Your Kerosene Heater Wick

There are many things that you need to know about kerosene heaters wicks.  Some of which will help the life of your wick and really just some need to know information about safety,

To clean burn a kerosene heater, take the heater to a well ventilated place.  Outside the house is best, but a garage with no flammable materials will work as well.  Turn the heater on and allow it to run completely out of fuel.  After the heater cools, brush any remaining carbon deposits from the wick.  If you have a fiber-glass wick it will feel softer after this process. You only want to do this with a fiber-glass wick NOT a cotton wick.

To maintain a top operating cotton wick. Roll your wick up so that you can see the top of it clearly and remove any uneven or brittle ends carefully with a pair of scissors.  This only works for cotton wicks, NOT fiber-glass wicks.

It is recommend by the American Lung Association, US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Consumer Product Safety Commission the you change your wick yearly. If it is used frequently, or you are using a low quality of kerosene, you may need to change your wick more often.

We do recommend that you keep the instructions to your heater and follow the instructions.  The correct wick type will be listed in the manual.

There is information on your heater to help you find the wick that you need, but you need to know the brand.  Lots of heaters have the model as a name not number.  For example, you may have the Aladdin Temprite 15, the brand is Aladdin and the model is Temprite 15 or you may have an Aloha and you would need the serial number or lot number which you would find on a plate that is riveted to the side or back of the heater. It may look something like 423900.JY747S and your model number would be JY747S.  The reason you need this information is because there are many different sizes, lengths, with cut outs, with pins and some are the whole unit or only the top that burns.

Here are some basic reasons you would want to change you heater wick:

• if you purchased a used heater
• if it has been more then a year since you last used it
• if you are having problems getting it to burn

If you are having problems with it not wanting to burn I would start with getting rid of the fuel that you are using.  Kerosene does have a tendency of going bad and tends to collect moisture. As a reminder to everyone, if you are going keep you kerosene in a red or blue gas container it is always smart to take a sharpie and write, “K-1” on the side so you never mix the contents of the container.

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