Parts of a Kerosene Heater – Labeled Diagram

All 13 parts on the diagram

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Outside 3

Carrying handle Its ends hook into the cabinet on both sides.
Top plate It sits on top of the cabinet, under the handle.
Guard grille It keeps hands and objects away from the burner.

Controls 4

Ignition lever Pushing it also lifts the burner off the wick for a moment.
Wick adjuster knob A higher wick gives a taller flame. All the way down, the flame goes out.
Shut-off knob Works by hand the same mechanism the safety shut-off works by itself.
Safety shut-off A small pendulum inside swings when the heater is knocked. It lets a spring pull the wick down.

Fuel 2

Fuel gauge It shows when the tank is nearly full or nearly empty.
Fuel tank On the round kind the tank is built in. So the whole heater is carried to be refilled.

Wick and burner 4

Burner Rows of small holes let air in to mix with the vapor.
Wick The kerosene turns to vapor at the top of it. The vapor is what burns.
Igniter The batteries power it, so no match is needed.
Batteries The battery case is at the back of the heater.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two independent sources use it or describe the part: Wikipedia, Kerosene heater (text only); US Consumer Product Safety Commission, CPSC Stresses Kerosene Heater Safety (https://www.cpsc.gov/s3fs-public/5052.pdf); Insurance Information Institute, Kerosene Heater Safety (https://www.iii.org/article/kerosene-heater-safety); a service reference for kerosene heaters of several makes (https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6027171); and two owner's manuals for round convection heaters, read as full text on archive.org (https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-7303408 and https://archive.org/details/manualzilla-id-6933229). The two owner's manuals share most of their wording, so they count as one source. No maker is named on the page. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; a schematic of no maker's heater, nothing traced. Licence: own work

How it works

A kerosene heater works much like a large kerosene lamp: a wick lifts kerosene from the tank and the vapor burns in the burner above it. The drawing shows a round one from the front, then cut through.

Read the full guide

Outside first, then inside

Numbers 1 to 8 are what you see from the front: the carrying handle, the top plate, the guard grille round the burner, and on the base the ignition lever, the wick adjuster knob, the shut-off knob and the fuel gauge, over the fuel tank. Numbers 9 to 13 are in the cut-away: the burner standing on the wick, the wick reaching down into the kerosene, the igniter beside the top of the wick, the safety shut-off on the wick's shaft and the batteries at the back.

This is the round convection kind. A radiant heater is box-shaped, with a reflector behind the burner and often a lift-out tank.
Makers' names differ: the burner is also called the chimney, the safety shut-off a tip-over switch. Your heater's manual lists its own parts.

Questions and answers

How does a kerosene heater work?

A round wick soaks kerosene up from the tank. At the top of the wick the kerosene turns to vapor, and the vapor burns inside the burner. Warm air rises from the heater and spreads out in all directions.

What does the wick do in a kerosene heater?

It lifts kerosene from the tank by capillary action, as a lamp wick does. Raising the wick with the adjuster knob makes the flame taller; lowering it all the way puts the flame out.

What is the safety shut-off on a kerosene heater?

A mechanism on the wick's shaft with a small pendulum. If the heater is jarred or tipped over, the pendulum swings, a spring drops the wick and the flame goes out. The shut-off knob does the same by hand.

Do kerosene heaters need batteries?

Only for lighting. The batteries power the igniter, a small coil that glows to light the wick. The heater itself burns without electricity.