Small, Cheap Oil Based Heater/Furnace/Boiler for Basement

[Aaron Montague]

BPers,

I am looking for an inexpensive way to use oil heat to make sure my pipes don't burst in the basement of a 4 family apartment building I own.

Perfect scenario:

1 heating source that connects directly to a standard oil tank and produces enough heat to keep a large and well insulated basement at about 55 degrees in Vermont winters.

Could any of you point me in the direction of such a heating source?

[Graham Mink]

Hi Aaron,

There are kerosene fired monitor heaters that vent directly outside that you can pick up used on craigslist sometimes for a few hundred dollars. I'm not sure if you already have a boiler or something else that runs off heating oil set up already though. If not then you can fill the oil tank with kerosene (it's practically the same thing) and install one of the monitors I previously mentioned. If you do have a boiler hooked up to the oil tank then I would recommend installing a strip of baseboard heat, on it's own zone, in the basement. You could also use a Modine heater as well, if you have a boiler set up somewhere. Sorry for throwing a lot out there, but I don't know enough of the specifics to make a more precise recommendation.

Cheers,

Graham