| Author | Message | ||
     Ratbuell |
Anyone use one? Trying to kill 2 birds with one stone...heat the garage (or at least keep above freezing for plumbing), and get rid of UMO (used motor oil). Thoughts? Tips? | ||
| Strokizator |
If it burns hot enough you shouldn't get any smoke. I've been intrigued with the homemade brake drum heaters. My only concern would be contaminants in the used oil becoming airborne and being a health hazard (maybe unfounded). I say go for it before possession of a waste oil heater becomes a felony crime against mother earth. | ||
| Just_ziptab |
I tried burning used oil in my wood burning boiler. It worked but horribly sooty with it just burning freely off a pan with a bunch of cobs in it for a wick. Wasn't worth the mess. Course,a spec built unit would be much better/cleaner. | ||
| Etennuly |
I built a two stacked 55 gal drum wood oil stove about ten years ago. Still going strong. Has a rusty patina not unlike a Ulysses muffler  . I used only wood for a few years in NY. state and in Pa. I even had a fire place when I lived in Fl. Here in Tn, wood/waste oil is what I use in my shop assisted by a salamander kerosene heater. On the one I built, the bottom barrel has a door on one end, an oil drip in the middle, the exhaust stack on the far end, a top heat exchange barrel that has the exit stove pipe in the front above the wood burner door, so the heat has to travel full length through both barrels. I have a 300 gallon oil tank that I put waste oil in. The bottom of it sits about a foot higher than the top of the bottom barrel, it is outside about fifteen feet from the building. I put a ball valve on the outlet fitting of the holding tank. It uses 3/8" copper pipe with a couple of coils in it to avoid breakage. Through a hole in the wall to a control ball valve then reduced through 2 feet of 1/8" copper tubing with a 1/16" air hose barb fitting on the end that simply sticks through a small hole in the center of the top of the wood burning bottom barrel. The oil drips onto the center of the wood fire. It burns clean if I get a nice bed of coals going first, but the oil really helps the wood get going, so it runs a little rich until it gets hot. If it is really cold and I am in a hurry to warm it up, a dose of transmission fluid really can make it scream! I found it makes a great booster on wet wood. Get a paper/cardboard/kindling fire started, throw in some heavy chunks of wood and splash it with a cup of dirty ole' transmission fluid. Might take a couple shots over ten minutes or so, but damn that stuff will really go if you splash it in. I run a fairly large metal fan on a stand behind the top barrel to distribute the heat throughout the shop. It has a speed control that allows 0 to 1500 rpms. The fan is to blow the heat off from the top barrel leaving the bottom one to get as hot as you feel comfortable with. I have had them both glowing cherry red.....but that is not a comfortable feeling. I keep a bucket of clean-out ashes for just such a case. Toss in a couple shovels of that to snuff an overheat. I do not run a stove pipe damper. Past events with them made me want to leave it out. I made two swing out 4"x8" doors on the main door for draft control, but found that with oak or normal split hardwoods the doors can be fully open all of the time. Dried hard woods like furniture scraps or dried ash are great for assisting in the burning of tree stump pieces but too hot on their own. I also built in a circulating in floor heat system that works with a water heater. I have yet to use that. The wood/oil is quite cheap, I don't need a higher electric bill for the water heater but, when I am ready, I have designed a stainless third barrel for heating the water for the system if things ever get back to normal so that I have a little time to play with it. Did I mention that my building is all steel with a concrete floor? I would not run this two barrel system in a wood building. It is too wild, if it goes cherry red it gets REALLY hot around it, and not something to trust if you are going to be sleeping or gone from attending it. | ||
| Kenm123t |
Northern Tool Sells waste oil heaters they have 2 sizes nice set up. Vern the less skilled could be introuble with a system like yours | ||
| Griffmeister |
We run three waste oil heaters in our shop and warehouse. Basically a conventional oil burner but with the addition of a pre-heater and compressed air to help atomize the oil. Be aware that waste oil does not burn clean. When set up right it is smoke free but there is still a lot of soot and other debris left after combustion which can build up in the flues and choke off the draft. Usually needs to be cleaned at least halfway through the season. My boss doesn't understand this so every year I'm patching holes blown in the firebox from overheating. Other than that I hope you have a lot of oil, the nozzles are a 1.10 size. | ||
| Etennuly |
Yes sir Kenm123+, that is what I am quick to point out. A double barrel system is not for a rookie fire handler, whether you buy or build. If you could find a way to safely automate it, it would not be efficient. There are some nice furnace models out there but they are quite expensive and yes they will eat up as much used oil as you can find. After safety, automation is the biggest expense. The rig I have burns about a gallon an hour along with what ever wood that gets burned. It will not burn oil alone. So my question is what are you willing to do for so called FREE heat? Do you buy a $4,000 furnace and chase around all of the shops you can find for used oil to haul, handle and store it? If I had a coal or wood furnace I would be investigating a way to install an oil dripper system for sure. My brother-in-law had a huge wood furnace that he used for his only heat source for many years in Northern Pa. It was free heat, but I don't call spending half of the summer cutting and splitting wood fun, so that is an expense. I can see where dripping oil into almost any wood burner would work. Maybe not so much in one that is fully automated. | ||
| Mtjm2 |
Rat , call my friend , Doug Kiser . 443 277 5584 . He has one in his garage and is a mechanical contractor . Can give you a better answer than me . I think the biggest issue would be the price and return of propane or something else . Good luck |
