1704 Trying Different Fuels On The DIY Heater 1
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- Опубліковано 28 вер 2024
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Nice one Robert. As always when using any appliance with hot naked flames, caution, safety and vigilance is necessary. I came from the 1950s where open fires, paraffin lamps and heaters and even gas mantle lighting were common.
Here in the US, carbon felt can be found at most "big box" home improvement stores like Lowe's etc in the plumbing area in the form of a welding or soldering"blanket".
Plumbers use them for fire protection when soldering copper plumbing ....
nice one mate - thanks for helping out
Great tip, thanks for this!
Thank you very much. Great info
Thank you, I would have searched for eons!
still kind of $$ when you could use a wool sock or layers of tissue paper, cotton yarn etc.. they should last as long as the burner as long as you dont let them run dry and burn the wick
Just to say I have a commercial paraffin heater that purports to use a GLASS FIBRE wick, which only needs to have the eventual black oily deposits burned off by using all the fuel to empty tank. Apparently no trimming needed! Great show.
I grew sunflowers collected the seeds and processed them into oil, I only got 1 kilo which gave 0.5 litres of oil. Scaled up it would be worth it but you need a pretty big patch of land to get a decent amount and you could turn it into biodiesel, but the oil on its own would still burn.
that seems like a good yield for the weight. presumably the much of the left over matter is protein?
how much area did you need to get the kilo of seeds?
I did 50 plants in an area 1m by 4 m, 8 plants died , some seeds were raided by birds , position wasn’t ideal as they didn’t get sun till midday and I didn’t feed them. The seeds were from a pet shop so I don’t know what variety they were , but it said oil seed for birds on the packet
I did try to get some Petrovak seeds , that’s what the Russians and Ukrainians grow but couldn’t get hold of any. A good experiment though .if you can grow a bulk lot they store for years. Going to try rapeseed next year as well.
@@BH-hr9tp that's fantastic stuff and good luck with the rapeseed. I did see an episode of Cody's lab where he distilled oil out of a common weed in his parts. Looked a bit like ragwort, but I can't recall it exactly.
How did you extract the oil?
@@BH-hr9tp Check out Terra Preta tutorials, if you want good soil for the future. Haven't started planting properly yet but it is a good insider tip from a bio-farm worker I know
@@islandsedition
As a child, friends would be travelling to see family in Romania and they would come back with sunflower seed "cake". I think this was the residue from the oil extracion process and just pressed into cake. They loved it.
Thanks Robert your topics are becoming increasingly more practical and interesting than ever. I am dying to see your coverage on heavier oils. But my main favourite will be WASTE ENGINE OIL 👅
Thank you for adding how to put it out, and for repeating the wick material. This is great, and so dangerous for people who are going to try this in unsafe situations, but, it is cool too! Thank you!
This is great! In 1976 when I was little we moved into a house which only had an open fireplace for heating in one room and no insulation. We also had a portable kerosene heater. Considering we(Tasmania) have a not too dissimilar climate to England this was, shall we say, slightly insufficient. I learnt common sense around fires early. 😂 Mum used to put a bowl of water on top of the kero heater to remove the smell, but I have no idea if that really works or not.
Similar, grew up in a house with two open fires and several paraffin (kerosene??) heaters one of which my older brother knocked over on one occasion, it went out and didn't burn the house down.
@@tuppybrill4915 lol, I just looked it up and it seems paraffin and kerosene are the same thing. I know it can be used as jet fuel too, but it’s not as refined.
Flame heaters and wood stoves tend to dry out the air in rooms/homes where they are used. For this reason I have always used a bowl or pan of water placed on them, gently releasing moisture back into the air. Helps prevent the wood of my many musical instruments from drying out and cracking. Never noticed it having any effect on smells.
My mama would put orange peel and the like in a pan of water on the woodstove. Helped with dry air and smelled good too.
At the age of 6 both my parents were at work when I got home from school so my first job was to make the fire, I would light the kindling in the fireplace then wedge the coal shovel in the opening and cover it with newspaper to block out the air and draw the fire, I guess they had different rules about kids and fire in those days 😂 alternatively we had a gas poker which you could light and shove under the kindling until caught alight.
WOW!!! If I lived in the UK, where heating fuel is now terribly expensive, I'd be rigging up one of these heaters in a heartbeat. I make my own cleaning solutions, so rubbing alcohol is always on hand, but I'd like to know if kerosene would be a more affordable, equally effective fuel. In power outages in the US, I just use a large inverted, ventilated aluminum can over a couple of utility candles. It keeps us warm enough til the power is restored, but this device could really benefit all the Brits who are choosing between heating and eating. Brilliant!
