Waste Oil Heater Challenge

[aboard_epsilon]

NOT OFF TOPIC BECAUSE IT INVOLVES HEATING OUR WORKSHOPS.
Come on guys ...
Let's see who can come up with the best waste oil burner over the next two months or so.
I'm game .......will have a go at the mother earth waste oil heater after christmas with a few mods
I'm going to make a half scale version of it .
reason being , I intend to keep it going 24/7........so you dont nead the bulkyness of it.
two things that I will be able to do is fit a lamda probe in the chimney and i have equipment to measure CO.
also it should have a flame-out safety device.
come guys there are some very clever people here ...and this will be a challenge to all of you .
Lets see who can make the most efficent 24/7 thermostacally controlled waste oil burner.
by thermostically controlled......i dont mean it to go out ...as i realise this is inpossible..and would make it overcomplex...when the thermostat cuts in it should be in tick-over mode.
SO HOW ABOUT IT GUYS WHO'S UP TO THE CHALLENGE.
rules ..
1. Must be able to burn old sump oil.
2.Must be safe enough to be left unattended for 24 hours.
3. MUST NOT MAKE ANY BLACK SMOKE .
BLACK SMOKE ONLY PERMITED FOR FIRST TWO MINS OF INITIAL FIRING.
4. Prefered that it only uses less than two pints an hour .
5.Anything go's as long as it does not cost the earth to purchase the materials for construction.
turbines , blowers, heat-exchager ideas are encouraged
6. Prizes ..non ...you get to feel very smug that you won this competition.
all the best..mark
7. Must have flame out safety device , to avoid flooding your workshop with oil.


[This message has been edited by aboard_epsilon (edited 12-22-2004).]

[motorworks]

"1. Must be able to burn old sump oil."

Can we expand this to old cooking oil, as there are 6 fast food outlets near my shop and I was thinking that the used oil be be used to heat...

[aboard_epsilon]

ok ..I supose old veg oil can be as hard to filter and burn as old sump oil.
so that's ok.
all the best..mark


[This message has been edited by aboard_epsilon (edited 12-22-2004).]

[Paul Gauthier]

This place is all about SVO, WVO, WMO,etc, for residential and commercial.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/altfuelfurnace/

------------------
Paul G.

[3 Phase Lightbulb]

Does driving my car around, burning up the oil in the crankcase count?

-3Ph

[sdeering]

I built a used oil burner last year. It is not thermostatically controlled, but could be incorporated.
I used a type of cyclone burner technology. Uses a refractory lined chamber. Preheated air is blown in at the base edge of the chamber. Oil is drip fed into the chamber, controlled via a needle valve. Start burner on diesel to heat it up. Out of the top of the chamber is a 1.5 hole, this is where some flame and supper hot gasses leave the chamber. They then travel through a double pipe (one inside the other) arrangement where the air is preheated. Air is pressured via a Chevy heater motor/batt charger on 6v.
The heater burns amazingly clean and virtually ordure free.
Only problem is the system has to be perfectly seald or mabey induced draft would work better to stop leaks.
I plan on making a heat exchanger out of a 45 gal drum with horizontal tubes and baffles. Some day. Loll
I will post a pick soon.

[aboard_epsilon]

Paul that yahoo group seems to be about marketing ...looks Like a commercial site to me mascarading as something else .....have a look at the files.
Yes sdeering show us a few pics of your burner sounds very interesting.
all the best..mark

[sdeering]

Hear some picks of the oil burner.
The complete unit without air to flue gas heat exchanger.

The Chevy blower motor

The underside of the cyclone chamber


This is the inside bottom of the cyclone burner chamber. I have placed a wire connector on the end of the oil feed tube so you can see where it ends.

[aboard_epsilon]

From what I can see of it sdeering ,
It looks well.
When I get round to it, my burner will be around the same size but totaly different in concept.
it will have forced air and a cyclonic effect but the oil will burn in a narrow grove with the air forced into a narrow ventrai above it .
not found the tube/pipe yet though still looking.
what oil consumpion is yours on the highest and lowest setting.
what I'm tring to do is build one that uses very little oil...but it burns 24/7 so that it is always radiating heat and .....theres no wait for it to warm up .
so it would not need to put out a huge btu figure.......
This is what's doing my mind in though :-
I would not be satisfied until it had a flame that was aproaching blue.
Soon as I amount all the parts I will start on it........I know I said within this month,but realistically ..I see it taking months to develope as I have umpteen projects on the go at the moment ....
yours could do with finns welded to the main tube and a fan to blow across them.
then shroud it all and have one inlet for the air so that it is forced to go around these cooling finns then make its way out at the top...thru another opening.
all the best..mark

[sdeering]

I think it would run the best at about 1/8 to 1/2 gal/hr. I don’t have much running time on it. I did note that with low oil feed rate, up to 1/2 gal/hr, the burner worked very well. The flame on an oil burner will be very bright almost white not blue (from what I have seen). The inside surface is 3000 C refractory 2" thick top bottom and sides. The inner air preheater tube is stainless. When burning at aprox. 1/2 gal/hr the stainless would glow red about 1/4 to 1/2 the way up from the chamber, and flame would exit the 2" hole about 6".
Post some picks when you have some or even some drawings I would be very interested in seeing them.
Stephen