Tired 1930's valor 525r sympathetically restored to working order

[rob1693]

Original 1930s advertisement
I personally love older things they were designed well looked good and were built to last where and when did that ethos die

 

[chris.s]

Where do you get paraffin these days? Used to be every corner shop but I don't remember seeing it for a very long time.

B&Q £10 for 4lt if you need it quickly, you save online in a pack of 4 at £34.50 for std paraffin
.https://www.dry-it-out.com/warm/paraffin.html

 

[joethedrummer]

Bought this off ebay for £35 now ready for use in my home workshop

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now working and ready for use in workshop

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,,well done to you,, that takes me back to when i was a kid in the 1950s, we had one exactly that model in the hall to keep upstairs less chilly, thank you and well done,,

 

[chris.s]

in my childhood we had a similar heater but ours was an Aladdin



but in the early 80's most of my heating was paraffin as the paraffin man filled up your cans on his weekly rounds and my favourite heater was the trendy triangular Valor

 

[okeydokey]

Maybe I'm not old enough but I do have memories of smelly paraffin heaters and extra water vapour so not in a million (or a lot of) years would I get one of these.
Who knows what emissions they would output to the user in a confined space?

 

[Terry - Somerset]

Go back a few decades and these were competing (I assume) with an open coal fire or gas heater. By comparison they may have economical, quick to fire up, clean, portable.

Not so convincing an option against an oil filled radiator, electric fan heater or wood-burner (which at least consumes workshop waste.

 

[Rich_D]

Maybe I'm not old enough but I do have memories of smelly paraffin heaters and extra water vapour so not in a million (or a lot of) years would I get one of these.
Who knows what emissions they would output to the user in a confined space?

This brings back a lot of memories. We had an Aladdin like Chris’s picture when I was a child, it stood in the the hallway and was lit at 6pm do the heat went up the stairs to heat the bedrooms….we only had one coal fire in our front room.

 

[Speedy23]

Is it only me or do I remember those things causing loads of fires when they got knocked over?

And I do recall the damp that they created....a kind of warm, clammy heat.

But better than being cold, I suppose. My mom had one during the severe winter in 1962/3 and it did its damp, smelly job. Didn't freeze, anyway.

And Jack Frost on your window panes? It was considered quite normal, then.

Happy days.....?

 

[chris.s]

Yes they were a bit of a fire risk and later models had a safety device to cut the flame if they got knocked, but don't remember them being any worse that open fires that spat out glowing embers and from warnings about at the time the chip pan was the biggest fire hazard.

As for damp that was no problem those Crital metal windows kept the houses well ventilated

 

[Stevekane]

We helped on the parfin round in north london as teenagers, visious turf wars would somtimes break out between the owners which we stayed well clear of. My brother was in the fire brigade and terible house fires were extreamly common, 4 families living in old multiple occupancy 3 and 4 story houses often each storing 5gallons or more of parafin were an obvious recepie for a disaster, and it often happened. Im very gung ho when it comes to H&S but I would draw the line at a paraffin heater.
btw we would go round always at night, wintertime obviously and ring a school hand bell and shout out “Parraaaaafinnnn oil”. It just rolled off the tongue, I could do it now!
Steve.

 

[rob1693]

I store my paraffin outside in lockable galvanised metal storage I fill tank up outside and use heater in an area its very unlikely to be knocked over or be susceptible to shavings. Lots of things can be dangerous through misuse. If you apply common sense they're no more dangerous than any other heat source

 

[Stevekane]

I store my paraffin outside in lockable galvanised metal storage I fill tank up outside and use heater in an area its very unlikely to be knocked over or be susceptible to shavings. Lots of things can be dangerous through misuse. If you apply common sense they're no more dangerous than any other heat source

Quite right,,
Steve.