I experimented using bacon grease in a small tin can with a half-size paper towel rolled up as the wick and let it burn in a basic wood stove fireplace - it was enough heat to warm the place up quite a bit for several hours, not as much as a wood fire but it was pretty good and if I put 2-3 cans in at once that would probably get to a decent temperature... which is pretty good for using up waste, and if you had access to something like [expired/cheap] ‘vegetable shortening’ it would work too. 😉
That must have smelled amazing. 😋
There are many UA-cam videos that show how to make long-lasting candles and heaters out of store-bought shortening. Having waste lard or tallow would be even better!
Another useful video, it's great also you've attracted a small community of inquisitive minds, i.e one of the commentors mentioned wax as a thermal storage solution 🤔, I never heard this before, and it's given me an idea to make small copper boxes/flasks and fill them with wax pellets used in moulding applications 👍🏻
Something very pleasing about watching that red hot stainless gauze, quite apart from the heat.
Very interesting and educational..love listening to this gentleman 👌 👍
I can't wait to see the heavy fuels video, I have some filtered oil mix from frying accumulated throughout the year that is painfull to dispose and it could be nice to use it this winter for a bit of room heating, I tried it on a simpler wick and cup but it puts out a lot of smoke and i would like to see the video and read comments to get ideas for a solution to that smoke
I have been curious if you could add carbon felt to a round kerosene heater? Now I know the greenhouse heater didn't work with the carbon felt, however I wonder if it would have worked if a piece of copper tubing was used to hold the wick under the heating element. If so then the same idea could be used on a round kerosene heater and be a long term heating solution if the need arises, and as a bonus you could use other fuels if need be instead of just kerosene. Also the round kerosene heaters are kind of a mantle based heater just scaled up to 11 so it does kind of fit in with this idea.
Good common sense and practical engineering. Love it!
In US - rubbing alcohol is often sold cheaply but at 50% concentration or less. Maybe a video on concentrating or ‘drying’ alcohol up to 70% with salt
Nilered has a good video on it to explain the principles.
We have 50% AND 90% where I live (in US).
We have it in Canada, but it runs easily $10 for less than a litre.
thanks so much for all the info on this
Thanks Robert. You go to a lot of trouble and expense to put these together.
E85 is next to try for me, Much cheaper than K2. Perhaps mixed with vegetable glycerin to tame it a bit.
I prepaid for more e85 than my truck's fuel tank would hold. Rather than getting a refund, I put the rest in a gas can in the back. Have 3+ gallons that I'd love to burn in my kero heaters. Been running diesel with a splash of iso in the Perfection, didn't realize diesel=methanol+glycerin 🙄
I can tell you Robert that adding a little bit of epsom salt or table salt, say a pinch will let you see the flame better. Not perfect but it does help with the flame vision.
Great idea, wonder what other table condiments might work too
Borax is supposed to make a green flame
@@prevengeix8551 The test for borax burning in methanol alcohol is a vivid green flame. That is right on Prevenge nine.
@@Milkybar3320011 Maybe try Gulden's mustard. Just a wild guess, very wild for sure. Can you tell I like yellow mustard ?? Peace
@@prevengeix8551 TRUE !!!
Thanks Robert.
A stainless steel kitchen sink is a great place for testing these and there is a super great chance you'll be able to put them out from there... Plus the fan is usually pretty close.
WW2 my dad and his buddies heated fox holes with ration tin heaters on same principle...but petrol mixed with motor on oil. Warm but sooty.
Greetings from Ireland, great videos, great ideas and you speak perfect Hiberno-English too " scares the bejayziz outa you " !
I'm trying to remember off the top of my head what was used with lamps through the ages.
Hello, Mr. Murray-Smith;
I was hoping to see if different fuels produce different temperatures in your stove.
Have a GREAT day, Neighbor!
Really interesting, thanks!
cheers mate
This will be great in the cabin
I add a bit of epsom salt, copper sulfate , borax or table salt to make the flame a little more visible.. regular table salt will change the flames to a yellow, copper sulfate=green, borax=light green, epsom salt= orange, you can also add a copper wire at the wick top and get a blue/green flame, salt substitute/potassium chloride gives a purpleish color
carbon felt makes a great wick but you can just use tissue paper or a piece of cotton towel, a wrapping of cotton line etc.. I just use beach sand in my alcohol stoves... it also works with oil.. dried coffee grounds also work AND chases mosquitoes
another "wick" is also a safety factor, fit a roll of tissue in the can, saturate it, you can lay it on its side and no alcohol comes out... use a metal disk to control flame size, either leave a small gap around the edge or drill burn holes in the plate... the bottom of the can stays cool, you can actually pick it up (carefully)
Lol, not safe for children. Love the common sense advice at the end. It's an open flame device, care and respect must be applied. Like the tile you use to set the whole thing upon. Enjoyed and attained info from these videos and experiments, thank you.
