Thread: Oil burning shed heaters

Originally Posted by Ralph1Malph

I think that because I am using such a large pan (maybe 12"-14" across) and a 150mm secondary burn chamber, I have to have a bit of fire in the pan for it to happen. I used the crappiest oil I could get on the w/e, it was from a 40000km engine and was like treacle! Took a bit to get going using my soaked rag technique (have no diesal but will try that when I get some) but even so, no worse smoke than a wood fire.
I also had to crack the pan to get some additional air with this oil, but when started, it was clean as. It is also quiet! No induction noise or whistling at all which makes me thinks that it is not quite right and is only 'idling'. It does choof badly though if I leave the wrong amount of air holes open!

I have used waste trans fluid, easier to light but not as good, and now the treacle stuff, it burns well.
As for economy, I filled a 4.5 kg gas bottle, with oil, I reckon about 5-6 litres? and got around 5-6 hours burn so not to bad. In that time it heated a 44 gal drum of water from tap to 'to hot to put ya hand in'.

I find that I do have to have a decent pool of oil in the pan though, probably a cup or two for it to work best.

Pics to follow
Cheers
Ralph

If it works and the emissions are not so noticeable as to attract attention, you must have it pretty right. A consumption of about a litre an hour is definitely "only idling". I use about 2.5-3 lph in cold weather.

Originally Posted by Casper

This is only a shed heater, I have not yet convinced the Mrs it is worth replacing the wood heater as yet although if I were to stop bringing in the wood things might change (probably be finding a new place to live).

I will try a bit of Kero or Diesel when I start it next so at least it wont smell too much different from me starting the wood fire or the Disco .

I got mine inside as a result of circumstances beyond my control. I'd been running tests indoors to see exactly how much heat it produced when I was called back to work unexpectedly (for six weeks). Fortunately our teenaged son sussed out how to work it while I was away and even though it was still very agricultural looking at the time, "the Little Woman" was starting to see some of the advantages of not having to bring in barrow loads of wood, nor spend half of my leave out collecting and cutting wood.

By the time I was due to return to work I had done a few cosmetic improvements and a number of visitors had commented favourably, so it remained even though TLW is a bit "windy" about lighting and adjusting it. Her only real dislike is cleaning the ash out of the pan as it can be a grubby job requiring the use of a hammer and purpose built chisel.

Originally Posted by ozzirt

I got mine inside as a result of circumstances beyond my control. I'd been running tests indoors to see exactly how much heat it produced when I was called back to work unexpectedly (for six weeks). Fortunately our teenaged son sussed out how to work it while I was away and even though it was still very agricultural looking at the time, "the Little Woman" was starting to see some of the advantages of not having to bring in barrow loads of wood, nor spend half of my leave out collecting and cutting wood.

By the time I was due to return to work I had done a few cosmetic improvements and a number of visitors had commented favourably, so it remained even though TLW is a bit "windy" about lighting and adjusting it. Her only real dislike is cleaning the ash out of the pan as it can be a grubby job requiring the use of a hammer and purpose built chisel.

Well seems I work from home these days, I don't think that one will work for me.

I will work out some way to do it though one day

Originally Posted by Casper

Well seems I work from home these days, I don't think that one will work for me.

I will work out some way to do it though one day

That's the spirit,... Haha. I'll send flowers to the hospital

I have a warning about a potential problem that I recently discovered, for all you oil heater fanatics.

If you use old automotive paint thinners to light up, don't throw any of the slops in your main oil tank. Much to my amazement I have discovered that some thinners and some particular oils do not mix well. They congeal into a thick heavy sludge that will block your oil strainers and metering valve.

Several months ago i had about 8 litres of thinners that i could not fit in my tank where i store my lighting up fluid so i threw it into my main storage tank. I already had several hundred litres in the header tanks and so I never bothered pumping up any oil for a week or so, but when I did I had the Mother of all blockages, in my final strainer.

At the time I never connected the two happenings and it took me several hours to very gently pressurise my header tanks and force out about 10-15 litres of thick goo, like half set tar.

Today I decided to clean up one of my drip trays that I had used when I did the job, as it still had about 500ml of oil in it. To do this I added a similar amount of thinners out of the drum and lo and behold, the oil would not disolve, in fact it went exactly the same as the sludge I'd cleaned out of my strainers when they blocked up.

I don't know whether it's a change in the thinners or something in the oil, they both look the same and smell the same. Unfortunately both are mixtures of all sorts. so it's not possible to work out exactly what is reacting with what.

So just be careful.

It gets the most questions out of anything that's ever in the shed

Anyway, I'e learnt, the sanders is pretty grotty till its on song, the oil MUST be clean of debri, as the reg clogs up often, 2YO's and buckets on the ground do not allow for this

I just need to sort a few more things when I have the time and it'll be a treat, my shed is 72'x30'x14' uninsulated and when this puppy goes out in the mid of the night, I go to be, it does an awseome job of keeping the place at a workable temperature......with free fuel

I wouldn't put a Sanders in a house but

That's a large volume to heat, and if it does what you want,... it's beautiful.

Update:
I let it sit all over summer and dusted it off a few weeks ago.
This contraption is working well except for one thing that I am buggered if I can solve and one improvement I am trying to make.
I can light it and have it clean burning in about 2 minutes! That I am grateful for. I pour about a litre of oil into the pan, toss in a few splashes of metho and light. Gets going real easy.
I am trying to stop it choofing. I have experimented with less oil, more oil and many air combinations. I can lessen it but not eliminate it. From what I observe, it is caused by too much vapour that eventually ignites in the primary pan or on the way to the secondary chamber. Flame licks out of the secondary chamber and is followed by the choof and a bit of smoke/vapour. So to reduce the amount of vapour, I tryed putting a pan inside the pan. Placed the bottom inch of a 4.5 kg gas bottle inside the main pan with a cupful of oil and lit it up. Could not get any clean burn at all! Damn!
There is a sweet spot where the choof is acceptably minimal, but it seems to be when the entire bottom of the pan is covered in oil and burning (to generate just the right amount of vapour I guess). About 2 cups I reckon. I haven't yet sorted the oil delivery system so thats my next challenge to reduce the amount of oil in the pan and replenish it accurately.

BTW, it gets damn hot! Enough to peel the rust flakes off and send the rims a charcoal colour. You see the heat radiating.
I am also giving up on the pool heater idea and just gunna use it to heat my patio when its built.
Can't find my pics but there are some in an earlier post.

Cheers
Ralph