let the fun begin

[doug]

Made the first step today. Picked up a EnerRoyal fuel oil furnace with a tank. The burner is a Beckett AFG. Going to convert it into a siphon system.  Next step will be to buy a nozzle kit.
doug

[Russ]

Good luck Doug!  Let us know how it turns out for you.

Russ

[doug]

Order parts Monday for my project. A preheater block kit, relays and temp controllers. Wow, today Wednesday I received my preheater block kit in the mail. Thanks ckBurner that's great service. To top that yesterday UPS dropped off the relays from Mc Master Carr. More great service.
Glad to do business with these two companies.

[Russ]

Sounds like you've got some work to do now.  Have fun and be safe!

[doug]

Got the temp controllers in the mail today. Got a regulator from a friend yesterday. Still scrounging.

[doug]

try to take several pictures !!!
i also bought some parts from ck burners, trying to get all my parts together.  if you need a retention head i just got one on ebay, i thought it was a good deal???


http://cgi.ebay.com/Clean-Burn-Retention-Head-Slide-Over-/200543450729?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2eb1523669

Got some before, got some after pix. Just don't know how to post them.

So far it's been very simple to assemble no big problems. ckBurners are great to deal with. The Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend I was assembling the heater block and needed some information. So I sent an email to ckBurners thinking I'd be first on there list Monday to get a reply.  To my surprize they replied that afternoon.

Had a junk stainless steel microwave laying in the scrap pile, so  I've made my own retention head.  Also had  made a retention like the style you bought, but I wasn't happy with the way it came out.

Finally picked up a burner control with 15 second safety switch.

Just need to wire up the heater controls and I'll be good to go. May try to and test fire it this weekend without using the block heater before I go any farther.

[doug]

Not much to show. Everything ready to assemble. Retention head, flame detector and heater block. Then a ruff assembly with the regulator and air soleniod to see if I like the way things look.

[doug]

Getting closer. Got the burner assembled and did an open air test fire. Was pleased with what I saw happening. Quick start, good flame and would shut off and refire well.

Now it's installed in the furnace and the furnace is setting on a cart so it can be moved around. Moved the furnace out side Sunday and ran it for 20 minutes.

Next step is setting the furnace in the garage and running a flue pipe.

[doug]

Well it's been about a year since I started my wmo project. So I thought it was time to give an update on the project.

It still sits on the cart and with the flue ran out a window. My garage has a gramble (barn type) roof and I just don't want to run that much flue pipe inside or outside for it. So I can't decide on a perment location for it in the garage.

Ran only a 100 gallons through it last winter. With 6 lbs air pressure it fired every time. No smoke. Very clean burning with only a little light gray ash deposits in the burn chamber.

I'm very pleased with this design and how it burns.

Currently working a boiler to install the wmo burner into to supply heat from a shed to warm the house and  garage.

[Russ]

Sounds good doug.  I would love to find a boiler myself.  Keeping an eye on craigslist this winter.  They dont show up too often though.

[steve]

Hi  Doug
i also am running a Ck burner assembly it works great. but i do have a carbon problem between the electrodes
causing a bridge, then it wont fire.  it doesnt happen often, have you run in to this problem, other than that it burns clean and put out a pile of heat.

[doug]

Steve,
I haven't had any problems with my burner so theres been no need to pull it out. So today I took a mirror and flashlight to look at the burner tip. Theres no carbon build up on the electrodes and the tip look fairly clean. Good luck in finding out what causes your carbon build up. Maybe something in your oil.
Doug

[steve]

i wonder if it has somthing to do with the position of my retension head, what temp are you running on your PiD

[doug]

My nozzle is even with the retention head. Pid is set at 180f. My system is set up as Craig (cKburners) describe in there instructions.

[btrapr]

Doug,

how did you know which parts to buy?  Is there a book or just cruising here?

I have about 400 gallons of WVO, and will be picking up 200 gallons of used oil soon (this guy said he can get me a lot of oil)!
 
I have several friends that are machinists and am going to the scrap yard tomorrow- looking for aluminum bar stock to make a CKburner style pre-heater___ looking for a Beckettt- AFG..with 9" pipe?

I have a woodsaver II wood burning stove that I am going to use.  this is a wood burning (large long steel box) heater with a galvanized heat transfer box (surrounding the burnbox), thermostat, fan and its hooked to my heater duct work!  I'm going to take the door off and have another one built to mount a burner on.  This heater also has a set of water pipes that aren't plumbed that on the outside of the burn box but inside the transfer box!  I am also researching using this as a boiler set-up so I have two heat sources in one package...household heated water as well.
This stove is about 25+years old and still solid.

Newbie----advice needed!

thanks