Is inhaling diesel fumes a few hours a day in an enclosed space (van) bad for your health?

[Gueyog8a7]

In this video david mckluckie, who seems highly regarded on these forums for his self powered diesel heater, argues that it is perfectly safe to exhaust the fumes directly into the space where you are in so long as the carbon monoxide alarm isn't going off. In the description I noticed he added that he thinks it is no worse than taking a walk by a busy roadside.

This seems disingenuous since it only seems to be taking acute toxicity into consideration.

Now I am certainly not exhausting everything into the van but there are still some little leaks. The monoxide alarm doesn't go off and have a 100mm fan running 24/7 out the roof (best thing I did for reducing condensation). I have tried sealing all around the gaps I could find yet still some smell emits from it during operation. I think there must be some gaps behind the fan where I am not able to get to.

I wonder how bad it is. I notice the smell is mainly when it just starts up and settles down after the stove is fully combusting. Even so combusted diesel is not good is it? Wondering just how bad as I am using every day.

I suppose the best way to get a more accurate reading of just how much is coming out and if it is going to be possibly detrimental to the health is to buy a VOC monitor but those things are not cheap starting at a couple hundred pounds. Then again one should not put a price on health. Better that than some cancer a few years down the line.

 

[Quattrohead]

Yes it is extremely bad for you and that guy is an idiot for telling you otherwise.

 

[hwy17]

Even if you're so tough that you don't believe the nitrogen oxides will get you, burning hydrocarbons makes water and it will make the inside damp. This is a problem with all ventless propane heaters too.

 

[Skypower]

Both your combustion intake and exhaust should both be outside, otherwise you are pulling in cold air from outside into your living space and waste energy. This can potentially draw in combustion fumes too.

 

[Steve_S]

david mckluckie,

Natural Selection is very busy at this moment but will catch up to that fool. So many to cull & so little time...

 

[xcentric]

I’m not aware that taking a walk by a busy roadside is considered good for your health, so it’s a weird analogy. There are particulates and other not so nice gases that won’t improve your health. Find another YouTube channel!!

 

[Bluedog225]

Eliminating downvotes (I believe for political reasons) was a terrible idea. Dangerous and plain wrong stuff is on YouTube.

 

[Danke]

4 out of 5 doctors preferred diesel over smoking.

 

[JJJJ]

Have been following a MD who specializes in environmental medicine. It is humbling to learn how exhaust from other vehicles affects one during rush hour traffic.

 

[hugemoth]

Something is not right with your installation if you can smell exhaust. A diesel heater when tuned right doesn't produce much CO but it still produces soot particles that are bad for your health. I use a diesel heater every day, using one right now, and do not get any smell or CO in my living space.

 

[MiSh]

Breathing any type of exhaust from burnt hydrocarbons has to be bad for your health. I returned one of those forced air jet kerosene heaters for that reason. Was running it in a garage with the overhead door open and couldn't believe the stink and smell. Nauseating.

 

[Gueyog8a7]

Something is not right with your installation if you can smell exhaust. A diesel heater when tuned right doesn't produce much CO but it still produces soot particles that are bad for your health. I use a diesel heater every day, using one right now, and do not get any smell or CO in my living space.

Diesel stoves are not the same as normal heaters. The intake and exhaust pipes are actually inside the van because the stove has to be raised to a level to cook on.

Even the wallas instruction manual says to expect a smell which indicates it is not an installation issue if they had to put it in their manual. See this previous post from mikefitz on the subject.

 

[Gueyog8a7]

Breathing any type of exhaust from burnt hydrocarbons has to be bad for your health. I returned one of those forced air jet kerosene heaters for that reason. Was running it in a garage with the overhead door open and couldn't believe the stink and smell. Nauseating.

Yea I get that it is worst than breathing fresh air. I am just wondering how bad. I mean humans have inhaled fumes from campfires since as long as we know and now that is said to be really bad for you too. I am not saying doing what we did in the past is good and sure life expentancy was low in previous times but there were still people that lived to old age.

There are still hunter gatherer societies today I am sure that use fires to cook daily.

I am just wondering how comparatively bad it is. Again I am not advocating exhausting the whole thing like in the video but just wondering about the minor leak I am talking about.

The stove actually also has a stink even when not cooking. I am inhaling it now. It smells like a dirty exhaust pipe even when not burning! I notice it also when in bed as the stove is only a foot or two from my head and the smells just emanate from it.

I really don't get where it is coming from because I sealed as best as I could manage at the time around the intake and exhaust pipes with a heat resistant sealant as well as any seams as mentioned earlier. It just seems to emanate a constant smell in use or even at rest.

I suppose that also leads to another question of whether the smell it emits when not burning anything is harmful or not?

 

[Steve_S]

 

[DPC]

I work in mine underground.
Everything is diesel powered with a few electric exception.
I breath diesel fumes all day.

The biggest concern is the particulates, those penetrate your lungs and get into your blood vessels.
It causes all kinds of issues from lung cancer to heart disease.
Metals from CAT converters also can be detected in blood and studies show they are toxic cumulative toxins

The current levels for emissions are 25PPM of CO for a 8 hour shift and the particulate rules have recently been lowered but I cant quote the spec on that.
Then you get your NOX these causes all kinds of irritation...

You can live in a Diesel exhaust but its bad for you.
Its not like gasoline engine emissions that are actually cleaner but higher in CO in modern emissions controlled engines.
CO is the killer beware of the CO if your running gasoline or diesel equipment