Diy Waste Oil Heater

[Dngspot]

I have seen Roger Sanders thread and was impressed I am heating a 20X40 shop. The original Roger Sanders unit should be enough.

1/7/09

I gave the MEN information to a couple of guys at work. We have an endless supply of used oil so why not make it happen. One of the guys has finished his unit. He did a 5 hour test run with a chimney sticking out the side door of his garage. It was 20 deg out and about 75 deg in the garage. His unit did not use the conical burner; he used a stamped metal pan. He also used a 4 inch computer fan to blow in the air tube. Over the five hours it used 2 gallons of oil. His tank is located above his heater off to the side. It is also attached to the heater. It also uses a simple needle valve for oil control. During the visit he never adjusted the oil flow.

I have started mine. I will be using a conical burner. I have pressed it from 1/4 steel. If it does not heat up enough during start up then I will go through the hassle and make one from aluminum. Tonight I stripped the hot water heater and cut a door in it. Then I noticed that I only have a 3 inch draft tube. Since Roger Sanders reduces his to 2 inch to slow velocity I will leave it alone. I will test it this way and if needed will still reduce it or weld in a 4 inch tube. I will also mount my tank similar to the unit my buddy made. I am hopping to have it finished by next week.

I intend to show pics as I progress.

The burner.



The 40 gallon water heater tank with a door cut out.




1/8/09

I have not finished much; I picked up some hinge material (push tubes from a Cat 3406 engine). I am going to use a 30 lbs R134A tank for the tank that will be mounted above the heater. I have removed the handles and valve from the tank and silver soldered a 1/4 npt female fitting to the top of the tank. This will be the needle valve will mount. I also need to install the sight gauge and drill a 1 inch hole in the top for filling. Sorry I do not have any pics of this, the tank is at work and I am working at it on breaks.

I spent a little time on the heater. I cut the old draft line and mounted the burner. I also installed 1/4 inch npt plugs in five of the holes that were made by the hot water manufacture.

I am ready to start cutting and welding. The hole for the new 6 inch draft line still needs to be cut, the tank needs to be mounted and the door hinges need to be made and installed. I also need to install the frame on the inside of the heater door opening. I may weld this into place. Unfortunately I must do some garage cleaning to get to my mig and torches. I have been working on a few wood projects and need to move a bench and a few sheets of oak plywood. I will be working on this after work tomorrow.

Here are a couple of pics.





1/12/08

Just about 30 minutes of work today. I cut the hole in the top of the heater, cut the stack and welded it into place. Dad always told me to clean metal before I weld. Yea he is right the weld is not pretty but, it will not leak.

As for the tank I have a pic of it finally. This thing is upside down, the fitting on top is the drain into the heater.

Side note. My wife had that garage looking pretty nice. A half of an hour, now I am feeling at home.

The heater.



The oil tank.



1/13/09

No real progress today. I was held up at work.
I did start on the hinges. They are made from a tube that was used as a push tube for valve rockers in a 3406 Cat engine. The pin is a 3/8 inch bolt that I lathed the head to be round and its o.d. the same size as the o.d. of the tube.
I also built inner frame for the door opening. I cut the material and welded the ends to make a square. I bent the frame as best I could on the outside of the heater then clamped it into the inside of the heater. I used a torch to shape it the rest of the way. It is cooling now.
That is all. Tomorrow may be a better day to finish more.

[Dngspot]

The idea came from Mother Earth News.
Here is the link.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_lib ... /me11.html

[Dngspot]

I have drilled 28 holes and mounted the door frame. I measured each side of the frame and found the center, then marked them. I did the same on the outside of the door. I then clamped the frame into place. I spaced 5/8 outside the door and drilled the center marks. Then put bolts in and tightened them. I marked every two inches and drilled for a bolt.

After the frame was in and tight it was not quite the same shape as the door. To fix this I used a 3 lbs sledge to beat it into shape.

The heater with the door.



The door removed.




Close up of the frame.

