BellyUpFish
Well-known member
Anyone running one of these in their shop?
Just wondering if anyone has built one that'll heat around 1,800sq ft?
Just wondering if anyone has built one that'll heat around 1,800sq ft?
DIY Waste Oil burner?
- Thread starter BellyUpFish
- Start date
LS6 Tommy
Well-known member
Good luck. The EPA makes you jump through all sorts of flaming hoops just to install a certified, commercially manufactured one...
Tommy
Tommy
NFPA 31, "Oil Installation Code, prohibits use of waste oil burners in residential applications. Also, they are a maintenance nightmare. If you have a lot of oil you will be better to sell it to a re-cycler and apply the dough to your regular fuel. Is this the hanger?
You have to handle, repeatedly, collect and store the oil. You have to filter, repeatedly, the oil. Unless you have a very reliable source, you have no idea what you are burning. Like the smell of oil, especially when it is on you? How much kitty litter do you want to store?
I was on that 31 Committee for 15 years and got to deal with a lot of Waste Oil issues. It can be great, but wouldn't you rather build an RV?
You have to handle, repeatedly, collect and store the oil. You have to filter, repeatedly, the oil. Unless you have a very reliable source, you have no idea what you are burning. Like the smell of oil, especially when it is on you? How much kitty litter do you want to store?
I was on that 31 Committee for 15 years and got to deal with a lot of Waste Oil issues. It can be great, but wouldn't you rather build an RV?
LS6 Tommy
Well-known member
I totally forgot aobut that. I was just thinking about the ones we used to have in the gas station shops.
Tommy
Shop Specialties
Well-known member
Actually the EPA prefers the oil kept on site and burned in a UL spec waste oil heater.
OP
BellyUpFish
Well-known member
It's not for the hangar, but I think you nailed the rest of the topics.
I don't want to collect, store, filter, etc the oil. I don't have a real reliable source and if I did, I don't think I'd want to collect it. I don't enjoy the smell.
I love the smell of a wood furnace in the winter time.. Just feels like home. LOL
So, I think I'll keep looking. I was leaning towards a wood stove and then started looking at waste oil heaters, but I'm leaning back towards a wood stove again.
Just can't make up my mind. Wood is available and plenty, so once I got it setup, I'd have little to no cost to operate it.
I'd have to run a line for gas and pay to keep it burning.. Electric is more $$$ to operate..
The shop isn't even insulated yet..
I saw an old timer living inside his auto repair shop. He had a woodstove with a small gravity feed oil supply.
Waste oil tank outside plumbed with 1/4 inch copper tubing into the wood box. flow controlled with a small thumbscrew valve.
Started his wood on fire as normal and then dripped oil from the tubing hanging inside onto the burning logs below to suit his heating desires
Waste oil tank outside plumbed with 1/4 inch copper tubing into the wood box. flow controlled with a small thumbscrew valve.
Started his wood on fire as normal and then dripped oil from the tubing hanging inside onto the burning logs below to suit his heating desires
Jazz1
Well-known member
I supplied my gravity fed oil furnace with waste oil for years in garage. Never any issues,, filter ahead of carb! Thinned with 20% fuel oil so it would flow as 30W oil gets a little thick at -40. It burned clean, never saw smudge coming from chimney. I only switched to wood because we decided we would prefer the ambiance of a wood stove in garage.
58Yeoman
Well-known member
When I was in Vietnam in the early 70's, the mess hall had a large water tank outside with a drip pan under it. The night baker would go out there and start the diesel running into the pan, light it, then adjust the drip to keep it burning to heat the water. Fun times.
sberry
Banned
I have done it a couple of times, its not worth the mess for me but my bud in auto shop did this. It was a fuggin mess to some extent but had to get rid of it and if he kept up it wasn't a problem. The tank which he designed and I built was a separator.
We burn a little bit, simply dip it out of a bucket with used foam cups and toss on when we think about it.
We burn a little bit, simply dip it out of a bucket with used foam cups and toss on when we think about it.
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Highbeam
Well-known member
Our local government, landfills, etc. stopped taking used motor oil so those of us that still change our own oil have to come up with another way to get rid of it. Nobody will take it for fear of fines if anything other than oil is found in it.
So far I've been able to convince small commercial (lube shops) to take it but I expect that there are folks out there dumping it in the woods now.
So far I've been able to convince small commercial (lube shops) to take it but I expect that there are folks out there dumping it in the woods now.
milner351
Well-known member
i have a clean burn 185k waste oil furnace i bought used off ebay probably 12 years ago, there is mess, there is pumping and storing, and they can be finicky, but they produce a ton of heat quickly, it really comes down to cost and convenience. once a few local car guys know you want oil - you'll have quite a bit available to you.
There's lots of information on the web on the subject - if you want to build your own, find a good used fuel oil furnace, that's the best place to start. getting it to burn waste oil takes pre-heating at the least.
The clean burn uses compressed air to help atomize the oil at the flame head, as well as having a pre-heater block which electrically heats the oil up to a temperature where most oils are of a similar viscosity - so the flow rate through the nozzle is relatively constant.
There's lots of information on the web on the subject - if you want to build your own, find a good used fuel oil furnace, that's the best place to start. getting it to burn waste oil takes pre-heating at the least.
The clean burn uses compressed air to help atomize the oil at the flame head, as well as having a pre-heater block which electrically heats the oil up to a temperature where most oils are of a similar viscosity - so the flow rate through the nozzle is relatively constant.
wasn't there a thread on here where a guy perfected converting a used fuel oil furnace to run on waste oil? had to filter the oil, and pre-heat it in a tank first, then drill out or make a different swirl head or something... ok found it
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24280
below is a link I saved, if you want to buy instead of build.
http://www.ckburners.com/index.html
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24280
below is a link I saved, if you want to buy instead of build.
http://www.ckburners.com/index.html