Can you run a diesel heater on waste oil? YES. Should you? NO

[@glumpy10]

Having done what I have with waste oils and understanding how these heaters work and the deposits waste oil leave, I have always been suspect of the claims these things can run on it. Your test shows EXACTLY what I would I would expect. Waste oils, Veg or engine oil, need to be run in a chamber of 600 oC in order to burn the carbon and ash to a fine powder which can be exhausted. You will see the burners I do glow red and that is why they remain clean along with the turbulance in the burn chamber. These heaters being made of ally would most likley melt down before they burnt the deposits off properly if the controls wouldn't shut them down way before. I don't believe these heaters can ever run long term on waste oil and those that claim it are most likely Gilding the Lilly for hits as you described in your opening comments. The difference between refined / commercial fuels is they burn clean where waste oils leave deposits. IMHO, waste engine oil is around 5% deposits, veg a bit less. If you burn them 100% completely you can get them to a fine white ash like from a wood fire and they will be blown out the exhaust with enough burn chamber turbulence and retained heat. If you don't have sufficient heat and turbulence you will get the clinker and solid ash that will build up and need to be dug out. These Diesel heaters method of operation will simply not allow for the properties and deposits of waste oil to burn for any reasonable length of time.

[@johnmoore6834]

These videos are very helpful, so thank you for taking the time pass on your experience. How well does paraffin perform?

[@hunterslaptop7024]

Gild the lily. Had to look that one up. Not something made popular here in Canada.

[@donkirk5433]

Take our advice stick with home heating Oil and don't buy cheap super market fuels.

[@hunterslaptop7024]

Few years ago there was a guy using a centrifuge to reinstate oil. I would have no issue with that, a diesel uplift 10 micron filter combined with diesel itself. @@donkirk5433

[@ThatCarGuyYT]

I’ve been running waste oil into my chinabasto since I guess you could find them around(at least 6 years). I use it to heat up my garage and sometimes run two at once. The trick is to use kerosene to start and stop the heater and to use 30% kerosene in your waste oil. I’ve set up a filtering system before I put the oil in the heather with a 200 liter barrel , two oil filters and filter support in series and a 12v small oil pump to push the waste oil trough the filters. The heater has two tanks , one to start 5lt and one to run 25lt. I can start the heater remotely on kerosene and thanks to two solenoids valves (one NC and one NO) after 15 mins the fuel automatically switches kerosene to waste oil. I manually switch the fuel when I leave the garage or when I want to shut down the heater. 200 liters of fuel end up costing me about 80 euros including new filters. The only thing that I like to do is service the heater every 4 to 6 month( about 30min of maintenance ) but I’m still running the same heather from 6 years ago. Not bad

[@Tell-me-more-75225]

Thank you for this information it really helps! David does a dig at the person who makes "click bait" videos, yet he does not do his research before pushing this machine to the edge of its capacity.

[@bigbenjit]

Love to see a video on this setup

[@Cybertruck1000]

So in other words don't do it unless you're prepared to go through a lot of hassle.

[@bikerboymc54]

Ever try seafoam? Add some to your fuel to clear out carbon

[@pavel9652]

Before the war, in 2020, liter of kerosene used to cost circa as low as 0.4 euro and now it is more like 1 euro in winter, and was 0.9 euro last summer. His cost is circa 80 for 200 liters, plus additional equipment, pumps, filters, labour, maintenance of filtration line and cleaning the burner, plus dealing with engine sludge, maybe even risk of fines. Hardly great deal.

[@francistheodorecatte]

having tinkered with converting oil furnaces (diesel) to burn waste oil, it's not as simple as pouring oil into the tank. you need to filter the oil through a paper element filter and very fine filter sock to get the carbon out of it, then load it into an insulated and heated buffer tank to reduce the viscosity, then start and warm up the furnace on diesel before switching over to the waste oil. unless you run a high volume repair shop, it's almost never worth the investment and upkeep.

[@juhantyop169]

I was just thinking that it would have needed some prefiltering. I wonder what the results would have looked like, if the oil had been ran trough a coffee filter or something like that, and let it settle first to separate heavy particles to the bottom of the oil. Maybe you could manage a decent filtering with DIY stuff, and it would be easy to preheat the fuel by making the fuel line go near exhaust.. but would it still be bad for these little heaters?

