Author Topic: Hello from Kyrgyzstan  (Read 15994 times)

kyrgyznomad

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Hello from Kyrgyzstan
« on: September 09, 2014, 09:59:55 am »
So winter is getting closer here and we have a perfect storm of energy problems here in Kyrgyzstan. Natural gas has been shut off to about 30-40% of the countries population in the south (a lot of people are burning dried cows dung there now). Their predicting about a 20% uptick in electrical usage. Thanks to last winter being dry the hydroelectric reservoir is low and does not have enough water to provide for the country.

My house uses an old style "Petchka" or stove that heats water which circulates through radiators in the house. It can run on coal (have to shovel it every two hours) or 3 phase electric. Here they've just installed a new meter on my house which will limit electrical usage to  less than what will run the heat system. I don't fancy shoveling coal, so I'm looking into building some kind of insert for the Petchka to work with waste oil (I run a tourism company with six rental cars and have good connections at the oil change places near here, so I can get a good supply).

The basic criteria is that:
  • System must run 8 hours without supervision
  • Cannot modify the stove directly, insert only
  • Must be safe enough to operate indoors...note that the heater is in the bathroom which is part of a semi detached Kitchen and Bath building that does not share air supply with the rest of the house.
  • Reasonable efficiency
  • Cannot use any electricity

Looking forward to hearing your ideas and coming up with a way with help us through a really hard winter!

kyrgyznomad

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Re: Hello from Kyrgyzstan
« Reply #1 on: September 09, 2014, 10:35:46 am »
The whole system. In the front is the small blue and rust box on the wall. That is the three phase electrical heater with a pipe connecting into the main system. The large blue box with three doors is the stove which has a water box in the back. The white tank above it is a separate hot water heater for showers, etc. Above this bathroom there is an expansion tank higher than all of the radiators making the system self circulating.


Closeup of the stove with the doors open (the previous residents appear to have stuffed it with trash). There appears to be a grate below the middle door. The water jacket is in the back I think, because there are two burners above the combustion chamber. This is typical of old village "Pechkas" which both heated the house and did the cooking. However, in most village houses the system lacks a water jacket and simply radiates heat.


I'm thinking that the approach is to use a burner similar to Roger Sanders design with a drip system. A tank could be secured above the stove where heat would help thin the oil. Perhaps one of the doors would need to be left open and a replacement fitted which contains the tubing headed in and out.

An alternative would be to remove the electrical system, and use it's heat box, but then I have to deal with building a chimney.

Thoughts
Thoughts?

Russ

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Re: Hello from Kyrgyzstan
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2014, 09:32:10 pm »
Welcome Kyrgyzstan!

Interesting situation you have there.  Thank you for stopping by and sharing.  I think you are correct about the Sanders design.  Your criteria of no electric usage is probably going to limit you to something like that.  Unfortunately I dont have any experience with that type of heater to point you in the right direction.  Please take a look at some of the other users projects that have been posted on the site and hopefully that will help you find a solution that works for your situation.  Good luck and be safe!

Russ

p38arover

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Re: Hello from Kyrgyzstan
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2014, 08:48:42 am »
Hi and welcome.

I built a variation on the Roger Sanders heater but have been unsuccessful in getting it to work very well.  In fact, it's been quite disappointing in that I cannot get it to burn hot.

See my thread here:  http://wasteoilheaterforum.com/index.php?topic=332.msg1742#msg1742

I'm at the point of giving up - especially as summer is approaching and it will not be needed again until next April-May.  I have actually pulled the chimney flue down.  I may sell it all and just go and buy an LPG heater for the occasional use in the garage.