Natural Gas Space Heaters

[Michael R.]

I am looking at a rehab in the hood and it does not have a furnace or any duct work. It has natural gas connections in most of the rooms. The seller said that space heaters get mounted on the wall and connected to the natural gas. I have never seen this before and I like it because if I have a vacancy I can pull the heaters and they wont get stolen. Plus I can get and install them for really cheap. I am nervous that they dont vent to the exterior and I know they can be a fire hazard if not used correctly. However this seems to be how the house was built. Dont think I could install a furnace and ducts in this house. Any one have experience with these? Are my worries justified?

[Shanequa J.]

I grew up with this type of heat. Normally each room has a heater and no it is not vented outside. It doesn't seem like it would heat the whole house but it does. Problems- the container gets really hot (someone could get burned), some of them are open in the front (a child could stick something in it), the flame could blow out while the gas is still flowing. Make sure you install a natural gas detector. Your insurance is going to be higher because of the open flames.
You can install duct work but youre not going to immediately recoup the costs from the rent. If gas heaters are normal in the neighborhood, I would keep them.