[@PimpMyPc89]

@@juhantyop169 The problem is these heaters rely on the low flash point of diesel and the hot atomization screen. These heaters just squirt/dribble the fuel in and let it vaporize with conducted burn chamber heat. On larger furnaces that reliably burn waste oil, a high pressure pump forces the oil through a nozzle to produce a fine mist of oil that then directly vaporizes from the flame heat and burns.

[@christophersherratt7299]

Know mate watch the Robert Murray video on veg oil NONE OF THAT MESSING AROUND SO SIMPLY

[@howardosborne8647]

This is also my experience from past experiments with waste oil burners. we used to run workshop waste oil heaters made by Kroll and a couple of other units which copied the Kroll burner design. There is no way i would consider running even filtered and pre-heated waste oil in one of these little diesel heaters because the burner is not suitable for such high carbon bearing fuel and it will most certainly carbon/coke up the primary combustion chamber and ruin the peripheral vapourising mesh inside the primary chamber.

[@howardosborne8647]

@@PimpMyPc89 Agree with all you say here. My past experiences burning waste oil were with heater units made by Kroll. The simpler designs don't use a pressure burner but simply dribble oil in via a metering pump with the vapourisation being facilitated by flashing the oil across a large cast iron hotplate. Running waste oil in one of these diesel cabin heaters will indeed destroy the vapourising mesh located in the primary combustion chamber.

[@timfish]

My dad has a commercial waste oil heater. The tank is setup to separate out the water/solids and there is a pre-heater that ensures the correct viscosity. It works reliably but the burner is maybe 10x bigger than this and it was specifically designed for this purpose!

[@williammchale9138]

I have been running my heater on kerosene for six years now and only changed the plug so I had a look inside. Then just closed it up no need to do anything to it this is a grate Chanel Dave well done you was a good mechanic offshore good at your job

[@donkirk5433]

Stick with home heating Oil :) It will cost you less in the long run.

[@leicmick]

Thanks for the experiment and test results David I've learnt a lot about these diesel heaters watching your videos :) I will not be destroying my DIESEL HEATER burning something its not built for

[@GAMEINGWITHRAMPAGE]

Hello, I’ve been running a mix of waste oil and petrol for over 1 year. I’ve had no issues with this mix in a 8kw diesel heater, the tank and the heater is on the wall outside and is piped into the living room. When its below -2c outside I found that a 50/50 mix works really well but when it’s above 10c I’ve ran it on 80/10 mix and had no issues. I have got it to run in 100%waste oil but I’ve had to use break cleaner to get the flame going and when the chamber got hot the oil had caught light, but it really kicked some smoke out getting it going.

[@lm1584]

this is exactly what I was thinking as well - never use 100% waste oil

[@Levers103]

I bought a diesel heater a few months ago and have been rifling through all of your videos. Best content on KZbin in regards to these diesel heaters by far! Keep up the good work! I have an idea for you… In an attempt to raise the efficiency of the heater and subsequently cool down the exhaust tube, could a person cut the heat exchanger head off of the heater like you have done in the see-through videos. Then add another heat exchanger to the end of the heat exchanger that now has a hole in it? Then run your exhaust off of the newly added heat exchanger extension. The idea is to double the heat exchanger length in an attempt to recover as much wasted heat from the exhaust pipe. I used to have a power vent hot water heater that ran off of natural gas that could be exhausted outside with PVC tubing because the unit was so efficient in imparting its heat into the water before the exhaust gases left. Same idea here.

[@gizmo1252000]

just a quick tip .instead of using pliers ,just take the fan housing off and you then use a spanner from the inside to open the glow plug :)

[@DavidMcLuckie]

That's a good tip.

[@GaryMcLean-tf3lk]

Thanks David, I was begining to feel I was a bit a of numpty...... I have tried mixing 50/50 filtered used oil with diesel and got exactly the same results. I have tried with a 25/75 petrol oil mix and it was even worse. I ran both mixes for about 20 hrs, then spent an equal time trying to get the heater clean and working again. I am back on the red stuff. They are also both both really messy mixes to work with.

[@energymarketchile]

I'd say that the best strategy should be to add very little, pre-filtered wasted oil to your diesel (ie, 1:10 or more diluted). By doing so, you could be avoiding effectively the low temperature combustion and high content of impurities that are creating that bitumen...

