As a block layer, I just want to offer a little advice. When creating such heat with concrete, you can get explosive ejections of the concrete or the blocks, especially when moisture is in the concrete. Just be cautious. That is helped by lining with fire brick. Absolutely beauty ideas here. I am going to make one for my shop.
When you see something good and the synapsis startw a round chamber! when thr heat is in cicle in the bottom of the stove and slovly get up i the chimney! its an idea you must already have and might soon coming to show us! Keep up the great work you are just awesome Rob.!🥸
Excellent explanation and demonstration of convective flow being used to improve combustion! I've played around with burning waste oil in a style of vaporizing pot oil burner that used to be quite common in my region somewhere from the 50's up into the 70's. Due to viscosity, mixture was limited to 50% waste oil+diesel fuel, any heavier and the "carburetor" could not be adjusted to provide enough fuel to maintain combustion chamber/flue temperature high enough to ensure proper draft. In addition, the waste oil would hardly move through a 10mm line with everything sitting at -30 celsius.
That's incredible, great build. All the oil change shops here in northern Canada have a more complicated waste oil burner that heats the shop for free using the old motor oil. I believe they use a pump and nozzle to spray the oil in a burner. A very small amount of diesel mixed in the motor oil will drop the viscosity of the oil, and improve the flow.
You are really a grate scientist, hats off to you. I love you little experiments, and most of them help me make my kid understand the basics to advance level of physics and science. Thank you
I did a drip oil burner in a woodburning stove with a model aeroplane carburettor as a tap and a metal tube from an old antenna. It had a tin can from westlers burgers with a 2p coin in the center. A small piece of cotton string to get it going. Worked well when you adjust the drip rate. Smelt like a 1980s car! 😄👍😎❤️
Love the content Robert. A superb cheap valve is the water ones found at the back of washing machines. I am using one on my model 5 inch gauge locomotive sat in the water to control the injector. Injectors dont work if any air comes into the flow. Very cheap and effective 45 degree from off to on. David and Lily Reading.
Mass heater to a new level: Imagine a rocket stove whose chimney snakes right and left as it travels up through a cinder block wall. So much more surface area and mass to absorb the heat energy and radiate it.
You're a diesel turbo and some tubing away from being a certified Flamiac, Robert! 👍 You know you want to... As an added side effect bonus, once you get a fair amount of carbon build-up in your burn tube further up (or out, exit orientation dependent), you end up with a very nice insulating effect allowing you to run hotter and hotter.
Great stuff, seeing the logical progression of how a oil heater evolves. When you simply look at an oil lamp its hard to know whats going on even with explanation but this makes it all clear. This could be a good alternative to burning wood say as a van lifer , recycling useless oil rather then burning wood seems like the more sustainable thing to do. That deliciouse carbon would be released into the air providing nutriouse food for plants and trees, who werent cut down thanks to the recycling of this oil, could only make this planet greener.
12 valve cummins owner here. I burn waste oil for fuel. Tried a 70/30 diesel/oil mix and it was ok summer time but now that its fall I've found the need to install a second tank and move to a 15/15/70 gas/diesel/oil mix. Lots of haze and quite a bit of black smoke at the moment running just a diesel/oil mix. As I understand it, waste motor oil has 150000 btus(ish) of energy but the flash point is 50-60 degrees farenhiet higher then diesel, while diesel obny has 130000 btus of potential energy. Alot of guys cut it with plain petrol to get it to burn "faster" otherwise running straight oil is a bit rough although a 12 valve will actually drink it. I did try it straight and she idled rough until it warm to temp and it smoked realllly bad. Wonder if cutting it with some old petrol would help the heater run cleaner.
What about waste oil through salvaged automobile fuel injection system parts that are too worn out for regular fuel? With forced air and high-pressure low volume fuel injection wouldn't you get an extremely efficient heater? I would LOVE to see your take on this!
you can make a fairly efficient oil filter out of tolls of toilet tissue or paper towels in an inclined pvc pipe, slip the rolls on a smallr pipe with a disc at the end so you can easily pull the "filter" from the main tube.. dirty oil in at the top, less dirty comes out the spigot at the bottom
I did a similar oil burner using 4 insulating firebrick standing on end on a spiral pattern. I set them with a gap ~1cm at 4 places. The spiral meant the entering air didn't impinge directly on the flame. (The calculator in my phone says that was 52 years ago.😁)
Well, few things from me: 1. If you want to heat your house with it and it's isolated, recuparated well with a heavy walls like bricks that can take a lot of heat inside that's mean you need 15kW of energy for the heating season only to heat it up, than this make no sense :D. Esspecially if you have no chimney. I mean a passive house. 2. But, if want to added to a place where there's a chimney and/or some place where you can add one, it's nice :) I'd say. 3. If I'd have some bricks here, didn't have to buy and I could do it inside, not outside, I'd heat up some either sand battery or get the heat across some heat capacitive thing to sustain it there. Our British houses can loose a lot of heat, so we need it more. Maybe let's focus as well on keeping the heat inside the house and not only about putting more heat inside the house? :) Don't get me wrong, I love those ideas, but nothing is here to limit the amount of needed heat, and that along can save a small fortune ;). There are houses, passive houses that need as little as 7.5kW for the whole heating season. Even if you'd have to pay it as a electricity, it's a laugh. For sure everyone could effort it ;).
I've found this video extremely valuable in understanding waste oil burners. However the returning issue I come across, second only to the expense and installation issues, is the chimney. When held against the competition from a Paraffin stove obtained second hand, Ebay for example which needs no chimney, or the cost of a Chinese Diesel Heater for its low price point and ease of installation, even though it needs an exhaust outlet which is greatly eased by only needing little more than a 1 inch hole for the flexible stainless steel pipe work supplied, or longer lengths for pennies, there seems little practical value to be gained from " I made this one myself, a waste oil burner " There is still a major issue behind the Chinese Diesel Heater that the Paraffin and waste oil burner described hold - there is no electricity required to run them. The waste oil heater by the looks of things needs a secondary fuel source to get it going, which is another consideration. The holly grail would no doubt be a never ending wick for a Paraffin heater. I beleive you've just released a video with such a title so I shall go watch it now :) Many thanks.