From, Vancouver Island Canada.
Thank you 😊for the info
Answered my earlier question! Legend!
Very well done "how to" DIY video! 👍
Works well with most fuels so it seems, would have been interesting to see how it works with Nitomethanol although I'd imagine it to be too volatile
My larger heater is homemade, close to that and I use 1 % rubbing alcohol, 12% kerosene, 85% used motor oil and 2% antifreeze. It burns like a champ. Mine also has a triple cone wire mesh and a damper.
is antifreeze safe to burn indoors?
Blimey, that's a very specific recipe. What's the thinking?
Hopefully it has a chimney to outside
@@pattiannepascual it hasn't caused any problems in 3 years and there is a chimney for the exhaust gases.
@@brucereichert6509 I will have to try it for my shed house. the fuel can't get any cheaper. wish stupid jerk tube would still allow us to post pictures.i would have loved to see your setup.i live stealth in a city so can't burn anything that produces smoke, like wood.
Could large empty paint tins be used instead. Or would that be too dangerous?
Mini-stove. Fancy feast cat food can. Carbon felt. Small tomato paste can cut down to 2.25”. 4 holes around the bottom edge of tomato paste can with bottom cut off/ 3-4 small holes at the top edge prevent over pressure flush fires. 1 oz of alcohol will boil 2-3 cups of water for field rations and beverage. Wt: less than an ounce. You’ll definitely want a windscreen. Cook pot (1 liter titanium kettle/mug is best, but many people use military canteen cups with a foil/lid. I burn mine a bunch, but have been sticking with yellow bottle HEET, denatured alcohol or methylated spirits. (I’d be into a biodiesel/multi-fuel trial)…I’m making your heater tomorrow…(if I can get the mantle material)
They sell IPA at my local... by the pint. Might suggest to the landlord she puts it in a can of peas and sets fire to it.
I'm glad I'm not the only sink eater...
Appreciate your videos
I'm suggesting lard as a fuel. Looking for the cheapest fuel to power these heaters.
Thats interesting
I take exception to that 😂
I know lard is energy dense. I've seen a guy cut through 2 inch plate using a bacon filled pipe, to make a fire Lance. Such a waste of bacon though. Always thought it would have been better to cook the bacon and use the grease instead!
Lard won’t wick unless you heat it first, possibly a light weight fuel to get it started/melt
@juanmercado2010 thinking outside the box eh, if you could warm the lard first then the original design would still work. Build two cans one to heat the lard with a simple wick and then the other one similar to Roberts design and you’ll get great heat output
So what about ionic additive like salts to the water methanol ethanol mix . Is it possible to increase energy output or effeciency like that . Somebody mentioned borax to me years ago but maybe it was copper ammonia complex or cupric sulfate ?
One of the other comments said similar and it gives the flame a bit of colour
Could you theoretically use something like this to melt aluminium in a graphite crucible?
Might be worth a try, especially for the rocket stove! Would really test the capability of it.
*PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE TEST WITH VEGETABLE OIL ! ! !*
It's soooo much cheaper than the other fuels, but is it effective?
Well, these days it's not necessarily cheaper unless it's used
What kind of vegetable oil? Even the "cheap" sunflower and rapeseed oils are 3€60 a litre where I live.
lol - easy - wait until tomorrow lol
@@ThinkingandTinkering *Ha ha!* That's awesome because here in Australia, methanol and ethanol are ridiculously expensive and difficult to find... whereas 4 liters of vegetable oil is about £8 / $9 USD.
I've got parts on order for your oil "forever" wick candle and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's video. This is interesting and fun and good to test for prepping because who knows where this Great Reset will play out?
I perfected my favorite rocket stove deign years ago and now the exploration of hating options / experiments is enjoyable.
I'll suggest that fiberglass insulation can be used as a wicking material in place of the carbon felt. Let me ask about denatured alcohol. Is it methanol or ethanol or something in between? I can buy it in one gallon cans at the hardware store. I've used denatured alcohol for many years in my little homemade soda can cooking stoves for light weight backpacking.
