# Kerosene Smell



## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

I have been painting some cabinets I built at my house. While the rest of my trim is latex, I chose to paint them with oil. I had noticed a mild kerosene smell when the furnace and stove were on. Both of these appliances are gas. 

After some research, I read this is perfectly normal when oil is coupled with an open flame. 

I had never experienced this before despite using quite a lot of oil in the past.


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## JoeAntilla (Mar 14, 2014)

Yep, it stinks pretty bad. Our dryer is gas and sometimes I bring stuff in from the shop that I've sprayed with oil to cure for a couple of days so I don't have to keep my shop heated at 70 degrees all the time. When I do that we just don't run the dryer until I deliver everything away from home. Just have to plan accordingly, good thing I wear the same clothes everyday to work.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

We've run into the same on NC when the temporary heat is propane. The solvent fumes get burned in the heaters.


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## IL_Painter (Dec 4, 2010)

epretot said:


> I have been painting some cabinets I built at my house. While the rest of my trim is latex, I chose to paint them with oil. I had noticed a mild kerosene smell when the furnace and stove were on. Both of these appliances are gas.
> 
> After some research, I read this is perfectly normal when oil is coupled with an open flame.
> 
> I had never experienced this before despite using quite a lot of oil in the past.


yep i have had this happen as well.


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## epretot (Dec 17, 2011)

Good to hear others have experienced this. I was wondering if something was wrong with my gas supplier.


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## luny2nz (Nov 14, 2008)

I had an old boss tell me he was on a job where there was another painter spraying lacquer. He said the fumes moved down a hall and were ignited by a water heater pilot light. It blew the guy through a window he had cracked open. 
I think it might have been a story to scare me into making sure there were no ignition sources around when I worked with flammable material.
It must have worked because I'm pretty cautious and I still think about the story.


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## Krittterkare (Jul 12, 2013)

We use some pretty decent electric heaters on our jobs and yes often even after the fumes are gone you can smell it getting burned from the heaters.

As far as a guy getting blown throgh a window who knows but I doubt it but a few times a year I hear on the news about lacquer explosions and have worked with crews that keep all the windows closed thinking that they will get a better finish and some still wear no respirator.

I usually work after hours when other trades are in during the day, I just finished a lacquer week and I do have anxiety when I leave the job about ignition even when I spend about half an hour trying to vent the job as much as possible but this time of year in the mountains I also nee to make sure there is heat turned back on when I leave.


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## Gough (Nov 24, 2010)

Krittterkare said:


> We use some pretty decent electric heaters on our jobs and yes often even after the fumes are gone you can smell it getting burned from the heaters.
> 
> As far as a guy getting blown throgh a window who knows but I doubt it but a few times a year I hear on the news about lacquer explosions and have worked with crews that keep all the windows closed thinking that they will get a better finish and some still wear no respirator.
> 
> I usually work after hours when other trades are in during the day, I just finished a lacquer week and I do have anxiety when I leave the job about ignition even when I spend about half an hour trying to vent the job as much as possible but this time of year in the mountains I also nee to make sure there is heat turned back on when I leave.


There have been a handful of houses around here badly damaged or destroyed by fires from lacquer or similar materials. Pilot lights seem to be the most common culprit, but not the only ones.

When we're spraying flammable materials, we use an explosion-proof fan to vent the fumes. They're not cheap, but they're sealed so there are no exposed sparks from contacts, brushes, etc.


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## Jmayspaint (Mar 26, 2013)

Gough said:


> ....... we use an explosion-proof fan to vent the fumes. They're not cheap.......




That's an understatement. Heck, you could buy a couple pairs of boots for what a decent one costs


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## Wildbill7145 (Apr 30, 2014)

Jmayspaint said:


> That's an understatement. Heck, you could buy a couple pairs of boots for what a decent one costs


Automatic post of the day award winning post right here folks.


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