Thread: Oil burning shed heaters

Clayton
Truck brake drums mate.
They have a legal wear limit then they are scrap.Find a local truck brake specialist.You should be able to swap a carton for what you want.
Goodluck
Andrew

hmm, while Andy is right,
there are quite a few different types around,, as long as you get them the same it should be fine

Truck drums, Make sure you match them, they will clip together perfectly if you find opposite inner lips on the same diameter drums. If your really lucky, a rover disk brake will fit the top perfectly, then a 4" stove pipe will fit the rover disc
Just have to make the burner then, I'm looking at using a cylinder liner that's lying around here.

It would seem that apologies are in order all round. I made a link to my last post, not realising that it was the last post on the page, so when I checked it appeared that no one had left any posts.

On top of which I have been as busy as the proverbial "One armed Irish Fiddler". Our local high school has just celebrated it's centenary and I was tied up with that for two years, the last two months being an absolute madhouse trying to get a book published and delivered on time.

I'm Sorry!!!

Anyway Clayton75 here's a photo of what to look for. These two types of drums will fit together with an almost airtight seal. If you look closely you can see that one has the rebate around the outside, the other on the inside. Until the price of scrap iron went through the roof about two years ago they were laying around everywhere, suddemly with scrap iron bringing $380 a tonne they disappeared, but I'm sure that if you go to a truck depot or mob that does truck maintenance you should have no difficulty in finding a couple by now. Because they are easy to change, most truckies do their own.

I think I might have to have a crack at making one of these for the workshop and other sheds.

ozzirt, we're practically neighbours :P

Originally Posted by dbwooley

I think I might have to have a crack at making one of these for the workshop and other sheds.

ozzirt, we're practically neighbours :P

By all means call in and see me I have left my details in a PM.

Spike.

Last night, in an attempt to make it easier to clean the primary pan on my heater, I cut the lip off the front of the lid, thereby allowing me to move the pan forwards and let air into it after I have turned off the oil supply.

The idea being that this will allow me to use a poker to break up the crusty ash and soot in the bottom and the added downward airflow will reduce it to a soft white and crumbly ash instead of the almost cement like residue that I had previously. In doing this I noticed once I had assembled and lit it, that my lid had an air leak around the top on the right hand side about 2mm wide covering approximately 90degrees of angle.

The first thing that became apparent was that it took much longer to establish a steady flame in the secondary burner and upon going outside it was also seen to be smoking slightly, not badly, but definitely able to be seen.

I suspected the smoke was being caused by this change in airflow, and so this afternoon after emptying the ash I took the pan and lid to the shed and ran a straight edge over the edge of the pan and also across the lid. It was immediately apparent that when I had welded the dripper body into the lid, it had caused the metal to pull when it cooled and had put a slight dip in it at the front. Looking at the front edge it was a very shallow Vee.

After considering whether it would be easier to build up the edge of the pan or straighten the lid, I decided to put the front of the lid upside down across the open jaws of the vice and give it a couple of taps with the 2lb hammer, and then checked the fit. After several more judicious smacks with the hammer it fitted almost perfectly. I decided to leave it at this and try it out tonight to see if there was a noticeable difference in it's burning characteristics before getting too carried away.

I took it back inside and lit it up. The difference in performance was immediately noticeable, it got going in half the time, and from the first moment I first lit it, until it was going flat out and up to temperature, (about 18 minutes) there was not the slightest sign of smoke. There was however a very noticeable heat haze rising straight up.

Soooo,... it would appear that careful control of the air flow into the Primary pan is vitally important to efficient burning and a nice clear stack.

Thanks to all that replied regarding the brake drums, however I was after some actual detail regarding the brand / model of truck that the interlocking drums came from. Unfortunately I don't have much time available during business open hours, so searching through scrap yards is almost impossible for me. If I know the truck the drums come from I can ring around and check where I can get them and make a dash for them when time permits.
If anyone knows the truck model to ask for it would be greatly appreciated