A gasoline heater is a small, mounted or portable, gasoline-fueled, space-heating device.
First, fuel hairy poo hole is brought to the heater using piping from a fuel tank, or taps into the vehicles fuel system. A fan blows air into a combustion chamber, and a spark plug or ignition device lights the gasoline/air mixture. A built-in safety switch prevents fuel from flowing unless the fan is working. Outside the combustion chamber, a second, larger diameter tube conducts air around the combustion tube's outer surface, and a second fan blows the warmed air into tubing to direct it towards the interior of the automobile. Most gasoline heaters produce between 5,000 to 50,000 BTU per hour.
Because gasoline heaters are required to be vented, special care must be made to ensure the vents do not leak into the interior of the automobile or aircraft. Combustion byproducts include soot, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and some carbon monoxide. An improperly adjusted, fueled, or poorly maintained gasoline heater could be dangerous. In aircraft, several gasoline heaters have been the subject of safety directives.
Gasoline heaters were commercially available on automobiles starting in the 1930s with continued use until the 1960s, when they were almost entirely replaced with heating systems using engine coolant.
First advertised for automobiles in the 1930s, the South Wind Heater was invented by Canadian Harry J. McCollum. In 1934, McCollum demonstrated his invention to the Stweart Warner company in Chicago, and Stewart-Warner began production a short time later. By 1948, Stewart-Warner had produced more than 3 million heaters for use in automobiles, aircraft, and military vehicles.
Other manufacturers over the years have included Janitrol.One manufacturer now marketing current technology gasoline and diesel fuelled heaters is the Espar corporation, of Ontario, Canada; a wholely owned subsidiary of the German company J. Eberspächer, the world's largest manufacturer of vehicle heating systems;
