Blue Flame Waste Oil Burner - KEEP IT SIMPLE !!

[@billparker8954]

Love content like this from a trustworthy source. A hot water heater version of this would be very useful.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

I'm glad I'm seen as a trustworthy source. I know that I had little faith in this working, as there are so many nonsense creators out there... but this is the real deal. It has room for improvement, and a water heater might just happen. If do it, I want to to be safe and done fairly well.... so it will take more cost and time ... so we will see what happens. I think it would be well worth it to be able to heat water.

[@benjaminnevins5211]

Glad you are still making these videos. I have zero desire to burn oil but these videos are so good!

[@loweredexpectations4927]

HAHA... yes... I satisfy the desire to do something stupid,so thousands of others don't have to, haha.

[@bensclassicbodywork]

Looks good, I see why clean running was important with no flue. In regard to filtering oil, I haven't needed to do that because the sediment is allowed to sink to the bottom, oil it taken though holes in a pipe 2" above the bottom of the tank. At the bottom of the tank there is also a valve to remove water in the oil, I needed this as water was building up in the tank and mucking up the oil flow rate through the valve. I also tried dripping water into the burn chamber as some do but decided it wasn't more efficient. Your 40-80 watt fan is 12v, mine is 230volts and 20 watts (mains power), its the amps or watts on your speed controller that will tell you the electric usage. Cheers

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Yeah... This was meant to be a test bed to see if the burner worked at all... it worked so well that I decided to continue testing with no flue. My next version, or updates to this one may use a flue... less noise and much safer. I have let my oil settle out for years, but then, like a freekin idiot, I dump the oil out and stir everything up, haha. I need a better storage / processing system, but for several years I have been thinking "I might make a heater some day" ... and wasn't sure that it would actually happen. Water can make things VERY exciting with an open top heater... I do not recommend, haha. My fan is variable from 3V to 12V and I'm not sure exactly where I'm at.... I was just guessing based on the fans rated wattage (80W) and that I have the dial set to about half.

[@carmo9693]

Keep up the great work, watching you do the builds, got some stuff to make one, I would like to see the start-up and shut down to see the smoke. Still waiting for the Chinese waste oil improvements. Now that I am retired, I have time to futz around and been watching all blue flame and the diesel burners to use waste oil.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Thanks for the comment. I think this is a worthwhile project. A system to meter oil flow accurately would be a good idea, and a separate oil dish would allow the heater to start and shutdown better. I will try to do some more videos on this.

[@wallacefrey6247]

Yes, I saw you almost lay that spinning grinder down. It's good seeing you make videos again, and I have been wanting to build one of these for years, but I think I'll wait till you get this one done.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Oh... Would I have been in trouble ? haha. I was always told to lay down a grinder with the disc side up and then you can put it down while it's will spinning down. Not the best practice, but I sometimes leave mine powered on and sit it disc side up 😁

[@colinhamer6506]

Good direction to go especially at this time of year 👍. Over years and many alterations and start overs building WOB's after just a few weeks of using our new Diesel heater based on French military tent heaters I now see obvious answers to the problems I've struggled with on WOB's

[@loweredexpectations4927]

I have seen a few videos of those. Never in any detail though. They seem pretty intense.

[@colinhamer6506]

@loweredexpectations4927 the lack of information and videos on them gave me no confidence to get one but I can say running on diesel they work well and use around 3L in 8h at the highest setting with a blue flame it will turn up more but the flames go orange the carburettor is the key it makes it safe

[@loweredexpectations4927]

@@colinhamer6506 I have considered upgrading my heater using a Peristaltic pump and thermocouple... the pump to control oil flow accurately and the thermocouple to only turn the pump on above a certain temp. I wonder if you can get parts / carburetors for these old heaters?

[@patchvonbraun]

About a year ago, I bought the Vevor combined Stick+Plastic welder that you'd shown on this channel--it was on sale at a ridiculous price, so, why the hell not? We ended up using it at the satellite station restoration project to effect some structural repairs. 3 days of welding. Worked just fine. The more-experienced welder i was working with was skeptical. But after that experience, I think he went and bought one for himself (because his big 'ol Lincoln Tomstone welder was too damned heavy to lug around, whereas the Vevor inverter welder was quite portable).

