Shop stove oil drip

[BeezFun]

I've never heard of this, seems kind of dangerous. Oil burns about 400F, way lower than the top of that stove gets with a good fire. But if everyone is doing it, maybe it's safer than it seems. I would think the oil should be injected from the side or front where it's not quite so hot, and have some way of isolating the fuel from the heat of the stove.

There's also nasty stuff in motor oil like heavy metals, do those end up in the ash or going up the chimney?

 

[Stihlrunner]

My waste oil consists of motor oil, atf and gear oil so I think anything that burns with a relatively high flash point would work!

 

[Stihlrunner]

I've never heard of this, seems kind of dangerous. Oil burns about 400F, way lower than the top of that stove gets with a good fire. But if everyone is doing it, maybe it's safer than it seems. I would think the oil should be injected from the side or front where it's not quite so hot, and have some way of isolating the fuel from the heat of the stove.

There's also nasty stuff in motor oil like heavy metals, do those end up in the ash or going up the chimney?

It's not like you are just dumping massive amounts of oil onto the fire. It's a controlled drip/drop that burns completely. There is no visible change in the chimney smoke or ash accumulation. I suppose if you could inject the oil in an atomization it would be even better combustion and I'm sure produce much more heat than the stove/piping could safely handle.

 

[Whatswrong]

I've never heard of this, seems kind of dangerous. Oil burns about 400F, way lower than the top of that stove gets with a good fire. But if everyone is doing it, maybe it's safer than it seems. I would think the oil should be injected from the side or front where it's not quite so hot, and have some way of isolating the fuel from the heat of the stove.

There's also nasty stuff in motor oil like heavy metals, do those end up in the ash or going up the chimney?

If it comes out of the ground and a few chemical engineers get done adding their stuff goddness nows what is in it ,the bases of an air tight stove is to create the secondary burn ,that is where the cleaning comes in to meet EPA standards and get your high energy efficiencies,the polutants are burned there and inside those stoves when that burn is working good it is so hot that even Sam McGee couldn't stand it ,all you have to do is open the door to add wood and you feel it ,don't worry about polutants they get burned.

 

[Whatswrong]

Ironically the stove pipe isn't exceptionally hot ,I use a double wall pipe and the top 3 feet isn't much more than to warm to touch comfortably,I only burn wood ,mostly scrap.

 

[LD1]

Very nice job.

I have one on my barrel stove. I had an old 20 or 30 (can remember now) gallon air tank. I mountend it vertical on the post closes to the stove and a ball valve with some old steel brake line and I was in business.

Its like killing two birds with one stone......getting rid of old oil AND adding heat.

To answer some of the other questions......

With the ball valve (or his needle valve) the adjustment is infinite. Anywhere from off to full stream. Sometimes when getting a fire first going, I will open it all the way to aid. And then back it down once I get the fire going.

And yes, it does really add alot of heat.

Oil types....all kinds. Anything that goes into my oil pan, goes into the fire. Hydraulic, transmission, motor oil, gear lube, brake fluid, you name it.

I've never had a problem with the top of the stove getting too hot for the oil not to work. I think it has something to do with room temp oil constantly running down the tube keeping it cool. IE..stove gets hot, but tube dont get so hot.

Stihlrunner, I would offer one sugestion to you though:

Put the valve at the tank and not at the stove. That way it isnt too hot to adjust. Or even just the radiant heat off the top of the stove on the back of your hand. Also, when you close it off, you are probabally boiling the oil in the tube above the valve, and that may give you fits. With the valve at the tank, when you shut it off, the line clears out.

 

[MotorSeven]

SR thanks for posting this. I researched them a few years ago then got busy with other things. I am now going to scrounge up a tank and modify my stove in the shop like you did and save some wood.

 

[Stihlrunner]

Thanks for the input. I do have a ball valve at the tank, mainly to turn off the supply when I leave the shop without messing up the needle valve adjustment. However I have found the needle valve needs to be adjusted anyway when the oil is cold and then needs to be metered a bit after shop heats up.

I agree on location of needle valve on hindsight I would have put it inline or up higher but it isn't unbearable where it is.

 

[clemsonfor]

There's also nasty stuff in motor oil like heavy metals, do those end up in the ash or going up the chimney?

If this was a problem they would not be allowed to leagally produce and sell "waste oil furnaces" for shops. You can buy a commercially produced and sold unit that will do just this. I dont think i would want to have my face in the smoke consistantly but wifts and such not a problem i would not think, and just wash your hands after handling the ash, and i would not throw ash on my property, i would bag and take to the dump.

 

[muddstopper]

We used to do this with a barrel stove also. The oil tank was a 5gal bucket with the top cut out. This made pouring the used oil in the tank pretty easy from a drain pan. We would put the biggest stick of wood we could find or fit into the stove and let the oil drip onto it. One stick of wood would last a couple of days. I dont remember much ash, altho I am sure there was some. I guess when burning mostly oil there shouldnt be much ash to dispose of.