parafin heater

[Snadger]

Can the fumes or soot from the parrafin be harmful to the baby plants? I've got one in my 6x4 greenhouse and they don't seem to be doing very well. The outer edges of the leaves are going brown and some of them are shrivelling up completley. I've also got bubble wrap for insulation, could it be a ventelation problem? The greenhouse does smell of parrafin. Any advise appreciated.

A bi-product of paraffin combustion is carbon dioxide which plants thrive on. Unfortunately another bi-product of combustion is water vapour which is not helpful this time of year and means you would probably need to ventilate!

[Snadger]

my teenage daughter very kindly turned my paraffin heater out for me in my greenhouse; unfortunately she turned the wick down so far that it has vanished off the wheel.......anyone got any ideas on how to repair this??

If its a flat wick it's a doddle, just prise off the wick holder, retrieve the wick and feed it back into the wick holder whilst turning the wheel.

If it's a circular wick you need to do the same as above but it's a bit more fiddly to get it turned back up!

[DAVIESFOZZIE]

i use a parrafin heater with 2 wicks and we have had frosts in Caerphilly down to -2c but all is ok. Another way to help someone told me is to divide the centre of the greenhouse using white plastic etc and use the heater in the half with the seeds in. I can get red parafin but have never used it i will try it. As i pay approx £3.80 per gallon for parraffin.

[brooklynodog]

Wish I could get parafin for £3.80 a gallon!!
From the garden centres round here its £4.99!