Building a Waste Oil Burner - a Hybrid Drip/Beckett Setup

 
User avatar
SMITTY
Member
Posts: 12520
Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
Location: West-Central Mass
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler

Post by SMITTY » Thu. Sep. 04, 2014 9:17 pm

Been thinking about this for several years now. Now that this summer blew by in the blink of an eye, I've decided it's time to get down to business. I need cheap/free heat for my barn. I refuse to buy another tank of oil for either the house OR barn. Just too damn expensive.

I've got an oil furnace out there now. Rather than try and make this thing work using the oil pump, nozzle and electrodes (which I haven't had much luck doing in the past), I decided to gut the burner unit and just use the blower part of it, but feed the oil in by gravity thru the center where the nozzle was. Maybe I can get it to burn inside there ... maybe not. We'll see.

After watching HOURS of Youtube vids on drip systems, rocket systems, Babington burners, etc.., I've decided to use my own creation. I stripped down an old Beckett burner today - removed the oil pump, ignitor, air band & shutter, internal air baffle and that flyweighted shutter, and the electronic shutoff control. My plan is to remove my old burner unit and set it aside for when/if I ever get kerosene, diesel or #2. The old stripped Beckett will bolt right up in it's place. With all the junk removed, this thing really moves some air! Should make one hell of a fire. Hopefully my furnace out there can handle it. We shall see ....

Got lots of testing to do to see if this will actually work. I was going to weld up a couple brake rotors and blast air in like the aussie guy on Youtube with the Pyrex stove glass, but I'd rather use my oil oil burner. Kills 2 birds with one stone - how to mount it to the furnace, and how to get air into the fire by force.

I'm open to suggestions, but this is another Smitty project - bare bones and CHEAP. ;) :cheers:


 
User avatar
Sunny Boy
Member
Posts: 25567
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

Post by Sunny Boy » Thu. Sep. 04, 2014 9:47 pm

Buddy of mine built one of those Mother Earth waste oil heater back in the late 70's. Worked real well for heating the two-bay repair garage he and his son ran in Glen Cove L.I.
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethan ... h/me5.html
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethan ... h/me4.html

Now they have a new version that's supposed to be even better.http://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/waste-oil-heat ... z3COumbRlH

Paul

 
franco b
Site Moderator
Posts: 11416
Joined: Wed. Nov. 05, 2008 5:11 pm
Location: Kent CT
Hand Fed Coal Stove: V ermont Castings 2310, Franco Belge 262
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood Modern Oak 114
Coal Size/Type: nut and pea

Post by franco b » Thu. Sep. 04, 2014 10:18 pm

The commercial waste oil burner in my local garage seems to have the components of a standard oil burner. Don't be too quick to get rid of the Beckett parts. Investigate the commercial burners and how they work.

About 50 years ago I remember reading about a burner that used a sphere on a rod. The oil dripped onto the hot ball which turned it into gas and burned cleanly.

I will check out some of the you tube videos.

 
User avatar
SMITTY
Member
Posts: 12520
Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
Location: West-Central Mass
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler

Post by SMITTY » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 11:05 am

Thanks for the info guys. 8-)

I've been steering away from the commercial burner units because they ALL require the use of compressed air to run. I need compressed air to run my tools and blow gun for cleaning ... and that uses enough electricity as it is. I only have a 30 gallon compressor, so running a commercially available burner unit would probably have that thing running constantly. I want no part of it. My grandfather had one running that used NO compressed air .... but I don't know how he built it. My father remembers something about a "low pressure nozzle" ... but I've never heard of such a thing. Probably not made anymore, no doubt.

I would LOVE to build what he had because there was no lighting - just turn up the T-stat, and open the #2 valve to get it going for a few minutes to warm everything up .. and then switch to 100% used motor oil afterward. Never once did I see even a hint of smoke out of this thing. It was a 55 gallon drum lined with firebrick, and a regular burner unit like my Beckett. I've never had any luck getting one going on used oil ... but one thing I haven't done is wrap the oil feed around the exhaust like grandpa did - I guess that was the key to getting it to burn. Needs preheating, especially with modern oils. With my furnace in the barn, there isn't a whole lot of space for that.

