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space heater runs on old sump oil

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  • 28-10-2003 8:53am
    #1
    emmemm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 507 ✭✭✭


    anyone built the space heater as shown on


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    #2
    emmemm
    Closed Accounts Posts: 507 ✭✭✭emmemm


    sorry missed out
    www.journeytoforever.org


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    #3
    ozzirt
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭ozzirt


    emmemm wrote: »
    sorry missed out
    www.journeytoforever.org

    Yep,... I didn't like that design as it was too fiddley to build, so i built my own design.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lwSmYz_g6U


    It works well and has been in service now for 11 years. I gave it it's first maintenance last (southern) summer and have had it back working for four weeks. below is a quick movie taken while i was giving the heater it's test run after I had reassembled it, prior to taking it back into the living room.



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    #4
    demanufactured
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,756 ✭✭✭demanufactured


    Crackin lookin rig there....now all you need to do is make a wrap around boiler for it to run central heating


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    #5
    bushy...
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,467 ✭✭✭bushy...


    emmemm wrote: »
    anyone built the space heater as shown onsorry missed out
    *www.journeytoforever.org

    May not be a great idea , engine oil was never meant to be burnt , has lots of additives .

    arsenic
    hexavalent chromium
    organic halogens
    polychlorinated biphenyls - kinda like cfcs - don't break down

    From an msds :
    Combustion Products: Highly dependent on combustion conditions. A complex mixture of airborne solids, liquids, and gases including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and unidentified organic compounds will be evolved when this material undergoes combustion.


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    #6
    ozzirt
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭ozzirt


    bushy... wrote: »
    May not be a great idea , engine oil was never meant to be burnt , has lots of additives .----snip----
    It's a great idea, because it's going to be burnt anyway, and this way I get free heat out of it.

    Otherwise it is sold to brick makers who burn it in their kilns about 400 metres up the road. At least with my heater it undergoes two stage burning where the heavy metals etc., are trapped in the residue of the low temperature first stage burn. They aren't destroyed, but they are isolated and their volume reduced. The residue goes to a council collection along with agricultural poisons etc for destruction. It amounts to about 10 - 20 litres per month, 99% of which is just carbon.


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    #7
    ozzirt
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭ozzirt


    demanufactured wrote: »
    Crackin lookin rig there....now all you need to do is make a wrap around boiler for it to run central heating
    I have considered a coil heater, but because the heater is too remote from my hot water system I've never gone on with it.


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    #8
    bushy...
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,467 ✭✭✭bushy...


    ozzirt wrote: »
    It's a great idea, because it's going to be burnt anyway, and this way I get free heat out of it.

    Its a great idea because you know what your doing and you look after it
    ozzirt wrote: »
    residue goes to a council collection along with agricultural poisons etc for destruction. It amounts to about 10 - 20 litres per month, 99% of which is just carbon

    and you get free heat :)


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    #9
    ozzirt
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭ozzirt


    Well, it's as good as free, I have to pick up the oil from the local garage. I have a 1 cub.Metre container there, and when it is full they use their forklift to put it on the back of my traytop and I cart it 800 metres home and pump it into my storage tanks. Whatever the cost, I feel it is better for the environment than cutting down trees and burning them, with all of the resultant smoke.

    It's not perfect, but then again, it's better than my other options.


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    #10
    ozzirt
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭ozzirt


    For anyone who is interested, I have finally got around to doing some working drawings. They're far from perfect, but they'll give you a few ideas.
    Heater.gif

    I dunno if .gif format will reproduce well, as i have never uploaded one before, so I have also made it into a Word Document which shows a Side Elevation as well. (Not much different to the Front Elevation)
    http://www.geocities.com/senojekips/text/heater.doc

    It's well into our winter here now, and although it is much milder than that of Ireland, the heater is going every day and keeping the living areas of the house very comfortable.


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    #11
    vincenzolorenzo
    Registered Users Posts: 1,228 ✭✭✭vincenzolorenzo


    Have you looked into adding some class of heat exchanger or fins or something to the burner? 600F is a very very high temperature to be sending up the chimney. if you could get down to say 350F you would get a fairly big increase in efficiency


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    #12
    ozzirt
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭ozzirt


    Hi Vincenzo,

    Sorry about the delay in answering I have not been able to access my email for over a month due to my own error:p.

    You are quite correct about the high flue gas temperature, however I have found that to make this heater work well you need a lot of draft so the high temperature is necessary.

    Thankfully the fuel is free, so the heat recovery efficiency is not all that important.

    My main reason for this is so that the heater needs no electric fans or pumps, which enables it to work if I lose power. Generally this type of problem occurs in the middle of a roaring storm just when you really need the heat.

    I do intend to install a baffle to improve heat transfer to the shell of the firebox but as yet pure laziness has held me up:D.

    I do welcome your suggestion though and i should really start thinking of more ways in which to make it more efficient. Since I posted my earlier messages i have helped several persons build them, the latest being in Belgrade. http://spicrosoft.com/Heater/Photos4.htm

    Cheers,
    Spike


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    #13
    Slidey
    Closed Accounts Posts: 12,811 ✭✭✭✭Slidey


    Ah Ozzirt, I have been procrastinating quite a bit since your posts in the 4x4 forum.

    I have picked out 2 brake drums since though!

    Thanks for the link, will have a proper look later


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    #14
    Shane Turner
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭Shane Turner


    Hi I love your desighn well done :)
    I came across it while looking for others
    I have used one made out of car rimms years ago it worker well as it bernt up trough the center of the rims as they acted as baffels to burn all gasses and radiate heat


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    #15
    Davco
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1 ✭Davco


    Hi, I am interested in your waist oil burner but I have seen something similar in eastern Europe except instead of a drip feed system they simply use the pot as a reservoir. I wonder if you have looked at this and what are your thoughts on that idea?


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    #16
    ozzirt
    Registered Users Posts: 106 ✭✭ozzirt


    Davco wrote: »
    Hi, I am interested in your waist oil burner but I have seen something similar in eastern Europe except instead of a drip feed system they simply use the pot as a reservoir. I wonder if you have looked at this and what are your thoughts on that idea?
    Ihave seen the type of heater you are referring to, we call them Tophat Heaters and they are used to keep frosts away from fruit crops.

    My heater uses about 2-3 litres of sump oil an hour so I would need a large pot on the bottom. Also, they are not very easy to adjust, they are either full blast, or they are out, and the simplest way I could think of adjusting the heat was to regulate the fuel flow and run with the pot virtually empty.

    My design is not foolproof, but it does do what I want it to and has been running successfully now since 1998 without any major problems.

    The nights are just starting to get cold here and I lit it last night for the first time this year, I would say that within 4-5 weeks it will be running 18 hours a day.


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    #17
    gman2k
    Registered Users Posts: 4,076 ✭✭✭gman2k


    It is illegal to burn used engine oil in this country, as the carcinogens are released directly into the atmosphere. The same way as backyard burning of household waste is illegal.


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