I haven't had much success lately with different designs of oil burners, some not producing enough heat or being self sustaining but I looked back at the very first one I did which worked although crudely and made a new one using some of the experience I've gained along the way.
It has been running on unfiltered, unheated waste vegetable oil which is normally pretty difficult to get burning well so this one should also burn waste engine oil. The main differences between this and the original is in the intake, its much smaller in diameter to prevent a pressure increase and theres a venturi at the point where fuel is entering. This has resulted in far superior vaporisation and that has greatly increased the efficiency of the burner - fuel flow during the pics and video below was less than an old man pissing.
It took a while to get going, It needed a couple pieces of kindling to maintain a flame while the unit heated up and also fuel needs to be slowly but progressively added until combustion fills the chamber. It took a few failed starts to get it going right but I think Iv'e got the method down now.
The next step is to place a 9kg gas bottle in there which has been converted to act as an air-water heat exchanger. I've chosen to use a gas bottle because of the large surface area which will help maximize transfer of heat. It will be interesting the change in the combustion patterns once the gas bottle is in there as it will greatly reduce the volume of the combustion chamber. Hopefully I can run it at a much lower power setting.
Electricity is much cleaner than that environmental hazard. You're the first to comment on the footprint of the prius but yet you have this mess look at all the oil soaked into the ground what a tip.
morrisman1,
Jun 6, 4:50am
I did not say that I was never going to pop in carmedic, I thought the guys on here would be interested seeing as it burns fuel (even though it is carbon neutral bigfatmat due to running on vegetable oil and being started with a couple bits of natural wood kindling)
After posting those images I went away and lined it with kaowool, put another redirecting fire brick in to keep the fire as low as possible and some other kiln shelves and it was very happy ticking over on next to no fuel for a good 30 minutes, very stable running too.
I cant fit a 9kg in there with the kaowool so will have to go for a 2-3kg bottle instead
morrisman1,
Jun 9, 5:57am
Here is an update for you. Ive converted a 4kg gas bottle into a heat exchanger, adding an inlet which goes to the bottom and using the original thread for the outlet. This is attached to the lid of the drum and hangs. I forgot about thread tape so had water dripping down to the bottom which meant things took a fair while to crank up but it worked sufficiently well to prove success. I had the hose on full blast and water temp coming out was too hot to hold your hand under so thats showing that that it is working effectively.
The firebricks are disintegrating slowly which I think is caused by a cold spot where the air hits them. Im considering making a steel version which will be easy enough and will last a long time
Obviously a lot of tidying up to do and making things look better but the function is there.
zak410,
Jun 9, 6:08am
seen the anti-matter yet! give us a pic!
morrisman1,
Jun 10, 3:28am
another update but no pics this time. I have redesigned the fuel/air system. Fuel is now introduced in front of the air nozzle which has been pinched to increase the air velocity. This has resulted in fantastic atomization considering the simplicity of the system.
The result of this change is much easier starting, just a oil soaked rag in there for 30 seconds before turning blower on and introducing fuel a little at the start, full power within 3 minutes. It is getting much much hotter in there now. the kaowool is glowing, bricks are glowing in fact everything is damn glowing. I can run it at much lower fuel flows and have the same amount of heat come out. A third benefit is the control is instant, i can actually control the unit by looking at the flame as I turn the tap, its that quick. Turn the tap off and fire stops, turn it to full and fire everywhere. Fantastic!
Ill post a pic of the nozzle when the stuff cools down. Its simple but effective. I ran it on waste engine oil and it went fine but the oil had a lot of water in it so every 5 seconds it would splutter. No such issue on the veg oil.
Ive placed a 9kg in there as you can see to take the heat off the kaowool. The effect of this is slightly harder starting but fuel is burning instantly, if I shut off the fuel all flame stops instantly which is excellent for safety and also shows that I have perfect control over the heat output at any time.
bushells,
May 29, 8:17am
I've seen a good one which worked very well, the guy got hold of an old Klondike pot belly stove, put in some tubing like they use for a wet back stove and fed the fire with waste oil, but to make it go better he added water as well. He had placed 3 old clutch pressure place on top of each other inside the fire box. The fire had to be started like you would with a normal fire with wood and when the plates got hot he started the oil dripping onto the plates. Once the fire was going on the oil he then introduced some water and the aim was to have the oil and the water dripping at the same time.The oil and water were gravity fed. He heated a spar pool in no time.
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