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Hey, I remember you and your story! Thanks for sharing again. I've been using my welder on and off for the past year and it works great. I love it!

[@champmarly7665]

Haven't seen you in a minute and just seen an upload that I missed two weeks ago. Good to see you back!

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Good to be bac! Not at full capacity yet, but getting stuff done.

[@robertclark5752]

I enjoy your videos. I think we all would like to see a start up and shut down video. 👍

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Thanks for the comment. I will try to make that happen soon.

[@jamesknowlson9278]

Very nice project, should do a burn with new oils to see the difference between each type👍🔥

[@loweredexpectations4927]

That would be interesting. I thought of using different foods / food oils.

[@jamesknowlson9278]

Sounds good, just to see difference in carbon ash buildup on each type of oil

[@anishcesil]

This is a quick and easy heater. Thank you for sharing the video with such detail. Always wanted to make one and this looks like a couple of hours to get it running. Could you please share the link of the blower? Keep up the good work 😊

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Yes... If you are handy and have a few tools, this is a great afternoon project that works shockingly well. I have put the link to the blower in the video description. You can find the same on on aliexpress for way less, if you are willing to wait.

[@Mwwwwwwwwe]

NICE! ever considered putting it outside and pumping water through the flame into a radiator inside. Maybe a small central heating radiator over the flame with a radiator Inside with a fan blowing over it.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Yes... I have considered this and hope to get it done at some point. I don't like the idea of putting holes in my walls... and oddly that is the biggest thing standing in my way at this point.

[@shawnrinkel8377]

Hell yea brother! Good to see ya. And another good vid sir.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

THANKS ! I appreciate the comment.

[@dustinwild]

That thing is crazy dude! The pictures you sent didn't do it justice! That looks like a crazy amount of heat!

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Yeah... it's pretty cool. Video and photos don't do it justice but the video gives you a better idea. It burns quite clean. The only real downside is that it sounds a little like a jet engine, haha.

[@jesseharriott4253]

Next time try a large wrench on the propane tank valves and a bar through the handles to hold it in place. It’s a bit easier.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Yeah... holding the tank in place is the tricky bit. I did remove one a year or so ago using that method. I ended up using a pipe to hold the tank in place, a pipe wrench and another pipe to turn the wrench, haha.

[@shanehogarth6373]

Hey Joel, good to see you at it still. Here's what I do in terms of oil flow control. Instead of flow restriction, I use one of the pumps from our diesel heaters and a really simple pulse generator circuit to control the pulse rate. I can send you the details if you want to give it a go? Hope all's good with you man.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Hey Shane ! Good to hear from you. Things are going reasonable well for me, thanks. I appreciate the offer / advice but I'm not sure that I will upgrade the fueling. If I do I may be in touch. That being said, I found a Peristaltic pump with a built in speed control for $36... 10ml to 250ml per minute and claims to work with solvents.

[@Mwwwwwwwwe]

Computer server fans have crazy high static pressure as well as airflow and are usually no more than 5 bucks. They have 4 wires but they run at full speed at 12v if you just connect red and black to DC

[@loweredexpectations4927]

I didn't realize they could produce decent pressure. This sounds like a cost effective alternative. The blower I used is variable and metal... and by chance happens to fit directly over the metal tube I used, haha.

[@lanceulbrich6249]

Nice work on the heater. Old school oil heaters like those would use what they called a carburetor off the back of them basically just a seperate tank with a float in it to turn on and off the oil flow. Check out the old siegler oul burners if you arent already familiar with them. Mix a bit of gas in the oil for start up or use a preheater will cut down on startup issues .Nice axe as well

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Thanks for the comment. I thought of how I could make a float system to keep this fueled up... I have used a little diesel or gas on start up and it does make the process a little quicker 👍

[@antoniosestar3671]

Now you can add a barrel above the burner, fill the barrel with waste oil and collect the distilled fuel for the chinese diesel heater

[@loweredexpectations4927]

You kinda read my mind ... I think I may do it on a smaller scale first though... just to tinker around and test it out... Vevor makes some cool glassware kits.

