Kerosene Heaters

Fiberglass Awareness

A large breed black dog with a white chest standing in a living room next to an old 1985 kerosene heater with a sock on the floor in front of the dog. The dog has a black nose and brown eyes and his pink tongue is showing.

I grew up around kerosene heaters used as both the heat source at the flea market inside my father's store and inside our home. So when my husband asked if we should get a kerosene heater the nostalgia was exciting.

We bought a brand new heater with the thought that is should run cleaner than a used one.

A round white kerosene heater lit in a room that has a wood floor. There is a safety cage built around the heater.

We only had it lit for a couple of hours when I realized my eyes were burning, lungs were tight and I felt dizzy with brain fog.

Close up - A wick of a kerosene heater. The top of the wick is fiberglass and the bottom of the wick is cotton. The fiberglass is lighter in color than the cotton.

My husband had a thought, was the wick fiberglass? He looked it up and sure enough the top part of the wick where the flame burns was indeed fiberglass. We turned the heater off.

A wick of a kerosene heater. The top of the wick is fiberglass and the bottom of the wick is cotton. The fiberglass is lighter in color than the cotton. There is a person with red painted fingernails holding a bag containing an all cotton wick next to the heater that has been taken apart.

With some research my husband found an all cotton wick and ordered one. When it arrived in the mail he removed the fiberglass wick and installed the all cotton wick. This time I had no negative reaction when the heater was lit. When I was a kid the wicks were all made from cotton. Apparently now it's common for kerosene wicks to contain fiberglass at the top where the flame burns and be made of cotton at the bottom to soak up the kerosene.

Close up - the lit flame of a kerosene heater.

Sharon Maguire - Updated 3-27-2017