Anyone tempted to burn a little used motor oil with your pellets?

Some used oil is refined and used again and some is burnt up.
http://www.recycleoil.org/
http://www.recycleoil.org/recycle_oil_process/usedoil.html
My grandpa used to dump his dirty motor oil at the base of a Catalpa tree. He got tired of all the caterpillars eating the leaves. He had no more problems after that. I guess the tree soaked it up and the caterpillars didn't like the taste of motor oil. Definitely not good for the environment.

I think that burning motor is a genius idea, why stop there.... I bet there's tons of BTU"s to be had by burning other flammable materials. Don't bother using your ignitor, or spending $1.00 for a bottle of hand sanitizer... just use WD-40.... works like a charm! Got some left over paint from a renovation.... dumper her in the hoppper it'll burn no problem! But don't stop there, the goverment is looking for solutions to their toxic waste buildup problem, I say you just dump in the hopper to.. It should burn... in a few hours you'll have to put in a new pellet vent, but who cares right, your mechanical engineer, and you know better! Fixing that pellet vent shouldn't be a problem!!


I feel sorry for your wifes Audi...are you dumping pellets into the gas tank? lol.

jcbyrd24 said:

Alright guys, glad I could gin up some laughs. Moe, no I was not born in Maine. Mainer's aren't the only people who try crazy stuff though. Just so you all know I am a mechanical engineer and hands on type. I do my own plumbing, heating and eletrical work to code and all of my own mechanic work (pulled engine out of my wifes Audi too). I'm not completely uneducated about what's I'm dealing with. Also I don't have children in the house and only do this on day's when I'm home.

I'm not going to argue with anyone about the merits of doing this, or try to convince everyone it's a great idea. I really just wanted to see if anyone else had tried it. Kind of surprised they haven't but I suppose typically those types don't frequent internet forums.

There are definitely less risky ways of getting rid of the stuff and I now work a schedule where I have weekdays off on a regular basis so for my wife's sanity will probably not be burning much more oil in the stove. I'm glad to have shared my experience and to have found this forum. I did learn that my Maine Wood's pellets aren't the best product available and am looking forward to trying something else, but for now we love the Quad, heating 1400sf right now, but it's not cold yet!

Click to expand...

I knew he wasn't a native Mainer. Not crazy enough to qualify.

Hey, wasn't POOK burning coal in his stove at one point?

If I was going to do something of this nature it would be to build a nuclear pellet stove, current stoves just can't extract enough of the BTUs that is in the pellets.

BDPVT said:

I question why you are doing this in the first place? I doubt you are damaging your stove with small amounts of motor oil, after all wood and oil are both hydrocarbon based fuels , but why bother. Small amounts of oil are not producing significantly more BTU's in your stove.

Click to expand...

I think this was spot on. I'm not seeing any benefit to doing it. But some people need more important things to get bent out of shape over, sheesh. :roll:

sugar said:

Skunk said:

BDPVT said:

I question why you are doing this in the first place? I doubt you are damaging your stove with small amounts of motor oil, after all wood and oil are both hydrocarbon based fuels , but why bother. Small amounts of oil are not producing significantly more BTU's in your stove.

Click to expand...

I think this was spot on. I'm not seeing any benefit to doing it. But some people need more important things to get bent out of shape over, sheesh. :roll:

Click to expand...

he's trying to get rid of the oil responsibly & without megahassle!

Click to expand...

burning used motor oil in a home heating appliance is responsible?? :lol:

sugar said:

he's trying to get rid of the oil responsibly & without megahassle!

Click to expand...

Of course.

sugar said:

Skunk said:

BDPVT said:

I question why you are doing this in the first place? I doubt you are damaging your stove with small amounts of motor oil, after all wood and oil are both hydrocarbon based fuels , but why bother. Small amounts of oil are not producing significantly more BTU's in your stove.

Click to expand...

I think this was spot on. I'm not seeing any benefit to doing it. But some people need more important things to get bent out of shape over, sheesh. :roll:

Click to expand...

he's trying to get rid of the oil responsibly & without megahassle!

Click to expand...

I just hope he doesn't see this one day!

I'm not tempted

Franks said:

I'm not tempted

Click to expand...

