Waste oil burner in the bottom of an EKO?

[deerefanatic]

Hey guys.......

Haven't been on here in a while. My system is running along happily. Pretty much trouble free, and with the warm winter we're having so far I don't have to stoke the stove full more than 2x a day..... Usually start around 4 to 5, then restoke to the top between 9 & 10 and forget about it till the next night...

BUT, that being said, I've got an ever growing collection of waste oil. Being I run a mechanic shop, I've gathered up more than 200 gals of waste oil. I've been reading online about converting a fuel oil furnace head (which I have) to burn waste oil. My thought is to make a second door to go on the bottom of the EKO 60 and mount the burner there. The plan would be to remove all the U bricks, and have a stainless steel shield to cover the bottom side of the refractory floor to keep the waste oil flame from possibly erroding it; either physically or through chemical attack. Also to keep heat from going into the upper firebox un-necessarily. Then let the gasses go back and up the heat exchanger tubes...

Think it'll work? Seems like it'd work great and be perfect for the dead of winter where there's a fire running most the day anyhow. Sure beats getting up in the middle of the night!

or the flip side, it'd be great for the knee seasons when you only need heat once a night or whatever.... Burner could run on a demand setup...

I've got a NFCS that I will tie the unit into for control. Though the critical startup processes and oil heater control will be stand alone industrial controls.

 

[in hot water]

I used to sell and install Clean Burn boilers. My rep had a few AquaTherm wood boilers that he added waste oil "guns" to. You need a target wall for the burner to fire against, I wonder that the EKO fire box would be a bit to shallow? I'm not sure the heat would get to the upper portion of the water jacket very well.

I'd suggest looking for a used waste oil boiler to set along side the EKO, I don't think a conversion would be the best route.

I will say burning waste oil is a very messy ordeal. Monthly cleaning was required, the ash allegedly toxic! The oil needed to be filtered and heated. The new synthetic oils don't like to burn at all, we had to crank the pre-heater to even get it to ignite. Any coolants or water in the oil caused lockouts. It is tough to get and keep them burning clean with all the mixes of oil the see. It's easy to spot a building with waste oil burners ..

Luckily most of my installations were in truck or farm shops where the mechanics took the time to learn how to troubleshot, service, and maintain the boilers, they can be finicky.

The EPA is dropping the hammer on waste oil burning. I think areas of Canada have completely banned them.

Sell the used oil and put the money towards efficiency upgrades on your system and building.

hr

 

[JP11]

Yup

Most big garages now sell their waste oil to people who process it and sell them back "spec oil" to run in their burners.

Still plenty of small shops running waste burners.. but there is no FREE heat. You gotta work somehow. Cleaning filters and getting a nasty waste oil boiler wouldn't be on my list of "fun" projects.

JP

 

[Gasifier]

I used to sell and install Clean Burn boilers. My rep had a few AquaTherm wood boilers that he added waste oil "guns" to. You need a target wall for the burner to fire against, I wonder that the EKO fire box would be a bit to shallow? I'm not sure the heat would get to the upper portion of the water jacket very well. I'd suggest looking for a used waste oil boiler to set along side the EKO, I don't think a conversion would be the best route. I will say burning waste oil is a very messy ordeal. Monthly cleaning was required, the ash allegedly toxic! The oil needed to be filtered and heated. The new synthetic oils don't like to burn at all, we had to crank the pre-heater to even get it to ignite. Any coolants or water in the oil caused lockouts. It is tough to get and keep them burning clean with all the mixes of oil the see. It's easy to spot a building with waste oil burners .. Luckily most of my installations were in truck or farm shops where the mechanics took the time to learn how to troubleshot, service, and maintain the boilers, they can be finicky. The EPA is dropping the hammer on waste oil burning. I think areas of Canada have completely banned them. Sell the used oil and put the money towards efficiency upgrades on your system and building. hr

A friend of mine owns a good size garage/body shop and had a brand new waste oil burner (hot air) put in 2011. He stayed with the same manufacturer. He said that comparing the new model to the old is like comparing night to day. They use to have to constantly make adjustments with the old one. Cleaning was a regular chore. The new one is apparently self-adjusting, constantly monitoring temperatures, exhaust, etc. I do not know anything about them myself, but he said the new one is outstanding compared to the old one. I want to say it is a Clean Burn as well. I think he said 500,000BTU. Throws a lot of heat.