Car rims can also make a burner, but requires more work, steel rims welded back to back, with a pipe welded in the center of the top one, with it sitting on a piece of sheet steel, drill holes in the bottom for the fuel supply, and air, the wheel design may need a piece of sheet steel to cover the top, but 2"-2.75" pipe will fit in the center, a coil of tubing inside can be used to make hot water, or steam, I think it would be best to use a heat exchanger, and store the heated water for use in. An actual water heater tank! The heat exchanger could be a PVC 4" pipe plugged on both ends, fresh water pumped slowly through a 1/4" -1/2" tubing , either coiled, or made into zigzags that fit in the pipe, use a threaded barb fitting large enough for the tubing to just fit through, use a piece of rubber hose to seal it, or solder it, but drill and tap the end caps for the fittings, use about 1/2" fitting to circulate the water into the tunnel on one end out on the other, and the same with the fresh water into the tank, and back out using a 10-25 +/- gph pump for each, run it for about a hour twice a day, it should keep hot water! I'd go with 3/8" tubing put about 25'-50' of it in a 5' piece of 4" PVC pipe, being sure it is cleaned and glued well, maybe even put a ratchet strap around it , holding the ends on if it's ran very hot, at high pressure, a small pump circulating the water slowly isn't adding pressure, a couple gallons of oil should last a week or two, if the water can be kept at least 110° a small point of use heater can be used to add heat, when the water is colder, Cool thing is it burns anything, used vegoil, motor oil, even plastic or wood, add a radiator and pipe it can heat home also, from outside where you aren't as likely to burn yourself homeless! I'm planning on building a boiler shed with foamcrete with a bit of fence wire reinforcement, about 2.5"thick being a fair insulator, depending on mixture, maybe use a steel frame and casing to make the door from foamcrete as well ,
I use generator's a lot in the winter and I am preparing to run the exhaust through a heat exchanger to supplement my heat. There is so much energy that is wasted in the exhaust!
What has stopped me burning waste engine oil is the thought that the fumes would include the additives originally included in the oil - zinc, heavy metals ? if anyone can explain why this would not be a problem I would be very grateful.
Synthetics usually are made from a natural gas or coal gas feedstock and what they are is oil with uniform molecules because it was catalyzed instead of refined from oil with lots of different molecular species, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
i heated a 4000l swimming pool with mine and ran radiators in the buses, had a 6m chimney burning pretty clean but was still worried what the smoke may have contained
Synthetic motor oil is really the worst to burn . It is made up of 40% mineral oil and the rest is additives like friction modifiers and detergents so avoid that I suggest !
Hi Rob nice work, can I just say don't get the concrete too hot, I made the mistake of making a kiln out of concrete paving slabs, it went ka-boom, I'd inadvertently made a mortar bomb.
Backyard Scientist did a video about that. There are some kinds of concrete that work better than others. As I recall, porous concrete tends to have a low water content, and it lets the steam escape if it ever does get wet.
@@DFPercush fortunately I only made the top part of the air chute with 2 paving slabs. I thought I'd exploded the battery I was using to power the fan blowing air, made one hell of a bang I only realised what happened about 5 seconds later when I got showered in concrete fragments haha. Fun fact if you hook a fan up directly to a 12 volt battery it uses far less power, as do computer speakers
@@mac-qt3wd Heh, well I'm glad you made it out of the experience without any major injuries. But yeah there's some kind of concrete that water will just pass right through. You can pour a bucket over it and it just disappears into the ground. They use it in some places for drainage. If you think about it, clay pottery is full of water before it's fired. Why doesn't it explode when it gets baked? Well, if you ever try to put water in an unglazed pot, it will soak through and start dripping on the outside. People in the southwest US and Mexico would do that for cold water, because the evaporation cooled down the pot. Point is, the water isn't totally trapped. You just have to heat it slowly to drive the water off before you go full blast. Some concrete does have sealed pockets though. Usually the more water it's mixed with when it's poured, the more solid it is.
@@ThinkingandTinkering Of course I do. But There's a difference between the small amount of oil my car burns than going through hundreds of litres of the stuff to heat a shop. And don't get me wrong...no complaints about your video. i just see so many videos with "waste oil" burners and in none of them do I see anyone addressing what else is in the waste besides just the oil. I'm sure I could burn a NiCd battery with a smokeless flame but the rest of the stuff going into the air wouldn't be good.
@@Enjoymentboy I didn't mean just the little your car burns mate - did you know the US EPA advise garages to burn their oil for heating? Oh by the way - I read my comment and though - my that was terse - sorry mate I didn't mean to be rude I had quite a lot on this morning and was a bit short - sorry for that
@@ThinkingandTinkering Don't let it bother you. I had no idea the EPA would advise anything like that. Very interesting. And I'm this could all be worked into a final product with exhaust scrubbing added in. It's a long-term project. lol
Note on mass heater: After one is done heating the mass of the cinder blocks with the energy released burning fuel, it would be good to close up the opening to reduce convective air currents from carrying heat away on the inside. Maybe one might want to mostly close up the top too, but not completely as one may still want to slowly vent any remaining fumes outside.
Another winner Rob. I love the stuff that I might actually be able to do myself. I've been meaning to change my own oil and save some money. Have not done that for years - now I have a little extra motivation.
Thanks Robert. I have been experimenting for a while now with waste oil heating. I have a pot belly stove contained in a sealed oil drum. A small cage fan from an old gas boiler for the flame and a huge snail blower that blows cold air across the pot belly stove. This then comes out a 4" vent and the plan is to have hot air heating distributed around the lower floor of the house (I have a basement). With tweaking you can get a blue flame too. Some basic electronics monitor air flow and levels in burn pot, as well as carbon monoxide and smoke from inside the drum. I have sprung loaded flaps that close in the event of a problem, closing the exhaust and hot air outlet, as well as the fuel feed and burner air supply. It's coming on and last test I had hot air in excess of 60c coming out and a heck of a lot of it. Thanks for all your videos.
Interesting, a buddy of mine heated his house with his airtight wood burner. What he did was to put thermometers around the room at ceiling level where the wood burner was to see just where the hotspots in the room were. Being that interior walls are mostly stud walls in Canada, he opened up the wall where the hottest spot was and put in a small oscillating vane box fan. Do I need to say that he put in an outlet and dressed the hole back up nice? This allowed him to move the warm air around his house. As memory serves he did that from his living room to several other rooms on the ground floor of his house.
concrete blocks are not a good choice for direct fire applications, they will crumble very quickly. You can stack terracotta flower pots or drainage tile for a quick and sufficient flue liner to keep it from cracking the concrete blocks. Also if you run the drip line down a section of the chimney, it will preheat the oil and make the burn better. I used to have an old fashioned furnace like this in my garage. It had a very simple burn pot and an adjustable drip valve in it with a mica window. I fashioned a coffee tin up to a nearby jack post and would burn used motor and cooking oil. I found that mixing a small percentage of gasoline into the oil (especially when it was very cold outside) helped tremendously with getting it going. Of coarse having a lid on the pot and making sure to keep the lines full to maintain pressure and prevent back burning was more of a concern when dealing with gasoline vapors even when mixed, so I don't really recommend it, just what I did to get it going. Once things were hot, it would be a roaring fire for sure :)
My grandfather had a barrel stove in his shop (a 55 gallon drum mounted horizontally with a cast iron door and black pipe chimney) He burned wood and trash in it, he also had a furnace chain hanging down from the top of the barrel and was about half way to the bottom a hole was drill next to the chain and a stainless steel brake line was run through the hole stopping at the chain. There was a petcock in the line and it was attached to a 5 gallon can (old style with spout and center fill hole), It was suspended a few feet away and above the stove. He would put used motor oil in the can and tip the can so that the oil ran to the spout and into the brake line. With a fire started in the barrel he would adjust the petcock until oil was just dripping on the chain. The oil ran down the chain and before it got to the bottom it would heat, vaporize and combust. If the oil had a lot of grease in it he add a little kerosene or diesel (even stale gasoline) Kept the shop toasty in the winter in Northern Iowa.