Me either

:gulp: Good luck with that! Personally I think I'll keep my oil in my oil burner and my pellets in my pellet stove!

jcbyrd24 said:

sugar said:

he's trying to get rid of the oil responsibly & without megahassle!

Click to expand...

This really is the reason I would do it regularly, I'm not burning enough for the BTUs to be "valueable". I'm not trying to preach it as the next new thing in home heating. As I said, now I regularly have a weekday off so it's not going to be such a big deal to get rid of it and I was just really curious about it. You know, thought "hey this would seem to work great" and wanted to try it and see if anyone else had.

I agree it's a little silly to do to a new stove that cost $2400, but I think there is some overreaction in this thread to the actual issue. I'm talking total the amount of oil basically 2 cars produce, we have 3 cars but only 2 drivers. Per bag of pellets a quart at most.

I firmly believe as an educated person that there is:

-Very little if any risk in terms of safety
-Only slight risk of damage to the equipment
-Only slightly more maintenance, but would conceed this as the major reason not to do it often
-Very little environment impact compared to what is normal, or even a freaking woodstove (a seasoned pellet burner could not tell by looking at or smelling the flame/exhaust that there was a little oil in there)

I would not think about burning paint, gas, diesel, trash, etc, etc in a pellet stove for lots of good reasons, but to jump there from used oil is a stretch and insulting.

Click to expand...

Your right.. to make sure the oil is at maximum viscosity you should preheat it in your microwave before applying it to the pellets.... it is absolutely amazing that some are considering this... furthermore I question your education if you feel this is a "safe" thing to do.

Ever look at a used motor oil anlysis report? I do every day working in the industry that I do. I would not recommend adding used motor oil to pellets because it would be like injecting acid into your pellet stove which would lead to corrossion in the stove and exhaust pipe. Shortened componet life ect. Not likely to show up in short term, but over time would not be good. Take a look at used oil heaters, generally you will see quite a bit of cold end corrossion. Just my humble opinion.

If adding a little bit of oil solved my problem of getting the last half of pellets down the hopper instead of stuck to the side i'd almost think about it. Ok maybe not, I think my wife would kill me with the amount of money we spent on the stove.

jcbyrd24 said:

sugar said:

he's trying to get rid of the oil responsibly & without megahassle!

Click to expand...

This really is the reason I would do it regularly, I'm not burning enough for the BTUs to be "valueable". I'm not trying to preach it as the next new thing in home heating. As I said, now I regularly have a weekday off so it's not going to be such a big deal to get rid of it and I was just really curious about it. You know, thought "hey this would seem to work great" and wanted to try it and see if anyone else had.

I agree it's a little silly to do to a new stove that cost $2400, but I think there is some overreaction in this thread to the actual issue. I'm talking total the amount of oil basically 2 cars produce, we have 3 cars but only 2 drivers. Per bag of pellets a quart at most.

I firmly believe as an educated person that there is:

-Very little if any risk in terms of safety
-Only slight risk of damage to the equipment
-Only slightly more maintenance, but would conceed this as the major reason not to do it often
-Very little environment impact compared to what is normal, or even a freaking woodstove (a seasoned pellet burner could not tell by looking at or smelling the flame/exhaust that there was a little oil in there)

I would not think about burning paint, gas, diesel, trash, etc, etc in a pellet stove for lots of good reasons, but to jump there from used oil is a stretch and insulting.

Click to expand...

Now, now, nobody is bent outta shape here, we are just calling them as we see them.

One should always be careful about telling the world about things. That is when one discovers what they think is nifty cool isn't always so to everyone.

Just ask POOK who caught a ration for his coal experiment.

I haven't seen anyone insult you yet, unless of course being asked if you are a native Mainer is considered an insult. If that's the case then I am greatly insulted and think that those here from away should go back to whence they came ;-).

I usually go my own way on lots of things... but I have to agree with the "mob mentality" on this one.

Just for the sake of the stove and it's components I wouldn't use the motor oil. I'd try to find some spent nuclear fuel rods... nuclear is cleaner than oil and you'd save on electricity 'cuz your stove would glow in the dark... better than a CFL.....

