on it

I planed on all 3 being in the basement below

All three? Does that mean you're getting three of those heaters, or that you have two other heaters? How high are your ceilings?

I've heard a decent estimation is 15 x Volume of Space to Heat = BTUs required. So if you have an area of 1500 sq ft and 8 ft ceilings, you have 12,000 cubic feet to heat. 12,000 x 15 = 180,000 BTU. Is this right? The Emberglow says it runs at 30,000 BTUs. But this is also subject to a lot of other considerations, like insulation, surface area, how divided up your space is, and what materials your space is surrounded by.

i was going to purchase 3 . and locate them in the center line of my basement evenly spaced apart 
It is a 1920's house so all the Windows have cold air returns my thought was to insulate ceiling and walls . and shoot for convection . I should point out im looking for an alternative to forced air. But i also want to leave my house for a weekend in the winter

I think the oxygen depletion sensor says it all for me.

I would pass.

lol paul my house is very leaky
i'll take some pics for you
it was explained to me that i would have to have a brand new airtight house for Oxygen  to be an issue 


I'm open to other suggestions JUST NOT FORCED AIR

This looks to be exhausting directly into your house, I would be very concerned having 3 in my basement!

there 99.9% clean a single cigar prolly would do more damage in a day

charles johnson "carbonout" wrote:
there 99.9% clean a single cigar prolly would do more damage in a day

Nope, they still emit CO2, you can't breath that.  There's a reason furnaces are vented outside!! and have a proper make-up air system!!!  This isn't a good idea.

mekennedy1313 wrote:
Nope, they still emit CO2, you can't breathe that. 

But the legislature of Utah has declared CO[sub]2[/sub] to be "essentially harmless." Are you saying you trust scientists more than legislators?

Joel Hollingsworth wrote:
Are you saying you trust scientists more than legislators?

Legislators, hmm Oh! You mean that parasitic, toxic brown sludge I scrape off my shoes after walking through a sewer.  Nah, can only trust them to muck things up!

CO2 Can't live with it and can't live without it. Odd little gas.

Insulating is a good idea; be careful to use vapor-permeable materials or you may get mold problems.  With those lovely older houses ventilation really is pretty good, and that helps keep the walls dry. 

With a CO detector / CO2 detector installed, you might get away with indoor exhaust appliances.  They're scary, but our ancestors survived indoor hearth fires too. 
They kept one eye on them though, and I'd suggest putting the heat where you are, rather than out of sight.

But it seems a temporary and inefficient solution.  Natural gas is getting more costly, and scarcer. 

Convection is only one step removed from forced air: heating air is what all the calculations of BTU's are about, and they're expensive. 

We like thermal mass and radiant heat: passive-solar, masonry heaters or central fires (oven or masonry-chimneyed fireplace), maybe some radiant floors.  Hot water bottles.  Warm the people, and a few convenient storage objects, rather than the air.  Convection can spread the heat to inconvenient places, but you want the core to be warm of itself.

We haven't gotten a chance to do a big basement Rocket Mass Heater yet, though the plans are underway.  But friends with older houses have had good success with geothermal, heat pumps, and solar. 

-Erica

i plan to build a rmh Next year but i don't have the time at the moment.
as far a thermal mass i dropped all of the old plaster ceilings so i could insulate
so im using all the plaster as thermal mass to fill the central walls

Charles,

If you look at your first post and click on "modify" you can edit the subject for this thread.  Maybe to something like "Emberglow Blue Flame Heater"

hmm ok but i was worried no one would look at it

I recently 'found' these type heaters myself. 

My thoughts are of concern for indoor air quality as well.

I have yet to check out the layout of these appliances. 

My theory would be something like, just because they aren't built with a vent, doesn't mean that you can't modify and add both a vent, and a fresh air intake. 

I did something similar to this with a cheap 30 gallon gas water heater.  I didn't want it using my heated indoor air for combustion and also having the standard open chimney that can suck heat out of ones home 24/7.

So, luckily this water heater had a sealed burner area and open venting on the bottom. 
I eliminated the draft vent on the top and simply connected the 3" vent pipe direct.  On the bottom I took simple sheet metal and covered both the vents, sealed with caulk.  On one I installed a 4" (one size larger) crimped collar.  To this I merely ran standard 4" ducting (insulated) to a fresh air intake from outside. 
That worked great. 

Most of time, I had the water heater on pilot and was amazed how much heat just the PILOT gives off.  I was comfortable taking a shower with that water.   

I would be willing to venture that a similar thing could be done with these 'ventless' heaters.  One will lose some heat to the vent, but, there would be no concern on air quality.

one could probably get by with 1 1/2" or 2" metal venting.