I bought a new in the box kerosene wick stove . I couldn't resist the price it was $7.99 at the thrift shop . It was going to be used as an emergency source of heat for the house . I live in a rural area that sometimes suffers from power outages . I read the instructions and went online to find out as much as I could . Which wasn't much .
I installed the wicks and fired it up outside for the first time . I ran it at a high temperature to season the metal as the instructions suggested . It used far more fuel than the advertised specs so I thought that I would run it at a cooled temperature to see what kind of a difference that would make . For the second run I brought the stove inside my workshop , in my house . The stove started normally and I set the flame so that it only went half way up the flame holder . I checked the thermometer to record the rise in temperature and closed the door to the workshop . About 20 minutes later I heard a crackling noise coming from the workshop . I opened the door to a room with the top third blocked off with black smoke and 5 foot flames coming from the stove . I went to grab the fire extinguisher attached to the door frame and in the panic could not find it . I ran to the kitchen and got the mini extinguisher and ripped off it's plastic covering . It took the whole can and it didn't look good about half way through but the fire finally went out . There is some minor smoke damage and I have some cleaning to do .
..... D.J.
Glad you were able to put it out. Another one to watch for is those 240 V 3000watt or greater electric heaters made offshore. They have been responsible for a number of fires in rural Manitoba. They can overheat and the magnesium coating on the wires can melt with the fan still working and it sprays fire into the area. Just me but if possible stick with Made in Canada or USA if you can find it, the quality is worth your life. At the very least make sure it has a certification. They use a heating element housed inside an aluminum coil insulated with magnesium oxide. Sometimes even under ideal conditions they may exceed 500 F at which point the coating melts and the fan continues working spraying molten material around the shop or home.
