Heating with waste oils

stnickstoys · Dec 31, 2002

Hello again,
I was wondering if any of you are burning waste oil in your shops/tractor hiding places? I am considering heating my shop with a waste oil furnace and have seen many plans to build heaters. I am considering building since the cheapest store-bought unit I can find is around $2000.
Would anyone be interested in sharing their waste oil heating ideas?
Thanks
Nick

beenthere · Dec 31, 2002

Sound like a good idea, and wondered if you would share the plans that you are considering for your fabricated unit.

What would the high cost of a waste oil heating unit be a result of? And is there any particular need for some kind of a separator to "clean" the oil before burning?

WVBill · Dec 31, 2002

There was a lively discussion of this topic on TBN not too long ago <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.tractorbynet.com/cgi-bin/compact/showthreaded.pl?Cat=&Board=projects&Number=201417&Search=true&Forum=All_Forums&Words=oil%20heat&Match=Entire%20Phrase&Searchpage=0&Limit=50&Old=allposts&Main=201417> in this thread </A>.

stnickstoys · Jan 1, 2003

As I collect drain or waste oil from my tractors I run it through a large funnel I made that has a set of screen trays that I made in it. First layer is window screen, then a finer mesh and finally a layer of shop wrag or old t shirt material. These sit down in my funnel and are easily removed for cleaning if necessary. Also makes a great place to drain filters. My system does not remove liquid impurities only solids. I save my oil in 35 gallon plastic drums as I can lift those when I have to move them. I am using an old standing fuel oil barrel as my supply for my planned heating unit. I will probably build the mother earth news unit from a water heater and later build and line my own firebox/heat exchanger and use the burner plans (Little Dragon)from Russ Benjamin that can be found at www.cyberport.net/russ/benjamin
I may just try the mother earth news one first because of its simplicity and economics for now. The other unit I can be building while the simple one keeps me warm.

I agree with others that sometimes it is better to buy presently produce models but I like to build my own projects and am confident in my abilities. After all, those store bought units started out as someone's idea too!!

Look forward to hearing from anyone with their own ideas.
Thanks
Nick

heehaw · Jan 2, 2003

i have seen a lot of garages that use a stove made from a 55 gal barrel, then they put a little piece of copper tubing in the top, that goes to a small tank. they dump the used oil in the tank, there is a valve on the copper line, i guess the oil drips into the stove?? one such stove had a large piece of metal inside the stove that the oil dripped onto..and they burned wood under the large piece of metal..they said they used very little wood as long as they had used oil??
heehaw

Bird · Jan 2, 2003

Garages?/w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif When I was a kid, for several years the only stove we had in the house was an old potbellied woodburning stove, but instead of wood, we had a 25 gallon kerosene tank on a little wooden stand behind the stove and the copper tubing and valve like you're talking about to drip the kerosene into the stove; just light a wad of paper in the bottom of the stove and open the valve just enough for a slow drip. Of course, after several years, one day a burning ember went up the stovepipe, came down on the roof, and burned a hole right down through the middle of the house./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif After the repairs is when Dad bought a Dearborn gas heater and hooked it up to the butane tank./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

JJT · Jan 2, 2003

I have seen an oil drip added to a wood burning stove as a means of getting rid of waste oil and gaining a few BTU's, but the main heat source was wood and the drip wasn't turned on unless there was a decent wood fire burning. I have my doubts about getting much heat out of a dedicated oil drip, (or anything approaching complete combustion). I think you need a nozzle/injector and an air source to get a clean burn and a decent amount of heat out of waste oil.

ealasimi · Jan 12, 2003

I just completed the Mother Earth burner. It works very well, I mix #2 diesel fuel with the waste oil so I get better flow and burnability. 1 qt. to 5 qts oil. I did make some changes to the plan. I used 3 inch exhaust pipe for the tube going into the stove instead of 4 inch duct as per plan. Also made a funnel out of an old freon tank bottum to cover the burner. All this was for thicker material. The stove was creating so much heat I thought it would burn up the thinner metals. I also lined the bottum walls with fire brick, because the wall of the tank were getting red hot. I am going to build another with 20 inch pipe and install air tubes going through the stove and install a fan to blow air. There is no smoke when this stove is burning, and it is producing a large amount of heat. I will keep trying to modifiy the stove to get all the heat into my shop.

JJT · Jan 12, 2003

Excellent news. I have a ton of questions:

How big is the shop you are heating?

How much oil are you burning, (per hour or day)?

How much did the materials cost and how long did it take to put it together?

Would you do it again?

ealasimi · Jan 13, 2003

My shop is 15X30, some insulation but not completely done.
The temps were in the 10's yesterday and in the morning the shop was about 25 degrees, I heated the shop to 50 degrees in about 2 hours with in heater going at less than full flow on the oil. This was a comfortable working temp for me. I am using about a gallon every hour and a half.
Total cost of materials is under $30, water heater was free, the burner parts cost about $5, new 2 ft. exhaust pipe $5, freon tank free, some perilite/ mineral wool (in fireplace dept at home center) for the burner and fire brick $15, misc metal and welding materials. It took me about 10 hours to build the heater, if you have access to welding and cutting equipment. I will post some photos when I get access to camera. This type of heater is good for an area were you are able to keep an eye on it, it does need some adjustment on the flow.
I will do it again and install air tubes and fan to get more heat in to the shop. I have most everything I need. waiting on the pipe. Will keep posting.