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.