Waste oil heater

 I am trying to figure out how to burn waste oil in my wood stove to heat my shop.  If any of you have good ideas or experience please let me know.  Sorry if I posted this on the wrong spot on the forum but hope it will be ok.

I set one up to use on my coal stove in the shop.  I soldered a 1/4 " brass fitting into the lower side of a large coffee can and attached a shut of valve and a length of 1/4 " copper tube. It sets on the concrete block wall behind the coal stove and drips the oil onto the burning coal. I adjust the valve to get a steady drip and it will burn up a couple of coffee cans of used oil per day. Also cuts down on the amount of coal used.
I got the idea from one of Roger Welsche's books. He built one and fed the tube through a hole drilled into the top of his wood stove.

I built one like the Mother Earth one, with several modifications and tweaks over time. Works like a champ! Will glow red hot if you dont watch it. you need to fine tune the flow onto the drip plate with a NEEDLE VALVE. I dilute 8 gallons of FILTERED used oil with 1 quart of kerosene. Helps if flow better. Viscosity changes as the room warm up, so you have to fiddle with it some. 8 gal will burn 10 hours or so. Best thing I ever did. Eliminates a lot of cabin fever. I can work out in the shop any time I want now and not think of the cost of heat!

I built a small "jet" pump that hooks into the secondary air inlet of my wood stove in the garage. I have a 1 lb. coffee can with the pump attached that plugs right into the front of the stove. I start a fire with wood, turn on the air compressor, fill the coffee can up and open my 10 psi regulator to the jet pump. It sucks oil out of the can and blows it in a mist right into the fire. Upside is I can heat my garage on 1/4 to 1/3 of the wood I used before burning oil. The down side is you have to listen to the air compressor run every 10 minutes or so.

I think you are exactly right--you must have a downdraft.  I have tried using the air intake system on the woodstove (updraft) and it does not work.  I have been hesitant to cut a 4 inch hole in the top of my stove but if that is what it takes I am willing to do it.  Any more feedback or details would be greatly appreciated.

Brian, look at the link I posted. All combustion air comes from the top center of the stove. If you light it like you are supposed to, and get the draft going up the chimney, everything works. This new style that was developed over time has no pump, oil is "atomized' or gassified by heat from the fire.

It works fine for me. Gooses link doesn't work for me. Are you sure you clicked the right one?
Now the one Goose put up works too, but that Mother Earth burner is really complicated compared to Rogers updated design.
http://www.journeytoforever.org/RSwoh1.html


Edited by CTuckerNWIL - 03 Feb 2011 at 8:15pm

i have tried several home built oil burners and have been very happy with the one i have now. i have had it in the shop a good five years. i did buy a variable speed oil transfer pump to feed the stove and it drips into a firebox that is a clone to the old kerasene zigler stoves.  i drilled at least a couple of hundred small holes on one side of 2x4 tubing then faced them towards each other with about six inches between them these pieces were about 18 inches long.  i cut two more pieces of 2x4 tube for the  ends of the firebox with mitered corners and welded them together then i welded a plate to the bottom.   i plumed a dryer fan to blow air with some flex tube into the 2x4 tubing.  i turn on the pump and throw a cup of diesel in with a small piece of newspaper and plug in the fan and the way it goes.  we used to feed it with gravity and the warmer the shop got the faster the oil flowed and the hotter the fire burnt and well it was alot safer with the used oil pump i bought.  just scrap it out before starting the fire and all is ok.  very little to no smoke and if i can figure out how to download a couple of pics i will. doug

Edited by farmer0_1 - 03 Feb 2011 at 11:54pm

The link Charlie posts doesn't show much picture wise. Just a short description and a PayPal link to purchase the plans to build one. I think pump wise I have some good candidates that were from very old oil burning furnaces. Seems like I've read that the guy started with an old water heater tank.

Here is a link to someone who built a Roger Sanders design one and all the things he figured on the way.  Fairly decent writeup with some good pictures.   I have always wanted to make one but like all projects, I don't have the time to get to them.

http://wasteoilheaterforum.com/index.php?topic=23.0

That makes more sense with the pics from the waste oil stove forum. I don't like the oil bucket up on top of it. Unless you had some kind of pump, filling that bucket could be messy.

Humour me guys, but can't you just filter the waste oil really well and use it in an oil furnace,maybe with bigger jets? I'd think it'd be easier.

I knew someone would have the answer !!! Thanks

Do a Google search for "Babington burner". I looked into one of these awhile back but never got around to building one. The great part about this oil burner is it's fairly simple and you can use dirty oil without problems.