I do have a 30 gallon water heater tank from the 70's that's super heavy duty - that I'll keep around in case this burner idea doesn't work out.

 
scoobydoo
Member
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue. Dec. 17, 2013 11:01 am
Location: Benton,ME
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Leisure Line Pioneer LE top vent
Coal Size/Type: Rice

Post by scoobydoo » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 12:13 pm

Have you looked at any of the waste oil filter systems?Here's a centrifuge for cleaning oil http://www.pabiodieselsupply.com/demo.php It's a little expensive,but it's possible to make something like it.

 
User avatar
Sting
Member
Posts: 2983
Joined: Mon. Feb. 25, 2008 4:24 pm
Location: Lower Fox Valley = Wisconsin
Other Heating: OBSO Lennox Pulse "Air Scorcher" burning NG

Post by Sting » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 1:46 pm

How do you address the hi flash point of modern automotive [synthetic] used oil?

 
User avatar
SMITTY
Member
Posts: 12520
Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
Location: West-Central Mass
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler

Post by SMITTY » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 4:25 pm

I appreciate your effort Scooby, but you're WAY .... WAAAAAAAY outta my league there!! :shock: :shock:

Got a great point Sting - from testing it looks like I'll need to wrap anything hot with the copper tubing I'll use to feed this thing ...

Well my testing has been nearly a complete failure so far. Getting discouraged .... :x

Built the drip system out of some old hose, a soup can, an air fitting, a clear plastic screw container, a brass compression shut-off, and some 3/8" copper tubing left here by the previous owners of the house. I removed the J pipe from the burner and bent a piece of 3/8" copper tube and fastened it into the head with the set screw. Found a 1/2" thick square nut on a rod buried in the yard a while back, so I cut that off, & ground it down convex so the oil would puddle on it. I don't think it's quite big enough .... but we'll see.

At first I couldn't even plug the fan in - would just blow the fire right out. After adding a sheetmetal cover where the ignitor went, re-installing the shutter & band, and putting the turbinator back on, I got a good 3 second blast, then it too started burning out. Sounds like too much air, even still. Going to try duct taping the opening where the oil pump goes to cut the airflow down some more, then adjust with the band. I've just about lost all confidence in this ever working though ... :mad:

May have to start from scratch with that old water tank ... wasted half a day on this already. :(

Attachments

Waste oil burner project (3).JPG
.JPG | 165.6KB | Waste oil burner project (3).JPG
Waste oil burner project (2).JPG
.JPG | 105KB | Waste oil burner project (2).JPG
Waste oil burner project (4).JPG
.JPG | 109KB | Waste oil burner project (4).JPG
Waste oil burner project.JPG
.JPG | 103KB | Waste oil burner project.JPG


 
User avatar
Sting
Member
Posts: 2983
Joined: Mon. Feb. 25, 2008 4:24 pm
Location: Lower Fox Valley = Wisconsin
Other Heating: OBSO Lennox Pulse "Air Scorcher" burning NG

Post by Sting » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 4:34 pm

best waste oil burner system - well the cheeeeeeepest and simplest

was a guy with a big ol pot bellied stove/smoke dragon in his shop - and he dripped his waste oil on the burning pile of the fire pot

never failed - no electricity - the oil tank was above the pot so it got hot - he actually added water to the oil and stirred it into emulsion so it exploded as it dripped into the hot logs
Last edited by Sting on Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 4:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

 
User avatar
carlherrnstein
Member
Posts: 1536
Joined: Tue. Feb. 07, 2012 8:49 am
Location: Clarksburg, ohio
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: combustioneer model 77B
Coal Size/Type: pea stoker/Ohio bituminous

Post by carlherrnstein » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 4:36 pm

Check this out, he has built a oil burner to heat a melting furnace. http://backyardmetalcasting.com/oilburners01.html

Heres a better page. http://backyardmetalcasting.com/oilburners07.html

 
User avatar
SMITTY
Member
Posts: 12520
Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
Location: West-Central Mass
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler

Post by SMITTY » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 5:44 pm

Ahh good stuff there! Now I see I'm going about this all wrong. What I need to do is remove my current feed location, step down the outlet to 2" somehow (must be 5" diameter now), and let the oil go in further up, THEN exit into a box of some type, which could be my furnace. Guess this will work, but not like I had expected. Might have to spend a few bucks to make it happen.

