Modified wood stove to burn used oil:

[MotorSeven]

My shop is a quonset 30x36 and uninsulated(cold). I have an old wood burner that is a Buck copy that does a good job of warming it up, but it does like wood. Since I heat the house with wood I decided to start saving my used oil last summer in a $10 like new 55 gal drum.

I rigged up a hook to hold a metal 5 gal bucket:

using 1/4" brass compression fitting(double ended coupler) I drilled a hole in the bucket, added a washer on the outside & inside with JB Weld sandwiched between & tightened it down:

I then added a 1/4" shutoff in line and drilled a 1/4" hole in the top of the stove over the firebox:

First trial I built a regular fire and got it up to about 300 degrees, then I added 3 splits and positioned one under the drip to deflect the oil toward the back center of the stove. I set the DPM(drip per min) to about 180. Where you see the big flame is where a drop just hit and ignited:

 

[MotorSeven]

During the next two hours the stove flue got up to 400 then settled in at about 380:

A little over 2 hours and this is what the flame between drips. Looking up from the floor you can see where the copper line comes into the stove:

And another drip flame:

I did not get a chance to run it further today, but I will post up burn times later. Usually to keep that stove around 400 I had to feed it every 2 hrs, so the oil drip looks promising.

 

[MotorSeven]

when at 380, this is what was coming out of the flue:

Not bad at all as far as smoke.

 

[FTG-05]

I'm going to do something similar here in SW Lincoln county, TN this summer. While we don't get the long cold winters like up north, I'm from AL and I don't do cold. And I'm not huddling in my house like I did this winter, I got too many projects that need doing!

Thanks for the pics, looking forward to more progress reports!

Thanks,

 

[Bob77064]

Good job.

 

[Toddao]

Does the bucket have a lid? To prevent a spill?

 

[MotorSeven]

No lid since I leave it in place and can just add oil as needed. A lid that fit tight would be a pain to get on and off without bending up the copper lines.

I have seen where drip burners have been fabbed up using two cast iron frying pans......kinda a clam shell with holes drilled in the top one. I reckon you would need a torch to get things hot before starting a drip, but the bonus is you would need zero wood.

 

[MotorSeven]

Wow...maybe I need to do some more modding:

Make a Great Waste Oil Burning Stove Heater - YouTube

 

[CalG]

I've not been able to find a happy combination of wood and oil for my stove. It seems like the oil needs lots of air compared to the wood. When the oil burns, the stove starts Huffing, with falmes spitting back out the air intakes.

If the air intakes are opened wide, the wood takes off and burns too hot and too fast...


Oh well, only a few gallons left of the waste oil anyways, guess it will give off it's heat however it does....

I'm gladdened to see your set up woking!

 

[MotorSeven]

You're right, it does suck more air than wood....now I am thinking about a small blower & drip the oil into a cast iron pot with something small in the center of the pot to make the drop splatter. I think I can make it better if I give it more O2.