Waste oil heater for my garage.

[Donman]

Nice job! You said that you burned 1 gallon during a 6 hour test burn? That averages 25,000 BTU per hour if used motor oil has 150,000 BTU per gallon. How much of that burn time was at maximum? I thought I read somewhere that these heaters can put out about 50,000 BTU maximum. Does that sound about right?

 

[LetsRoll]

Nice job! You said that you burned 1 gallon during a 6 hour test burn? That averages 25,000 BTU per hour if used motor oil has 150,000 BTU per gallon. How much of that burn time was at maximum? I thought I read somewhere that these heaters can put out about 50,000 BTU maximum. Does that sound about right?

Hello Don, waste motor oil puts out 140,000 BTU per hour burning a gallon of waste oil. But that is at 100% efficiency. The mother earth news stove can not burn at 100% efficiency cause the conical can not produce enough core heat to completely burn all of the waste oil. 6 hours at 140,000 equal 23,333 BTU's. But that is at 100% efficiency. At 50%, that's 11,666 BTU's. There is also no damper in the flue pipe to help keep the heat inside of the stove. That also drops the stoves BTU's. The reason I say 50% efficiency, is cause the stove is coated with soot and the conical is also coated with unburnt waste oil.

 

[meanmerc]

This is a very interesting post, I have been thinking this idea out for quite some time.....I have an old mobile home upright Coleman oil furnace that I wanted to convert to waste oil and I have a waste oil pump too for this project, but not sure if I could use this type of furnace???? Has anybody tried to convert other furnaces before??? Or just build from scratch!

 

[dngspot]

I am not going to try to estimate the btu output of this heater. The design has too may variables to do this in my mind. Its goal is to keep my shop heated. If this is not enough then the basic design has the ability to be upgraded to an inducted air design.

As for a damper, I have given thought to this but it will wait until I install it to the chimney.

The next step is to build a pan and shroud, also to install a fan to the back. For this I am going to cut a 55 gallon barrel in half vertically and stopping 6 inches from the bottom, then cutting it horizontally to each of the vertical cuts. It should look like a "L" from the side. Some of the material will be welded to the top of the barrel to make the vertical side as tall as the heater. The heater will sit in the barrel and the barrel will contain any spills. The back of the barrel will be cut for a fan system.

 

[dngspot]

I brought home a barrel and cut it to make the shroud. I plan on welding it tomorrow.

Here are the additional burner pieces. The lower pan has not been cleaned.

This is the complete burner.

 

[meanmerc]

That looks very good dngspot, great craftsmanship skills!!!!

 

[dngspot]

It is painted and ready for installation. Now I have to find a chimney kit at a reasonable price. Installing it will cost the most.
I used Caterpillar muffler paint for the project. When it cures it will be a little lighter than charcoal grey.
The heater.

The shroud.

 

[radioman]

looking nice . Must be nice to have good weather to pursue projects like that.

 

[LetsRoll]

David...I don't understand the concept behind the shroud. Are you using it for a protective structure? Like to keep heat of the wall behind the stove and off the floor? Or have I totally missed the point?

 

[LetsRoll]

Must be nice to have good weather to pursue projects like that.

I cant complain myself.

 

[gerard]

Earlier someone had mentioned problems with water in the oil. Easily solved with either a Mr Funnel (see home page - they advertise there) or designing a similar set up yourself. hust use a 5 gal metal pail like you did for your oil feed, put a standpipe in it and a drain in the bottom. The water will stay in the bottom and the oil can flow out the standpipe into a secondary bucket and it'll be water free. (Not sure what you can do about antifreeze)

Some pics needed when burning if possible - love to see it in action!!

 

[dngspot]

looking nice . Must be nice to have good weather to pursue projects like that.

Yea, We have had a warm week. Last week the warmest it would get was 18 deg.

 

[dngspot]

David...I don't understand the concept behind the shroud. Are you using it for a protective structure? Like to keep heat of the wall behind the stove and off the floor? Or have I totally missed the point?