[@tomasviane3844]

I don't have access to 'dirty oil', but it would be very entertaining to see the use of your burner in daily life. I mean... can it be used to heat up the house or garage, while this thing sits outside? As I said, I have no plans to use it, but it would be entertaining to see you fiddle around with that thing 😅

[@loweredexpectations4927]

I 100% agree... using this for every day practical heating would be great. I am strongly considering a water heater for this reason, but it will take considerably more thought, work and cost to build something decent. I hope to get it done.

[@jesusc4384]

I would love to see this put to use to heat some water and circulate the heat inside!

[@loweredexpectations4927]

I think this is a fantastic idea. I have been thinking of different ways to go about this... maybe I will make it happen.

[@JohannesBrotBaum]

Temps get low and i get Back again to you because diesel heater 🎉🎉

[@loweredexpectations4927]

LOL 👍

[@ldsk938]

And that sir is why i love being a mechanical Engineer. Because 99% of the time a hammer will fix your problem.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Haha... percussive maintenance.

[@SR-gt350]

I'm building one using the vevor deisel heater fan and glycol coil with radiator fan coil.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Very cool. I have thought of this a few times.... You'll want to capture heat from the exhaust too as there is quite a bit to be gained.

[@SR-gt350]

​@loweredexpectations4927 absolutely, unbelievable how much energy from used oil. And burns very well if given the proper stoiciometric ratio. Thanks for your fantastic videos...

[@autonymouse]

Well done on the videos. I have been down a lot of these roads before. Actually some you might be interested in. I'm ~45 minutes north of you and have a few burners/ideas going. Pyrolisis gasification prototypes, foundry on jet A/engine oil, a WIP pressure oil burner for heating, activated charcoal prototypes, aquaponic greenhouse using activated charcoal as a grow media, etc. I'd be open to a visit if you like. Not sure how to send private messages through youtube though.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

I've had a quick look at your channel. Very interesting. I work a full time job, just went through a separation, have house renovations on the go, some side hustles and two KZbin channels, so not much time for anything extra these days, haha. Some day it will pay off.

[@autonymouse]

@@loweredexpectations4927 You know it brother. One foot in front of the other, eh? Hope the split wasn't too bad, I've been messed up from that before. I just had a motorcycle crash last night so it'll be a couple of days before I'm back into action. 12 hours in emergency was a fun waste of time. Right now I'm working on a rain-fed system for my house, building battery packs, etc.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

@@autonymouse My split was about as good as it can be, all things considered. I hope you heal up quickly...

[@WaffleStaffel]

Looks like a pretty clean burn!

[@loweredexpectations4927]

The video doesn't really do it justice ... The camera has a hard time seeing the blue, and picks up the bright orange better.... I will have to do a start up and shut down video and try to get better footage. BJ has some fancy cameras, so maybe I can get him to shoot with one of his filters to show what it really looks like in person.

[@WaffleStaffel]

@@loweredexpectations4927 Right on, that could be interesting.

[@cowboy6591]

Good video Joel, thanx.

[@wallacefrey6247]

How about a heavy duty shower curtain or two for a door on the side work shed ?

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Yeah... I think that would be a great idea.

[@kirkwalsh1932]

How am I going to put that in my basement. Heater tweaker running here on 50/50 mix. Clean chamber after a month of running. I added an OZ of red devil soot remover per 10 gal of diesel.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

LOL... Don't you have a chimney in there ? You need a V2 with a 6" stove pipe on top. If I had a chimney I would 100% be giving this a go. Dude... that's really exciting. 50/50 mix and still a clean chamber. How much waste oil did you end up with ?

[@kirkwalsh1932]

@loweredexpectations4927 it's all used cooking oil that I'm using . I have quite a bit of reserve oil for winter. Seems to be working fine.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

@@kirkwalsh1932 Yeah... I remembered that it was cooking oil. I found a video of a guy testing all different oils in a waste oil burner similar to mine, and it was surprising how differently the oils burn. Cooking oil seemed to be the closest to WMO, once it got nice and hot. I hope it works out really well for you. Do you think you will push it and see how much WVO can burn before you start getting soot?

