Figured some people on here might get a kick out of this. Its not strictly coal related, and if that's not ok, please remove or relocate however is necessary.
As some of you know, I have an old clayton furnace that I use to heat my garage. I have been toying with the idea of burning waste engine oil in it as I work on all my own equipment and cars and it accumulates quickly. I played with some old beckett burners and it was going to be too much work to make an air atomizing nozzle and heater setup to burn the oil that way. So i did some reading and came up with another idea that works just by gravity and with the inducer fan that i have on my ash pan door. Essentially, I have blocked off the entire grate section with fiberglass insulation except where the oil burner sits. The fan blows air through the burner to help burn the fuel. The oil is drip fed to the top of the burner by a copper line and a needle valve. This helps heat the oil on the way to the drip and then it travels down the sides of the burner and pre heats before burning at the bottom.
So far i have run about 5 gallons through it and stack temp sits around 250-300 degrees, load door is 450 or so, and above the load door is 400. Once its up to temp, it even keeps the thermostatic fan switch on. Doesn't throw as much heat as coal for sure, but the idea was for days in the shoulder season where its not 30 degrees out. Burns surprisingly clean, no visible smoke from the stack. Sounds like a blast furnace when running! Also a big thanks to lighting for this working. I tried it in the past but with all the air bypassing the grates it didn't work at all. Now I can burn coal, wood, and oil! I have a video if it burning too but wasn't sure how to show that on here
Waste Oil Burner in a Clayton
- freetown fred
- Member
- Posts: 30300
- Joined: Thu. Dec. 31, 2009 12:33 pm
- Location: Freetown,NY 13803
- Hand Fed Coal Stove: HITZER 50-93
- Coal Size/Type: BLASCHAK Nut
Nice J. Where there's a will, there's a way!! Uh-oh, here come the critics!! LOL Lee IS the clayton guy!!!
- Lightning
- Site Moderator
- Posts: 14669
- Joined: Wed. Nov. 16, 2011 9:51 am
- Location: Olean, NY
- Stoker Coal Boiler: Modified AA 130
- Coal Size/Type: Pea Size - Anthracite
Firstly, thank you for the honorable mention fellas.
Jibs, probably the best way would be to open a YouTube account and post the link here. That's what I do with all my videos. It's pretty easy and works good for anyone who wants to see the video, user friendly. Even someone that isn't real tec savvy like Fred could do it...
- Sunny Boy
- Member
- Posts: 25723
- Joined: Mon. Nov. 11, 2013 1:40 pm
- Location: Central NY
- Hand Fed Coal Boiler: Anthracite Industrial, domestic hot water heater
- Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood range 208, # 6 base heater, 2 Modern Oak 118.
- Coal Size/Type: Nuts !
- Other Heating: Oil &electric plenum furnace
Back during the oil crisis of the 1970's, Mother Earth News ran a piece on how to build a waste oil heater. The burner was a simple adjustable drip-feed into some cast iron frying pans. Buddy of mine built one to heat the commercial garage he and his son opened.
Very simple to build from common household items and it worked surprisingly well.
Paul
Very simple to build from common household items and it worked surprisingly well.
Paul
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- Member
- Posts: 35
- Joined: Mon. Feb. 05, 2018 4:07 pm
- Location: Eastern PA
- Hand Fed Coal Furnace: Old Clayton Unknown model
- Other Heating: Vermont Castings Intrepid II for the house
Thanks! And yea I was surprised how well it burned and how much heat it gave off. Definitely not an ideal setup but its cheap and allows me to use up that oil I would have otherwise had to dispose of. Uploaded the video to youtube here: