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

[jcbyrd24]

I've been tempted by this ever since ordering the stove. I don't need to burn much at all to keep up with our three vehicles, and it would save the hassle of getting to a place during the week with a 5 gallon jug every few months. A pellet stove (especially mulitfuel) seems to be nearly the perfect vessel for burning small amounts (1 qt per 40lb bag max) because:

1) There is a method for dealing with un-burnables.
2) There is no "nozzle" which requires filtering and or preheating oil to maintain consitancy.
3) There is air injection to help with the burn (not to mention the pellets burning as well).

Most people I run this by think I'm insane, especially my wife, but I finally got a couple people who thought it was sound logic. So I tried it in my 2 month old Castile, 1/2 qt drizzled within the hopper (the castile claims 40lb hopper but our bucket and the hopper like 20lbs at a time much better, which is a little bit of a bummer but 20lbs does go through the work day fine and is easier to carry up from the basement).

The results...pretty boring actually, you can't tell the difference a bit, I think because the amount of oil is so small. But no noticable side effects including ash, etc. I've done this a few times now, and am used to Maine Wood's? (Athens) pellets, so maybe I dont' know any better, but we love the stove. Interestingly after a couple hours in the hopper you can pick up a noticeably oiled pellet and not get oil on your hands, they soak it up sitting in the hopper.

Tell me if I'm crazy, and by honest if you've every thought about and/or tried it.

 

[HEMI]

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.

 

[jcbyrd24]

Well I wouldn't say soaked is the end state...I used to word soaked because they soak up the little oil per pellet that is on them, but I don't soak them in a bucket of oil first and fish them out and put in the stove or anything. Again, half a quart drizzled within the hopper is what I've been doing. The burn looks great just like it did before, short/active/whitish/yellow flame.

 

[vgrund]

Sounds like a Darwin Award idea.

 

[HEMI]

Well I wouldn't say soaked is the end state...I used to word soaked because they soak up the little oil per pellet that is on them, but I don't soak them in a bucket of oil first and fish them out and put in the stove or anything. Again, half a quart drizzled within the hopper is what I've been doing. The burn looks great just like it did before, short/active/whitish/yellow flame.

your gonna get some replys from guys here that are gonna steer ya in the right direction with that...i just don't think i would do it.....just my $.02

 

[dac122]

Putting aside all the issues with burning used motor oil that has additives originally in the formula, and metals and strange combustion byproducts that are trapped in suspension from your engine, but doesn't this increase the chances of a hopper fire?

 

[jcbyrd24]

yehaw! how does the smoke look?

Other than the normal startup, there is no visible smoke, even with the oil, inside the stove or out the exhaust.

My main concern is that I'm a rookie at this so I won't necessarily be seeing all the tiny differences compared to "normal". But for now everything seems quite normal. I'm not doing this every fill either, just when I remember, but I'm putting a small dent in the oil sitting in the garage waiting to go somewhere else to get burned.

 

[jtakeman]

Most people I run this by think I'm insane...........

I think there 100% correct.

Watch out for the looney wagon, There coming to get you soon. :lol:

I really would not atempt this with children in the home. I would worry about a hopper fire and wrecking my perfectly good stove. The carbon from the oil will make a mess of it for sure!

There are waste oil furnaces around. If you really want to burn the oil. otherwise just recycle it like everyone else.

I figured sugar (POOK!) would get all excited about your topic. He/she will have you burning your novels and paperbacks next!

I bet you can really get your stove nice and clean with a few sticks of dynamite too. Doesn't mean I would try it!

 

[jcbyrd24]

Putting aside all the issues with burning used motor oil that has additives originally in the formula, and metals and strange combustion byproducts that are trapped in suspension from your engine, but doesn't this increase the chances of a hopper fire?

Good, question, I actually hadn't thought of that, but motor oil has a pretty high flash point (almost 400 deg F), probably similar to pellets. In the event of a hopper fire I'd be more worried about the 30lbs of pellets than the 1/2 quart of oil simply from a "size of the fire" perspective.

That being said, the quadrafire has never had me concerned about a hopper fire. I'll let it run out soon and give everything down on the bottom end a once over.

 

[MCPO]

ha,ha,ha. I`d have expected this only from pook. Or whatever namesake he`s using today.

 

[SmokeyTheBear]

For crying out loud, here on a forum that has them amongst us (dealers/factory reps) you talk about doing something that without a doubt voids your warranty, invalidates what ever EPA certification your stove had, and puts out additional toxic pollutants. That's before any other possible problems/consequences.

Other than that enjoy.

 

[jcbyrd24]

Smokey,

I'm not worried about voiding the warranty, in my experience any fault with a piece of equipment always comes just after the warranty has expired. Plus, I can fix anything that might break on one of these stoves, they're not that complicated. I'm not worried about burning minute amounts of oil actually hurting anything on the stove.

What are you talking about invalidating EPA certification? It's still the same stove, it's not like it was a virgin and now it's not and can't go back...

Waste oil is burned in huge quantities everyday in commercial waste oil furnances, I'm not sure my 10 gallons max per year is of real concern in terms of "toxic pollutants"...I see you're burning coal.....

Give me an example of a problem I should look out for and I'll consider it.

