Be Careful Using Kerosene Heaters
I would like to share a story with you, about something
that happened about 15 years ago, to someone that I really felt sorry
for. This person was a young general contractor and didn't have enough
information about using kerosene heaters. So pay attention and we can
all learn from his mistakes.
The contractor that I'm talking about was building a two-story room
addition, during the rainy season and this particular rainy season, just
kept raining. The rain never seen the let up, while he was in the middle
of framing the second story room addition.
The contractor covered everything up, every day after he was done
working. He would come back the next day, after it rained that night,
just to find out that the wind had blew most of the plastic off that was
covering the house. The homeowners were still living in the house and
doing the best that they could, to deal with the situation that they
were in.
One day, the contractor came to the job, only to find out that one of
his worst nightmares had just happened. The plastic that was covering
the master bedroom, where the homeowners were sleeping that night, was
blown off during a heavy wind and rain storm.
The entire master bedroom was water damaged. He removed all of the
drywall and carpeting, but still needed to dry the room out. He went
down and picked up a kerosene heater and let it run for most of the day.
When the homeowners got home, he asked them if they wanted him to shut
the heater off or if they wanted to let it run all night.
The homeowners and the contractor agreed that they should let the
kerosene heater run until the next morning. This was a big mistake. You
should never run a kerosene heater inside of the house, garage, barn or
workshop that isn't well ventilated. Burning kerosene gas produces
carbon monoxide and carbon monoxide kills people.
When the contractor returned to the job the next morning, the homeowners
weren't feeling good and their daughter was sick. It wasn't until years
later that the contractor knew what actually happened. He never used the
kerosene heater again and started writing articles to inform people
about different types of problems that homeowners run into in this.
If you know anyone that uses a kerosene heater, you should inform them
about carbon monoxide poisoning and make sure that they don't use this
type of heating in unventilated areas.