the American families sent them home to family
in the U.S. But, due to certain states having 'laws'
prohibiting the use of kerosene heaters inside
the home (those without chimneys to the outside)
a great controversy arose. The 'Carbon Monoxide'
scare of the sixties!
This eventually resulted in some agency testing
the Japanese Kerosene Room Heaters to
discover that they were fully functional and did
not produce any Carbon Monoxide within the
homes. Therefore, they were eventually approved
and 'legal' in the U.S.
Back in those years there were many, many
household items available in Japan that were so
ingenious and incredibly useful, that were
unheard of in the U.S. Innovation was not a
strong suit for America back in those times.
The first car I bought in Japan was the Hino
Contessa; a small 4 cylinder rear-engine
sedan that even came with a hand-crank
in case of a dead battery. Thankfully, it did
because I had to use it at least once to get
my engine started. The most memorable was
when I was sent TAD to Sasebo from Yokosuka
for about 3 weeks. I left my car in the parking
lot at Tachikawa Air Base near the passenger
terminal while I was in Sasebo, and upon returning
to Tachikawa in the midst of a Typhoon found my
car in a 'lake' of water about 6 inches deep and
the battery was so weak I couldn't crank the
engine.
Broke out the hand crank and in just two attempts
the engine 'took off' and I was able to get on the
road to Yokohama where I lived without any further
problems. With the car that is.
On the way back to Yokohama there were many
areas of the roadway that were flooded and in
driving through some of the deep 'puddles' water
got into the floor mats. Once I got home and after
the weather cleared I had to pull all the floor mats
out to let them dry for a day.
Ah, the good old days!! Had many wonderful times
in Japan!
Statistics: Posted by SeaMonkey — Sun Feb 28, 2010 9:23 pm
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That was very interesting about your take on Japanese kerosene heaters.
I did not know the grille on some of them had that purpose. I ignorantly assumed it was partly for decoration and partly to get more heat out of the fumes, which would be reflected from the parabola behind it, into the room. - Or maybe it had those functins as well as converting the CO into CO2?
The electric fan-assisted heaters are cheap and common here. They have got making them as cheaply as possible down to a 't.' ... You can put a dent in one with your fingernail! - But that's not entirely true. The old ones (over 15 years) are more solid.
- And that's a funny thing - the ones in the shops now will last five years if you are lucky! I donated a 25 year old kerosene fan-heater to my M.I.L. and it's still a goer - I don't think the M.I.L. is much of a goer now though.
Those heaters with the glass chimneys are still very common and are sold alongside the fan versions. They last practically forever - or until the rust eats a hole in the tank. - I'd put a filler in it. But they are cheap and I know people prefer shiny new ones.
But I have discovered how to murder them using cooking oil. But there's no escaping from doing the deed because the whiff gives it away - I mean it's not like getting the life insurance from a drunken husband by injecting an air-bubble in his veins because they probably wouldn't be able to find, or even suspect what really occured.
* What am I talking about? Must be time for sleep!
Statistics: Posted by mael — Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:47 pm
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let me see if i can find the pic of it
best way to explain
what i cant wrap my head around is how is the 2 M OHm pot coupled with a 47 k resistor can limit the pulse rate on the relay?
it seems to me that the rate would be 60 hertz?
or is that what the SCR does with the DIAC in the switch?
mabe i just have the wrong SCR's
thanks again
Statistics: Posted by redriderno22 — Sun Feb 28, 2010 6:26 am
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Statistics: Posted by SeaMonkey — Sat Feb 27, 2010 11:16 pm
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ive got some questions for you, when you get time
Statistics: Posted by redriderno22 — Thu Feb 25, 2010 5:23 pm
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kerosene heaters. A dome is positioned over the
circular wick/burner which assures that any Carbon
Monoxide produced is completely burned off to
Carbon Dioxide; it's a metallic screen shaped into
a dome that covers the wick/burner some distance
above it that glows 'red hot' when the kerosene
heater is functioning normally.
There was also a small parabolic reflector behind
the dome to reflect the infrared rays produced
outward into the room being heated.
Very ingenious! I had not seen anything like those
kerosene heaters anywhere in the U.S.
Yes, sometimes our experiments go awry. How
many times have my 'brilliant' ideas produced
havoc? Well, too many to reveal in number...
Vegetable oil works very well in those small
lamps that are styled after the kerosene lamps
with a wick/burner and a glass chimney, producing
light and some heat. The composition of vegetable
oil is more like that of an 'alcohol' in that it contains
Oxygen as well as Hydrogen and Carbon, so it
tends to burn cleanly from a wick in open air. So
long as the flame is not 'smoky' that is.
Don't give up Mael! To burn the vegetable oil
for heat may simply require a different design
of the burner/dome unit.
Or, perhaps the vegetable oil can be used
directly without mixing with the kerosene. If
you've got an older heater available for
further experimentation you'll find a way to
make it work.
Statistics: Posted by SeaMonkey — Thu Feb 25, 2010 3:58 pm
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I did put petrol in the paraffin to see if it would work. The ratio might have been 1 part gas to 7 parts paraffin and 2 parts veg oil.
(Of course) it didn't work out.
I put new good kerosene in, but I also had to take the wick assembly to bits, trim the clogged-ends with scissors and re-mount the wick a little higher than 'spec.'
... It works now.
I won't try that again.*
And my wife tells me the kero heater at home is acting-up. The symptoms are the same as the one I messed-up. And d'ou know what I've done? I went and bought new kero and used the same container which had the oil in. There was about three centimetres of the mix in the bottom of the can and it looks like I've wrecked the wife's one as well.
* Aren't I clever.
Statistics: Posted by mael — Wed Feb 10, 2010 9:53 am
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It just seems such a waste.
Statistics: Posted by mael — Mon Feb 01, 2010 1:22 pm
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Moral of the story.
Don't put petrol in a kero heater.
Statistics: Posted by Jehu — Sun Jan 31, 2010 11:54 pm
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the gas might seperate from the k1 and oil....boom
Statistics: Posted by redriderno22 — Sun Jan 31, 2010 10:51 pm
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But it doesn't burn all right. He must have put too much in (3 litres into a 10 litre tank). It might start out OK but the flame soon dwindles and so it stinks.
He figures out if he lets it burn down over ages and ages and adds kerosene in the meantime to top it up then eventually it will come right. But this may very well be a long and smelly waiting period the way things are looking.
Just a thought - Can he thin the kero with some gasoline - say half a litre in the ten litre tank - and this will get it to burn faster?
Of course he should bin the tainted kero and put some good stuff in and fix it that way. But if it can burn the stuff that's in it now then it wouldn't have been such a waste.
He knows gasoline contains poisons so he'd have the ventilation cranked-up until the waft of gasoline had disappeared.
Statistics: Posted by mael — Sun Jan 31, 2010 9:05 pm
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