Back in the 60's every garage workshop had 1 of these, mostly made from sheet metal and it wasn't thought necessary to vent them outside as the shops were quite drafty. A commercially made one called the Salamanda was really effective and used to roar like a rocket motor. We still had frozen nuts in the winter though.
I saw one in a garage in Cornwall. It was a stack of wheels with the centres cut out. There was a huge metal guard around it, luckily, as when it got going the whole lot glowed red and sounded like a Vulcan bomber.
My used oil heater is made from an old natural gas hot water tank. The tank normally has a 4" flue tube running up the centre of it. I start the project by cutting a 1ft X 1ft access door into the hot water tank, approximately 1ft from the bottom. I won't go into the details of the door but it's purpose is for accessing the hearth to start the fire and to clean out the hearth from time to time. I remove a portion of the internal 4" flue tube at approximately the same height as the bottom door opening. I sit a 6" stainless steel bowl over the bottom portion of the 4" flue tube to act as my hearth. I install a stainless steel wire mesh around the upper portion of the 4" flue air inlet tube to act as an inlet 'air diffuser'. When the oil heater is operating, blue flames will appear to jet outwards from the air diffuser. I cut a 6" hole in the upper portion of the water tank to act as my chimney outlet. I weld a 6" piece of pipe to the water tank (to attach to my chimney system). I use steel brake line as my oil drip feed tube to fill the stainless steel bowl hearth. The steel brake line runs down the inside of the 4" flue tube into the hearth. The opposite end of the steel brake line runs to small control valve attached to a container full of used motor oil. I've welded metal legs on the water tank to space it off the floor. I've installed sheet metal panels behind the heater with a 1" spacing from the building wall. These steel panels have a 1" spacing off the floor as well. When the steel panels heat up from the stove, it creates a convection loop, so that the cool air from the floor moves upwards behind the panel as the heated air exits the top of the panel. This also allows me to put the used oil heater closer to the building wall while protecting it from an external fire. I have no damper on the 6" outlet but I've installed a sliding plate over the 4" inlet to control the air intake flow. To start the used oil stove, I open the door and put a piece of paper towel in the oil that is in the hearth. I ignite the paper towel and the oil begins to burn. I immediately close and lock the access door. Air gets drawn down the 4" inlet tube and jets outward from the stainless steel mesh. Blue flames occur and the oil gets very hot, very fast. The flames can be control by the sliding plate at the top of the 4" inlet tube. The oil will heat up the water tank in a matter of minutes, as the exhaust makes its way out the 6" chimney outlet. It's hard to explain all of the details without pictures, but that is a basic description of how I made my used oil heater. It requires no external power and will operate as long as it gets a constant drip feed of used motor oil. It burns odorless and smokeless while consuming approximately 1 litre per hour.
Rob, is there any way to effectively generate electricity from a device like this? I know you have worked with thermocouples in a few past videos but from research, they seem like they may be fairly inefficient. Do you think you'd be able to power something via the exhaust gases? Like a Tesla turbine?
If your main goal is heat, then a little themopile energy is cheap DIY DC energy icing on top of the cake. Imagine painting a wall on the other side of the room with some of Robert's conductive paint with a wire strip and the top and bottom. Running some current from your themopile will generate heat elseware in your home.
Seems like what we need is a split system where the exhaust gas is vented outside but the heat transferred and circulated within the dwelling. While this may create some energy loss, if the fuel and infrastructure is cheap enough, it benefits outweigh. Great project.
You can easily plumb a heat exchanger into the exhaust stream and run water through it. I have a setup very similar for emergency heating with my wood-burning fireplace to extract more heat out of the fuel. Still looking at running a passive 'heat pump' system through it too, but metal tubing costs have skyrocketed in my area, even for scrap that would need some patching welds.
I made an oil burner years ago using a cast iron garlic prawn cooker. I bored a hole in the top for a chimney and bolted the two halves together. It was drilled full of holes for the air flow. The chimney went right to the bottom so the heat of the chimney would heat up the oil in the base. I could not get away from using a wick. The end product is tar after all the burning. It worked and got very hot. I am inspired to have another go. I have a bit of waste oil about. I built a rocket stove a few years ago but it seems to only want to run on liquid fuels, vege oil. Might be time to combine the two.
hahaha your neighbour wondering what that nut-case from next-door is up-to THIS time?? I am guessing this type of system would work just fine for other heavy liquids like veggie-oil, glycerin, bio-diesel etc with varying rates of drip. Which brings me to a question. It seems dangerous to me that you could potentially have it drip too fast and spill everywhere outward from the fire. Probably be ok with engine-oil, but not some other fuels. I wonder if there is a way to make sure that doesn't happen? Something akin to a carburettor?
this is only good for waste oil really mate - there are better ways to deal with lighter fuels - but you are right our neighbour thinks we are cracked lol
A long time ago I scrapped a load of electric storage heaters. Often wondered if I could have reused the bricks some how? Wondering how hot a heat source the bricks would tolerate for fast heat storage. Would it be better than using a water tank as a heat sink. Umm? 🤔
@@ThinkingandTinkering Around 2000 I replaced the storage heaters in a flat I was selling. As the original ones looked like the builders got a job lot of industrial ones. You could not buy new heaters without the bricks. I kept a few of the old ones around for some years. As they are very heavy, and useful to hold things down. There are plenty of bricks on Ebay now.
You made the waste oil burner explanation EASY to understand like no other. I love the idea of combining a drip feed oil burner with a rocket stove -- brilliant!
Robert. Love your channel I really do. Any tips for the safest most efficient way of heating a camper van which is my home . I’m currently using candle and plant pot method.which to be fair isn’t that bad First autumn and winter coming up.
