Heating with waste oils

[CTyler]

I am curious as to why you cut down the tank. Seems to me this cuts down your heating surface area and reduces its efficiency.

I've been looking into these for a while now. The home made units a similar to the Mother Earth furnace. Peeps keep improving them. The one I'm looking at is using brake drums,
it already has the holes.


With respect to the last post, those tanks are not thin tin metal. The thin stuff you normaly see only holds the insulation around the tank.

 

[ealasimi]

Cutting the tank was because the plans had used a short tank, a taller should work, need to experiment. To tall might cause a draft problem. Also the intake tube would have to be lengthened. I welded a 1/8 plate to the bottom, wire feed did the job nicely.
The burning is mostly contained under the funnel and is forced out the bottom, this is the reason I installed the fire brick. The sides were taking all the direct flame. I am planning on installing fire brick or fire crete to the inside of the door. Will install a high temp gasket around door opening also. All this material is in the fireplace/stove section of the local home center.

There have been problem areas developing as more burn time is given to the stove, not big ones, but they will be addressed on the next stove I plan on making.

Making the stove out of a steel pipe 20 inches or larger in diameter,
Using a better quality cast iron fry pan for the top of burner, used a cheap imported one, it is starting to bend a little. Break drums may be the solution.
Used a cast iron instead of steel on bottom pan , that one is also bending, I plan on using a 10 inch steel and lining it with fire crete about ½ inch thick. Again brake drums might be the solution.
The funnel is also showing fire damage. Getting something at least 1/8 thick would help there.
Putting an air chamber or something inside or around the stove with a fan to blow air, this stove creates large amounts of heat; many BTU’s are going up the chimney. Installing a dampener plate in the flue stops the fire from complete combustion. Thus causing black smoke. This stove needs lot of air.
I am in the process of putting the burner into a wood stove that already has a fan on it, need to cut hole in top so intake will work, the stove has a fire crete lining and a cast iron door I would then be able to burn wood by taking the burner out.
I have time to experiment on modifications. The burner seems to be doing a very good job will not change the basic design. Will keep posting.

 

[stnickstoys]

I'm excited to hear your developments and ideas. I am a shop teacher as well as a grey market dealer and have been following the development of this string with my welding students. I have a couple that want to do a little R&D on the burner and stove design as you have and are looking forward to building their own. I will post and include pics as we develop our ideas. I agree that I too thought that the burner would slowly self destruct due to thinner materials if it is getting as hot as you mentioned. Red hot cycles on and off would be hard on any lighter metals It would seem for longevity the brake drums would be much heavier and more durable. I too have heard of that idea before in my research of waste oil stoves. Please keep posting your developments!
Thanks again for posting in reply to my original post
Nick

 

[ealasimi]

Nice to here that there are others doing some R&D. Here are some ideas I am running through my head for cheap/free available materials. Getting a old cylinder sleeve from a large equipment repair shop for the funnel. It is made to take a large amount of heat. Some are a least 8 inches in diameter. Welding a plate on top with a hole for the intake pipe. Or getting some steel piping in the 8 to 10 inch dia. would also work. I don't think it needs to be in a shape of a funnel, just be able to cover the burner.

 

[stnickstoys]

Started my "Mothers" heater tonight. I swung by my local hardware/appliance store and asked if they had any water heaters they were getting rid of. The let me pick from about 10 on their dock that was headed for scrap. I got a nice 50 gal unit as well as an old furnace. I plan on stripping the case of the furnace as well as the big blower. I will put my heater inside half of the case to help direct the air past my heater and move it around the shop.
I stripped off the tin outer shell of the heater and found a bunch of foam stuck to the tank. It wasn't insulated with fiberglass as the old ones were, it looked like foam was injected after the case was on and it filled every little gap. I pulled the tin off and then took my hammer claw and started scraping off the foam stuck to the tank. I now have foam scraps all over the shop floor but it clean off pretty well in about 20 minutes. I will go after it with my wire wheel on the angle grinder to clean it up a little more. The tank appears sound and I'm ready to start cutting as soon as I buy some more blades for my sawzall. Can't wait to get to the hardware tomorrow to get my burner parts and sawzall blades. Will try to update as I go. My only concern right now is figuring out how to make a door from the square I cut out of the side so I can get a tight fit.
Later,
Nick

 

[CTyler]

There are a couple things you can do. You could weld or rivet a flange inside the tank or put the flange on the door itself.

 

[ealasimi]

When I made the door I cut the hinge side first. Then welded two hinges over the cut. Then cut the remain three sides, that way the door would be straight to the hole. Tacked some 1/8 by one strap on the inside of hole to stop the door from going into the stove, will glue some fireproof gasket material for a seal. Don't really need it for stove operation, but does give piece of mind not to see the flames in the stove. I installed my burner into woodstove this weekend, worked very well, still making adjustments. Will keep posting and photos.

 

[djradz]

When and why did you decide to put the burner in a woodstove? Last I recall you were proposing to build a heavier duty oil burner from a tank or cylinder. What kind of stove did you end up using?

 

[ealasimi]

Back a couple posts I mentioned, I had a woodstove that had a fan in it. I installed it in the stove to see if there were any problems with the burner installed in other applications. My intake pipe is about 12 inches long with only about 6 inches actually in the fire chamber. Seemed to work, but did get some black smoke out the chimney. I am getting plenty of heat from stove.
Some other notes, looking for brake drums that are small, 6 to 8 inches in diameter for the burner, will be making some visits to local brake shops.
Thinking of using a stainless steel mixing bowl for funnel. The kind that is on my wife's Kitchen Aid Mixer might be the perfect size. I'll see if I can find one at a junk shop, before I use hers.

 

[djradz]

Why not the brake drum idea for the funnel, or would that be too heavy. It already has a hole in the center. You could use a steel pipe with a flange to support it and another flange bolted to the top of the stove/tank. If not, there are often cheap stainess pots and pans for sale at grocery and discount stores. In any case, watch out, some stainless is pretty thin and cheap also. Just because it's stainless doesn't mean it won't corrode or deteriorate. I think I'm on my umteen'th burner for my propane barbeque, and they've all been stainless but corroded.