Oil furnace Question

[moparhunter]

I need some thoughts on my thoughts,I built a 22x34x9.5 garage a few years ago, At my last garage I had a old house oil furnace that I'd run on Diesel fuel had great heat and worked very well, Now in some weird ways around I have the chance to buy the furnace out of my old garage and am thinking"can I run this unit on old waste oil?" I have a lot of waste oil availabe for free and would like to go this route as it would be very cheap to run so my question is will this work as is or with very little refit work?

 

[tigmusky]

I would like to see the a reply this. I been kicking thia same idea around for 2 years.
I need to get of the pot!! Theres a post on here of someone that made one. Nice post well explained. I'll try to find it .

Daye

 

[nate379]

Yes, but you need to thin it down with fuel oil or diesel. 50/50 mix would probably be fine if your tank is inside.

Plan to have to clean the nozzle, eye and all that stuff once in a while as the burning oil will make ash.

 

[Shocker]

What Nate said. Cleaning the nozzle often will be important.

 

[D.J.]

I would say expect lots of problems doing this! The oil heater is designed to run on # 2 fuel oil if it has a pump on it. If it does not haqve a pump it is designed to run on number 1 fuel oil or kerosene only. I recomend to only burn the correct type of fuel in it for trouble free operation. Just my $ .02 but think you'll have better luck doing this. My recomendations are based on fuel oil delivery full time from 1976 thru 1995 and still part time to this date! You don't say where you are located and please don't store the tank indoors because of the danger to any firefighter who will be responding to any situation that occurs if problems arise. Please check with the "authority having jurisdiction" i.e. your local fire department or you states fire marshals office for the legalities of fuel storage inside a building. In Illinois it is illegal to store flammables or combustables indoors in large tanks (275 gal tanks and the like)

________
Hotels In Mexico

 

[D.J.]

maybe see about trading your used oil to someone who has a used oil burner for some number 1 or number 2 fuel oil or diesel fuel or kerosene to use in your oil furnace. Their are reasons that all older fuel caps were stamped with the words "BUY CLEAN FUEL, KEEP IT CLEAN"
________
Matra murena

 

[walrus]

In Maine 75% of the houses have a 275 gallon tank in their basements and I believe its legal to have as much as 990 gallons of 2oil in your basement

 

[moparhunter]

I'm In Winnipeg Manitoba Canada Very Very cold here.

 

[nate379]

Yup. Really the only places I have seen that didn't have them in the basement or attached garage were trailer houses.

In Maine 75% of the houses have a 275 gallon tank in their basements and I believe its legal to have as much as 990 gallons of 2oil in your basement

I would not do it in a house unit where if it stopped working you would be big time SOL, but in a garage if it needs some TLC, not so big of a problem.

 

[timewarp]

I have a Williams oil furnace that I have used for over 20 years with a 100 gallon tank, when I do vehicle oil changes I have always just dumped the waste oil in the tank as long as it is over half full so say 4-5 gallons of oil in 50 gallons of #2 fuel oil and never had any problem, I don't do it in the oil tank on the house but since I don't have the heat on in the garage all the time it wouldn't matter if I have trouble with it. I have never cleaned the nozzle, it still burns clean, I have replaced the filter a couple of times in the 20 years but don't give it an annnual service like the furnace in the house. I don't put ATF or gear oil in it, only used motor oils, I worry about the additives in the atf not burning clean and the thickness of the gear oil damaging the pump.
I have heard of people running up to 50% used oil mixed with #2 but I don't have access to that much oil to even try it.

 

[moparhunter]

let the trials begin I got the furnace for free( doesn't mean I wish to wreck it though. Please keep your comments coming any good Ideas welcome.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I would say expect lots of problems doing this! The oil heater is designed to run on # 2 fuel oil if it has a pump on it. If it does not haqve a pump it is designed to run on number 1 fuel oil or kerosene only. I recomend to only burn the correct type of fuel in it for trouble free operation. Just my $ .02 but think you'll have better luck doing this. My recomendations are based on fuel oil delivery full time from 1976 thru 1995 and still part time to this date! You don't say where you are located and please don't store the tank indoors because of the danger to any firefighter who will be responding to any situation that occurs if problems arise. Please check with the "authority having jurisdiction" i.e. your local fire department or you states fire marshals office for the legalities of fuel storage inside a building. In Illinois it is illegal to store flammables or combustables indoors in large tanks (275 gal tanks and the like)

Well, as a FF and a homeowner, I have a 275 gal fuel oil tank in my basement. It's perfectly acceptable around here for them to be in the basement.