The latent heat of vaporization for water is 540 calories per gram/cc/whatever.. So, while it will cost you 1 calorie per gram of water per degree to get that water from ambient up to 100°, it will take _540_ calories to change that gram of water into steam. It's _never_ going to be net positive to have water included in combustion
I was going to get into casting metals got plans for a new engine for my moped was going to use a waste oil burning furnace to melt stuff down mostly cause I have access to a large amount of used motor oils. My planning was to make a small diesel engine for it so it could also run off of used motor oil
12 valve cummins owner here. I burn waste oil for fuel. Tried a 70/30 diesel/oil mix and it was ok summer time but now that its fall I've found the need to install a second tank and move to a 15/15/70 gas/diesel/oil mix. Lots of haze and quite a bit of black smoke at the moment running just a diesel/oil mix. As I understand it, waste motor oil has 150000 btus(ish) of energy but the flash point is 50-60 degrees farenhiet higher then diesel, while diesel obny has 130000 btus of potential energy. Alot of guys cut it with plain petrol to get it to burn "faster" otherwise running straight oil is a bit rough although a 12 valve will actually drink it. I did try it straight and she idled rough until it warm to temp and it smoked realllly bad. Wonder if cutting it with some old petrol would help the heater run cleaner.
My first thought seeing the final build was, "Huh. That looks like a modified rocket stove". I'm not keen on using motor oil, used or otherwise, but especially used, with fine metallic particles, and who knows what other cobustion chamver residues or traces of antifreeze coolant, as it seems the fumes might be especially carcinogenic. Also, it's probably best to recycle it, or hopefully it gets reused in asphalt or whatever they do with it. Still, you never know when survival might depend on this design, so it's certainly worth knowing. You'll freeze to death long before you die of cancer. And you only need to use motior oil burners sparingly, to keep you alive and hands working long enough to get other fuels or design other burners.
I am new at this .. meaning researching alternative means of heating. This cinder block heating unit looks dangerous. How can it be used for a home? It must be encased some how right? Or are you just demonstrating the use of oil and not advocating this cinder block unit to be used in ones home. (dugh sounds like I am very stupid, I know... sorry.) Anyway. How does one apply this method to home heating. I have a wood stove fireplace insert and thinking, I might be able to figure out how to do this in it. But also doesn't the cage melt? And the batting, doesn't it burn away?
It might be interesting to work with one of the rocket mass heat innovators, such as "Efficient, Clean Wood heat" by Paul Wheaton or "The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide" by Ernie and Erica Wisner, to add an oil burner option to one of their projects. Also combining this with your carbon felt wicks seems like it would have potential.
My father was an automotive technician. He worked full time for an employer, and the majority of his off time was continued work in his private shop providing service for his own loyal customer base. Back then, environmental regulations were relatively lax regarding petroleum products. Auto parts stores were not setup to accept and dispose of waste oil products. Being the clever man he still is, my father collected and stored used oil from his work. Never charged his customers a disposal fee--as was otherwise standard in the trade. He built a massive rocket stove. So during the cold seasons; he saved bankrolls of cash for heating his poorly insulated shop, by using the collected oil as fuel for the stove. His was a small 2-bay shop. We worked year long with the doors completely open. We never suffered a cold day. Our only discomfort was during the hot seasons, for we likewise had no feasible means to cool the shop.
Dr. Smith, I know you warn viewers to be careful. So people, please be careful with these oil burning drip system devices. They have inherent safety concerns which shouldn't be taken lightly. If they get out of control, and they can, you will have a big fire on your hands. Oil based fires are nothing to take lightly. Have a sand bucket, baking soda or dry chemical extinguisher to help put out the flames if you lose control of it. Safety first.
Just use an old tin or old coffee metal can and a wick of paper cloth. It burns dirty and makes lots of suit but you can burn it in your stove. Putting a can up near the chimney on some blocks or something helped. But I think you need some sort of wick and ring that is free floating so oil drips down into the wick under a chimney so it gets air from underneath.
Is there a (relatively simple) way to burn the oil more completely? How badly does this pollute the air? I mean, what are the products of waste oil fire, with and without a complete burn? Thanks
Great stuff. The only thing I would add is a some caution for any attempted set up … used motor oil soot combustion products and possibly many of the other original chemical additives and contaminants in the gases from incomplete low temp combustion will be likely highly carcinogenic. I don’t know of course, but it stands to reason one would want to exhaust any chimney products well clear and high into atmosphere.
The dead simplicity of a drip oil and rock wool burner with rocket stove's convective flow inspires some ideas for an aluminum melting furnace.
As a block layer, I just want to offer a little advice. When creating such heat with concrete, you can get explosive ejections of the concrete or the blocks, especially when moisture is in the concrete. Just be cautious. That is helped by lining with fire brick. Absolutely beauty ideas here. I am going to make one for my shop.
When you see something good and the synapsis startw a round chamber! when thr heat is in cicle in the bottom of the stove and slovly get up i the chimney! its an idea you must already have and might soon coming to show us! Keep up the great work you are just awesome Rob.!🥸
it something I am thinking about mate lol and cheers
Excellent explanation and demonstration of convective flow being used to improve combustion!
I've played around with burning waste oil in a style of vaporizing pot oil burner that used to be quite common in my region somewhere from the 50's up into the 70's. Due to viscosity, mixture was limited to 50% waste oil+diesel fuel, any heavier and the "carburetor" could not be adjusted to provide enough fuel to maintain combustion chamber/flue temperature high enough to ensure proper draft. In addition, the waste oil would hardly move through a 10mm line with everything sitting at -30 celsius.
Thank you for this brilliant and clear explanation. This is certainly lifesaving technology. Peace and blessings to you and your channel.
That's incredible, great build. All the oil change shops here in northern Canada have a more complicated waste oil burner that heats the shop for free using the old motor oil. I believe they use a pump and nozzle to spray the oil in a burner. A very small amount of diesel mixed in the motor oil will drop the viscosity of the oil, and improve the flow.
You are really a grate scientist, hats off to you. I love you little experiments, and most of them help me make my kid understand the basics to advance level of physics and science. Thank you
I did a drip oil burner in a woodburning stove with a model aeroplane carburettor as a tap and a metal tube from an old antenna. It had a tin can from westlers burgers with a 2p coin in the center. A small piece of cotton string to get it going. Worked well when you adjust the drip rate. Smelt like a 1980s car! 😄👍😎❤️
lol - nice on mate - cheers
When you say you used the carburetor as a tap, do you mean to meter the oil rate? Trying to imagine the setup
Gr8 idea mate.
I'd enjoy seeing a video covering that.
The brick part was like if you were playing with Legos 😂
I just love it when it is that simple mate! and it was like playing with lego lol
Love the content Robert.
A superb cheap valve is the water ones found at the back of washing machines.
I am using one on my model 5 inch gauge locomotive sat in the water to control the injector. Injectors dont work if any air comes into the flow. Very cheap and effective 45 degree from off to on. David and Lily Reading.
Mass heater to a new level:
Imagine a rocket stove whose chimney snakes right and left as it travels up through a cinder block wall. So much more surface area and mass to absorb the heat energy and radiate it.
oh yes i loved the video. You got my mind thinking of more options then just of the shelf solutions, thanks so much
You're a diesel turbo and some tubing away from being a certified Flamiac, Robert! 👍 You know you want to...
