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Antique Humphrey Radiant Heaters Question.

alledonian
alledonian Member Posts: 9
edited February 2021 in Radiant Heating
Hello. I'm interested in a Humphrey NO. 31 gas heater. This heater has the oval exhaust flange on the top back panel. All the small nat. gas radiant heaters I've used over the past 30 years have been ventfree units. Can I plug the vent flange on this Humphrey 31 and have it function with the same degree of safety as a ventfree radiant heater?. Thanks.

Comments

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,680
    no
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    mattmia2
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,753
    edited February 2021
    Never use Vent Free heaters!

    https://www.buildinggreen.com/blog/avoid-unvented-gas-heaters
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  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,753
    edited February 2021
    alledonian said:
    Never use Vent Free heaters! You won't be coming jnto my warm kitchen for a gas oven-roasted turkey and trimmings.
    Totally different appliances. You cannot compare the two. 
    You obviously  didn’t read the article. 
    Vent free heating appliances are designed for a few hours operation with a window cracked open, You're stove was not designed to heat your home. 
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  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,744
    Hi, I think this is a matter of perspective. In an ideal world, we would not pollute our living spaces, or spoil our nests at all. We have become accustomed to taking that risk though.
    It has been studied and in homes that have gas stoves, 42% of the children have some level of asthma. Obviously, products of combustion are not good for out health. It's a matter of dose, or length of exposure combined with concentration, but given a choice, why take that risk?

    Yours, Larry
    ps. I know that microwaved turkey is NOT the same thing as oven roasted. :o My father tried it once.
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,680
    OK. Let's go back to your original question. Can you plug the exhaust flange on that heater and use it as a vent free heater.

    My answer was, and remains, no.

    If we momentarily overlook the supposed similarity to a modern vent free heater, which is incorrect to begin with, you would be taking a fuel burning appliance -- and it doesn't matter what kind it is -- and exhausting it into your space. With smaller appliances, such as a gas stove, this isn't too dumb -- assuming they are operating in plenty of free air and with good air exchange --but with an appliance designed to run with an exhaust it's just... not to put too fine a point on it...

    Stupid.

    Now let's compare that appliance, designed to exhaust outside and 30 years old, to a modern vent free heater. The latter has been designed and built to run lean. As a result, it's carbon monoxide production, while not zero, is low. Further, if it's legal for sale (never mind use) it will have an oxygen depletion sensor on it to shut it down when the oxygen level in the space drops. Your thirty year old heater is designed to run slightly rich -- it lights more easily that way -- and will produce copious quantities of carbon monoxide which, lest we forget, is lethal. It also has no way of sensing low oxygen in the space -- which is also lethal, but not as quickly.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
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  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,680
    Hey -- it's your life and your family's. If local codes let you get away with it, I'm not going to come over and stop you killing yourself.

    I might point out that your comment that 99% of the carbon in the gas is converted to carbon dioxide is simply not true, unless the combustion is complete. The intermediate step is carbon monoxide, which may -- or may not -- be fully converted.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • pecmsg
    pecmsg Member Posts: 5,753
    You asked a question and everyone says no but you know better!

    I hope there's no kids in that home!
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  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 25,680
    I don't need to. The EPA statement is perfectly true -- for the conditions under which the measurements were taken. Which, unfortunately, you choose to either disregard or are unaware of.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • Larry Weingarten
    Larry Weingarten Member Posts: 3,744
    Hi @alledonian , Here's a link to that research through an article written about it: https://www.sciencetimes.com/articles/25590/20200506/gas-stoves-making-people-sicker-exposing-children-higher-risk-asthma.htm Hope it helps.

    Yours, Larry
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