Modified wood stove to burn used oil:

[MotorSeven]

IT, yes, I think they use a coil inside a vessel that the hot water is circulated through.

Todays fun:
Started a fire at 11:00 and put a little more cedar & hemlock in than usual, than a couple of chunks of walnut on top & let the oil drip. Shop was just above freezing & by 1pm it was 55, then by 2:30 it was 65. On the second load of wood flue temps went to 600, stove top was at 840 so I closed down the air intakes until it calmed down a bit. Three loads today until 6pm when I shut it down. I have never been able to get temps this high, so I am really liking the oil even using it at this low tech drip.

 

[muddstopper]

We where doing this 30+years ago. We used a barrel stove, 2in bung had a nipple screwed in it with a flat piece of metal hung over the end to open and close the air intake. 3/4 in bung at the top was drilled and tapped for a 1/4 steel pipe screwed into it to reach the middle of the barrel. Other end of pipe had a fitting for a copper line to attach. line ran to a 5gal bucket hung on the wall. A pitcock to control oil flow. We would throw the biggest chunk of wood we could fit in the stove, start the oil dripping straight down on the wood. Throw in some paper and a match and let'er rip. We could sometime burn that same chunk of wood for 3 or 4 days before having to add anymore wood. If the stove started huffing and puffing, just turn down the oil flow.

 

[MotorSeven]

Huffing & Puffing....that is exactly what mine was doing when it was on afterburner. I backed off the drip a little & closed the air a bit & it stopped breathing & temps came down.

 

[mx842]

Cool thread.......I have thought about doing something like this for years but never could find the time to work on it. I always had plenty of used oil too and for awhile I had to pay someone to come pick it up just to have the piece of paper in house that said I had disposed of it properly for when the fire department came by once a year for their annual inspection. Thankfully as the years passed they found out how to recycle it and then we had people come buy and pick it up for free if you had to have at least 250 gals. I remember thinking every time that guy came by and hauled off all that burnt motor oil about all that free heat I had just given away...........especially if it was close to the time that the propane guy had come by to fill up that 500 gal propane tank.LOL

My shop on the main drag is closed now and I'm working on an old wood stove that has an old 30 gal boiler sitting on top of it that I want to make enough hot water to supply the pex in my floor for my heat. I've done several mods to it and with each mod it has gotten better but it still is not making enough heat to get the water where I want it. So far all I have done is burn up a ton of wood and the shop is still cold.

Right now I have it shut down and am in the process of adding some airlines to the inside of the firebox and making the firebox more airtight than it was. This might be a good time to add in a splash plate and plumb in a drip tube so that I can start using up the oil that I have been carrying off to the dump to get rid of. I still have one of those old 275 gal waste oil tanks out back I used to use at the old shop. It is probably 1/3 full and I was wondering what I was going to do with it. I had been burning it in brush piles to get them started but now I think I may have found a solution to that problem.

Thanks OP for making this thread now I have another project to add to my pile I already have. But...... this one came at a good time while I already have my stove all apart and it shouldn't take to much time to rig up something to incorporate into my repair.

 

[MotorSeven]

MX, yes I think you are on the right track, add forced air and you should be able to come up with enough heat to get that water way hot.

 

[cqaigy2]

Careful not to make the water turn to steam all at once. You would probably be alright if it happened inside the stove, assuming it's strong enough to take the pressure. I think i remember seeing seeing water jackets with tubes running straight thru so that the flames/hot gasses, would go thru. Increasing the surface area and also less of an issue with vapor lock and water flashing to steam.

One of these days im going to dig out that old coal stove and rig one of these up in my shop.

 

[mx842]

There is not much chance of that happening cause it's an open system. Well, I say that in a relative sense because I guess anything is possible.LOL
When I first hooked it up I filled it with good dry wood scraps and some nice dry oak I had been saving just for this occasion. I threw in a bunch of paper and cardboard I had laying around and topped it off with about a quart and a half of old burnt motor oil I had from the last oil change in the wood splitter, threw a match in and shut the door and opened the draft holes in the bottom. It wasn't long until it was roaring pretty good but the water never did get hot. I mean, it never got too hot as long as the pump was running so I threw in some more dry wood and shut the pump down and closed the valve to the pump. After about 10 minutes I could see that some pressure was starting to build and it wasn't long after that, that the 30 lb safety valve started to open so I opened the valve to the pump to let off the pressure before the safety valve popped off completely and blew scalding water all over the place.

That was the hottest I ever saw her and it didn't take too very long for it to cool way down once I opened the valve and started the pump. This gave me enough faith that it might be possible with a few mods I may be able to get this setup working well enough to make do until I had the time to get my other boiler put together. I did a couple mods and with each one it did preform a little better but still not where I was all that happy with it.

Right now it's still all apart and now after a week of trying to fix chicken poo and turn it into chicken soup I wish I had scrapped the whole front of the stove and just started with a new piece of plate rather than try to get by with what I had. The piece of plate that was on there came off really twisted and I thought I could beef it up a little and add some thickness here and there and in the end, end up with something I could bolt back up and make workable. I never was able to get it completely straight but I think it will bolt back up and hopefully I'll be able to seal it up to where it is relatively air tight. I had a nice piece of 1/2" plate I could have used but that would have meant I would have had to drill out all those flange holes about (40) in all and I didn't want to bother with having to do that but now drilling those holes would have took a lot less time than I have in trying to save what I had.

Hopefully today I will finish running my air tubes inside the firebox and get the front plate bolted back on. I still have to make some kind of a latch system for the new door that I had to make.....long story there I'll talk about maybe another time.LOL I spent almost two days building the door and the hinge system because everything is made out of scraps that I had to cut or weld together then cut to make fit.

I spent a day and a half trying to make that black iron pipe that I was going to use for air supply but no matter how I worked it it was just too big and took up too much room inside the already too small firebox so I had to scrap that idea and decided to go with 1" square tube I had laying around the shop. They were all short pieces that I had to weld together to make long enough but for what I'm going to use it for it should work just fine, it's just a pain to have to do stuff this way. I've been taking a few pics along the way and hopefully will get them posted once I finally get it all back together and working. Trying to beat the clock now more snow and cold coming later this week.

 

[wawajake]

I too hated giving away used oil (from all my vehicles oil changes)and was convinced by TBN to try burning it. At first I just had a pail open on floor and soaked cardboard in the pail and randomly threw the oilsoaked cardboard in the garage woodstove fire when wood fire was well established.....that is a hot fire and very messy way though and takes long to go thru much oil in a winter.
So lately I went simplistic and was suprised at outcome. I had an old 12 inch cast iron fry pan . With my firebox empty I place the frypan in the woodstove and mix one capfull of gasoline in with enough oil to almost fill the fry pan one inch deep.I open the flue damper , I leave the woodstove door open and light the frypan with a propane torch. Open the air damper , close the woodstove door and I have a fire for 20 minutes to warm up the 24 x 24 garage , I need to do that two or three times to get comfortable heating result. I do like the pail setup the original poster had with simple drip, but I don't like it is so obvious what I am doing. Some folks and relatives frown on the pollution aspect, but I see no major problem . I burn in evenings after dark. Saves me on wood when I just need a quick fire for an hour or two project in garage. Keep the ideas coming !!! thanks !

 

[mx842]

Sorry for the highjack!! some times I get carried away when talking about this kind of thing.

 

[MotorSeven]

Hey no problem MX, I am hoping to see your contraption produce....keep working on it.