As an added side effect bonus, once you get a fair amount of carbon build-up in your burn tube further up (or out, exit orientation dependent), you end up with a very nice insulating effect allowing you to run hotter and hotter.
lolol - who doesn't like a nice flame mate - just thinking about venturis !!
Great stuff, seeing the logical progression of how a oil heater evolves. When you simply look at an oil lamp its hard to know whats going on even with explanation but this makes it all clear. This could be a good alternative to burning wood say as a van lifer , recycling useless oil rather then burning wood seems like the more sustainable thing to do. That deliciouse carbon would be released into the air providing nutriouse food for plants and trees, who werent cut down thanks to the recycling of this oil, could only make this planet greener.
Brilliant video thank you 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Now make an insert for a fireplace.
-t wouldn't be much different from this
Awesome! 👏
Thank you! Cheers!
12 valve cummins owner here. I burn waste oil for fuel. Tried a 70/30 diesel/oil mix and it was ok summer time but now that its fall I've found the need to install a second tank and move to a 15/15/70 gas/diesel/oil mix. Lots of haze and quite a bit of black smoke at the moment running just a diesel/oil mix.
As I understand it, waste motor oil has 150000 btus(ish) of energy but the flash point is 50-60 degrees farenhiet higher then diesel, while diesel obny has 130000 btus of potential energy. Alot of guys cut it with plain petrol to get it to burn "faster" otherwise running straight oil is a bit rough although a 12 valve will actually drink it. I did try it straight and she idled rough until it warm to temp and it smoked realllly bad.
Wonder if cutting it with some old petrol would help the heater run cleaner.
What about waste oil through salvaged automobile fuel injection system parts that are too worn out for regular fuel? With forced air and high-pressure low volume fuel injection wouldn't you get an extremely efficient heater? I would LOVE to see your take on this!
you can make a fairly efficient oil filter out of tolls of toilet tissue or paper towels in an inclined pvc pipe, slip the rolls on a smallr pipe with a disc at the end so you can easily pull the "filter" from the main tube.. dirty oil in at the top, less dirty comes out the spigot at the bottom
go look at a orchard heater (now banned) (smudg pot) farmers used them in fields to keep crops from freezing. ran on used oil and started with diesel.
I did a similar oil burner using 4 insulating firebrick standing on end on a spiral pattern. I set them with a gap ~1cm at 4 places.
The spiral meant the entering air didn't impinge directly on the flame.
(The calculator in my phone says that was 52 years ago.😁)
Interesting. We use a deep fryer and sometimes have used seed oils and I’ve wondered about how to make a heater that uses that.
This is very useful Thank you
This was great. Thank you.
How long did your concrete blocks last after being exposed to that amount of heat? Mine ended up as rubble after a few weeks.
Great 👍🏾
Thank you! Cheers!
Well, few things from me:
1. If you want to heat your house with it and it's isolated, recuparated well with a heavy walls like bricks that can take a lot of heat inside that's mean you need 15kW of energy for the heating season only to heat it up, than this make no sense :D. Esspecially if you have no chimney. I mean a passive house.
2. But, if want to added to a place where there's a chimney and/or some place where you can add one, it's nice :) I'd say.
3. If I'd have some bricks here, didn't have to buy and I could do it inside, not outside, I'd heat up some either sand battery or get the heat across some heat capacitive thing to sustain it there. Our British houses can loose a lot of heat, so we need it more. Maybe let's focus as well on keeping the heat inside the house and not only about putting more heat inside the house? :)
Don't get me wrong, I love those ideas, but nothing is here to limit the amount of needed heat, and that along can save a small fortune ;). There are houses, passive houses that need as little as 7.5kW for the whole heating season. Even if you'd have to pay it as a electricity, it's a laugh. For sure everyone could effort it ;).
I've found this video extremely valuable in understanding waste oil burners.
However the returning issue I come across, second only to the expense and installation issues, is the chimney. When held against the competition from a Paraffin stove obtained second hand, Ebay for example which needs no chimney, or the cost of a Chinese Diesel Heater for its low price point and ease of installation, even though it needs an exhaust outlet which is greatly eased by only needing little more than a 1 inch hole for the flexible stainless steel pipe work supplied, or longer lengths for pennies, there seems little practical value to be gained from " I made this one myself, a waste oil burner "
There is still a major issue behind the Chinese Diesel Heater that the Paraffin and waste oil burner described hold - there is no electricity required to run them. The waste oil heater by the looks of things needs a secondary fuel source to get it going, which is another consideration.
The holly grail would no doubt be a never ending wick for a Paraffin heater. I beleive you've just released a video with such a title so I shall go watch it now :)
Many thanks.
Car rims can also make a burner, but requires more work, steel rims welded back to back, with a pipe welded in the center of the top one, with it sitting on a piece of sheet steel, drill holes in the bottom for the fuel supply, and air, the wheel design may need a piece of sheet steel to cover the top, but 2"-2.75" pipe will fit in the center, a coil of tubing inside can be used to make hot water, or steam, I think it would be best to use a heat exchanger, and store the heated water for use in. An actual water heater tank!
The heat exchanger could be a PVC 4" pipe plugged on both ends, fresh water pumped slowly through a 1/4" -1/2" tubing , either coiled, or made into zigzags that fit in the pipe, use a threaded barb fitting large enough for the tubing to just fit through, use a piece of rubber hose to seal it, or solder it, but drill and tap the end caps for the fittings, use about 1/2" fitting to circulate the water into the tunnel on one end out on the other, and the same with the fresh water into the tank, and back out using a 10-25 +/- gph pump for each, run it for about a hour twice a day, it should keep hot water! I'd go with 3/8" tubing put about 25'-50' of it in a 5' piece of 4" PVC pipe, being sure it is cleaned and glued well, maybe even put a ratchet strap around it , holding the ends on if it's ran very hot, at high pressure, a small pump circulating the water slowly isn't adding pressure, a couple gallons of oil should last a week or two, if the water can be kept at least 110° a small point of use heater can be used to add heat, when the water is colder,
Cool thing is it burns anything, used vegoil, motor oil, even plastic or wood, add a radiator and pipe it can heat home also, from outside where you aren't as likely to burn yourself homeless!
I'm planning on building a boiler shed with foamcrete with a bit of fence wire reinforcement, about 2.5"thick being a fair insulator, depending on mixture, maybe use a steel frame and casing to make the door from foamcrete as well ,
Could use the carbon wick?
Doesn't concrete explode when it gets too hot
Isn't motor oil toxic fumes if burned inside house?
The guy in the background watching at 6:05 made me laugh.
