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paulz
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 07:34
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Yesterday I tossed an oily chunk of 2x4 in the wood stove left over from use as a jack block. Sure burned well. Got me wondering how unsafe that was so I looked it up. Apparently there are ‘waste oil heaters’ that burn used oil (no wood) so I guess it’s not all that bad health/pollution wise. Or is there a special vent/filter system on them?
Any have experience with these?
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ICC
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 10:26 - Edited by: ICC
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While burning used motor oil is preferred to dumping it on the ground, I think a superior solution is to take the used oil to a recycler. There the oil should find its way to a re-refiner and be used to make new products.
Used oil can contain metals that when the oil is burned end up in the air. I think that should be minimized, although, I do retain some used oil to be mixed with gasoline to be used to start damp burn/slash piles.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 14:49
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Oh I’m in good friends with the local Napa oil recycle drum. At least a five gallon bucket once a year. Never a drop on the ground, at least not intentionally lol..
The forum I was perusing sounded like these waste oil heaters were used by businesses that dealt with used oil, car dealers, repair shops etc.. Sounded like they were fairly common. Again didn’t catch any details about filtering, waste disposal. Or if they make smaller units for us little guys.
Starting your slash pile fires with oil I’m sure works just fine, others must do it too. Thanks for chiming in Izzy.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 18:45
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Ive seen and read about small to shop sized waste oil burners for decades; even strongly considered making one long ago. Im sure there are plans online for a small scale diy unit.
As I recall the 'burner plate' needs to be heavy duty, like using an old cast iron pan or pot and the drip assembly has to withstand being in the flame, otherwise its like making a heavy duty wood stove.
Note that it also needs a pipe at least as good as for a wood stove.
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Irrigation Guy
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 19:46
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My buddy has one in his 2000 square foot shop. He has an excavation business and ends up with barrels of used oil from all the trucks and equipment. The unit he has is temperamental and he has trouble finding people who want to work on it.
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cabinfun3
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 20:47
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I have heated my shop with a waste oil heater for 20 years. Like the other poster said they are high maintenance compared to other heat types. But if you have alot of excess oil they can be worthwhile
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 20:52 - Edited by: gcrank1
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The one shop guy I talked with said he worked out a ratio of heating (diesel) to waste oil to flow well. Initially his outside tank (in WI) would be too cold to flow worth beans and fire regs wouldn't allow his tank inside.
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cabinfun3
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 21:04 - Edited by: cabinfun3
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Mine is setup with a big tank outside that gravity feeds to a 200 gallon under the furnace. only use waste oil unless I run short then will just buy some fuel oil to finish winter and that has only been 1 or 2 times. Takes a day when its 10 degrees out to fill inside tank.
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travellerw
Member
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# Posted: 9 Apr 2024 22:49 - Edited by: travellerw
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I recently watched a video where a youtuber was using waste oil in a cheap chinese diesel heater (like vevor sells). It sent me down a rabbit hole and apparently its super common. There are whole forum dedicated to these heaters and a whole host of fuels they burn in them (waste oil, fryer oil, different versions of diesel, varsol/oil mix, ect ect).
If you want to go down the rabbit hole "diesel heater waste oil" is the google search for you.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 10 Apr 2024 09:40
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Great info, thanks everyone. I thought of maybe something for the cabin (not the shop) to use up my oil change oil, but the reports of finicky high maintenance aren’t something I need to add to the plot, plus nowhere really to put it. I’ll check out the diesel heater ‘rabbit hole’ but probably just stay with wood.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 10 Apr 2024 09:59
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Wood, the fuel that warms you more than once And helps clean up the woods 
I had plenty of mixed pine and white oak at the old cabin, No shortage of fuel and the wood stove worked great. That is why I never even made a MkI waste oil heater attempt.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 10 Apr 2024 10:26 - Edited by: paulz
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Yeah I have no shortage of wood here either lol.
You had mentioned the waste heaters dripping oil on a heavy steel plate, and a vent pipe. Wouldn’t an old wood stove work for part of that? Already got the vent, add a steel plate.. I guess the real gist of those things is figuring out how to feed the oil reliably, and keep it lit.
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 10 Apr 2024 12:38
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The simple I saw was the ci fry pan (a catchment rather than just a plate) and a small valve on the inlet line backside of the stove.
I had an old upright fuel oil burner that had a tank on the back, a Mdl 666, that the burner tube rotted out on. I had a length of hd ss tube to replace it and a 6" ci fry pan....think it could have worked (with the fuel oil carb removed). I was also going to use a secondary catchment basin for safety; ie, if the flame goes out the drip keeps coming.
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cabinfun3
Member
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# Posted: 10 Apr 2024 22:42
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I can not see a good way to use waste oil on a small scale other than dump a gallon of waste oil on your wood pile and let it soak in!!!!!! Wood or lp gets my vote for cabin.
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 11 Apr 2024 09:49 - Edited by: paulz
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The oily 2x4 from the floor jack I tossed in the stove at the start of this thread burned so well it’s tempting to keep a spray bottle by the stove to oil the wood while things get going. This cold wet winter has kept the firewood, even covered, rather damp here in the woods.
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travellerw
Member
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# Posted: 11 Apr 2024 11:01
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We keep one of these around for when we want to cheat. One of those little green propane bottles lasts forever (a whole season).
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gcrank1
Member
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# Posted: 11 Apr 2024 19:37 - Edited by: gcrank1
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The prev owner of our place had left a jar (yes, a Glass Jar!  ) of apparently drain oil sitting by the wood stove.... Figured it was his fire starter.
For slash pile burns Ive used some waste oil mixed with a little diesel to thin it a bit and make it light off better.
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