Heating with waste oils

[stnickstoys]

Here's why I'm trying to get my stove done. A high of -1 degrees today.
/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif
Nick

 

[CTyler]

Here is a pic of the deflator. The air source connects to the threaded peice. The suction is createc on the long end.

 

[CTyler]

Another pic without the extention, it works without it.

 

[ealasimi]

Nick, very impressive burner. I suggest you shorten the extra threads you have sticking up from the top bolts. When you need to take it apart to clean those threads will be covered with residue making it difficult to remove the nuts. I would cut them to the top of the nuts.
I have found it helpful to have some oil kept in a warm place for your first burn of the day, it flows better.
What do you plan on using for the cover funnel, make that adjustable up and down if you can, once you start to burn you will find it helpful in getting the best burn.
Keep on inventing, just be careful.

 

[stnickstoys]

Thanks for the tip on the bolts. That was an oversight on my part, glad I didn't have to learn the hard way. I too thought that a little warm oil would make start up easier. Glad to know that. I am going to make my reservoir out of an old stainless steel milking machine bucket that I rigged up with a spigot. Will post more pics of that when I get done. I plan on mounting the bucket nearby the heater so the oil warms quickly . The stainless is fairly thin and would transmit the heat neaby to the oil quickly. Right now my air intake and funnel is just stove pipe. I made that first to mess with size and adjustments. I plan on making one out of heavy square tubing that I have laying around. Much easier to design a funnel shape out of squared off triangles with 1/8 thick steel than rolling it to a funnel shape. I don't have a roller or the skills to make a funnel that way. I just hope a more square funnel over the burner will work. If not, maybe I will redesign the burner to a more square shape. If you have any ideas I'd like to hear them /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Nick

 

[ealasimi]

I had better success with the freon tank cut in half than the fabricated funnel. A bucket turned upside down was something I was going to try. You can find those in heavy gauge and stainless. I have burned up one half of freon tank and working on the other half, so I need to find something soon. Something the same in diameter as the bottom of the burner seems to work the best. Something that goes over the top and down over the sides seems to work better also. Making it square might cause some bending of the flat sides, but we will never find out until we try.
I found out that when I used the burner in the woodstove, there is a baffle in it to force the smoke around to the front of stove before it goes up the flue. This was causing problems with the oil not burning well. I cut a 3 inch hole in the baffle so the draft would go straight to the flue. This hole needs to be at least as big as the flue. I said it before, this burner needs lots of air. I am going to cut the hole larger this weekend. Keep on going!!!!!

 

[stnickstoys]

Fired mine up last night for the first time. Didn't try to go full bore with it only heated it up for about an hour. At first light the smoke wanted to come up the intake pipe. I just took my air hose and gave it a quick puff to get it going the other way. As soon as it started warming it went as planned. Do you extend your copper tube down into the intake a little way? I noticed that the air turbulence in the intake pipe caused the oil to blow on the insides of the pipe and then I got little flare ups into the intake pipe until those oil droplets were quickly burned off approximately half way up the pipe. I wonder if it was because I wasn't running a very heavy stream of oil trying to keep it low heat on the first burn? I don't know what to do with the intake funnel idea. I didn't open the door after burning to see what kind of shape it was in, got too late last night. I too thought about the whole bucket idea. I didn't think that would be any thicker than your freon tank bottom? I'm going to take my funnel and intake pipe to the local welding shop and see if they have any ideas. My intake funnel is just slightly larger than the burner top, about 1" dia bigger and just slightly extends below the bottom edge of the top burner brake drum. Do you extend yours down over the entire burner including the bottom pan?
More R&D----fun!
/forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifNick

 

[ealasimi]

My "funnel" does go down over the complete burner. The best burn I get is when the bottum of funnel is about 1 to 1 1/2 inches above the top of the bottum pan. I adjust mine by the sound of the air going down into the burner. The more I hear the air the better the burn rate. I too will have the oil start to burn in the intake. The flame is more blue colored than yellow when it burns there. This is a sign of better burning of the oil. I have my tube down in the intake about 1/2 inch, does not seem to make much diference were in the pipe it is. Remember that most of your intake pipe is in direct contact with the flames so this will cause the pipe to heat up causing oil to burn when it touches it. To me this is a good thing. As long as the draft is going well, everthing will get sucked into the stove.
The back up of smoke might be related to the burner not being covered enough. The only time I have had it back up when it was very windy or my chimney was not heated up.

 

[djradz]

Mother Earth suggests starting a little paper fire in the back of the stove before lighting the oil, just to get the flue pipe to draw, then light the oil.

 

[stnickstoys]

I've been doing the paper lighting thing correctly. Last night it worked for the first time without backing up the intake pipe, wind probably from a different direction. I'm not sure how to get this thing to quit smoking so black though once up and running. It looks like I'm burning tires in there. Lots of heat, very aggressive fire, I can hear the air rushing in the intake but still getting a lot of smoke. The flame is a bright yellow with a few flickers of blue so I don't believe it's burning hot enough yet to stop smoking. I'm thinking a couple more turns in the copper tubing to preheat the oil a little more may help. I'm wondering how tightly I need to get the seal on my door. If that's leaking would it cause more smoke?? It's only 5 degrees in my shop last night when I started heating. It only took about 20 minutes to get comfortable as long as I didn't move too far away /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif I may have to adjust the height of my intake funnel as well. Trying to figure out what I should adjust first. Will try a couple more turns of copper first tonight when I get home.
Nick