I use generator's a lot in the winter and I am preparing to run the exhaust through a heat exchanger to supplement my heat. There is so much energy that is wasted in the exhaust!
What has stopped me burning waste engine oil is the thought that the fumes would include the additives originally included in the oil - zinc, heavy metals ? if anyone can explain why this would not be a problem I would be very grateful.
As most common motor oils are a synthetic or blend do they work as well (or at all) compared to conventional crude oil based oils?
Synthetics usually are made from a natural gas or coal gas feedstock and what they are is oil with uniform molecules because it was catalyzed instead of refined from oil with lots of different molecular species, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
i heated a 4000l swimming pool with mine and ran radiators in the buses, had a 6m chimney burning pretty clean but was still worried what the smoke may have contained
Is a Rocket Stove smokeless
Hi Rob! What if we spray some water on the flame?
Install that in your shed, workshop or wherever else, use it for a few days and wait to see how big the fine will be. Probably around few hundred €.
I think that would depend on where you are talking about - which country and indeed which area you live in
Does the forever wick work with the used motor oil?
Careful with the coil of water. If done wrong --easily done-- you'll get a steam explosion.
Synthetic motor oil is really the worst to burn . It is made up of 40% mineral oil and the rest is additives like friction modifiers and detergents so avoid that I suggest !
Hi Rob nice work, can I just say don't get the concrete too hot, I made the mistake of making a kiln out of concrete paving slabs, it went ka-boom, I'd inadvertently made a mortar bomb.
it will do that mate - if it has water in it
Backyard Scientist did a video about that. There are some kinds of concrete that work better than others. As I recall, porous concrete tends to have a low water content, and it lets the steam escape if it ever does get wet.
@@ThinkingandTinkering hmm I didn't know water was the cause, I guess that's the hydrogen in the water?? Cheers mate
@@DFPercush fortunately I only made the top part of the air chute with 2 paving slabs. I thought I'd exploded the battery I was using to power the fan blowing air, made one hell of a bang I only realised what happened about 5 seconds later when I got showered in concrete fragments haha. Fun fact if you hook a fan up directly to a 12 volt battery it uses far less power, as do computer speakers
@@mac-qt3wd Heh, well I'm glad you made it out of the experience without any major injuries. But yeah there's some kind of concrete that water will just pass right through. You can pour a bucket over it and it just disappears into the ground. They use it in some places for drainage. If you think about it, clay pottery is full of water before it's fired. Why doesn't it explode when it gets baked? Well, if you ever try to put water in an unglazed pot, it will soak through and start dripping on the outside. People in the southwest US and Mexico would do that for cold water, because the evaporation cooled down the pot. Point is, the water isn't totally trapped. You just have to heat it slowly to drive the water off before you go full blast. Some concrete does have sealed pockets though. Usually the more water it's mixed with when it's poured, the more solid it is.
2nd
awesome lol
I did this and after a while the oil feed pipe got extremelt hot and caused a carbon build up and eventually blocked the oil feed.
pretty sure burning motor oil is illegal (at least in my country)
The filthy rich are going to be geniuses in the future
Please be aware that you may need a licence to burn waste oil in the UK.
Magical fuel ...Used motor oil 😁
🙏👍♥️🧙♀️🌻
awesome mate
Hold on 2022 eco rules say it illegal in the uk to burn waste oil of any sort. Unless you have a special licence so what's the point
chip pans set on fire easy enough
Late....but 👍😁
Never been conftable with the fact it has heavy metal in it in trace's admitadly like lead
My thoughts exactly. Add in the zinc and phosphorous and you've got some nasties in the exhaust.
and yet - I'll bet you drive a car
@@ThinkingandTinkering Of course I do. But There's a difference between the small amount of oil my car burns than going through hundreds of litres of the stuff to heat a shop. And don't get me wrong...no complaints about your video. i just see so many videos with "waste oil" burners and in none of them do I see anyone addressing what else is in the waste besides just the oil. I'm sure I could burn a NiCd battery with a smokeless flame but the rest of the stuff going into the air wouldn't be good.
@@Enjoymentboy I didn't mean just the little your car burns mate - did you know the US EPA advise garages to burn their oil for heating? Oh by the way - I read my comment and though - my that was terse - sorry mate I didn't mean to be rude I had quite a lot on this morning and was a bit short - sorry for that
@@ThinkingandTinkering Don't let it bother you. I had no idea the EPA would advise anything like that. Very interesting. And I'm this could all be worked into a final product with exhaust scrubbing added in. It's a long-term project. lol
Pofázasból nagy vagy fater, de mutathatnál is valamit!!!
Note on mass heater:
After one is done heating the mass of the cinder blocks with the energy released burning fuel, it would be good to close up the opening to reduce convective air currents from carrying heat away on the inside. Maybe one might want to mostly close up the top too, but not completely as one may still want to slowly vent any remaining fumes outside.
Another winner Rob. I love the stuff that I might actually be able to do myself. I've been meaning to change my own oil and save some money. Have not done that for years - now I have a little extra motivation.
awesome mate - well this is good build to try out for sure
Thanks Robert. I have been experimenting for a while now with waste oil heating. I have a pot belly stove contained in a sealed oil drum. A small cage fan from an old gas boiler for the flame and a huge snail blower that blows cold air across the pot belly stove. This then comes out a 4" vent and the plan is to have hot air heating distributed around the lower floor of the house (I have a basement). With tweaking you can get a blue flame too. Some basic electronics monitor air flow and levels in burn pot, as well as carbon monoxide and smoke from inside the drum. I have sprung loaded flaps that close in the event of a problem, closing the exhaust and hot air outlet, as well as the fuel feed and burner air supply. It's coming on and last test I had hot air in excess of 60c coming out and a heck of a lot of it. Thanks for all your videos.
that sounds like an awesome thing mate - like the way you heat and distribute the air
Interesting, a buddy of mine heated his house with his airtight wood burner. What he did was to put thermometers around the room at ceiling level where the wood burner was to see just where the hotspots in the room were. Being that interior walls are mostly stud walls in Canada, he opened up the wall where the hottest spot was and put in a small oscillating vane box fan. Do I need to say that he put in an outlet and dressed the hole back up nice? This allowed him to move the warm air around his house. As memory serves he did that from his living room to several other rooms on the ground floor of his house.
