Gas Stoves (heating)

[Adam79]

Well I officially can't take it anymore. My wife and I have been living in Volcano (at about 3600 feet) and it is just too darn cold. Until now the only heat we had was from blankets, clothing and each other. It's gotten to the point that I have to do something about it. I'm really intrigued by gas stoves. Our house is about 1100 sqare ft with a very open floor plan, open ceilings, fairly well insulated, newer construction (2005), and has a fixed propane tank that doesn't get much use. I've looked at both wood and gas. I know wood has its merits, but my wife and I both work all day and don't want to come home and build a fire. That's not to mention the gathering and dry storage of fire wood. I've decided that I'd like to opt for the lazy instant gratification of gas heating. I'll also add that it would be a stand alone stove rather than a fireplace insert.

Does anybody here currently use or have past experience with these? So far I checked out the place downtown on the bayfront and they seem very knowledgable and nice to deal with. Does anybody have any recommendations or other places to look?

Mahalo.

[Les C]

We have used Monitor direct vent kerosene room heaters at 2100' in the Santa Cruz Mtns. in CA. It used to snow there every other year or so, and the temps occasionally dropped into the mid 30's. However, I do not recommend the Monitor or kerosene. Monitors require too much maintenance and kerosene smells pretty bad. On the plus side, kerosene is not that flammable if it spills.

We live in Volcano, too, and we have been looking for Rinnai direct vent propane room heaters. We'd probably only get one for our living room/kitchen. Ferguson's in Hilo is a Rinnai dealer but they don't know much about these. When my wife priced them at Ferguson's, they thought it was a furnace. They are really expensive, over $2K. I was expecting around $1200 for a mid-sized one. They require electricity to run the timers and thermostat, so you're out of luck in a power outage. But this is only an issue during power outages that happen when it's cold.

They work really great and the Rinnai's are supposed to be designed and built really well. You can set two off and on times and temperatures, making them great for turning down or off at night automatically, and turning up again in the morning just before you get out of bed. They vent directly outside with air intake and exhaust in separate but nested tubes, which is much safer than a ventless heater in a room. We don't expect that we will need one that puts out 32K BTUs, but there is some logic to having one capable of heating a large space that doesn't have to work too hard to warm a smaller space. We expect that our usage will not be anywhere near the same as our usage in CA, even if we're at a higher elevation here. The cost for getting one in the Islands is a hurdle for us at this point.

I think the heating index for Hawai'i's latitude is 4 or 5. Some dealers use this in the computation for sizing a heater for your needs.

For more info, google "Al's Heating" and look for a website for a heating repair guy in Maine(?) who just loves them. And it's not because he wants the repair work; he appreciates good design. He looks and sounds like the actor Richard Masur and supposedly has a pet squirrel. But forget trying to get him to call you back, he doesn't return calls to Hawai'i. For all we know, he doesn't really exist and it's a static website.

[Hotzcatz]

The price of propane will continue to rise and several years from now you may wish you had a wood stove instead. Are there any dual fuel stoves available? Ace Hardware at Southpoint is supposed to have a selection of wood stoves, perhaps they have propane heating stoves as well? I haven't looked myself, but several folks have said they have the wood stoves.

We use electric blankets (they don't pull much power so we can use them on our photovoltaic electrical system) and a KeroSun kerosene heater. The heater is a bit of a bother to start up and shut down and that should be done outside because of the smell but once it is going it does heat up well.

We also have Aladdin lamps which are handy heat sources as well as light sources. We don't need them for lighting, but as little heaters they are handy. How about three or four candles? That might make a bit of difference and it would be nice and romantic for Valentine's Day, too!

[Bullwinkle]

I have another little cabin in the Cleveland national forest on the mainland (two of the really in case anyone wants to buy one .... 3 places is a little much to maintain -grin)

(http://www.holyjim-trabuco-canyon.com/)

I have a vogelsong wood stove (mountaineer) for wood fuel ... in the bathrooms and as a back up in the living I use catalytic propane heaters... they produce infrared heat and are very effective and cheap to run.. and can be used with out a vent ... making the install super easy .. check ebay they run 100-200$. I run 10k btu in the bath .. 30k btu in the living room .. its 20x20 vaulted ... it gets in the down in the 30's and Im always comfy

the biggest plus on catalytic heat is that it is almost instant.... the wood stove takes an hour or so before it is up to speed - needs that time to heat the firebrick - me thinks

regards

[Kapohocat]

Sheeze! This morning we may even need heat down here in Kapoho.

[mella l]

Friends bought a propane stove for heating at this store on the bay front

http://www.fireplacehawaii.com/

They haven't installed it yet but do have it in storage. We were planning on a wood burning stove from the same shop.

mella l

[Kelena]

Be careful regarding installation. Some installers are better than others.

[aline]

I use a Rinnai here in Maine and it has been great. Heats my whole house and is pretty economical.But go with the larger model. They go by the square footage of your living space to determine what size heater to get but the larger model will work less and end up costing less.Also if you have ceiling fans put them on in reverse and it will help pull the warm air down from the ceiling.

[Les C]

Aline, from what you mentioned, it sounds like you've looked at Al's Plumbing and Heating website, or even talked to him. I think he's in Maine. Do you know about him?

[mella l]

http://www.alsheating.com/

This guy is a crack up!

mella l