How To Clean A Kerosene Wick

I bought my little keroheat radiant heater last year. It was included in one of my various kerosene heater threads.....

Since I am using a mix of kerosene and mineral spirits I got away with out cleaning it the entire winter last year. Turns out that a wick that felt soft last year does not mean that its good to go this year. It was pretty crusty and hard after burning for a few weeks this year.

I noticed that my heater was not lighting very easily. It was taking a long time to warm up and that translates into more unburnt fuel and stink released into the air. Now, this thing stinks like hell with straight kerosene right out of the box brand new, so straight k-1 is still not an option for me.

I just burned out the wick so I can clean it. It is really, really easy. You just burn the heater entirely out of fuel. Once the wick is dry of all fuel and totally stops burning, relight the wick manually and let it burn out entirely again. Then you just brush off the white/gray ash with a tooth brush. It takes a couple minutes to do the brushing part.

Make sure you let your wick soak for a bit before you re-light the heater. 15 to 20 mins works for me.

I have to say, this heater started up quicker than I ever remember it. It got hot fast and seems hotter than it ran new. Very little stink starting up. Nothing when shutting it down. This is important if you want to use these heaters in your home.

This needs to be done every two weeks if you use regular k-1. Don't let it go too long.