concrete blocks are not a good choice for direct fire applications, they will crumble very quickly. You can stack terracotta flower pots or drainage tile for a quick and sufficient flue liner to keep it from cracking the concrete blocks. Also if you run the drip line down a section of the chimney, it will preheat the oil and make the burn better. I used to have an old fashioned furnace like this in my garage. It had a very simple burn pot and an adjustable drip valve in it with a mica window. I fashioned a coffee tin up to a nearby jack post and would burn used motor and cooking oil. I found that mixing a small percentage of gasoline into the oil (especially when it was very cold outside) helped tremendously with getting it going. Of coarse having a lid on the pot and making sure to keep the lines full to maintain pressure and prevent back burning was more of a concern when dealing with gasoline vapors even when mixed, so I don't really recommend it, just what I did to get it going. Once things were hot, it would be a roaring fire for sure :)
nice tips - cheers mate
My grandfather had a barrel stove in his shop (a 55 gallon drum mounted horizontally with a cast iron door and black pipe chimney) He burned wood and trash in it, he also had a furnace chain hanging down from the top of the barrel and was about half way to the bottom a hole was drill next to the chain and a stainless steel brake line was run through the hole stopping at the chain. There was a petcock in the line and it was attached to a 5 gallon can (old style with spout and center fill hole), It was suspended a few feet away and above the stove. He would put used motor oil in the can and tip the can so that the oil ran to the spout and into the brake line. With a fire started in the barrel he would adjust the petcock until oil was just dripping on the chain. The oil ran down the chain and before it got to the bottom it would heat, vaporize and combust. If the oil had a lot of grease in it he add a little kerosene or diesel (even stale gasoline) Kept the shop toasty in the winter in Northern Iowa.
In case no one else asks, can you use your carbon wick in this situation?
Back in the 60's every garage workshop had 1 of these, mostly made from sheet metal and it wasn't thought necessary to vent them outside as the shops were quite drafty. A commercially made one called the Salamanda was really effective and used to roar like a rocket motor. We still had frozen nuts in the winter though.
Son in law is a mechanic works in a garage that has one, just on the right side of useless.
@@kevparr He needs to take a look at it, they should glow red hot when working properly and make toast.
I saw one in a garage in Cornwall. It was a stack of wheels with the centres cut out. There was a huge metal guard around it, luckily, as when it got going the whole lot glowed red and sounded like a Vulcan bomber.
My used oil heater is made from an old natural gas hot water tank. The tank normally has a 4" flue tube running up the centre of it. I start the project by cutting a 1ft X 1ft access door into the hot water tank, approximately 1ft from the bottom. I won't go into the details of the door but it's purpose is for accessing the hearth to start the fire and to clean out the hearth from time to time. I remove a portion of the internal 4" flue tube at approximately the same height as the bottom door opening.
I sit a 6" stainless steel bowl over the bottom portion of the 4" flue tube to act as my hearth. I install a stainless steel wire mesh around the upper portion of the 4" flue air inlet tube to act as an inlet 'air diffuser'. When the oil heater is operating, blue flames will appear to jet outwards from the air diffuser. I cut a 6" hole in the upper portion of the water tank to act as my chimney outlet. I weld a 6" piece of pipe to the water tank (to attach to my chimney system).
I use steel brake line as my oil drip feed tube to fill the stainless steel bowl hearth. The steel brake line runs down the inside of the 4" flue tube into the hearth. The opposite end of the steel brake line runs to small control valve attached to a container full of used motor oil.
I've welded metal legs on the water tank to space it off the floor. I've installed sheet metal panels behind the heater with a 1" spacing from the building wall. These steel panels have a 1" spacing off the floor as well. When the steel panels heat up from the stove, it creates a convection loop, so that the cool air from the floor moves upwards behind the panel as the heated air exits the top of the panel. This also allows me to put the used oil heater closer to the building wall while protecting it from an external fire. I have no damper on the 6" outlet but I've installed a sliding plate over the 4" inlet to control the air intake flow.
To start the used oil stove, I open the door and put a piece of paper towel in the oil that is in the hearth. I ignite the paper towel and the oil begins to burn. I immediately close and lock the access door. Air gets drawn down the 4" inlet tube and jets outward from the stainless steel mesh. Blue flames occur and the oil gets very hot, very fast. The flames can be control by the sliding plate at the top of the 4" inlet tube. The oil will heat up the water tank in a matter of minutes, as the exhaust makes its way out the 6" chimney outlet.
It's hard to explain all of the details without pictures, but that is a basic description of how I made my used oil heater. It requires no external power and will operate as long as it gets a constant drip feed of used motor oil. It burns odorless and smokeless while consuming approximately 1 litre per hour.
We need a walk through video. Now explanation of the waste oil process, just the parts of your unit.
Always good when Rob brings out the blow torch. It's been a while!
Rob, is there any way to effectively generate electricity from a device like this? I know you have worked with thermocouples in a few past videos but from research, they seem like they may be fairly inefficient. Do you think you'd be able to power something via the exhaust gases? Like a Tesla turbine?
a stirling engine maybe mate?
If your main goal is heat, then a little themopile energy is cheap DIY DC energy icing on top of the cake. Imagine painting a wall on the other side of the room with some of Robert's conductive paint with a wire strip and the top and bottom. Running some current from your themopile will generate heat elseware in your home.
Do you know those ultrasound fog maker for garden? Why not use that to make a very fine aerosol/air Mixtur tu get the oil burning?
I do mate - will they work with oils?
@@ThinkingandTinkering no they won’t!
Seems like what we need is a split system where the exhaust gas is vented outside but the heat transferred and circulated within the dwelling. While this may create some energy loss, if the fuel and infrastructure is cheap enough, it benefits outweigh. Great project.
exactly
You can easily plumb a heat exchanger into the exhaust stream and run water through it. I have a setup very similar for emergency heating with my wood-burning fireplace to extract more heat out of the fuel. Still looking at running a passive 'heat pump' system through it too, but metal tubing costs have skyrocketed in my area, even for scrap that would need some patching welds.
I made an oil burner years ago using a cast iron garlic prawn cooker. I bored a hole in the top for a chimney and bolted the two halves together. It was drilled full of holes for the air flow. The chimney went right to the bottom so the heat of the chimney would heat up the oil in the base. I could not get away from using a wick. The end product is tar after all the burning. It worked and got very hot. I am inspired to have another go. I have a bit of waste oil about. I built a rocket stove a few years ago but it seems to only want to run on liquid fuels, vege oil. Might be time to combine the two.
hahaha your neighbour wondering what that nut-case from next-door is up-to THIS time??
I am guessing this type of system would work just fine for other heavy liquids like veggie-oil, glycerin, bio-diesel etc with varying rates of drip.
Which brings me to a question. It seems dangerous to me that you could potentially have it drip too fast and spill everywhere outward from the fire. Probably be ok with engine-oil, but not some other fuels. I wonder if there is a way to make sure that doesn't happen? Something akin to a carburettor?
this is only good for waste oil really mate - there are better ways to deal with lighter fuels - but you are right our neighbour thinks we are cracked lol
@@ThinkingandTinkering that’s a shame, a truly multifuel rocket-mass heater would be a boon! But I know it’s asking quite a lot.
Fantastic upload Rob!!
I've noticed that most blokes like playing with fire,Lol!
