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Messages - sp0198746

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Waste Motor Oil / homemade WMO conversion for wood stove
« on: February 14, 2020, 11:52:51 am »
I was appealed to say the least, when I watched the YouTube video where a man converted a wood stove into a waste oil burning furnace. The idea is that you can burn used oil on a metal plate by blowing air on the fire like a forge.  In the video the man used plumbing hardware and simple fluid power science to improve a machine and leach free thermal energy from waste oil that would usually cost money to get rid of.  This seemed like a project I could enjoy building with a bonus of not having to deal with wood anymore, not to mention the benefit of getting rid of my used oil.

Ask anyone who knows me, and they will agree that this kind of project is right up my alley. I could put all this stuff together with one trip to the hardware store and for less than fifty bucks and after one evening of tinkering I could have free heat for my man cave.  I anticipated a positive outcome for the build as the concept development and trial and error had been done already by the YouTube Guy.  He laid out a few parameters that I tried to follow as close as possible. First the plumbing schematic was straight forward, put a copper tube inside of a steel pipe, both pipes are plumbed into the stove and turned down into a stainless-steel pot. The copper tube is hooked to the oil reservoir the outer steel pipe is hooked to a blower. Second was the lighting instructions. He started the fire by splashing some Kerosene into the pot and throwing in a flaming paper towel then turning on the oil and the blower then poof it was running.

With the local hardware store and some hillbilly style scrounging I came up with enough ¾ steel pipe and copper tube to put this thing together. I used an old machine oiler and a ball valve for the oil reservoir and an old green house blower (60cfm) for the air supply. Two trips to the thrift store provided me a stainless-steel pot and overflow catch pan.  I wound up with about three days of gathering and thirty dollars in this project, so it was time to put it all together and give it a try.


With guidance from my new You Tube mentor and a few friends, I was ready to light her up and get some free heat out of this thing. This is usually the climax of most of my projects as I am known as the type of guy who would get a go-kart project three quarters finished and jump on for a premature, no brake, funnel full of gas in one hand, and beer in the other hand type ride. But not this time! I had bought the right stuff and done the research. Following the instructions, I splashed the Kerosene into the pot, lit the paper towel and turned on the oil and the blower and It was off to a good start, but I couldn’t keep it running. The next night I picked up some diesel fuel and tried it again this time it took and it raged for an hour and burned about 2 quarts of used oil, all the while only getting the room (100 sq. ft) up to a sweltering 49°F. I even started cutting the oil with gasoline and I could practically touch the stove without burning my hand. It made a cool sound like a forge and a lot of flames, but all the heat was going out the pipe. When I tried dampening the flue it would choke out the flame. I tried more air, less air, more oil, less oil, opening the air vent closing the flu and visa-versa.

 I guess what I am asking is there anything I should try before I rip this POS out and go back to burning wood?


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