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Has anyone built a waste oil heater

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Robert gilbert, Oct 28, 2008.

  1. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    Anyone ever build one? I m thinking of trying to make one from scratch torpedo style or from an old oil furnace. Has anyone made one for there shop or have one . I think you could adapt an old oil furnace if you use parts from the waste oil unit. I was looking at one the other day and its really close in how it works .I think i wouldnt leave it on if i wasnt around but it could be done !
     
    Last edited: Oct 28, 2008
  2. LabRat
    Joined: Jan 10, 2008
    Posts: 1,551

    LabRat
    Member

    Guy in the workshop next door built one , worked great . The smell of parafin was pretty strong but you get used to it and you have to put it outside to shut it down cause it smoked badly .
     
  3. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    What was it made from ? how did it work ? Was it a converted wood stove ?
     
  4. plym49
    Joined: Aug 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,802

    plym49
    Member
    from Earth

    I have seen many sites on the internet that describe how to build one. They seem to require a lot of work to be able to handle the slag byproducts of combustion and other problems.

    You can purchase commercial units that burn waste oil but they are expensive. They usually use good filtering, preheating of the oil, and compressed air to squirt the oil through to minimize soot and slag. They still require occasional cleaning but they do work.

    I recall a home-brew design for a waste oil heater from back in the day. The feed was a tube that dripped oil onto the center of an old cast iron frying pan. The flow was controlled by a valve so that it dripped out at just the right rate. The flame burnt in the center of the frying pan. A foot or so above the frying pan there was a stove pipe elbow. The stove pipe then ran horizontally for a ways, then used two more elbows to turn back. It zigzagged back and forth a few times, and then up and out through the roof of the shop. In operation, the first few feet of stovepipe would glow red hot. When clinkers built up in the frying pan, it was taken outside and beat with a hammer. I guess that for waste oil, you either need a whole lot of sophisticated technology or plain simple blacksmith-grade stuff.
     

  5. temper_mental
    Joined: Oct 22, 2006
    Posts: 2,718

    temper_mental
    Member
    from Texas

    My ass hole neighbor who fucks my allergies up built one .He actually is a nice guy but I hate that oil burning stove he built .
     
  6. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    know thats funny but it didnt help much
     
  7. Gerg
    Joined: Feb 27, 2006
    Posts: 1,828

    Gerg
    Member

    my uncle built one out of a propane tank some copper lines and a couple of cast iron pots the thing is nuts heats his shop a little too well i have seen 85 degrees in there when its -10 outside and it's only been running for an hour the hardest part is to regulate the amount of fuel you are putting into the stove
     
  8. t-town-track-t
    Joined: Jan 11, 2006
    Posts: 884

    t-town-track-t
    Member
    from Tulsa

    we use a commercially built one at the garage I work at. Its like free heat from all the oil changes we do. I have not inspected the interior working of it that close, but I can tell you that it has a pump that flows through an oil filter, and then to a regulator before what I assume is some type of injector inside the combustion chamber. The pressure is very low, 3lbs I believe. It also requires an external compressed air source. It only ever smokes if you forget to hook up the air before you fire it off. Other than that, there is no smell and no smoke.

    Hope some of this info helps.

    Have you thought about looking over at garagejournal.com for a possible post of it over there? Its the garage counterpart the the HAMB.
     
  9. plym49
    Joined: Aug 9, 2008
    Posts: 2,802

    plym49
    Member
    from Earth

    Yes, that is one of the potential problems. As the oil heats, it gets thinner, so flows faster. Then the flame gets too high. So you back it off, and then the oil gets cooler, and then the flame gets too low.

    The commercial units sove this problem. The home-built rigs I've seen on the internet handle it in various ways, to greater or lesser success.
     
  10. Gerg
    Joined: Feb 27, 2006
    Posts: 1,828

    Gerg
    Member

    well he had a regulator on it but it was like 80 bucks the most expensive part of the whole thing but it went to hell after only a month so now he regulates it with a valve that he just opens and closes but like you said it gets hot then you have to turn it down it's like a never ending battle
     
  11. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    what if the oil drum was out side in the cold and run into the building ( gravity feed ) wouldnt that keep it cold
     
  12. Gerg
    Joined: Feb 27, 2006
    Posts: 1,828

    Gerg
    Member

    it gets hot in the line and flows faster but i suppose that would slow it down some if it was sitting outside
     
  13. Goztrider
    Joined: Feb 17, 2007
    Posts: 3,066

    Goztrider
    Member
    from Tulsa, OK

    Dad had a wood stove built out of 22" semi truck split rims that he had an old gallon metal can rigged to the top of it. He cut out a large portion of the top of the can - except where the handle sat - and brazed a tube with a shut off valve into the bottom of the can. He hung it over the top of the stove and filled it with used oil.