Stirling video on the way?!!🙂
lol - it's a primordial thing Andrea lol - who doesn't like a pretty flame lol
A long time ago I scrapped a load of electric storage heaters. Often wondered if I could have reused the bricks some how? Wondering how hot a heat source the bricks would tolerate for fast heat storage. Would it be better than using a water tank as a heat sink. Umm? 🤔
wow - what an opportunity missed mate -t hey would have been awesome have around now!
@@ThinkingandTinkering Around 2000 I replaced the storage heaters in a flat I was selling. As the original ones looked like the builders got a job lot of industrial ones. You could not buy new heaters without the bricks. I kept a few of the old ones around for some years. As they are very heavy, and useful to hold things down. There are plenty of bricks on Ebay now.
You made the waste oil burner explanation EASY to understand like no other.
I love the idea of combining a drip feed oil burner with a rocket stove -- brilliant!
Robert. Love your channel I really do. Any tips for the safest most efficient way of heating a camper van which is my home . I’m currently using candle and plant pot method.which to be fair isn’t that bad First autumn and winter coming up.
That was great I just wished you showed how your drip feed worked.
not 1st
awww
I'm just imagining what your lab smelled like the rest of the day.
Burn more oil to save the universe.
Ouch. Doesn't that go against the air pollution laws?
Could you use the Rocket stove as an oil burner?
guess what tomorrow's video is lol
@@ThinkingandTinkering 💞😎👍
Add a little water, much heat
why do you think it will do that - that doesn't sound right to me is why I ask
The latent heat of vaporization for water is 540 calories per gram/cc/whatever..
So, while it will cost you 1 calorie per gram of water per degree to get that water from ambient up to 100°, it will take _540_ calories to change that gram of water into steam.
It's _never_ going to be net positive to have water included in combustion
I was going to get into casting metals got plans for a new engine for my moped was going to use a waste oil burning furnace to melt stuff down mostly cause I have access to a large amount of used motor oils. My planning was to make a small diesel engine for it so it could also run off of used motor oil
nice one mate - do some vids I would love to see that
@@ThinkingandTinkering had planned on it still trying to collect parts and tools for the process it has been in the planning for many years now lol
Interesting, anything particularily nasty coming out ? guess thin particles like all combustion
Chimney tiles are much more durable than concrete blocks. The blocks are porous, and become brittle from continued heating and cooling cycles.
Two intact cells , builds a new you , beyond Logic Diamonds
12 valve cummins owner here. I burn waste oil for fuel. Tried a 70/30 diesel/oil mix and it was ok summer time but now that its fall I've found the need to install a second tank and move to a 15/15/70 gas/diesel/oil mix. Lots of haze and quite a bit of black smoke at the moment running just a diesel/oil mix.
As I understand it, waste motor oil has 150000 btus(ish) of energy but the flash point is 50-60 degrees farenhiet higher then diesel, while diesel obny has 130000 btus of potential energy. Alot of guys cut it with plain petrol to get it to burn "faster" otherwise running straight oil is a bit rough although a 12 valve will actually drink it. I did try it straight and she idled rough until it warm to temp and it smoked realllly bad.
Wonder if cutting it with some old petrol would help the heater run cleaner.
My first thought seeing the final build was, "Huh. That looks like a modified rocket stove". I'm not keen on using motor oil, used or otherwise, but especially used, with fine metallic particles, and who knows what other cobustion chamver residues or traces of antifreeze coolant, as it seems the fumes might be especially carcinogenic. Also, it's probably best to recycle it, or hopefully it gets reused in asphalt or whatever they do with it. Still, you never know when survival might depend on this design, so it's certainly worth knowing. You'll freeze to death long before you die of cancer. And you only need to use motior oil burners sparingly, to keep you alive and hands working long enough to get other fuels or design other burners.
I am new at this .. meaning researching alternative means of heating. This cinder block heating unit looks dangerous. How can it be used for a home? It must be encased some how right? Or are you just demonstrating the use of oil and not advocating this cinder block unit to be used in ones home. (dugh sounds like I am very stupid, I know... sorry.) Anyway. How does one apply this method to home heating. I have a wood stove fireplace insert and thinking, I might be able to figure out how to do this in it. But also doesn't the cage melt? And the batting, doesn't it burn away?
Brilliant
🤦♀️why didn’t I think of that🤣
It might be interesting to work with one of the rocket mass heat innovators, such as "Efficient, Clean Wood heat" by Paul Wheaton or "The Rocket Mass Heater Builder's Guide" by Ernie and Erica Wisner, to add an oil burner option to one of their projects. Also combining this with your carbon felt wicks seems like it would have potential.
I bet those Permies guys would have some serious inputs
My father was an automotive technician. He worked full time for an employer, and the majority of his off time was continued work in his private shop providing service for his own loyal customer base.
Back then, environmental regulations were relatively lax regarding petroleum products. Auto parts stores were not setup to accept and dispose of waste oil products. Being the clever man he still is, my father collected and stored used oil from his work. Never charged his customers a disposal fee--as was otherwise standard in the trade. He built a massive rocket stove. So during the cold seasons; he saved bankrolls of cash for heating his poorly insulated shop, by using the collected oil as fuel for the stove.
His was a small 2-bay shop. We worked year long with the doors completely open. We never suffered a cold day. Our only discomfort was during the hot seasons, for we likewise had no feasible means to cool the shop.
Dr. Smith, I know you warn viewers to be careful. So people, please be careful with these oil burning drip system devices. They have inherent safety concerns which shouldn't be taken lightly. If they get out of control, and they can, you will have a big fire on your hands. Oil based fires are nothing to take lightly. Have a sand bucket, baking soda or dry chemical extinguisher to help put out the flames if you lose control of it. Safety first.
Just use an old tin or old coffee metal can and a wick of paper cloth. It burns dirty and makes lots of suit but you can burn it in your stove. Putting a can up near the chimney on some blocks or something helped. But I think you need some sort of wick and ring that is free floating so oil drips down into the wick under a chimney so it gets air from underneath.
Always excellent informative videos. Have you tried finning the chimney to draw off more heat?
Is there a (relatively simple) way to burn the oil more completely?
How badly does this pollute the air? I mean, what are the products of waste oil fire, with and without a complete burn?
Thanks
LMTN makes a good burner for cooking
I like the guy looking in the background. I wonder wot he was thinking
What if you distilled the oil? Maybe under a bit of pressure? Then collect the condensates? Break it down a bit, get some of the solids out of it!
Great stuff.
The only thing I would add is a some caution for any attempted set up … used motor oil soot combustion products and possibly many of the other original chemical additives and contaminants in the gases from incomplete low temp combustion will be likely highly carcinogenic. I don’t know of course, but it stands to reason one would want to exhaust any chimney products well clear and high into atmosphere.