[Dngspot]

Today I installed the hinges and welded them to the door. They are made from the handles of a R-12 Freon tank. The tank is the white tank I am using as my oil tank. They also are made from 3/8 inch bolts with the heads lathed down and the 3406 engine push tubes, as mentioned before. I used a piece of 3/8 round stock to align the hinge tubes. Sorry folks, this is going slowly, I am putting about 1.5 hours a night into the project.
Here is the pic.

[Dngspot]

You ever have a day when you get so close to finished then the roof falls on your head.
It started well the door latch was coming together great. The door pulls tight and locks smoothly.
The oil tank is another story. First I somehow put the thing on not quite straight. Also as I was welding I bunt a hole in it at the stand. For the love of God I could not get it leak proof. I ended cutting the dang thing off and will look into finding something different.

This is what I have now.
The success.



The failure, see nothing on the dang oil tank stand.



And still an unfinished heater.

[Hybrid]

Dngspot it just needs wings now Good onya for the DIY.
Cheers !

[Dngspot]

Thanks,

I bought a metal 5 gallon bucket from Sherman Williams. I have soldered all of the fittings for the drip system and level indicator. I like this thing better as it lets me remove the top for cleaning. The only draw back is I have to make a frame for it to sit on. The metal is even thiner than the R-12 tank.
I had a piece of 1/4 inch plate that I have been sitting on and it fits inside the lower lip of the new oil tank. So I welded it to the galvanized tube and the tank sits very stable on the plate.

The oil tank close up. The fitting with the plug in it is for the oil drip line. The plug was there for leak testing.



The complete setup less the pluming.

[Dngspot]

I am finished and on its first run. I can put my hand on the top only for a second before the burning is too strong.
It was difficult to start only because the oil was so cool that I could not get a drip. This is out side with a strong wind. The wind is so strong that during heat up the flame would go out until I put a 2 inch reducer on the air intake. It seems burn better with it there so I will leave it.
I did not bring home the inferred thermometer but, it is hot. More testing is needed to see how it performs over the long run. I think I need to get it out of the wind so the heater keeps the bucket with the oil warm.

Here are the pics.

The stack and bucket. This shows how dark the exhaust is. Difficult to see and does not stink like burning oil.



The completed unit undergoing its first run. Look closely you can see a bit of exhaust.

[Dngspot]

After running for about 6 hours, this is what I have learned. It used 1 gallon of oil at high burn. The conical burner and air make the flame form a cone that hits the walls of the heater. The draw back of the conical burner is, at top burn it can overflow and make a mess at the bottom of the heater. My solution is to add a 8 inch cast iron pan under the burner. I cut a ring from the piece that I cut from the old flue and set it in the pan and then set the burner on the ring. It worked better than I thought it would. If any oil spills over, the oil in the pan catches on fire and heats the burner from below. One thing that is a drag, the pan too will need to be cleaned.
The heater gets dang hot and is fully adjustable from a high heat to a low heat. For some reason during start up a mess of coak floats on top of the pool of oil, I used a metal rod to move it off of the burner and then no more problems. Also during start up or when ever the door is open, the flame vortexes up the air intake tube but, as soon as the door is shut draft changes from the intake to the flue. Then the fire spreads out to the sides again.
The soot level is pretty high but this was expected. Oh yea, wind plays havoc on the flame. This will change when I get it inside.

[redriderno22]

Nice!!

[Jehu]

Are you going to add a heat exchanger to it for hot water heating?

Nice work btw. I like how there is hardly any exaust fumes comming from the stack.

[Dngspot]

[Dngspot]

I brought home a barrel and cut it to make the shroud. I plan on welding it tomorrow.



Here are the additional burner pieces. The lower pan has not been cleaned.



This is the complete burner.

[Dngspot]

It is painted and ready for installation. Now I have to find a chimney kit at a reasonable price. Installing it will cost the most.

The heater.



The shroud.

[redriderno22]

What no snow??

where are you