PT-215T-KFA 215, 000 BTU Kerosene Forced Air Heater with Thermostat, Red/Black

I'm still figuring out where to use this product, safely and practically. It blows hot air out one end with about the strength of a small oscillating fan...and I mean it is hot air. You could roast hot dogs in front of it. Obviously, you can't aim it at and up close to something that would catch fire or melt. About 3 or 4 feet away from the exhaust-end, the emitted hot air is mixed with cool air enough to stand in front of. I'm not saying that's what you should do, though. The hot air mostly rises from there. If you use it outdoors, beyond about 6 feet, the heat just goes straight up to the sky and inside of 3 feet, it is too hot. But I don't think this product it meant for that. It can put some pretty good heat under a patio roof, except you need to be careful of anything coming within about 3 feet of the heat-producing end, like small kids or dogs. The top, sides and rear stay cool and safe. However, it is not a quiet machine. It is mainly due to the noise of the turbulent flame inside. It roars a bit. The fan is fairly quiet. So, not great for a patio area. Best use seems to be heating a cold, open garage. You can't use this in closed, indoor space as I believe it produces carbon monoxide...unlike propane heaters with a blue flame. Operation: I used it in 45 F, outdoor conditions near sea level. I used #2 diesel fuel. I made sure the fuel cap was on correctly...just a quarter-turn to latch it down...it has a rubber gasket. I plugged it in to 120v outlet via extension cord. The cord on the heater is only about a foot long. Electricity runs fuel pump, fan, spark ignitor and control unit. There is no thermostat. Then I turned the switch on and it lit up automatically in about 1 sec with a poof sound and a roaring flame, the fan started up immediately after ignition. And that's all there is to it. To turn it off, you turn the switch off and it shuts off the flame. No smoke or smell after shutdown, either. The hot end stays hot for about 15-20 minutes, so be careful. There is an adjustment screw to vary fuel pressure to the fuel injector nozzle that sprays fuel mist into the combustion compartment. I believe it is intended to compensate for altitude/air density. Less fuel pressure puts out less fuel and less heat and doesn't burn as cleanly (at sea level). It produces more kerosene smell and eventually soot. Higher fuel pressure injects more fuel and puts out more heat until slight flame emerges from the end of the unit. That's too much. If you go too far with this, it might damage the product from excessive heat, not sure. That metal plate on the end glows brighter orange. In very windy conditions, it may have trouble staying lit...but probably pointless to use it in those conditions anyway. If it flames-out, it will sense the lack of hot flame and automatically cut off the fuel spray...like immediately. I think you have to turn the switch off and back on to get a re-light. Basically, it's an enclosed, kerosene-fueled blow torch, with a fan that blows the hot gases out one end. No compressed combustion, like with a jet engine. There isn't much smell. It burns pretty cleanly. It does not at all have the smell of a diesel engine or a turbojet engine. (So if you're looking for that jet smell, this won't give you a trace of it). Bright white-yellow, roaring flame inside the combustion compartment...which is about the size of a big coffee can. There is a metal plate covering the end that tends to confine the flame. That plate gets red to orange hot and emits infrared heat you can feel a little. The hot air exhaust has a slight smell of burned kerosene similar to an ordinary kerosene lantern. Hardly noticeable. No smoke at all that I could see. Everything inside seems to stay nice and clean, so far, after just a few runs...no oil residue and no soot. I only filled it half full and it is still about half full after about 20-30 minutes of run time. I think it's supposed to be able to run 12 hours on a full tank. I bought an Eagle 5-gallon diesel can with F-15 plastic spout. You're bound to spill a teaspoon or so when refilling the heater, so have something underneath to catch that. But with fuel, it weighs pretty hefty. Maybe 40 to 50 lbs. A lot to carry in one hand. 5 gallons of diesel weighs about 33 lbs. The plastic handle that comes with it is only held on with two sheet metal screws. So far it has held just fine...but I don't have a lot of confidence in it with fuel in the tank. At half full, the fuel will slosh to one end and shift the balance, making it difficult to carry. I always let it cool down before moving. And never move it while it's running. It says it can burn kerosene K-1, #2 Diesel and Jet A/JP-8 jet fuel. But never to use any other fuels or biodiesel. I can imagine that lighter-fluid or gasoline would create a potential explosion hazard due to their volatility. It warns you not to use them.

I purchased this heater to heat a 30 X 40 garage with 12' ceilings. When starting for the first time, it emitted some pretty bad fumes, but eventually went away. Now it seem to emit no fumes at all. It does say to use in well ventilated areas. The time to heat the garage is amazing. In 20 minutes, the temperature rose 10 degrees. Starting is a breeze. Just fill the tank, plug it in and turn it on. There is a temperature knob to control the temperature, but I have not tested this feature. With the convenient handle, this heater is easy to move about even with a full tank of fuel. I use #2 Diesel in mine.UPDATE - I've been using the heater for a couple of months now and wished I'd purchased it before buying a propane heater. This thing is amazing. The thermostat works great. It may not be real accurate, but if you get hot, turn the temperature control down. It will turn on and off automatically to keep the temperature within 5 degrees.

Filled with #1 Diesel, hit the switch and it was running. Second time I started it sitting in my uninsulated barn it belched out some soot for a minute until an error code popped up and it shut off. I saw that the air pressure didn’t get high enough for good combustion so I unplugged it, didn’t even clean off the photo eye, restarted it and have ran my first tank through with no other problems. Warmed 30x60 barn from -5f to 60 in 5 hours. With the holes and cracks in the siding and 20mph wind blowing it didn’t disappoint. Was looking at Remington and Master brands before buying this and they are all manufactured by the same company. Friend has had the same heater (Master) for almost 10 years with no problems. So fingers crossed I get the same life.

Works good. I thought it had a thermostat. It clearly stated in the add that it didn’t but it’s easy to over look when purchasing. I’d give it 5 stars but it’s a little smellier then other torpedo heaters I’ve had in the past. This is also the lowest btu heater I’ve purchased as well. I’m assuming it doesn’t run hot enough to burn as clean as other units and that’s why it has a little more noticeable odor. Not horrible or anything. So far I’ve only ran Kerosene through it but will run on kerosene, diesel, jp8, etc. Seems pretty efficient or at least comparable to other units I’ve owned in the past. It heats my 20x20 uninsulated garage pretty well but looking back I should have bought the 80,000 BTU model. Mainly for the thermostat feature. It’s still a good heater. Physically it’s the same size or comparable to other heater’s in the 60,000 to 80,000 BTU range. I bought this assuming at 45,000 BTU’s it would save on a little space but it didn’t.

I wished that I had purchased this product sooner. Very efficient, has thermostat, heats my uninsulated shop in no time. Very cost-effective considering propane solutions.

This heater keeps our large detached garage warm in the coldest weather. The only drawback is the noise level is very high making it difficult to hear when it is running.

I have a 1100 sq ft garage and this heater does a great job heating it. It barely smells from the kerosene. My old heater was 24 years old and I can tell the difference since this is so efficient. This came in 2 days and was packed very well so no damage.

It did not light at first. After getting on their website, I needed to adjust the pressure switch simply by adjusting a screw head on the back. After that it worked.It really let’s off the heat.