A little used cooking oil in the hopper....more btu's

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pete324rocket

Feeling the Heat
Nov 11, 2007
472
albert county, new brunswick
I had some used cooking oil, fairly clean and gave the pellets a little drizzle while the stove was on a low setting. It saturated the pellets where it landed and I watched the heat gauge after a bit and it came up to what would be a higher setting and I noticed a higher flame. If the oil was free, it would be plenty tempting to distribute a little at ones leisure. Anyone else give this a try?
 
Oh oh here comes the fire police.

could end up like your avatar.
 
GrahamInVa said:
I wonder if used motor oil will work? I can get plenty of that for free. It would smell like a burn out at the drag strip.

should smell like burning rubber, no?
 
Last winter there was a long lasting thread about this very subject. Use search and see if you can find it.
 
Hook up a Magic Heat, and yer ready to rock and roll
 
Sorry couldn't resist! Be fore warned, Your gonna get some flack! Things like this usually draw attention and its probably not going to be what your expecting!

Does burning the oil while still in the kernal count???
 
pete324rocket said:
I had some used cooking oil, fairly clean and gave the pellets a little drizzle while the stove was on a low setting. It saturated the pellets where it landed and I watched the heat gauge after a bit and it came up to what would be a higher setting and I noticed a higher flame. If the oil was free, it would be plenty tempting to distribute a little at ones leisure. Anyone else give this a try?

Pook, is that you??
 
I've used cooking oil in my corn/pellet crib to keep the dust down, not much but no problems and I'm not worried from a safety stand point. Pook my butt, where's Elk?
 
theres a pellet stove on youtube a guy converted to cooking oil. starts out on pellets then shuts the auger off and switches over to oil.
 
The possibility of having something go wrong that could damage the stove cause smoke damage or possibly a fire could also result in a spontaneous homeowners insurance malfunction is what kind of kills my drive to experiment.
 
That little amount shouldn't be a big deal. I have seen corn that has had veggie oil coated on it to assist feed. Amount is just enough to give slight shinny coating. probably more than what your adding IMHO. I'll cut you some slack, But the mods might not and deem this unsafe. You might want to add a disclaimer of sorts???

Do you see much as far as heat gains? I suppose as long as you don't get carried away. If you start to see an oily residue in the burnpot, I'd cut back or stop using the oil.
 
Why?

1.) I want to see how fast it takes the Fire Dept. to get to my house.
2.) Who needs home owners insurance?
3.) My family's safety means nothing to me.
4.) I can go on.

Eric
 
j-takeman said:
That little amount shouldn't be a big deal. I have seen corn that has had veggie oil coated on it to assist feed. Amount is just enough to give slight shinny coating. probably more than what your adding IMHO. I'll cut you some slack, But the mods might not and deem this unsafe. You might want to add a disclaimer of sorts???

Do you see much as far as heat gains? I suppose as long as you don't get carried away. If you start to see an oily residue in the burnpot, I'd cut back or stop using the oil.

I do see gains and less dust and that two tablespoons will be burnt giving extra heat. I would hope someone would give it a try before rallying the troops.
 
pete324rocket said:
j-takeman said:
That little amount shouldn't be a big deal. I have seen corn that has had veggie oil coated on it to assist feed. Amount is just enough to give slight shinny coating. probably more than what your adding IMHO. I'll cut you some slack, But the mods might not and deem this unsafe. You might want to add a disclaimer of sorts???

Do you see much as far as heat gains? I suppose as long as you don't get carried away. If you start to see an oily residue in the burnpot, I'd cut back or stop using the oil.

I do see gains and less dust and that two tablespoons will be burnt giving extra heat. I would hope someone would give it a try before rallying the troops.

Between you, me and the lamp post? I have with corn. Corn is grainy and I could hear the auger working to feed it. But in corns case its more like a lubricant. Helped with hopper slide and it also helped to reduce the dust as well. I didn't notice heat gains while using though. I wasn't really checking for it either.

Have you checked and recorded the before and after? If there is a noticable increase, Hmmm.
 
Yes I get maybe 400 degrees on a low setting where 325-350 would be the norm, but that is using a magnetic gauge on the front of the stove, for comparison purposes only, between pellets and any other varying conditions. It only makes some sense that there would be some increase with the oil, and if that translates into even 10 percent, it would be worthwhile over the run of a year. I bet it might be more though. I thought it might unglue the pellets but it doesn't seem to and less likely when you stir it around evenly. I haven't tried it on any higher setting...not cold enough yet.
 
IMHO I would not engage in using any liquids to soak the pellets.
The cooking oil or ????????? is going to eventually Skunk up the auger and everything that the lubricated pellets come in contact with.

The oil will become rancid over time and will likely leak down into the lower reaches of the hopper and then out into the mechanical cabinet and become a magnet for dirt, dust and probably little creatures will move in there to eat on the stuff.

Using alternative DRY fuel is great, but adding oils of any kind is probably a BAD idea.

The pellet stove by its very nature can be tweeked to digest a multitude of biomass fuels and do well.

I have been burning Hazelnut shells for years and Know of folks burning various things like olive pits,corn, cherry pits etc.

Be safe

Snowy
 
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