I have a 40k Reddy heater. Says right on it... burn No.1 Diesel OR Kerosene.

I have always used Kerosene for no particular reason that I can remember.

Fume wise... Would Diesel burn better or worse?

Would Diesel burn hotter?

Have you tried both and could you even tell the difference?

Thanks!

Kerosene will burn cleaner and wont smell as much as diesel but is likely more money. If youre in an open shed where smell doesnt matter, go with diesel. Otherwise, use kerosene

Unless you are running 7x24 for weeks on end you will be way way happier on kerosene.

Thanks guys.

I run mine on diesel fuel because kerosene has gotten hard to find around here and it is a fair amount more expensive than diesel. The only time I notice any real smell is maybe a bit on start up and s pretty good puff of smoke if it runs out of fuel.

I have two heaters. One I run on diesel No.2, and the other on 1-K or Jet-A. One for outdoors, one for inside the garage.

Back in the day, the difference was really noticeable. However, recently I have noticed that the Diesel No.2 filled heater burns as clean and smoke free as the one filled with Kerosene. If I had to guess, the mandates to cleaner diesel might explain the difference. IDK.

While it's true that Kerosene is more expensive, there is a better way to get it. My town has a small, general aviation airport. I called down to the airport and got the fuel desk. I now drive down there with my cans, and they fill them with Jet-A right off the fueling truck. This fuel is way better than anything sold at a gas pump because the fuel truck sumps their tank every morning. There's very little chance of water or other contaminates. Just be sure to tell them to leave out any Prist (anti-icing additive) since this will be heater fuel. As long as it's not going into a vehicle, they are happy to sell it to me. It is still more expensive than diesel, but it is about half the cost of kerosene sold in cans. Jet-A and 1-K are essentially the exact same fuel.

I'm not saying you can run over to JFK and drive out to the fuel truck. But a small airport can be a real resource. Ours is way laid back. The last time I purchased fuel, he said to just open the gate and drive my pickup on the taxiway down to where he was fueling a helicopter and he'd fill my cans.

I may be saying the obvious but regardless of which fuel source you need to have adequate ventilation.