 

[s_ontario]

you can run 25% used oil with diesel.. BUT to be problem free you should have two tanks one with just Diesel and run diesel alone at the end of the day if you where to have diesel and 25% or more used oil and didn't run furnace for a day or so in very cold weather you will have a hard time to get the furnace restarted without flushing the line or you would have to preheat your diesel/used oil mixture

I seen 25-30 degree heatrise when burning used oil used universal Hydraulic oil worked best

 

[sewerzuk]

I would like to see the a reply this. I been kicking thia same idea around for 2 years.
I need to get of the pot!! Theres a post on here of someone that made one. Nice post well explained. I'll try to find it .

Daye

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24280

 

[Dkramer]

Here is a link to where you can buy the parts from if you don't care to do the e-bay thing. http://www.ckburners.com/
I used the kit from there (the same kit as you can get off e-bay, I believe) to convert an oil furnace last fall for the shop were I work. It has worked flawlessly all winter. We have used mineral oil, motor oil, ****** fluid, regular furnace fuel oil, and even some peanut oil that one of the guys brought in after frying a turkey for Thanksgiving.
In good times we generate a fair amount of compressor oil from the HVAC systems we scrap. The owner was not willing to pay someone to haul it off, so it gives us some free heat.

 

[moparhunter]

Thanks Guys, Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Thanks Guys, Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

I think the link Sewerzuk posted is the hot ticket, read thru it if you haven't.

Charles

 

[Cuda]

I have spent many hours working on Lanier waste oil heaters and at best would get only about a months use out of them and them would have to break them down and clean all the crud out of the combustion chamber, flue, and nozzle. With the Lanier units the nozzle cartidge had two electric heating elements to pre heat the oil just prior to burning, plus had a compressed air line that went to the nozzle. The air adjustment was crucial for good burning and would vary as the burner got dirtier.
Eventually we got rid of them after putting some numbers together and realizing we were spending more on labor and parts than what we were saving on energy.
My experience has been that the cleaner the fuel the better thry work. I think if you try burning straight waste oil your going to be spending a lot of time working on it. If you can mix the waste oil with fresh diesel you might have more luck.
And if there is any gear oil in the waste oil, foget it.
With all that being said, we are looking to installing a large boiler that will run on waste oil. I have serious doubts as to the pay back on it, but with energy costs being what they are I guess it's worth a shot.

 

[D.J.]

I mis typed on the comment about storing fuel oil inside a building ( house basement ) but personally recomend not storing inside a garage due to hazards associated with the garage. Isuppose it was a brain fart or alzheimers.
________
HURT FROM PAXIL

 

[prager]

I used to sell Reznor waste oil furnaces. They had an on board air compressor..other brands use shop air to force the waste oil in at high pressure..I'd have to find my books but I think 100 or so psi. Also these units have an electric pre heater coil to thin the oil before it hits the nozzle. These units had to be cleaned out once a year..or season..because of ash deposits..also the heat exchangers in these units are made very thick to stand the heat produced by the motor oil..I would probably not do this conversion. Matter of fact I'm sure that I wouldn't..Too many mods to make to hope it works in the end. Also the nozzle it self, if I remember correctly was special..not your run of the mill fuel oil type. Also should have a flame sensing electric eye in case of flame out to stop fuel flow, otherwise your exchange can fill with oil. ...edit looking back at the post with the link to the ck burner looks neat...may be fine...but other than that I wouldn't want to try it anyother way..just my 2 cents Also..the unit we had in our shop used 1 gallon of oil for 1 hour of heat.. just a tip for fuel to time budgeting..

 

[burleymike]

There are several groups on Yahoo that are all about waste oil burning. I have an old oil furnace in my barn waiting to be converted.