Anyone using used oil/waste oil furnace or area heater?

[Charles (in GA)]

I've been doing alot of research on used oil/waste oil heaters. I'm very interested in them as it would solve disposal hassles and provided free fuel at the same time.

I've done some searches on this forum and looked at the discussions in this forum and cannot find anything about this, thats why I'm asking for input.

I don't have a "garage" per se, my shop is a 60x60 metal building, 16 ft eaves, 12/2 roof, 66,600 cubic feet inside to heat.......... an aircraft hangar in my back yard.

Nonetheless, surely several of the members of this forum have looked into, or are using used oil/waste oil fired furnaces (ducted or not) or area heaters (like the Modine Hot Dwag, just using a different fuel).

I've already written a three page "white paper" about this, summarizing much of what I've found, but I'll hold off on posting it here till I see if any of you'all have any first hand experience with any of these critters.

Brands I have "discovered" so far include (and I was told by one company that there are only seven total manufacturers of these things, he knew his competition well).

Reznor, which is an old manufacturer of heaters, now owned by Thomas & Betts and who decline to post the location of their headquarters or manufacturing facilities.
http://www.reznorwasteoil.com/

Firelake, Mt. Crawford, VA
http://www.usedoilheaters.com/index.html

EnergyLogic, Nashville, TN
http://www.energylogic.com/heaters.html

Heatwave which is also found under the name Siebring Manufacturing, George, IA
http://www.heatwave-waste-oil-heaters.com/models.htm

Clean Burn, Leola, PA
http://www.cleanburn.com/

Lanair, Janesville, WI
http://www.lanair.com/home.cfm

Omni by Econo Heat, Spokane, WA
http://www.econoheat.com/

Norki Energy Systems, Poughkeepsie, NY
http://www.norki.com/tech.html

Comments?

Thanks, Charles

[OldCarGuy]

I have two friends that own truck repair shops that heat their buildings with used engine oil for the past 10 years. The initial cost is about twice that of n a natural gas fired furnace; but they have similar maintenance levels. The drain oil from their normal business and what others drop off is enough that neither uses any natural gas. A savings big enough to pay for the unit each year.

The only draw backs are having a storage tank big enough and handling the oil making sure no gasoline, antifreeze, or water gets mixed in.

[stppinz]

I've looked into this option as well but for a small ( 30'x32') not really economical. Cheepest one I found was in the neighborhood of 3K. Heat is important but not where I would like to spend that much. I wounder why there isn't a small shop size?

[dlynch]

quick lube shop in Vancouver had a used oil boiler. Don't remember the name; sorry.
Dave

[krooser]

The last dealership I worked at had a Black Gold heater...biggest PITA in the world. We finally gave up on it and started using the NG furnace again.

This was an older unit...early 80's vintage. I'm sure they are better today.

The truck shop that does my heavy work also has one today...his seems to work good as long as you keep the filters clean

[Gregdoo]

My father's shop was large enough to have 16-20 industrial tractors in it in upstate New York. He installed a Lanair waste oil furnace in the late 80s (I think) and it was still going strong when he sold the business in the late 90s. The furnace did a nice job. It didn't need too much maintenance and as pointed out, if you have an ample supply of clean waste oil, it can really lower your heating costs. The key is CLEAN fuel. Antifreeze probably caused the majority of the problems. Even with a good filtration system, 2 gallons of antifreeze mixed in with 100 gallons of oil will max out the filters and cause problems. I seem to remember having to remove ash every so often. I'm sure that this furnace did not have to meet any sort of environmental cleanliness standards at the time, so it is unlikely that the same unit is available today. Bottom line, when it was running, it would heat the entire shop. Oh, I also remember that we would not burn it when nobody was in the shop, we would rely on the natural gas system. I don't recall exactly why, but it was probably because we didn't want to have the mechanics show up to a cold shop, if it didn't fire due to poor fuel quality.

[383IROC]

I converted an old wood stove to burn waste oils for my 30'x50' garage. I looked into the forced air units but was told they would be a bit overkill. The system I rigged up relies on the waste oil being superheated and igniting rather than being atomized. It burns very hot and smokeless/odurless.

Heres a pic of the first test run. I can take more pics and explain it a bit more indepth if anybody is interested.

[bmwpower]

Yea, let's hear what you did. This sounds interesting. Is it safe?

[Charles (in GA)]

Mother Earth has a web page for a similar heater. I found this while researching for furnaces. Not what I was looking for, but interesting none the less.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me4.html

Charles

[383IROC]

How it is described on this web page is almost identical to how I did it http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me8.html. I think its just as safe as burning wood when done right.

[stimpy]

we had one at the one shop I worked at but the ILEPA nazis made us shut it down ( something about being a hazardous waste burner..)it didn't smoke or smell ( other than like a fuel oil burner ) our oil tank was located above the shop (which was cut into a hill ) when I was getting alot water in the oil I just moved the tap up 4 inches from the bottom of the tank ( 2-250 gallon #2 fuel bunker) which was on a pitch 1"to 10' and put a drain tap in the original pickup hole to drain out the any water or impuritys then at the pump you put 2 semi truck 1 gallon filters to get out the hard stuff ( carbon) never had a problem till the stink police showed up .we used a 1 1/2 line to the pump inlet th efurnace was homemade from an old house oil buner/blower and a refractory lined boiler tank with cross pipes that a fan blew thru ,we heated a building that was a barge flipped upside down 50x150x20 kept it around 65 degrees when it was 20 outside .

[Blue]

>>>we heated a building that was a barge flipped upside down 50x150x20

Sweet!! Pictures? Sounds like a pretty unique building.

In Illinois? Where?

[Charles (in GA)]

we had one at the one shop I worked at but the ILEPA nazis made us shut it down ( something about being a hazardous waste burner. .

I suppose they were unable to read and understand the US EPA definition of Hazardous Waste oil vs Used Oil, and when and what you are allowed to burn for fuel .

The same regs have been around for a long time and are quite clear, which is surprising for Governmental regulations.

Any of the heater company web sites will quote pertinant portions of the regs and a google search turns up tons of info on it.

Charles

[imported_banzaitoyota]

I converted an old wood stove to burn waste oils for my 30'x50' garage. I looked into the forced air units but was told they would be a bit overkill. The system I rigged up relies on the waste oil being superheated and igniting rather than being atomized. It burns very hot and smokeless/odurless.

Heres a pic of the first test run. I can take more pics and explain it a bit more indepth if anybody is interested.


looks good, details please?

[mleichtle]

A while back I heard of a guy that said he soaked sawdust in oil and rolled it into logs with newspaper. Any thoughts? I'm afraid I would smoke out the whole neighborhood.