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Unvented, wall-mounted, gas space heaters - Are they legal primary heat sources?

JimmyTreeX

JimmyTreeX

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Sep 4, 2021
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48
Location
Upstate NY
As the title reads: are the unvented wall-mounted gas space heaters that you can buy from Home Depot/Lowes legal primary heat sources for residential units? We run into the unvented wall heaters being used as a primary heat source all of the time, and I’m just looking for some guidance on their legality. We require that the primary heat source in a residential is either a vented gas heating unit (furnace, boiler) or electrical base board, and I’m trying to confirm if we can make an owner comply with this requirement of ours. Thank you.
 
JimmyTreeX said:
As the title reads: are the unvented wall-mounted gas space heaters that you can buy from Home Depot/Lowes legal primary heat sources for residential units? We run into the unvented wall heaters being used as a primary heat source all of the time, and I’m just looking for some guidance on their legality. We require that the primary heat source in a residential is either a vented gas heating unit (furnace, boiler) or electrical base board, and I’m trying to confirm if we can make an owner comply with this requirement of ours. Thank you.
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Can you provide a link to an unvented wall-mounted gas space heater that you run into a lot. Even a picture would help.

I can’t imagine approving such a thing no matter what a listing or installation instructions say about it. Getting a copy of a listing report is difficult to impossible. Installation instructions are not a document that I trust.
 
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If a device has a listing, it can usually be found. The manufacturer's instructions are very telling, especially if they say not to be used in a certain way.
 
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TheCommish said:
If a device has a listing, it can usually be found. The manufacturer's instructions are very telling, especially if they say not to be used in a certain way.
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It can be proven to have a listing but seeing a listing report is another thing. Listing reports are proprietary information that some companies do not want to divulge.

Installation instructions are supposed to be vetted as part of the NRTL's evaluation. I have found that not all products have that and not all NRTLs take that step. I can't say that it is a common phenomena but I can say that I have experience with that.

I have also encountered products with the wrong installation instructions. For example, A hydro-massage bathtub that had no bonding jumper lug on the metal pump motor. A major manufacturer verified that the installation instructions were correct when stating that the motor was double insulated when it clearly was not. Their engineering dept. would not agree that a mistake had been made. It's hard telling how many units were sent out with the wrong installation instructions.

I tend to trust myself when something seems out of the ordinary ... or just plain weird.
 
ICE said:
Can you provide a link to an unvented wall-mounted gas space heater that you run into a lot. Even a picture would help.

I can’t imagine approving such a thing no matter what a listing or installation instructions say about it. Getting a copy of a listing report is difficult to impossible. Installation instructions are not a document that I trust.
Click to expand...
 
It wo
ICE said:
Can you provide a link to an unvented wall-mounted gas space heater that you run into a lot. Even a picture would help.

I can’t imagine approving such a thing no matter what a listing or installation instructions say about it. Getting a copy of a listing report is difficult to impossible. Installation instructions are not a document that I trust.
Click to expand...
frangergas.com

Empire Vent-Free Room Heaters

Our Blue Flame heaters warm the air, which rises to create natural circulation in the room. Ideal for any supplemental heat application.
frangergas.com

it wouldn’t let me upload a picture for some reason. This is just an example.
 
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