OT - Used motor oil in a Fuel Oil furnace

Royse · Nov 30, 2012

Friend of mine finally got natural gas ran to his place and I got his almost new fuel oil furnace.
I'm wondering if I can burn my used motor oil through it.
Maybe mixed 50/50 (20/80?) with fuel oil.
If it were an old oil burning stove I'd just give it a shot, but its not.
It has electronic ignition, self priming pump and modern safety devices to shut it down if no fuel.
Furnace itself would be in a steel sided enclosure outside a steel sided pole barn with
duct work ran a few feet into the pole barn rather than putting the furnace in the barn.
Anyone have experience trying this?
How much "sludge" can you dilute and burn? Clean used oil only?
Just a thought at this point, if it won't work it will just burn fuel oil on cold days.

Bill(Wis) · Nov 30, 2012

There are stoves designed to burn used waste oil. Friend of mine has a huge 5 bay shop that he heats exclusively with waste oil with a Behr stove designed to do just that. Even then, he changes out burner units every day to clean the nozzles. Unfortunately, yours is not one of those stoves. If you decide to try it, I recommend adding only a small amount at first and see what happens.

Janicholson · Nov 30, 2012

To clean it enough to be satisfactory (opinion) would take more in filtering and effort than the value gained. Burners for multi fuels are out there, and not radically expensive. I would not risk coking up and ruining a system you just put in. Jim

504 · Nov 30, 2012

We used oil to heat the tire shop, you will need a GOOD filter, any dirt or water will stop things up. I really don t see much difference between the fuel oil stove and an used oil stove except the used oil has a compress air supply to mix and help vaporize the oil.

Rich_WI · Nov 30, 2012

It works but you have to tinker with it. You have to heat the oil so its thin enough to spray. Most people use small RV water heaters to warm things up.

You cant use dirty oil, no sludge. If you do, you end up with a hobby of cleaning nozzles that takes more time than you have available. People use centrifuges to clean the oil.

There is yahoo group you can join to read how others have done things. You can also read up on waste oil furnaces that are used in auto shops to see how they are built, they are identical to what you are trying to do. More BTUs but same thing.

Ray · Nov 30, 2012

My waste oil furnace heats the oil to around 150-175 degrees before it is forced into the burner with air pressure.Motor oil has adatives to protect it from heat.

showcrop · Dec 1, 2012

I was looking at my friend's waste oil furnace. I noticed that the spin on filter in the supply line looked kind of old so I asked him about it. He said that It had filtered all of his oil from the previous season and never slowed down.

cd1 · Dec 1, 2012

google ckburners They work very nice, I have one.

buickanddeere · Dec 1, 2012

Pre-filter with those 10micro socks from eBay.then filter to 1-2
microns with either a dedicated oil filter or an air filter that will
withstand oil. Sounds off beat but the guys burning waste oil in
Diesel engines use this low buck method.
Low ash oil from Detroit Diesel two strokes or from post
2007 particulate filter engines cause the least trouble.
Maybe cheaper to drop the oil off at a recycling depot.

Bus Driver · Dec 13, 2012

For home type furnaces that cycle on and off, adding any amount of used motor oil to the fuel feed is a very big mistake. The burner starts cold, sprays the fuel in a fan pattern and an electric arc ignites it. Only fuel vapors burn. Until the combustion chamber gets hot, the fuel does not burn completely. The motor oil will cause soot to build up quickly on the burner assembly, nozzle and electrodes. Lots of maintenance will be required and that will cost more than the fuel savings. The industrial boilers that burn heavier oils do not cycle on and off and they do heat the oil before it goes to the burner to lower the viscosity.

OT - Used motor oil in a Fuel Oil furnace

Royse

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Bill(Wis)

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Janicholson

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504

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Rich_WI

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Ray

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showcrop

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cd1

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buickanddeere

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Bus Driver

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