[@kirkwalsh1932]

@loweredexpectations4927 I'm running it wide open watching the temps keeping them around the 220C mark, I did have it at the 30/70 setting for a bit but the temps drop drastically. I still can't see the exhaust as it goes into a chimney pipe. If I continue at the 50/50 ratio it should burn all winter without needing to be cleaned. I need to order one of the screen filters for a pail like you have. My inner screen is plugging up with food particles. Once I get the oil filtered better it should be a good setup. I need to get a bucket warmer from Vevor also, veg oil needs to be warm to pump.

[@michaelg4931]

I'd advise against just dumping the resultant ash all willy-nilly as it contains a fair sum of toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, lead, etc.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Good advice.

[@snapcrack55]

One thing I didn't get from the video, what is the point of that airy shed?

[@RADMAN752]

I don’t understand why you are running it though…. Why heat that space when you can make an outdoor furnace or indoor burner and harness that wnergy to heat the house… not that healthy dude.. thanks for posting, as I said before your videos are some of my favourites, keep on the tinkering!

[@loweredexpectations4927]

Thanks for the comment. This heater was made to heat our outdoor shelter in the winter. It is cleaner and quicker than a fire. I now have smokers living with me, so this is basically to keep them a LITTLE warmer than they would be, otherwise. I do plan on making either an addition to this heater, or making a separate one that heats water. I can then pump that water into my house or garage and save a little on my heating. I have never made one of these heaters, so this was a test to see if it would work at all, and if so, how much smoke / smell would it make. It turns out that it works well and burns really clean, so I'm willing to expand on this idea.

[@Trevorkloida]

Nooooo not heatersssss

[@loweredexpectations4927]

HAHA... Did you see the 1100 cylinders in the one shot ? I made sure to show them. I've been working on porting them out but it's been going slowly. I'm going to be doing a few heater videos to keep this channel alive over the winter.

[@Trevorkloida]

@ 1100, cnc, seahorse!!!!!!!

[@loweredexpectations4927]

@@Trevorkloida LOL

[@reidnichol9255]

PLEASE stop, empty your mind and think of the CDH for a minute. How does it start and how does it work? This is what happened to me after 60 years of building orange flame waste oil burners. There is an SS screen on the gloplug where the fire starts. And there is a metal gauze in the base of the CDH burn chamber which vaporizes the diesel. Please take a piece of screen identical to the paint strainer you used as a crude filter, and DRIP oil on to this screen. I used 2 layers of 1/4 SS mesh in the end. My oil enters from a 1/4" pipe suspended in the middle of my 4" air supply pipe, from the top of the heater. My fan is a $2 computer muffin fan powered by a 5V wall wort. The tips of my flames are BLUE and 35 gallons of very dirty engine oil from a heavy truck produces a little over 100 grams of LIGHT GREY ash per week. I used a water softener tank, which is the same diameter as your propane tank and 4 feet tall. Left a space in the bottom which like your's can hold my entire day tank of oil if we ever had a flame out. As I have traveled the country for 60+ years, when every I see blue smoke coming from a shop, I have made an attempt to speak with the owner. 100's of different burners, and not one burning cleanly. My exhaust is so clean, it is clear and only by the shimmering of the heat can you tell my burner is on. When I first found little ash in the heater, I searched the roof and lawn for signs of it? Clean as most of it vaporizes. We heated our 3800 square foot house with the last heater. Carboneraser (AT) G M A I L

[@loweredexpectations4927]

You are making the incorrect assumption that I am concerned about the ash. In this heater, the ash does not affect the performance of the heater, so I am not at all worried about it. If your heater works as well as you say it does, that's great, but a mesh when burning waste oil is generally a very bad idea, as it is a component to get clogged up and gather ash. There are plenty of ways to improve on my design, and I did try some ideas off camera, but overall, I am not concerned with it. The blue flame is a result of air mixing with the hot fuel vapors, at a reasonable ratio... oil flashing off too quickly will cause orange flame as the fuel ratio will increase (unless air is also increased) I filmed a few hours of modifications and my conclusion was that this works extremely considering the simplicity.

