Finally had a chance to do a test run on the new waste oil furnace. Took a few minutes to get the kinks out. Now that it has proven itself functional I will assemble it and all the parts in a permanent location. I am also debating changing it from a top lift to a door. The lift I am currently planning on using takes too long to use. A door would be much easier to build and if it is big enough will not be an obstacle. Maybe I can melt some iron this weekend and see how it goes.
I use same burner on propane furnace. I didn't have time to change it all over but plan on using diesel or something else later. I had to move it outdoors so I just threw up the roof on the back of the existing structure this weekend. I don't think I would last long indoors with that heat and fumes and I wanted to expand for my machinery on the inside.
I love free fuel.. If we could just figure out how to run these without a blower or compressed air, there wouldn't be a cold person left on earth.
I was rather surprised at how simple the whole concept was when I started looking into building the burner. Seems like we tend to over complicate things sometimes which causes us to lose momentum and get sidetracked. I have seen some nice designs for home heating with these things and I am not above building one myself at least for emergency heating or to help reduce the 400$ a month electric bills I get in the winter (that I know are bullshit).
I know what you mean... I run the Kwiky burner. It's dead nuts simple, but gets poo poohed because it requires a tiny amount of compressed air to draw the fuel. I run 15-20 psi at about .25 cfm. That's like farting or a strong burp. The compressor hardly runs during a melt, yet it will happily draw fuel forever. Look at the guys that run just a drip oiler and melt iron. Pretty cool stuff.
I guess I might have missed it but what sort of nozzle are you using in your burner? Or are you just dripping it? Ain’t no shame in running a compressor. If it works, and it works good, hell, drive on. My oil tank is a 50 gallon gas hot water tank. I simply pressurize the former hot side and it pushes oil up the dip tube and out the cold side. I run the atomizing air from the same line with its own regulator. I keep both the tank and atomizing air at about 20psi. Since it’s all stationary I run my hoses through the wall and store them outside under cover all ready for use. Point being, once it’s set up and it works well, it’s easy. I generally run a mixture of different (generally free) oils through my nozzle so I preheat with propane or diesel. If I’m using propane I switch the burners once I’m up to temp. It’s 100% reliable and reasonably fast to heat up. Smokeless too. If I’m using diesel, I use only my primary burner and change my oil lines at the burner on the fly. My diesel tank is not pressurized but uses the siphon feature of the nozzle (actually Venturi) plus gravity to draw the fuel. It’s sometimes not as reliable as sometimes the burner gets finicky and flames out giving me a bit of a smoke plume, so I prefer to use propane to get going. Pete
Have a look at this link Jason. http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me4.html The basic design is waste-oil dripping onto an aluminium concave disc, enclosed within a stove. The disc has been pre-heated with burning alcohol and the oil is pre-heated by dropping down the flue, before it ignites in the fire on the disc. I am thinking of making one for my workshop, using two truck brake-drums as the stove. By removing the disc and oil-pipe it could also be used to burn solid fuel. Somewhere on the link, which I haven't read for years, is an article by a man whose workshop is buried in snow each winter and he can work in it all winter. He was even considering heating his house with the same method, Cheers Charlie
This dude on YT did something like that with brake drums and drip heat. I've got natural gas in my garage, so I'm all set. NG is cheap and clean. I love it!
That would be a negative Houston. I have to get it hot first...its a drip burner and it will puddle up quick if you don't blow it into some heat. Are you compressing it to make it atomize before combustion?
Billy, most oil burners need a preheat. Some guys dont, but I think it's just prick measuring at the end of the day.
I'm using a Delavan nozzle also known a a Hago. One type simply uses compression from pumped fuel, like 100PSI or so, to atomize the fuel. Those are ofter found in home heating furnaces. Others, like mine have a port for oil and a port for compressed air which atomizes the oil out the end of the nozzle. This nozzle is known as a siphon nozzle (misnamed because theres no siphoning going on). The venturi effect from the compressed air can actually pull fuel uphill from an unpressurized fuel source into and through the nozzle, but it works even better for our purposes if the tank is elevated. In their "as designed" use, a nozzle rated at 1gph will deliver 1 gallon per hour at something like 3 psi. When you wind it up to 20psi air and pressurize the tank to 20psi you can push several gallons per hour through it. I believe this is also the nozzle Myfordboy is using. I could be wrong, but I think that's it. Either version of this nozzle will light straight diesel or kerosene with little trouble. See my post above. I've successfully lit used oil in a cold furnace but found it difficult and not something I want to go through every time I light it. I've seen MFB do it in his videos and how he pulls it off is a bit of a mystery to me. Ive tried it repeatedly and had alot of flameout, unexpected ignition, soiled shorts, etc. So I preheat. As I posted above, once it's set up, it's no inconvenience. As for the drip, you will likely never get away without preheating. Oilburner on youtube might give you some ideas how to do it, but after all of the smoke and regret has cleared, go back and stay with the propane/drip feed you show above (except raise your tank a couple feet higher). Pete
Couldn't have said it better myself. I know all about spontaneous combustion, flame outs and dirty shorts!
I haven't tried it yet since I have been setting up the more permanent location but I did raise it to around six feet now. I also found I had a little loop in the hose and now have it running straight down into the drip tube. I think it will have a lot more flow now. I almost have everything done and should be able to start molding this week if I can get the welder to stay running long enough to do a few little tweaks on the crucible lift. Would like to do a test run on some cast iron trinkets I have.
Well it doesnt take long to get dirty shorts in this humidity....albeit for different reasons. Ten minutes deep into moving equipment around and I look like I just got out of the pool.LOL
If you have not seen it this is my latest version. My origional burner had the Devlon nozzle which was very expensive to import to the UK after tax and shipping. The new nozzle is a Chinese copy and very much cheaper. 1.0 mm nozzle: http://bit.ly/2RtjQpC My burner design: https://youtu.be/Vrk0lMhUcYA Blower : https://youtu.be/8pGer8WHRik STL files for the blower and burner are here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:403... My furnace build starts here: https://youtu.be/ZbnroanPt4g
I love watching your videos. I can put my own music on in the background and not miss a thing. Lot of info to digest. Once I get settled in up in Michigan I plan on going waste oils
