Hello, and a question about propane heaters

[jseabolt]

Hi, my name is James and this is my first posting.

 

I have two parrots. One is a 16 year old female and the other one is 2 year old male.

 

I keep both birds in a 5' X 32" X 9' aviary which is in an enclosed carport with lots of windows. The room is maybe 200 square feet.

 

Because of our birds, our heating bill has hit the roof because this room was not figured in with our heatpump.

 

In the summer it's not too bad because I just shut the room off the the rest of the house. After all these are tropical birds.

 

But in the winter we had to leave a 1500 watt oil filled radiator heater on the entire winter to keep the room around 75F so our killowatt went out the roof.

 

What I want to know is would it be safe to use one of those propane ventless heaters?

Like this one from Northern Tools?

 

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200332739_200332739

 

My guess is no but wanted to get some opinions.

[particle77]

I don't know, but I would be wary. Is the carport well insulated(many are not)? If not I'd focus on that before anything else.

[Dave007]

If the one you like has an automatic shutoff because of lack of oxygen, it's fine as as long as you can provide circulation. If it doesn't, maybe check this one out

 

www.associatedcontent.com/article/373703/propane_heaters_glo_warm_ventless_heater.html ·

[jseabolt]

If I were to put one of these heaters in the middle of the house (the hallway) to suppliment my heat pump during the winter, would this be safe for the birds? So the heater wouldn't be in the same room as the birds.

[Dave007]

I really don't know the strength of the propane heater's range that you refer to but I do know the mechanics of them. There's so many different models that give out a little to alot of heat. My biggest concern would be an automatic shut off valve when the oxygen level goes low. Many have that automatic shut off valve and there's others that don't. I don't imagine that a shut off valve would be important to me if there were no animals around but if I had animals which I do, the shut off valve would be extremely important to me. I gave you a link to a well known company that makes good heaters but all you need to do is check out many links and check their features and yes, I do know that this year, oil prices have sky rocketed all over the place. We're really not familar with all the heating devices on the market today. It would be up to you to do some investigation.

[jseabolt]

All of these types of heaters/water heaters/furnances produced after a certain year have some sort of safety feature by law.

 

So I'm not concerned about actual gas leaking if the pilot light goes out. What I'm concerned about is the amount of carbon monoxide it produces inside the house and the amount that it takes to kill a bird.

 

As you know before monitors, coal miners would take canaries into the mines which would die from natual gas before it would kill humans. So I'm going on the same priciple.

[Dave007]

Well, first notify the company and ask about how much carbon monoxide the machine emits then call your avian vet and ask how much it will take to kill a bird.

We here are familar with candles, cleaning sprays, room deoderizers and room fresheners and chemicals for cleaning cages. Carbon monoxide is not our forte.<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/09/18 01:17