Almost time to fire up the waste oil furnace

[stnickstoys]

Hi all,
Down to 38 degrees here last night, going to be time to fire up the waste oil furnace again soon in the shop. Still didn't get my ceiling in this summer. Did get a different burner style started. Better hurry up and get it done! Going for a forced air burn this time rather than just a draft. Hoping for the claimed "no smoke" burn rather than the dirty, sooty, smoky burn I've been getting lately. Going to have the neighbors talking if I keep going. They will think I"m burning tires to stay warm!
Will let you know how it goes.
Nick

 

[djradz]

Of course we'll want pictures! What seems to be the problem with smoking? I thought you had it pretty well set.

Are you just looking to add a little blow-dryer/hair-dryer style of fan for "forced air".

 

[slowrev]

Just curious , Does synthetic oil burn ok in a waste oil furnace ?

Ben

 

[stnickstoys]

Going to try the hair dryer this time because I can buy one for $9 at Wal Mart. Really want to go variable speed blower someday but will try the hair dryer to get me going. I revised my burner design over the summer. Fired it up yesterday for the first time. First try I lit it with a kerosene soaked paper shop towel, hit the air, started the oil drip and had a huge flame. I let it get good and hot then I tried backing the oil off a bit and it quit almost right away. It seems like it's so much more hungry for oil with all of that air that if I back it off it just wants to go out. I'll have to mess around with the settings to see if I can get it regulated. Of course, we were back to a day of 75 and humid on Friday. Wierd WI fall weather. Turn on the furnace in the morning to chase the chill from the house, turn on the AC by 2pm to get the heat/humidity out.
Later
Nick

 

[ealasimi]

I have been burning regular and synthetic , the synthetic seems to burn better. The blower you are using might be forcing too much air, I use a small fan from a heater and blow air across the inlet, not down into it. Works very well. I was going to modify my burner but it works so good why fix something that is not broken. I did change my middle plate to a cast iron pump part. Will post photos next time I clean the unit.