waste oil or used oil heaters

[stnickstoys]

Hello,
With cold weather coming soon to WI I was wondering if anyone had plans or knew of plans for waste oil or used engine oil heating units for a shop?? I posted this earlier in the year but thought I would try again since we seem to have grown significantly in membership.
Thanks
Nick

 

[rwmeyer]

Hi Nick: I'm not sure where I saw the original post, but I followed a link to "Mother Earth News" and an article printed around '92. I printed it out an here's the address on the bottom of the print-out: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me4.html
It's a waste oil heater made from an old hot water tank & frying pans! When I get some time away from my MANY other projects, I'll tackle it! Hope this is what your lookinfer! Bob

 

[Justaplain]

Go to @gricultureonline.com then to talk/ archives. bcs

 

[JJT]

If you are handy here's a link to a waste oil burner kit. http://www.cyberport.net/russ/benjamin/

 

[gerard]

Northern Machinery has several models in their catalogs ranging from 100Kbtu up to over 400K BTU. One I just read about yesterday says it will burn motor oil, transmission oil, hydraulic fluid etc, just dump it all in. There are wuite a few manufacturers around and if I had a steady supply of used fluids I'd get one in a minute if I had a business/shop etc to heat. Seems like a great idea........

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I'm gonna say this JUST ONCE!
Build it yourself waste oil heaters are a STUPID idea.
I've seen a couple shops burn because of homemade contraptions, and the insurance company doesn't pay when it happens.
If you have a sufficient supply of waste oil, read that an amount equal to the #2 oil you'd need to heat for a year, then buy a real unit.
Shenandoah makes one of the best. Mine has paid for itself 5 times over in 6 years, even though I've run short of waste oil. If you aren't fully conversant with oil burner technology, pay for the service contract the dealer offers, it's well worth the money, and will extend the service life of your unit.

 

[art]

We have been using waste oil heaters in our shops for about 15 years now. We did just buy new ones last year as the older ones needed a little more tlc to keep up with for the time we could devote to them. I get to see a lot of them in NY and there are some I wouldn't touch for the way they burn. They are touchy devils if the oil isn't clean and used up. I would heed Franz's call for caution as the nozzles build up with the additives in the oil and what ever else might get in there by mistake, they need cleaning on our units at about 250 hours of run time. We know these furnaces well and monitor what we feed them closely, for the time we have had them and talking with other owners we have good luck with our Black Golds compared to some of the other makes. With insureance companies being what they are, can you afford to build one that you might have to work on more than a wood furnace and have something that is unreliable.

 

[stnickstoys]

could you send a link? I couldn't get that one to open,
Thanks
Nick

 

[sleepyhollow]

Usually, I'd be really excited about a project with an end goal of reusing a resource, but in the case I have to disagree...

Waste oil seems like a nasty thing to burn. Knowing or not knowing for that matter, the chemical additives that might be present in the oil would prevent me from ever buying one.

Wouldn't want my pets or family near it. IMHO, I think that this stuff is much better recyled/refined rather than simply burned. Given the choice of alternatives like corn stoves, pellet fuel, Natural gas and propane, I think the environment would be better off with one less waste oil heater.

I heat my shop with propane. It's not the cheapest, but it is very clean, maintenance free and does the job quickly. I don't feel guilty using it either. Well, I'll get off my soap box for now
Sleepyhollow

 

[Ozarker]

There is little difference between burning waste oil with it's additives and burning diesel or gasoline with their additives.