I have a omni85 portable kerosene heater. I would like to burn biodiesel in it but, I an not sure how well it will work on a wick type of heater. Has anyone used b100 with any success in these types of heaters? Maybe a blend of b50 with kerosene? I would like to use biodiesel as an option to heat my house or when there are power outages.

 

I don't have any personal experience, but remember reading on another forum that it didn't work to well. If I was going to try it I would start out with a low mixture and upgrade from there.

 

i'v had pretty good luck with the kerosun heaters diesel/premium gas yeah...

 

I tried straight b100 in the heater and it worked for about an hour and then the flame went out. I then added some kerosene to around a b20 blend and the heater will not relight. So I am getting a new wick since the one in there is old and will try it again. The only place I could find kerosene was $7.99 a gallon. Ouch! Biodiesel is $3.45 a gallon so I am just hoping that bio will work or at least a blend of bio. The heater burns around 1 gallon every 12-14 hours so the cheaper the fuel the more economical the cost would be.

 

I thought I'd red some things on this topic, so I went back and found these:

Re: [biofuel] BioDiesel in space heaters?

Home Heating with Biodiesel - BioHeat - General Biodiesel - BioDieselNow - Renewable biodiesel fuel

The problem seems to be that the wick won't handle the thicker diesel or biodiesel.

 

I'd think it'd be easier to make your own test system if you don't want to contaminate your heater. Just get a wick from an oil lamp, a small pot, suspend the wick, and light. I think because of hte wax content it won't wick up to well, but who knows. I think it's to viscous to work as you might desire. At low temps, B100 can solidify, partially at least. Oil on the other hand just becomes viscous at lower temps. Now, an oil fired bullet heater might work..

 

I used 100% Bio in tiki torches over the summer. The burned the wick down to fast.