 

[QuadraBurner]

I'm a rookie with pellets as well, so my $.02 is probably worth significantly less than others in here, but I'll put it in anyway. The way I look at it is that I just spent $4000 on a pellet stove to heat my home for many years. If I wanted to burn off used oil, I might try it in my $60 outdoor fire pit from Wally World, not my shiny new pellet stove. That being said, I hope it works out for you with no ill effects to your stove or your home.

 

[krooser]

For crying out loud, here on a forum that has them amongst us (dealers/factory reps) you talk about doing something that without a doubt voids your warranty, invalidates what ever EPA certification your stove had, and puts out additional toxic pollutants. That's before any other possible problems/consequences.

Other than that enjoy.

Geez... those are good reasons to TRY this... especially those "toxic pollutants".... gives Al Gore something to do.

 

[littlesmokey]

On behalf of all the service tech's out there, GO-FOR-IT. It will be great for our business. Think of all that sticky unburned greasy oil vaporized by the heat, but not quite hot enough to burn. It will pleasantly join all that free ash and circulate around those baffles and air channels. Well, at least partway until it attaches to the ash and cools and attaches to the walls, baffles, blowers, etc, etc, etc.. Well, you get the idea. Enough will slow the motors and burn them out, Goodie, lots of new parts. Ohhhh, the snap switches, will it gum them up, too? What about that air control, sticky for sure. And that exhaust, won't be able to lightly brush that out. Well, that's if he doesn't cause a combustible buildup enough that the whole thing goes up.

So for the industry guy, heck with the warrantee, we can fix her right up. Now we can get a new piece of equipment, a de-greaser. Fun! Oh, by the way, we'll call your insurance and let them know what you did. For sure. :cheese: %-P :lol:

 

[ww&hk]

I would not risk damaging my stove or voiding my warranty when you can easily recycle small quantities of used oil. My town's recycling center (used to be called "The Dump") accepts waste oil from residents. Most chain auto parts stores will recycle used oil if you buy new oil from them. They get paid a few cents per gallon when it is picked up.

 

[littlesmokey]

BTW, here we have inversions during the Winter. That's super smog days when we have no burn days. If you heat only with pellets or wood, you are OK to burn. If you supplement your heat with a stove it has to clean burn. The Air Quality boys are out on those days with sniffers and lookers. You can't see the smoke, but their meters can. I would not want my stove red tagged for being dumb.

Walk to the Recycle Center, or an auto parts store that takes waste oil and feel better about your self. Do it after each change and you would have to deal with 5 gallons.

 

[MoeB]

Jcbyrd, please forgive me, but I just have to ask: Were you born in Maine?

Moe

 

[freeburn]

I have a Castile too, I personally wouldn't do it. I'd just as well take to my local garage. They can use it for heat anyway. Every time they open their garage, they practically have to start all over again. If you aren't noticing anything by adding the oil, then why gum up a perfectly good appliance that is manufactured to burn DRY pellets?

 

[gmiller1977]

I just joined this forum today (new to pellet stoves), but what you're doing is negligent (and borderline insane to boot).

The product that you wish to introduce into your pellet stove has an unknown effect. The reality is that these stoves were never designed to burn anything but pellets. They were never tested with other types of fuel sources.

The fact that you wish to dispose of a few measly bottles of oil in such a reckless fashion, I believe, shows little respect for others living in the house with you.

Just my two cents.

 

[Czech]

Funny you mentioned cooking oil BTU! I've been burning for many years, and all that time the pellet/corn bin gets whatever cooking oil I have left after use. The main reason is to keep the dust down, and it is not much oil compared to fuel (if you do this, watch your pets, they will eat the fuel and get ill). I'd be a little leary of motor oil for the reasons above, but I disagree with the hopper fire concern. Motor oil, like pellets, is difficult to get burning on its own, really. Take a lighter or match and try to get motor oil or pellets burning, have some ice ready if you use a lighter as you will have a blister on your thumb before you get things burning. Imho....

 

[BDPVT]

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.
Recycling is easy and is the right thing to do. You are wrong to think most waste oil is being burned. Used motor oil is re-refined by removing the contaminated additives and blending the pure base lube stock with a new additive package. It takes 42 gallons of virgin crude oil to make 2.5 quarts of refined oil, but it only takes one gallon of used oil to make the same 2.5 quarts.
How much energy is saved by recycling motor oil?
All of the oil saved by recycling is an energy savings. Oil doesn't "go bad," it just gets dirty. Re-refining cleans it up. This option cuts our dependence on foreign oil and reduces the need for new wells to be drilled.

 

[jcbyrd24]

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!

 

[freeburn]

I bet after reading this post someone, perhaps more than 1 will try it

 

[jcbyrd24]

Motor oil my town is not recyclable, and you cannot go to other towns and even pay to get it recycled. I have no idea what Advance Auto does with it when I take it there. In Maine, I'm guessing that a large majority of used oil is not re-refined/recycled, because there are no refinerys around. I know of 100s of garage's/shops/business' that burn it, beyond that I have little info.

Gmiller, I'm not sure what you think is so negligent and disrespectful, and many stoves are designed to burn other things than wood pellets, though admittedly not used motor oil. I think your opinion is a rather harsh for the subject. Think outside the box a little, that's how the world progresses.