So many of your comments that people have made just show how detached we have become from open flames. Being in my 60's I was brought up with coal fires (and still have one in the house). I use methanol in my alcohol stoves and the number of people that go on about it being toxic etc. Well so is White gas/petrol/paraffin/etc lol. Treat them with respect!! No prob. The heater reminds me of a larger design of camping stove.
4:46 a lot of people like to do that, regardless of having rubbing alcohol laying around. I'll show myself out 😅🤭😆😝👉
Brilliant experiment, cheers. Also, you know when there's a yellow flame, don't you get soot too, so you can't use it indoors? 🤔
I've used Methylated spirits (I think its formulation is 95% ethanol and 5% Methanol), which is easier to come by I've found.
aka denatured alcohol.
Thank you for engaging the Closed Caption feature...
Can u put a catalytic converter mesh in it? perhaps in the lid? Would that help?
The "prop" in isopropyl alcohol is the same molecule as the prop in Propane... it's a bit like rearranging the propane to fit in a plastic bottle lol
Dr. Smith, I see you have given precautions, here is one more, as you almost demonstrated it removing the mantle, with a highly combustible fuel source such as alcohol, if you tip it over, you will be very unhappy. might I suggest as well as your ceramic plate, a metal ballast plate and a magnet in the can bottom. Keep up the awesome teaching.
Methanol, ethanol and isopropanol are perfectly safe to burn indoors. They burn very cleanly, very little carbon monoxide. It would only be a problem if the room is completely airtight.
i wish there was an equally easy to follow tutorial on how make isopropyl alcohol using stills. that would be a good companion piece to this.
Hey! I'm so grateful for this Video. I already bought 2 laundry bins of chromesteel for making such a Heater. Which i'm very interested in is what's the size of the TIMESETL Mesh. The Holes. 30, 80, or 120 Mesh? What's the best for this heater?
I'm totally down with all these 'play around with homemade heaters' vids, but I keep coming back to the thought 'why not just use a lantern?' A comparison to those might make for a pretty nice video (unless I missed it browsing the channel)
Nice! TY!
Robert, with ethanol burning what & how do you deal with the FUMES/SMOKE ? do you fix a chimney ?
Is this yet another health problem.
I'm not sure if it was covered but what size mesh is recommended for the stainless steel mantel?
I've seen #40 mesh and #80 mesh on Amazon.
Also...in the US, what cans (products inside the cans) are recommend that works best?
Thanks.
Literally the only downside to this idea is the cost of the fuel.😎👍
That’s the challenge, finding cheap or free fuel to make the most of these DIY heaters
Some people who use electrolysis to produce an oxyhydrogen mix for welding bubble the H2 through acetone and the traces of that carried over into the flame are enough to colour it.
Would your heaters work with filtered used cooking oil?
Will it heat up an old gas-stove? When it is placed inside a stove?
Probably a Dumb Question! I have Japanese or Chinese made kerosene heater! Are there any other fuels that I might Safely use in this type of heater? Thank you for your very thought provoking content!!!
A 'safe' fuel is anything like ethanol, as the products of combustion are almost all water. You will get increased condensation in your home if it's not ventilated. But you can burn it any way you like, it still produces the same amount of heat into the room. What he's doing makes absolutely no increase of heat (into the room).
Thanks!!
I checked out amazon carbon felt products - none of them list material as 100% carbon felt. So how do we know if it is 100% carbon felt?
There is no 100 percent carbon felt.
Would windshield washer liquid work?
How did you bend the aluminum reflector into this half circle form? Is it possible to do that without special tools?
Yes easly very soft
by hand around a fire extinguisher - so yes - i feel a short coming on - i'll do it for tomorrow for you mate
I made an ammo can wood stove last year to heat my 8x10 metal shed. It worked great (90° at times w/I insulated walls) but had to be fed and kept an eye on. I'm going to experiment with incorporating this in the ammo can stove. I'm really curious is waste oil could be used, or maybe I'll convert the oil to biodiesel. Cheers mate
Have you seen the video where the guy ran an exhaust pipe through the box & used a fan to circulate that air? So the exhaust vent stayed cooler & none of the heated air (he used candles) came in contact with the air he breathed.
@thekittycatnetwork Yes I have :D I will be building that one like that soon. There are two younger gentlemen on here that took that design to the next level by creating a oil burning wick (like an old lantern) in place of candles. Their version 2 looks extremely promising. I plain to build mine with a few notifications such as a carbon felt wick (which I learned about from this channel) and possibly a heat sink or two inside the heated tube and on the exhaust pipe.
@@jimmcdonald3004 I saw that one, too but wasn’t sure how to build the oil burner. That’s what brought me here!
@@yourekittenme. that's great. I wish you luck on your findings and build!