    We'd stick wood in the stove and it didn't matter how wet it was - that oil drip would get those split rims glowing cherry red, and the ensuing smoke would slow traffic down out in front of the shop when the wind was blowing just right!

    That stove was an awesome setup, and I'll use something similar when I build the stove to go into my shop. The place wasn't insulated well, and was about 60x80. We'd build a fire and feed it all day, then shut the air off to the stove around 5 pm. We'd lock the doors and come back the next morning and it'd still be 30-40 degrees inside when it was in the low teens to single digits outside.

    Of course, we'd always fight over who was going to work next to the stove.....
     
  14. Jay Rush
    Joined: Jan 3, 2007
    Posts: 508

    Jay Rush
    Member

    In are old shop we had a old wood stove that we rigged up a system to drip oil on the fire it was really redneck but it worked and got rid of our old oil
     
  15. I am getting closer to finishing mine. I started on it 3 years ago, but too many projects, other shops to work in, etc, relegated it to "behind the shed" status. This year I'm going to be back in my own garage, and I have alot of work to do, so I need the heat. I am using a mix of ideas from info found on the internet, from
    Mother Earth News
    Journey to Forever
    Bruce Woodford

    here it is currently
     

    Attached Files:

  16. Guy across the road has one in his shop. Don't know if the current people are using it, but when it was a body shop he used it all winter. Big overhead commercial unit of some sort. He mentioned that if it got contaminated oil (anti-freeze, water) it didn't run very well, but the rest of the time it was great.
     
  17. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    I like yours the best so far is that a power vent and an old air compresser ?
     
  18. the whole thing is made from junk. I'm under $40 so far. It's forced air, to get rid of the smoke and ash, and raise burn temps, while hopefully lowering fuel usage.

    The main body was a 33 gallon horizontal compressor tank, I cut the feet off, stood it up, and welded 'em back on.
    1" flat strap and dollar store hinges for the door, the handle came from a neighbor's rusted out charcoal grill. "latches" are rebar welded to 1/2" bolts, nuts welded inside the tank.
    burner stand is a floor flange and a 4" long pipe nipple from a demo'd house welded into the bottom.
    burner is 6" pipe with a plate welded for the bottom
    pipe nipple welded into hole in the top for the air supply, 2" exhaust pipe, 2 speed blower of unknown origin bolts to flange on end of air pipe.
    3/8" steel fuel line welded into vertical section of air pipe for oil supply

    I'm working on the oil tank now, it's a discarded 5 gallon "air bubble", with a gimme ball valve on the bottom.

    I can post a bunch of detail shots if there's interest.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2008
  19. Garage Dweller
    Joined: Feb 8, 2007
    Posts: 11

    Garage Dweller
    Member
    from mn.

    I remember my Grandpa having a stove setup very similiar to that in his auto repair shop back in the 50"s but he used an old cast iron pot belly stove and had a portable house fan behind it to circulate the heat,it worked great. He didn't use any wood though,the oil dripped onto a rock in the fire box. The stove had a small view hole in front so you could see the fire,I remember as a child watching the oil drip onto the rock and burning. I also remember he had Oreo cookies in his desk drawer and the smell of the old gear grease (I like that smell).Good memories.
     
  20. v8 Bake
    Joined: Dec 23, 2007
    Posts: 296

    v8 Bake
    Member

    Mine is built from an old fuel oil stove.just need to modify the burner by putting a heating element in it to heat the oil to get the right vaporization.I have $30 in mine and heated my 40x60x16 shop 6 days a week all last winter on 500 gal. oil.
     
  21. Von Rigg Fink
    Joined: Jun 11, 2007
    Posts: 13,418

    Von Rigg Fink
    Member
    from Garage

    got to produce alot of wate oil to feed that thing..if your just doing you own oil changes..you will deplete your waste oil very quickly..somewhere on the internet is an estimate of how many gallons you will need to heat a certain Sq.Ft. shop per hour..
    I too was looking into this, and with our Michigan weather, there was no way i would ever have enough waste oil to feed it, to even heat my shop only on the weekends for the winter. not to mention the nasy mess it makes

    500 gallons of waste oil is alot of oil..especially if you dont have a good source for it..
    i guess if you have the source..and its a good source..than go for it.
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2008
  22. INXS
    Joined: Dec 3, 2005
    Posts: 348

    INXS
    Member

    There's a good post over on the Garage Journal right now by a guy explaining how he modified a fuel oil furnace burner to burn waste oil.
    It seems to be one of the more higher quality conversions I've seen. His looks very neatly and professionally done with parts available from places like Mc Master Carr. Worth the read if anyone is interested in building one.

