Thread: Oil Burning Shed Heaters - pumping oil to header tank

Originally Posted by p38arover

What about it?

Pumping out oil fumes into the atmosphere is not helping it?

Originally Posted by Ralph1Malph

Hi Ron,
What Oil heater are you using?
I made a waste oil heater a few years ago and have never had it work properly. So I have lost interest in trying to get the thing burning.
I'd be keen to see pics of yours or it's design to maybe copy for mine.

I'm still getting the parts together. I'm building the Roger Saunders' design Roger Sanders' Waste Oil Heater. I can email the later version of the book to you. I bought the burner and needle valve from Saunders in the USA.

Originally Posted by Rick1970

We had (or still have actually) an oil heater (chuffer) at work, ran it on used hydraulic oil. The day the flames from it hit the roof and the smoke blackened all the lights, it got dragged out the back never to be used again.

Mine's not a chuffer and it will have a chimney. It is a wood heater I'm converting to oil.

Originally Posted by Piddler

Pumping out oil fumes into the atmosphere is not helping it?

And driving a car is OK? Oil burning heaters can be very clean burning.

Besides, I'll be dead before it's an issue to me.

2 options


1. a facet pump
2. a wiper motor running a power stering pump.

putting a sight glass on usually means putting a hole at the top and the bottom of the tank. pooch that, simply put a hole at the top of the tank thats larger than the fill tube and run a large return line to the supply tank and leave the pump running on a timer.

Originally Posted by Blknight.aus

2 options


1. a facet pump
2. a wiper motor running a power stering pump.

putting a sight glass on usually means putting a hole at the top and the bottom of the tank. pooch that, simply put a hole at the top of the tank thats larger than the fill tube and run a large return line to the supply tank and leave the pump running on a timer.

Hmm, I might have a new Facet pump that was a spare for my V8 County.

I do have some reservations about silver-soldering a tube top and bottom of the oil drum for a sight glass.

Yes, the return line is definitely on the agenda but I probably won't worry about a timer until I know the actual consumption figures.

Regrettably, my source of waste oil is moving from Penrith to Richmond/Windsor in January.

no requirement to...

if you get the drum that has the 3/4 inch fitting for a tap put a 90 degree (if you use t piece and a restrictor/adaptor you can also use this as your oil delivery to the heater) fitting in that, extend up to about 1.5 inches to the top of the drum, and wind on a t-piece so that the straight through shot is vertical.

from the side outlet return to tank and then extend the pipe an other 4-5 inches so its over the top of the drum.

so long as your fill rate is lower than the return flow rate generated by head pressure caused by the difference of the return outlet and the top of the tank in theory you can run the fill pump indefinately.

the oil pickups from engines make excelent strainers

Originally Posted by p38arover

Hmm, I might have a new Facet pump that was a spare for my V8 County.

I do have some reservations about silver-soldering a tube top and bottom of the oil drum for a sight glass.

Yes, the return line is definitely on the agenda but I probably won't worry about a timer until I know the actual consumption figures.

Regrettably, my source of waste oil is moving from Penrith to Richmond/Windsor in January.

Facet pumps fail, I tried a few, I used a 250 crossflow oil pump to transfer, but it leaks out the drive seal

I did see an electric pump specifically for pumping oil at low pressure, I'll dig it up and buy one for next winter

Also my aluminium burner turned into a pool of molten aluminium, now I just use a little baby cast frypan

Biggest problem I have is the needle valve blocking, hence I'll go to a pressure fed system with filter