I have always been concerned about the place I want to put the heater. It is a 4 foot area between my bench and a refigerator, we all like cold beer in the garage. When I did the test run I ran the oil over in the burner and do not want this on the floor, that is what started the pan idea and the shroud was just a little more protection for the wall.

 

[dngspot]

gerard

I have a 30 gallon drum that I will be storing oil into. I will have something similar to what you described. Water or antifreeze is not a concern as I have complete control of the oil that goes into my heater. I am a 25 year Caterpillar Technician. Today I will be draining 36 gallons of 30w power train oil into a clean pan. There is no chance water will be in that oil. I plan on using mostly 10w hydraulic oil as this area is what I work the most in. Often I will troubleshoot a hydraulic system and for some reason will have to drain off some of that oil or be required to change the oil and filter during some type of repair.

 

[dngspot]

I decided to go ahead and make a conical burner from aluminum. I had a 8 inch diameter piece of aluminum that was 1 inch thick. I just finished the 12 deg cut and still need to machine it for the mount. This will happen tomorrow. Pics will follow when it is done.

 

[dngspot]

Well it is not as warm as it was last weekend, 21 degrees. I wanted to show pics of the flame and the iron burner in operation. It was difficult to get the oil flowing. I am using old motor oil from our personal vehicles. It is very thick when it is this cool. With less wind it was easier to light. Here are the pics at medium burn. It is the best I could do with the oil flow under that temp.

The next pics are looking down the air intake.

 

[dngspot]

The new aluminum burner, I will test this tomorrow. The first 1 inch from the out side diameter is cut at 10 degrees. The rest to the center is at 12 degrees.

 

[dngspot]

The aluminum disk is a total waste of time. The flame would die as soon as I shut the door. The cast iron and steel burner is what I will use from now on.
I started when it was 18 degrees outside. I also put the heater in the in the shroud. The shroud works outstanding. The heater is at 700 degrees and the out side of the shroud is at 50 degrees.
A dampener is a great addition to the system. It makes starting easier. I just shut it to a small opening and less air is pulled in to cool the oil. As the oil heats I open the dampener a bit more. To keep the heat at its full potential I have been running it about 1/2 open.
I have been running this thing outside and keeping the oil flowing it tough below 40 degrees. The oil bucket cools pretty quickly. I think in the shop this will not be much of a problem as there is no wind, and the shop will warm, and warm the oil also.
Yesterday I went out and picked up a 5 inch chimney system, my buddy is using a 4 inch exhaust, so I think I should be okay. I have a few more parts to pick up; I need to go to a heating and supply store to get them. They are a 7 inch roof flashing and storm collar.
For those of you who think I live in a warm climate look at the sky in this pic. We are supposed to have snow tomorrow. Kansas weather changes this way all of the time.

 

[dngspot]

I have some concerns about the oil getting to cold to flow so I have ordered a 25 watt heating pad. It is made by Kats. They make larger units but, if I leave it plugged in I do not want to hold the oil temp to much over 100 deg. Ideally it would be held at 50, that is enough to keep the oil flowing. If my thinking is wrong about the temps feel free to chime in.

 

[Sanfred and Sons]

I have been following your building and testing of the used oil burner with great interest. I have a couple of questions that I hope you may have the answere to.

1. Did you ever consider putting some kind of window or peep hole in the door so you could monitor the burn without affecting the draft. You would also be able to watch the oil level in the conical dish to make sure your flow rate did not exceed the burn rate and overflow the conical dish.

2. Rather than play with the damper in the flue to control the flame at startup why not add a damper to the air inlet pipe?

In order to get a clean burn the air fuel ratio must be just right. If you just wanted a stove that put out a fixed amount of heat then you would need only one adjustment. Since you want to be able to have a variable heat output you need to be able to adjust both the fuel and air to get the burn smoke free. Just my 2 cents worth.

I am really enjoying following along with you. Keep the information coming.