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Like HR said; against the law up here in many places, soon to be banned coast to coast. All that aside the combustion of a known carcinogen is never a good thing, plenty of toxic material produced for others, as well as yourself to inhale or otherwise come into contact with. Can you say liability insurance premiums going up, up, up? Take HR's advise & sell the stuff & use the cash as you please. No point investing in a burner for used oil when the EPA could/should & probably will ban the entire practice of burning used oil. Too much evidence that the stuff causes cancer & that gets the ins co's behind the EPA & pushing for a ban on burning used oil.

 

[deerefanatic]

LOL. I shoulda known you guys would go nuts over this...... There aint a shop in northern WI here that doesn't burn their waste oil.. I really doubt the EPA will shut these guys down any time soon. (Legal or not)

I did the math though. Waste oil is worth $.40/gal tops... So about the same price as my wood is ($70/cord ready to burn... Yah, that's full cord; cut and split.)

BUT, I still figure that liquid fuel is gonna be more convenient. Yah, I know all about the cleaning of nozzles etc every 40 to 80 hours... That's beans compared to having to tend the stove every 4 to 5 hrs in the dead of winter...... As far as filters go.... That's what they invented centrifuges for. And, I'm a diesel mechanic.... I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty (or covered in that deadly black used oil. LOL )

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Site search for "waste oil burning" got 86 results.

Some reading in those threads may give you the info you seek.

Only downside I can see for your unit would be higher temp oil fire possibly damaging your refactory. Don't know for sure but a concentrated hydrocarbon should burn hotter.

After you decide on that I guess it's down to whether or not the fire box is long/large enough to achieve what you want.

Installing an oil gun for example. Perhaps just pouring the oil on the wood/coals may work but I suspect that would have it's own set of issues.

Good luck.

 

[salecker]

Hi
I'v got a Reznor waste oil burner,hot air in my garage.
The learning curve was similar to the wood boiler.
After 13 years i now have a good idea on what it's doing,or whats the problem when it's not doing what it's supposed to.
It is labor intensive,but is more conviniate than wood.I Clean the ash out about every 750 HRS,Filters need to be cleaned,water drained off,ect.
I would buy another Reznor if i needed one,i have no problem getting oil.I use about 35 drums a year,about 2000 Gal.
When it;s burning you can't tell it's waste oil,burns clean.
I really hope the bans you are talking about don't happen.
Thomas

 

[Frozen Canuck]

Thomas:

If your in one of the Territories you might get a pass, as the cost of hauling used oil out to a refinery is very high. Pretty sure the provinces will all see a 100% ban.

Remote/isolated northern communities within the provinces may also get an exemption (case by case) but they will all likely need to use a burner from an approved list that will probably be very short.

Too many complaints about the pollution is what it all comes down to.

 

[Gasifier]

BUT, I still figure that liquid fuel is gonna be more convenient. Yah, I know all about the cleaning of nozzles etc every 40 to 80 hours… That’s beans compared to having to tend the stove every 4 to 5 hrs in the dead of winter…... As far as filters go…. That’s what they invented centrifuges for. And, I’m a diesel mechanic…. I’m not afraid of getting my hands dirty (or covered in that deadly black used oil. LOL )

Deerefanatic,

I wish you luck on doing it if you decide to. I am interested to see how it turns out. Just out of curiousity. With an EKO 60 and 1250 gallons of storage. Why do you have to tend to the fire every 4-5 hours? It would seem with that much storage up to temp and a good load of wood in the stove you could go for a longer time. Not trying to be critical, just curious and trying to understand. Do you have a large heat load for that EKO?