Sorry, couldn't resist...

jcbyrd24 said:

sugar said:

he's trying to get rid of the oil responsibly & without megahassle!

Click to expand...

This really is the reason I would do it regularly, I'm not burning enough for the BTUs to be "valueable". I'm not trying to preach it as the next new thing in home heating. As I said, now I regularly have a weekday off so it's not going to be such a big deal to get rid of it and I was just really curious about it. You know, thought "hey this would seem to work great" and wanted to try it and see if anyone else had.

I agree it's a little silly to do to a new stove that cost $2400, but I think there is some overreaction in this thread to the actual issue. I'm talking total the amount of oil basically 2 cars produce, we have 3 cars but only 2 drivers. Per bag of pellets a quart at most.

I firmly believe as an educated person that there is:

-Very little if any risk in terms of safety
-Only slight risk of damage to the equipment
-Only slightly more maintenance, but would conceed this as the major reason not to do it often
-Very little environment impact compared to what is normal, or even a freaking woodstove (a seasoned pellet burner could not tell by looking at or smelling the flame/exhaust that there was a little oil in there)

I would not think about burning paint, gas, diesel, trash, etc, etc in a pellet stove for lots of good reasons, but to jump there from used oil is a stretch and insulting.

Click to expand...

Ok, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the reason you are burning used motor oil in your brand new pellet stove is to save you the trouble of recycling? If so, this bad idea is pretty pointless and irresponsible in my opinion.

I've thought about it off and on, always did it when I was burning wood. Now the town garage has a waste oil furnace, so I drop it off there. Theirs even burns gasoline, and it must work OK, I always dump my leftover 2 stroke mix in the barrel there, and the garage ain't blowed up yet.

Man I love your sig, hoss, sounds familiar for some reason. As was said in an old movie, burn 'em if ya got 'em. Just don't burn your house down. My Castile has seen more 'fuel' than I care to mention, still kicking after horse food, rabbit food, vege oiled corn, beans, dog food, cat food.... You get the idea. Before people jump on the obvious, if it isn't a safety issue, then give it a rest (and as long as your not pouring a gallon or two in the hopper, this isn't). Opinions are great, keep it at that. We used to have a guy here that would jump the heck out of people for every 'code' violation that was posted, if I decide to cut a hole in my wall to move heat, so be it (I did, works great!). Don't tell me if my stove starts a fire that the hole is going to be an issue, the stair case would be up in flames in a heartbeat. Yes, it is always good to be safe (multiple CO's and smokes in my house, fire ladder, fire plan, 4 extinguishers,etc), but sometime I think people jump on the obvious (oil? are ya crazy?). As previously mentioned, my corn crib get all my waste cooking oil, heck sometimes I dump a brand new jug in, keeps the dust down. I agree that motor oil may not be the best due to the additives, and that you don't want to mess up your warranty either. Lastly, people said burning corn would be hard on the vent, that was over 6 years ago and 20 tons, same vent, just did the camera view this fall (fish cams are great!), looks fine. So to each their own, just mho. By the way, my motor oil goes to a guy and family that has a burner in their shop so he can stay warm and busy during the winter, doesn't bug me a bit that it is getting burned.

I think the effects of such a small amount wood be negligible.
Woodn't the burning of oil at such temps elliminate such corrosives?

Couple of things
One.. this is good for those whom are on the fence about burning oil or pellets :cheese:
Two.. this could help with those pesky problems of squeaky slide plates, augers, and pellets that won't slide in the hopper....(no more Graphite needed) :lol:
Three.. cleaning is much easier when you spray a can of Gunk engine brite on the inside close the door and come back after 30 minutes and hose it down.. :red:

Wow you really got the boys fired up on this one . It is something I would have tried 20 years ago .But I wouldn't do it now I think these are sensitive little machines .
so I have to go with a no and I have a lot of oil to get rid of . I also looked into a used oil burner decided it would be to messy .

HEMI said:

i'm new at this and could be wrong, but i would have to think that pellets soaked with used motor oil had to make for a real dirty burn.

Click to expand...

But oil would make the unburnable Maine Woods Petllets actually burn...of course it would defeat their other intended purpose...traction on icy walkways