 
scoobydoo
Member
Posts: 191
Joined: Tue. Dec. 17, 2013 11:01 am
Location: Benton,ME
Hot Air Coal Stoker Stove: Leisure Line Pioneer LE top vent
Coal Size/Type: Rice

Post by scoobydoo » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 6:19 pm

I have this stove right here http://www.duvallheatcool.com/Napoleon/NapoleonOilOS10.htm It's a freestanding gravity fed oil burning stove.It's made to burn #1 or #2.I burned some used motor oil in it last year.It worked good until it built up so much junk,oil could no longer get into the burn pot.The build up was like a big chunk of charcoal.I think if I could filter the oil,I wouldn't get all that build up.

 
franco b
Site Moderator
Posts: 11416
Joined: Wed. Nov. 05, 2008 5:11 pm
Location: Kent CT
Hand Fed Coal Stove: V ermont Castings 2310, Franco Belge 262
Baseburners & Antiques: Glenwood Modern Oak 114
Coal Size/Type: nut and pea

Post by franco b » Fri. Sep. 05, 2014 7:29 pm

In order to burn properly the oil has to be vaporized. Vaporized means turned into a gas, not the small droplets that an oil burner nozzle produces. With a gun type burner such as you are building this can only be accomplished by spraying the raw oil into a red hot combustion chamber. The best material for such a chamber is ceramic felt or insulated fire brick. Both will glow red very quickly and even though both are soft the brick is probably the tougher. The best shape is round. The more the air can diffuse the oil the better. I suspect a location at the end of the tube would be best. Your knowledge of carburetors should help here. I don't think pre heating will make much difference as the chamber will be well over 1000 degrees. On starting the chamber has to be heated first before introducing oil otherwise it will smoke if it even ignites. The tube of the burner probably should be necked down quite a bit to increase air velocity.

Safety means a sheet metal box around the burner with piping to outside air, or else moving the furnace to a shed on an outside wall.

Fuel storage container should lay flat in order to minimize difference in pressure and feed metering as fuel level drops in a gravity system.

 
User avatar
009to090
Member
Posts: 5104
Joined: Fri. Jan. 30, 2009 10:02 am
Location: Live Oak, FL

Post by 009to090 » Sat. Sep. 06, 2014 5:47 am

Smitty, I have been beating that idea around too. I got an unlimited supply of used oil, so why not put it to use in the shop. I haven't selected a design yet, but I liked the video of the burner made from 2 brake drums with the drip system. Thought I would give that a try.

 
User avatar
SMITTY
Member
Posts: 12520
Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
Location: West-Central Mass
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler

Post by SMITTY » Sat. Sep. 06, 2014 9:37 am

Thanks Franco - that is what I discovered yesterday. If I got the oil red hot with the torch, it would burn like hell ... but the fan woulld cool that small area down too fast, then it would smoke and go out. Looks like some re-engineering is in order here.

Yeah Chris, the more I ponder this I think that design would be the simplest & easiest to get together. I can still use the burner unit as a blower with that design, but that would mean I would have to scrap the idea of using the existing oil furnace, which sucks ... but gotta do what I gotta do I suppose ..

 
User avatar
SMITTY
Member
Posts: 12520
Joined: Sun. Dec. 11, 2005 12:43 pm
Location: West-Central Mass
Stoker Coal Boiler: EFM 520 Highboy
Coal Size/Type: Rice / Blaschak anthracite
Other Heating: Oil fired Burnham boiler

Post by SMITTY » Tue. Dec. 02, 2014 9:48 pm

Welp, I just spent the past 3 days working on my latest waste oil burner design. Another FAIL so far ... :mad:

I have a Coaljack Alicat from Jim D. that I had started to build a couple years ago, but was never finished. I finished welding the convection blower mount, installed a handle for what would have been the ash door (used a kickstand off a bicycle :) ), and welded some old castle nuts I had from the endless front end work I do on my fleet to the bottom of the stove for feet. I blocked off the stoker mount with a piece of scrap - same material the stove was built from. Drilled a hole in it, and stuffed a 2.5" exhaust pipe in there, cut at 45° and welded another section to head to the burn chamber, then stuffed 1/4" copper line inside for the oil drip (should've done that BEFORE I welded the other pipe on there ... what a BITCH that was!). Only HI temp paint I had was a couple 13 year old cans of Chevy blue engine paint .. so that's what color the stove has become.