    I messed with the Mother Earth stove a couple winters ago. Made a heater from an old water heater tank. I added a blower to get better/hotter combustion but as others have said the hotter the thing burned the faster the oil flowed. It would get to over 900 degrees on my magnetic stove thermometer before the spring on ther thermometer wound so far the magnet fell off.
    I burned it one winter but I spent more time babysitting it messing with the flow and worrying about burning the shop down when I wasn't watching it. A better needle type of adjusting valve for more precise control of the oil drip would have helped.
     
  23. I use the frying-pan-and-drip-valve method to help out my woodburner.
    Yes, you do have to be careful because after the unit gets hot with hot vaporizing oil, you need very little to get a big flame.
    I just make sure I set the drip kind of low after the fire gets going well.
    All it took was a hole in the side of the stove, a small steel pipe running in to the frying pan, and a handwheel valve (you dont have much control with a lever valve) mounted on the end of the pipe away from the heat.

    I run the "oil burner" for a while till the excess-oil supply runs low, throw in some wood, and then the wood heat takes over.

    The recent wind storms we had, have given me the next two winters of free heat so far. In the past, I have asked tree-trimmers for their excess after their own workers had their stash built up.

    Although I sometimes burn waste oil, I love wood heat. The house (or shop) gets warmer than needed. I sometimes open a few windows to let in some cool crisp air into the toasty-warm house. And- even with a very warm house, the kids really like gathering in front of the glowing fire behind the closed glass doors. The most popular spot is the couch in front of the fire.

    If you ask the right people, wood can be easier than oil.....
     
  24. I have a babington burner that blows into and back along the length of a 30 gallon water softener tank. burns anything flammable that will flow. Used a brass doorknob, some air fittings, two lengths of 6" exhaust tubing, an old fuel pump, an air regulator, old compressor tank for oil storage and an old bed frame for the frame. The stack burns clean. All you see is a little heat coming out. The burner also fits my smelting pot / foundry.
     
  25. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    <TABLE style="BACKGROUND: url(hamb/misc/navbox.gif); HEIGHT: 71px" cellSpacing=1 cellPadding=0 width="100&#37;" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR><TD width="100%" height=71><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=bottom><TD>[​IMG]</TD><TD> </TD><TD width="100%">The Garage Journal Board > The Garage > Heating and A/C </TD></TR><TR><TD class=navbar style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; PADDING-TOP: 1px" colSpan=3>[​IMG] heating my shop with used motor oil </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
     
  26. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    The above link is a must read for anyone thinking of building a waste oil heater .thanks to
    INXS . Thanks for the info and link to the garage journal
     
  27. sodbuster
    Joined: Oct 15, 2001
    Posts: 5,040

    sodbuster
    Member
    from Kansas

    Without reading thru this whole post, I have two buddy's that have them and I give my used oil to them. Every time I go to their shop it STINKS REAL BAD and my clothes wreak of burnt oil when I get home. Also, it will get "burnt oil" on everything in your garage. One of the guys has a "repair business" for cars and I have heard of customers cars having a "sheen" on them after they leave.

    Oh yea, did I mention that they smell really bad.

    Chris
     
  28. Use a chimney and vent it outside. You wont smell anything, and you won't poison yourselves.
    Please dont tell me he is using an old ventless kerosene heater for oil burning.

    Nobody does that... do they ?
     
  29. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

  30. Robert gilbert
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 927

    Robert gilbert
    Member
    from boston

    <TABLE class=tborder id=post310286 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=6 width="100&#37;" align=center border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD class=alt2 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1px solid; BORDER-LEFT: #999999 1px solid; BORDER-TOP-STYLE: none; BORDER-BOTTOM-STYLE: none" width=150></TD><TD class=alt1 id=td_post_310286 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #999999 1px solid"><!-- icon and title -->[​IMG] Re: heating my shop with used motor oil
    <HR style="COLOR: #999999" SIZE=1><!-- / icon and title --><!-- message -->Below are a few pictures of my setup and of the burner conversion, and a video of the burner in operation

    CLICK HERE for a video of the burner being tested on my bench

    Here are a few pictures of the burner before the conversion:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

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    Here is a pic of the Beckett retention head, and a pic of the new retention head:

    [​IMG]

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    This is a pic of the parts I used for the burner conversion:

    [​IMG]


    Here are a couple of pics of the nozzle block, and the fuel line and cable routing:

    [​IMG]

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    The burner is completed:

    [​IMG]


    Three pics of the burner being tested on the bench. It is running on 15W 40 that I just drained from my truck, and the oil is unheated so the flame is a little smaller than it is with preheated oil:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

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    And a few pics of the furnace installed in my shop (the cover is removed so you can see all of the components):

    [​IMG]
    </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
     

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