Instant waste oil burner

[wildbill hickup]

Well I have read a few postings on waste oil burners. The most popular being the old hot water tank, a couple of cast iron fry pans, a few nuts and washers, a little cutting, a little welding etc. OK but I don't have any of that stuff so here is my version.

1 old wood stove(air leaks and all) 1 two pound coffee can a couple of small wads of fiberglass insulation and presto.

Step one clean out the wood stove.

Step 2 stuff insulation in coffee can not to much need room for oil. The insulation will flot on top of the oil and prvide a wick.

Step 3 fill can with waste oil I use yucky sludge from filtered WVO (that I burn in my furnace). Put a small amount of kero or diesel on top to get started.

Step 4 put can in wood stove and light.

Mine burns for about 4 hours per fillup. No cutting,welding,nuts,washers,oil tank,valves, etc.

I heat water for a small radiant systrem under my kitchen floor.

That's it

Wildbill

[picmacmillan]

good post bill.....i am going to save this for future reference.....happy new year...pickster

[wildbill hickup]

If my digital camera were working I'd take some photos. But it's pretty easy. Just emptied another coffee can so I put together another for the livingroom stove.

[Roamer195]

What's the smoke look like that's coming out of the chimney?

[wildbill hickup]

'bout the same as wood smoke. It's a little sooty on the inside of the stove though. I know this isn't the perfect solution but it was quick, no tools and it heats the water.

[DERFMOOSE]

           hi Bill I have a similer idea, only hook up the coffie can to annother one by some type oif tubin, set the other can on the level you want oil to be then set up a chicken waterer type of set up the oil goes below tube and it will automaticly re fill . Happy new Year everyone    derF

[Tom in NH]

Wild Bill, you do have a knack for making the mostest with the leastest. How hot does it get? Same as if it was burning wood?

Tom

[wildbill hickup]

No it doesn't get that hot, but that's good in a way we have a chair beside the stove and when there's wood burning no-one can sit in it, too hot. THis is just right. I believe I could make it hotter by adding another can, or somethong with a bigger serface area. I will try out the theory but I have to drink another say 20 pots of coffee to get the can, I'll get started this week. I'll have another can in say 2 weeks. hehe

The origional model is in the basement and heats water for a small radiant system. Having a bit of trouble with circulation though. Thought I could get thermal but that doesn't seem to work. Put a pump on it but it's overkill, If anyone has any ideas on a very low volume low pressure pump, I'm all ears. there is about 2 gallons in the erntire closed system. Approx 125 feet 1/2" pipe and a 6'lift. Magority of pipe is at the high side of the lift, if that makes a difference.

[dudevato]

Hey WildBill, this sounds Great! Can you explain the 'wick' better? I was thinking maybe rolling up a small piece of fiberglass (2" x 10") (the 'mat type' that someone would use to repair a surfboard) so it would look like a candel wick sticking out of the coffee can.  Would used motor oil work?  How big of a flame does this thing produce.  I'll bet bacon grease would work, uh?  Hell, I wish it was morning I'd get into the shop and start messing with this idea. dudevato  

[whatsnext]

Wildbill, I tried something like this as a trial using WVO. I used a metal box with a piece of sock as a wick. I could not get enough heat and so tried a bigger wick and a bigger metal box. Eventually it kind of ran away. It got kind of scary buy it was outside so I and my house was safe. If I was you I would not try to increase the the heat output too much because eventually the WVO will boil which is probably a bad thing from a control aspect.

John.............

[wildbill hickup]

More than likely if I go for more heat it will be with an other can, that way I can control the burn. I can see where a bigger one(more surface area) might tend to run away, thanks for the warning. For some reason these coffee cans seem to be just right. Fortunatly this thick waste burns pretty slow. Also these are wood stoves so they do limit ox intake. The one in the basement is pretty leaky so that I have to keep an eye on thill I get some gasket. The one in the livingroom I could close down if things got out of hand. For now everything seems to be good, mind you I'm not using these for primary heat so I don't have to get them to high in temp.

Wildbill

[wildbill hickup]

I  just use fiberglass insulation (the pink stuff) no facing. I wadded up a piece about the size of a baseball and submerge it in the oil then let it float back to the surface (it flots better after it has been burned once). If starting cold I put about 1/4" of kerosine on top and light. As the oil level goes down so does the fiberglass wick, burns the can dry if you let it go all the way. I would think that the mat idea would work too, but you really don't need somthing that goes all the way to the bottom.