[@reidnichol9255]

@@loweredexpectations4927 Thanks for taking the time to answer. The note on the ash is simply to state my combustion is very complete. I just had my afternoon snooze and woke up with the idea to change the 2 x 2 plate you have drilled 9 holes in, to a piece of the mesh from your primary filter? The 1/4 inch mesh has never had a speck of ash on it, unlike all of the other materials I have tried as burning surfaces. Please consider this simple change? I do not understand your comment on oil flashing off too quickly? Mine can only flash one drip at a time. The idea of burning a pool of oil using a tapered plate which provide some self regulating, was abandoned many years ago. The 8" x 1" convex plates have become the base of the current burner. You mention the "injector" getting clogged by heat? Having the cold air enter the chamber around the oil pipe keeps it cool and it has never carboned up. We look forward to your completion, collecting the hot air and plumbing it into the shop. Your 3 legs are identical to mine. I was thinking of a 60 pound propane bottle for the next heater. Our propane dealers give them away if you can convince them you will not use them for a pressure vessel. Your heater is not a trivial matter, especially in your area of the cost of heat. You will end up heating your entire house as we did, in the end. Many of my friends use a small waste oil burner to supply 50 to 70% of there heating needs from the WOB and let the furnace keep the wife happy in her required 1° temperature range. I will now watch your entire video again. Thanks. Axe head. We found out Houghto Black 15 available from the corner pharmacy. Same stuff was used to keep the old steam trains black. Hydrogen Peroxide. Fumes explode, ,hydrogen.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

I would like to answer more completely, but I get a LOT of comments and it's hard to go into detail on them all ... if so I answer comments for 8 hours of the day. What I mean about the oil flashing off too quickly is that it combusts when it flashes off. The liquid oil does not burn, it is the oil vapours that burn. The blower is capable of providing X amount of air, and at my current rate of flash off, the fuel air ratio is ideal. If I were to flash the oil off at the rate that it enters the burner, it would run rich.... unless I lowered the rate that the fuel enters. Currently, I can allow the fuel rate to vary wildly, and it is the heat of the walls of the heater that determine how much fuel is actually burning. Thanks again for your detailed comment. I am quite busy, but I do hope to make improvements on this heating system.

[@reidnichol9255]

@@loweredexpectations4927 All we are trying to do is provide the correct air/fuel ratio at all times. What you have built is a duplicate of the Coleman Oil Burning Space heater of the 1940's which is where I started in the 1950's. A simple tank with 2 baffles in the bottom, controlling the size of the burn chamber. The oil cam from a carburetor, up a pipe in the center of the base of the heater. This pipe plugged with carbon @ once a month and the spiral tool, much like a twisted automotive dipstick was use to clear it out. An old vacuum cleaner which was vented outside was used to complete the clean out. Your difference is a pool of oil in the bottom. An uncontrollable pool in both size and temperature. Mother Earth News is a good source of experimental WOB. Google Coleman Oil Burning Space heater and see where we started. Note the balanced damper on the chimney which prevented a flame out when a door was opened in gusty winds. Everyone I know have changed to a drip heater from a pool of oil. Joel, I wonder if your sickness has been caused by exposure to the exhaust of your heater? We have done it to ourselves.

[@loweredexpectations4927]

@@reidnichol9255 That old Coleman Oil Burning Space heater sounds like an interesting heater. I have looked up a few videos to watch for later. I do realize that improvements have been made over the years. I did a few little experiments with drip feeding my oil into / onto a red hot element, and while it seemed to be flashing off immediately (and would likely produce less ash) the oil smell and CO went off the charts. I would need to regulate my oil flow much more accurately if I wanted to do it this way, and this means I would have to put a lot more effort into my filtration. My oil comes from lawnmower oil changes that are done outdoors. There is grass, pine needles, bugs, polin, dust, dirt etc. My current filter mesh (250 micron) passes oil as fast as I can pour it, but my previous cotton filtration took hours of my day to monitor and filter. If this becomes a long term heating solution, it may be worth it to invest more time, money and effort into an actual system for filtration. The sickness I had was a virus that my roommate brought home from his vacation. I won't claim that I don't expose myself to nasty stuff sometimes, but I do have a CO monitor as well as an air quality meter that I use whenever the air is questionable.