Drilled a hole in a 6 gallon pail, slobbed some Permatex Right Stuff on a shutoff valve, and stuffed it in the hole. Was a compression fitting valve for an oil line, so had to run copper the first foot or so, then ran rubber the rest of the way to a drip window/shutoff valve, then back to copper to the old, gutted Beckett burner I'm using for air. The oil line runs in similar to the way it does normally on the Beckett, but continues on straight through to the burn chamber. Used an old funnel cut to fit, to transition from the 5" or so opening in the Beckett to the 2.5" exhaust pipe. Scrounged up some scrap in the yard - a front rotor off my Silverado, and 2 rear asshat disk/drums off a Toyota Camry. I cut the tops off the asshats, and welded them together - that deepens the chamber. Put some bricks underneath, and some cast iron stove burner lids I found in the yard to cover the bottom.

Fired it up with some oily paper towels - I had to move my oil furnace to hook up the chimney pipe, so I drained what was left of the oil tank by heating the garage for 2 hours, then cracking the bleeder, holding the relay closed, and WAITING - must've taken an hour to get the last 6 gallons out of that tank. My hand pump wasn't long enough to get to the bottom ... :x I poured a half gallon of screened, used oil into the 6 gallon bucket for testing purposes.

So, the paper towels took off roaring! I was excited. Turned the oil on .... *censored*! Nothing! Then a few seconds later I see a drip, drip , drip in the sight window. About 5 solid minutes later, it FINALLY started coming out the end of the tube in the burn chamber! Crank it wide open to really get some oil moving ... still a drip drip drip ..... I think this is my main problem. As soon as I plugged in the Beckett, I found the damn thing was seized, but spooled up with some help from my fingers. I oiled the bearings - did nothing. Seems like the brake isn't disengaging ... but that's the least of my problems. As soon as the Beckett spooled up, it blew the damn fire out. Way too much air. Was about that time I realized that I need to seal the bottom of that brake rotor - oil was all over the bottom of the stove, and dripping out the ash door. Fired it back up with the torch. Air was naturally drafting down the exhaust pipe into the burn chamber. The fire was pathetic and useless. Far from what I have been watching on Youtube. :mad:

So .... looks like I need to drill out the 2 valves I have on the line - no question those are holding the oil back. The line is 1/4" ID all the way down, but both valves have like a 1/8" opening inside. Hopefully I can drill them without ruining the shutoff capability. If not, I'll have to make my own drip sight glass and shutoff. Once I can get some volume in there, and KEEP it in there by sealing up the rotor, I think I'll be in better shape.

The project continues ..... and I get farther and farther behind with the other projects ... :(

Attachments

Waste oil burner project (3).JPG
.JPG | 119.9KB | Waste oil burner project (3).JPG
Waste oil burner project (2).JPG

Burn chamber assembled

.JPG | 148.9KB | Waste oil burner project (2).JPG
Waste oil burner project (12).JPG

Parts of the burn chamber

.JPG | 149.8KB | Waste oil burner project (12).JPG
Waste oil burner project (13).JPG
.JPG | 111.6KB | Waste oil burner project (13).JPG
Waste oil burner project (11).JPG

Sight glass/oil shutoff

.JPG | 87.5KB | Waste oil burner project (11).JPG
Waste oil burner project (5).JPG

The Beckett. Used an old plastic funnel to step down to the exhaust pipe.

.JPG | 113KB | Waste oil burner project (5).JPG
Waste oil burner project.JPG

The original orientation - was clear this setup was NOT going to work. Too close to stairs, and not enough chimney pipe to hook up. Gave in and moved the oil furnace ...

.JPG | 105.7KB | Waste oil burner project.JPG


Post Reply

Return to “Wood, Pellets, Gas, Oil, Geothermal & Other Heating Types”