Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action *UPDATED

Topic: Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action *UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE* (Read 3921 times) previous topic - next topic

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

January 30, 2010, 03:46:23 PM

Jerry had asked me about my oil stove, and since I'm visiting my father right now and he has high speed I was able to upload a video of it in action.

This oil stove was built by converting my old garage woodstove to burn oil instead of wood. I did this for a few reasons: First, the stove ate wood like crazy. Second, it didn't throw any heat, or not enough, anyway. Third, I was wasting valuable firewood that could otherwise go toward heating the house. Fourth, I did it because I wanted something different (and free).

The conversion was done by cutting a 2" hole in the top of the stove to feed the air feed pipe through. The oil feed tube goes inside the air feed pipe. The burner itself is made using two old brake rotors and an old brake drum (courtesy of my sister's old Neon). The oil tank is an old water tank from a travel trailer. I will upload a graphic of how it's built later, but here is the video of it in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pI900HB4w0

This thing throws LOTS of heat! The rotor on top of the burner assembly glows (you can't tell in the video, but trust me, that rotor is bright orange). I'm sure if it was dark inside the garage the sides of the stove would be glowing dull red too. It burns about a quart of waste oil per hour of operation.

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #1 – January 30, 2010, 04:26:04 PM

Here's the diagram of how the burner is assembled

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #2 – January 30, 2010, 04:30:15 PM

And photos of the burner, air pipe and oil tank

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #3 – January 30, 2010, 04:38:16 PM

Maybe a dumb question, but how is it vented? Obviously you're not filling your shop with oil fumes. Also, is the blower blowing into the oven? I'm clueless as to how these things actually work since I just use a cannon-type propane heater for my garage.

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #4 – January 30, 2010, 04:38:44 PM

Now imagine if that garage was all insulated and such.

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #5 – January 30, 2010, 05:17:04 PM

It's vented using the original chimney (remember, it's a modified wood stove). The original chimney is simple black pipe from the stove to the ceiling, with insulated Selkirk going through the attic. The blower is blowing directly onto the top of the fire, which makes it burn really hot with little to no smoke. The blower pipe is the one you see going into the rotor in the first photo.

bhazard: Insulation may come next year. I need a new door for it, too - the existing doors are literally old barn doors.

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #6 – January 30, 2010, 05:26:50 PM

What size is the building, and what does the temp get to in there?

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #7 – January 30, 2010, 06:54:40 PM

The questions I'd ask have already been, so I'll just say 2 thumbs up!

I have some old rotors, drums...and I wonder if a steel 55 gallon barrel would be enough "meat" for the body..? Hate to melt it, or burn a hole in the side. If not, I could probably find an old woodstove somewhere.

Sounds like a project I need to start on soon :D

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #8 – January 30, 2010, 07:58:48 PM

Is the oil gravity fed to the burner,or is it pumped?

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #9 – January 30, 2010, 08:14:32 PM

wow, this is pretty cool that this came up because im in the middle of doing something similar to this right now, from some of the other stuff i have read tho i was going to use a old cast iron pan and some quarter inch plate for the burner pan, but i like your ceramic tile wick. i think ill try your idea first, it seems more efficient then the one i was going to use. im also looking for a old hot water heater to convert into the furnace. what are you using for your blower? i've seen people use leaf blowers but i think thats way to loud and to much air... is it like a range hood blower fan or something?

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #10 – January 30, 2010, 09:08:15 PM

Jerry: the garage is a 24X30 with an 8X12 side room. I don't have a thermometer in there, but it gets warm enough that I turned the oil flow down because it was getting too hot in there.

Beau: A 55 gallon drum would be too thin. An old electricx water heater like Nate mentioned below would be better, as it is thicker metal.

Chooglin: The oil is gravity fed.

Nate: You must be talking about the Mothers design, which was what I was originally going to build. I even went to the dump and got an old water tank (I got a 40 gallon water pressure tank instead of an old water heater), but then realized I could do it easier with my existing stove. The way I built mine is similar in concept to the Mothers design, except instead of cast iron frying pans and the steel plate I used cast iron brake parts. Oh yeah, and mine's forced induction

The crushed ceramic tile idea came to me only because I have a whole bunch of old ceramic tile lying about, and I figured it'd be as good as the (no longer available) asbestos that the Mothers plan calls for.

The only problem with a waste oil stove is that waste oil does not burn readily. To get it going I pour about a cup of furnace oil into the burner and light it (without the fan going), then once it gets burning good I turn the waste oil on. I should also note that I had to dilute the waste oil with some furnace oil - I used about 2 gallons of furnace oil to about 20 gallons of waste oil. Without the furnace oil the waste oil wa stoo thick amd would not flow through the copper fee dline fast enough to support a good flame. With straight waste oil I had to open the valve all the way and still couldn't get a good fire going, but with the furnace oil the valve only needs to be opened about 25%.

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #11 – January 30, 2010, 11:04:19 PM

very good, i was wondering if i would have to cut the oil with something to make it run better through that line. do you use a water separator? i think when i swap brake parts on my tbird, i'll use it's rotors and a drum to make that burner setup, and i also have a case of half broken ceramic tiles... looks like i am on my way to a new heater!

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #12 – January 31, 2010, 07:14:58 AM

I don't use a water seperator. I figure if any water gets in there it can just burn away. I suppose it's possible that water could freeze in the line and block it, but I doubt that would happen - the tank's outlet is about 2" from the bottom, so it'd take a lot of water for it to get that high...

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #13 – January 31, 2010, 12:48:53 PM

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me4.html

the above discussed solving the two problems,, which he did with his new oil collection plate **and no blower**
flow
flame direction.

in effect, the flame torches outward not letting as much heat out.
It also discussed the science behind the right and wrong flow adjustment valve. The ones you find easily are not pointed enough to actually have a calibrated regulation of flow.

location of the source oil with respect to temp makes the viscosity change so storing the oil in the garage may not be best.

My 400psi water tank is very thick, impressive amount of metal there to be used to heat up a space.

in the end, my impression of the biggest problem was getting reliable and accurate flow rates without constantly babysitting the flow valve due to the tubing heating up.

Second was the filtering of the oil.

a huge benefit is efficiency as it burns so hot, the emissions are barely on the charts compared to all other sources of heat we have.

Video of my homemade waste oil stove in action UPDATED - SLIGHT MODS DONE

Reply #14 – January 31, 2010, 12:53:33 PM

i just watched the vid,, that MF gets hot!!!!!!!!
white flames!