As far as waste motor oil, I'm not sure. It tends to be more volatle from what I have seen. Don't forget used motor oil can and does contain varying amounts of gasoline, be very careful and test the stove outside to make sure you don't get a run-away as posted above. The sludge I use is the filtered and settled goo that I get from straining WVO (I use the clean stuff 50/50 with fuel oil in my furnace) This stuff at 50 degrees is like lumpy 90 weight gear oil it's thick gooy and burns very slow. Put it this way it has a lower flash point than paper. If you try and start it cold the paper will burn and go out befor it lights(hence the kero) Some of the waste motor oil I've burned in the past has gone up pretty fast so be careful!!!!!!!!!!!

[dudevato]

Thanks for your response WildBill.  I'm going to dig up the stuff necessary to try this all out.  And Outside is a good idea.

[ghurd]

How about a little bilge pump?

My idea was a 5 gallon bucket near the wood stove getting warm, open system.

A live well timer (boat stuff) controlling the pump, 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off (just to save power and non-replacable pump brushes). More money gets an adjustable 'OFF' time, up to 3 minutes off, 30 seconds on. A couple gallons won't get too warm in 3 minutes like I had it figured anyway.

Cheap and dirty. Just for fun.

G-

[windstuffnow]

 Great work Wildbill!

I made one similar along time ago using a coffee can and an old rag as a wick.  drilled a hole in the side of the can and installed a blower tube and small blower motor from an old microwave.  When fired the flame would extend from the can about a foot and a half.   I added an air control on the blower to keep the flame at bay.  I use it to melt aluminum.  It takes about 10-15 minutes to melt 10 lbs of aluminum.  The cans only last 3 or 4 melts but its a cheap easy way to melt aluminum with waste oil.  

  Have Fun

Windstuff Ed

[TERRYWGIPE]

I LOVE THE IDEA ,I'M GOING TO PASS IT ONTO MY BUDDY DON (HE'S BEEN HEATING HIS HUNTING CABIN WITH MESSY OIL-SOAKED NEWSPAPER LOGS, NOW HE WON'T HAVE TO STEEL HIS NEIGHBORS PAPERS) THANKS FOR THE TIP

              TERRY

[jcutro1]

This is an old post so I guess I can't claim to have a patent on this!   I arrived at roughly the same place as others via some experimentation.

I use a big wood circulator stove with a little bit of air leak and a 7 by 22 inch box about 8 inches deep I made out of glavanized steel which I brazed the corners on.

The fiberglass wick material takes a little time to get burning after I light it with a propane torch but it has good heat output for a while, then flashes over when the oil gets to boiling.  I have to be careful and limit the oxygen to keep it damped down.

So I can open the stove door without a dangerous flashover I just made a hinged cover (hinges just drilled holes with galvanized wire loops) with a wire leading out the flue to control it.  I will be trying that tonight if it gets chilly.

I don't need kero or diesel to get it started as the propane works, just a little candle like start in a few places on the fiberglass which slowly spreads to the whole fiberglass wick, then after a while the flashover which can provide enough heat to probably melt the metalbestos chimney if left uncontrolled!

The galvanized steel is showing signs of oxidation and becomming brittle so I don't reccomend it.  This was a proof of concept.  I'll probably look for something in a metal supply junkheap or fabricate something heavier.

In an earlier experiment I did use a gravity feed system on the outside but got nervous when once it went out and continued feeding.  I like the idea I saw that regulates the level but will need to use tubing large enough to allow an air bubble back up the tube.

I'm nervous about this type of feed to fuel outside as I'm not sure what could happen with the high temperature of a flashover situation.  When it is cold I maintain a controlled flashover situation by limiting the oxygen with the wood circulators bimetallic coil controlled air intake flap.

Nice to know I'm not the only one to have arrived at this simple solution.  The idea of converting an oil burner to burn WVO seemed like very expensive overkill.

Any ideas on how to locate air leaks in wood stoves?  I've thought of a few things like blocking off the stovepipe and injecting compressed air into the cold stove and looking for the ash dust....  I redid the seals and it still won't damp the fire out when everything is closed up.