Waste oil heaters
- Thread starter Ed King
- Start date
Dragster Racer
Well-known member
I have not used one, but father in law and a buddy both have them. Pro-cheap, even free way to heat the shop.
Cons-Use a lot of oil. More than you might think. Can be stinky when there are troubles. It seems like there are a lot of troubles. FIL cannot rely on it as only heat source since there are clogs, pump problems, oil consistancy issues. They just take some fiddling. Gear lube, water and other stuff can complicate things. You can't let the oil source get real cold in an unheated area, because it won't flow correctly.
There are a lot of cons, but the pro is pretty attractive.
Cons-Use a lot of oil. More than you might think. Can be stinky when there are troubles. It seems like there are a lot of troubles. FIL cannot rely on it as only heat source since there are clogs, pump problems, oil consistancy issues. They just take some fiddling. Gear lube, water and other stuff can complicate things. You can't let the oil source get real cold in an unheated area, because it won't flow correctly.
There are a lot of cons, but the pro is pretty attractive.
I don't have one but know alot of folks who do. The earlier ones had way more issues than the newer ones. "Clean" waste oil works pretty well, water really screws them up which makes sense
.
. Lane Constrution uses it to heat their Asphalt plants in the area.
. . Lane Constrution uses it to heat their Asphalt plants in the area.
bookman51
Well-known member
I took five gallon of waste oil yesterday into the car repair shop I frequent. I ask and fellow said in the winter they use about 12 gallon a day...in a building probably 35 by 60. Now I had a mixture of 30 weight engine oil and 90 weight transmission oil with water in it (from a tractor that been sitting awhile...pretty thick stuff). I told him what I had and he did not mind. I do not generate enough used oil to justify a used oil heater, but evidentially this shop does.
Bookman
Bookman
Rigmaster
Well-known member
IMHO, they're great- especially in colder climates.
Once you get past the original cost of the heater, you can fuel it for free- so the only costs are electricity to run the blower + maintenance on the heater (filters, cleaning the jets, etc).
I would run a good filter/water separator in the supply line to the heater, but I think most of the heater "kits" include this.
One thing to consider is how long will it take for the heater to pay for itself. If you live in a really cold climate and use the shop/garage ALOT in cold months, then it probably won't take long.
If you live in a more moderate climate, or don't do alot of work in that building during cold months- then you might want to consider another type of heat.
My shop is well insulated, and it doesn't take much heat to keep it comfortable in cold weather. I did buy a waste oil heater- got a good deal on a lightly used one here locally- but I have not installed it yet. Now I get by with a small 240v space heater, which works OK to make it bearable, but it's not enough to get it what I would call "comfortable" in really cold weather.
I have been saving my used oil, and I don't think it will be a problem finding people who will give me theirs if I don't produce enough to run the heater. Friends and neighbors would be a good place to start if you need additional "fuel"....
Once you get past the original cost of the heater, you can fuel it for free- so the only costs are electricity to run the blower + maintenance on the heater (filters, cleaning the jets, etc).
I would run a good filter/water separator in the supply line to the heater, but I think most of the heater "kits" include this.
One thing to consider is how long will it take for the heater to pay for itself. If you live in a really cold climate and use the shop/garage ALOT in cold months, then it probably won't take long.
If you live in a more moderate climate, or don't do alot of work in that building during cold months- then you might want to consider another type of heat.
My shop is well insulated, and it doesn't take much heat to keep it comfortable in cold weather. I did buy a waste oil heater- got a good deal on a lightly used one here locally- but I have not installed it yet. Now I get by with a small 240v space heater, which works OK to make it bearable, but it's not enough to get it what I would call "comfortable" in really cold weather.
I have been saving my used oil, and I don't think it will be a problem finding people who will give me theirs if I don't produce enough to run the heater. Friends and neighbors would be a good place to start if you need additional "fuel"....
Jaguar Fan
Well-known member
Join the following Yahoo group for tons of information & a community of people who use waste oil to get their perspective on pros/cons:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/altfuelfurnace/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/altfuelfurnace/
My former shop had a Black Gold waste oil heater. It was great. We had it maintained every year, which cost next to nothing. We ran every sort of fuel through it you could imagine. We had a drain for water at the lowest point of the tank system, which was two 250 gallon tanks and one 200 gallon tank. It was the only source of heat for our insulated 40x30 or so shop with 24' ceilings. We would run through a good 5 gallons per day which kept it 55+ all winter. I wouldn't have any other source of heat in a garage that generated waste oil.
HOTFR8
Banned
Do these use sump oil as waste oil ? A company in Australia makes something like this and they burn very cleanly with not a lot of polution from them.
http://www.kroll-heaters.com.au/html/s01_home/home.asp?dsb=275
http://www.kroll-heaters.com.au/html/s01_home/home.asp?dsb=275