I used fine steel wool and can burn used motor oil too.
quick question about a gravity feed for this type of burner, with methanol or ethanol, is there any danger of backfire into your reservoir if it runs out and only some gasses remain?
Would that work with gasoline or waste vegetable oil?
can you do also a heatpipe connected to a radiator in the chimney.
Can we see some videos on experiments on fuel exposed by different frequencies?
Hi Robert, you ate truly inspiring, can I ask how much will it cost to run the stove on methanol per hour
Hi which one has the least smoke?
Please can you address the problem I'm having. Made this and used bio fuel work fine. Got some IPA and it exploded, plus it made my eyes feel bad. So I got methanol and it exploded, by this I mean the can on the inside comes flying out, even after putting more holes in the middle can to relieve pressure, but still the same result. Many thx
Just found your vids and subbed, i have amazon parrots i keep in a static caravan, i'm from Scotland so gets cold over winter, cant afford to heat it this year, so i'm making this heater tomorrow.
Thank you soo much, would methanol be best
Looks like you are definitely not going to have a problem heating your home this next few months
Great video. I did not read through many of the comments, so, what type of emissions would this gadget produce, like, CO2, CO....., regsrds
So does methanol burn faster than 91% rubbing alcohol (isopropyl)?
Been buying rubbing alcohol cuz that's all i can find locally. I ordered a gallon of methanol on Amazon hoping it burns longer but it seems like it doesn't.
My problem is i get 45 min burn from the heater in video 1702. I do have to use a fuel starter for carburetored engines.
Admittedly I initially cut my mantle a wee small and it had a gap. I have since remade a mantle with no gaps and it works better.
I ran out of rubbing alcohol and used lamp oil with a starter and it was too sooty and hard to start. It gummed up the whole mantle and didn't work properly so i wouldn't advise it
Can E85 etanol in the gas station be used ?
I find using a candle for long periods like 4 hours, leaves my skin feeling greasy and waxy, does this carbon filter help with this?
"... on the cold when Patty was away just like a rat."
This bearly understandable comments are gold!
How would crisco compare as a fuel?
Robert from an Education and Knowledge Point of View You have Excelled again.
However as You Know the Science Community has Asked Us All to Stop Burning.
Not Easy to do, Plus We All Love a Fire Place in Winter.
We have a Remote Example here in Australia where a Group is Using Old Fish and Chip Oil to Run a Piston Engine and Drive a Generator. They then use that Electricity to Power an EV Charger. This is One Typical Australian Behaviour.
However it is a Fact that at the Same Location there is Enormous Amount of Solar Energy and Wind Energy.
So Except in kind of Emergency Situations Bio Fuels Muddy the Waters of the Global Food Chain and the Superiority of Solar, Wind, Tidal, Geo Thermal Energy.
Will these fuels give off Carbon Monoxide?
what would the estimated output of these be compared to for example a nightlight pot heater etc
You haven't tried vaseline oil. Its very cool stuff, but only for wick-based heaters.
How about including vegetable oil, or used engine oil or similar
Never occurred to me to rub alcohol on my "stiff bits". I wonder if it works...
Burns like a forest fire, at least surgical spirits does, don't ask me how I know 😆
@@pa_maj.MARTINI-van-MAN I can imagine that you mistook the alcohol for massage oil :)
@@simongross3122 😂👍
Hi Robert! What about kerosene? I think this will work too. I will try it myself, and let you know but I can't find pure carbon felt in Poland. Do you think I can use steel wool?
Fiberglass will do.
I don't know if i'm wrong on this, but methanol and it's vapor is quite toxic and can poison you if inhaled enough afaik
I'd rather avoid methanol and and use much safer ethanol for such a heater. Correct me if i'm wrong on this
Strange times we live in to learn how to make emergency heaters :/
This would be good in the trenches, now esp with winter coming
I guess you could make your own alcohol with a still? In a real SHTF situation getting alcohol might be near impossible.
Put a nice cage around it...
I just love the term "Bio-Ethanol." Like Ethanol comes from any source OTHER THAN the fermentation of Biomass?
I mean, Yeah, it CAN be synthesized, but, is that really cost effective?
I can't find out. But, _if it were,_ it would probably be on the market, and proudly advertised as:
"Synthenol: IT DOESN'T COMPETE WITH US FOR FOOD!!!"
You can get all sizes of carbon felt on eBay and much cheaper, although you do have to make sure in the description that it is 100% carbon,
There are none that are 100% carbon.
How about just using vegetable oil?
Have you tried waste oil?
Kerosene? Will it work?