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Space Heaters

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Space Heaters  are an inexpensive way to get a heating system into a structure. Today's Space heaters are quite the high tech  little wonders .

The Japanese have excelled in this area. Most of the units are gas fired. They can modulate the flame to match the heat load, which makes them very efficient. They vent through the side wall of the structure, and take in combustion air, and exhaust through the same pipe.

Some units use #1 fuel oil. It is imperative to use the #1 fuel because the unit relies on the vaporization process (#2 oil will not vaporize readily). While #1 oil does cost more, the efficiency of the product more than makes up for the cost.

Monitor, and Toyo (click for info) are  two Products that use #1 Oil.

Rinnai (click for info) is one of the larger Mfg.s of Gas Units (I highly recommend these).

As the name implies these heaters heat a "space". They are well suited to an open floor plan. While physics dictate that heated air does travel toward colder air, outlying rooms are colder. Unlike a central heating system that distributes the heat evenly around the building.

My first impressions of these units was rather low but over the years I have become quite impressed with their durability. The oil units at first glimpse seem expensive to maintain ($400-500 every 3-5 years), but compared to an average annual furnace or boiler Tune-up ($125-175. per year) coupled with their high efficiency, it isn't too bad.

The older units seemed to have been built with higher quality parts, the new units & replacement parts are not quite the same. The Burner Rings tend to distort readily & even a small, but very important, O-ring on the air damper do not last after 10 -15 years of use, so eventually it might be a worth considering investing in a new unit. I also recommend that consumers have another source of heat, in case of an emergency.

We have, in the past year, aggressively started offering in house service of these heaters. Most of our technicians have been trained on these units. We keep a large inventory of parts & have a loaner or two available.

Also, check out Orbis Space Heaters!