[@joeking1019]

adding a drop of oil to the diesel sure reduces the clacking of the pump to almost zero

[@EDHKilian]

I have an big old diesel heater from a tatra truck. It has a spinning bucket inside the burn chamber connected to the schaft of the motor. It pumps diesel/oil in the bucket which then throws it against a metal mesh in the chamber. I then used an webasto oil pump with a blinker relay to pump fuel in it. I added a Choke in the inlet port so i can adjust the air for the burning chamber for no smoke. It runs on diesel first so i can use the hot air to heat the waste oil (wrapped the air outlet pipe around the canister). After the oil is around 50° C i put the pump in it and ajust the Choke for maximum heat and no smoke. I already burned over 100l pure waste oil (engine oil, gear oil etc.) in it and only cleaned it once. Having it faced down prevents the oil leaking trough the seal from the motor and burnchamber and also the excessive oil drops to the bottom of the chamber, burning off there. Heater puts out around 180° C of air depending on the oil vicosity... Max was 250 (melted my hose) and min was 120. It is all manual operated so i gotta adjust the Choke after swapping to oil and also start it with a torch trough the glowplug hole. I hit the exhaust every few hours with a hammer to get the ash out of bottom from the burning chamber.. Works really well and heats up my 5x5x5m workshed quite quickly.

[@bobthebarsteward]

Under that metal disk inside the burn chamber is another mesh arrangement, this clogs up with tar and clinkers when low quality (used engine oil) is burnt, and as far as I know, you can't clean it out. And for those who've lost their glow plug spanner, unbolting the fan/air chamber assembly allows access to the plug with a 12mm spanner. For those who've lost their 12mm spanner, it'll be where all your 10mm sockets have gone to hide.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

In 10mm socket heaven. Or on whichever undertray it's fallen into. :)

[@Kevin75668]

I think they migrate. I found two 10mm shallow sockets in one of my toolboxes that I have no idea where they came from. But I'm also currently missing a 10mm deep from the same box.

[@JoranGroothengel]

@@Kevin75668 That one is easy, your deep socket broke into two shallow sockets because you set your toolbox down too hard one time

[@howardosborne8647]

I agree with you,Rob. These little heaters are not a suitable combustor design for any type of waste oil other than running a percentage of properly treated vegetable diesel(even that requires caution) The vapourising peripheral mesh you mention will get ruined very quickly with any oil heavier than diesel(gas oil) and even that will coke the mesh up eventually.

[@TheGra325]

@@Kevin75668same 😂

[@adamuk2055]

David seeing you snap that glow plugs I was shouting you don't need a special tool just take the fan assembly off and use a 12mm spanner inside love your videos mate cheers 👍

[@Psikeomega]

So when I got my Chinese diesel heater 2 years ago, through some research, I found that if you run no less than 20% diesel or kerosene, you can reduce the time between clean out burns with straight diesel/kero. Take it how you will, but I've been running on mixed waste oil for almost 2 years to the day with no issues. Of course I also screen down to several microns it and put it in confirmed clean jugs.

[@Coladudetje]

1 micron looks like crystal clear new oil. But takes whole day to filter a bucket.

[@Psikeomega]

@@Coladudetje since it's for a diesel heater I don't mind if it takes half a week. I don't run it continuously and drain the 5L tank maybe once a month. It's not all the way down to a micron. But it's like 100 or less depending on the filter

[@Mwwwwwwwwe]

The solids are from the burning high temp lubricants (metal soap/salt)

[@5roundsrapid263]

Yes, oil additives. Modern oils have calcium, sodium, zinc, phosphorus, potassium, boron, etc.

[@davidjaye710]

I love the vid! I used to work for the manufacturer of the top 2 waste oil heaters here in the U.S.... and waste oil needs to be at a certain temp to work its best and so not only does it have cartridge heaters for the oil but also the air. Also, the ash is very corrosive and will eat that chamber up over time. we also would put a fire brick at the back of the chamber to help mitigate some of that. The reason the oil burns at all after warming it and atomizing it, is because of the carbon in it which also beats against the firebrick and so it needs replacing too at some time. you can't put good or real clean oil in it because its actually the carbon that burns... I heard this could do that but your vid shows its too good to be true.... thanks again!!!

[@Roads_of_Europe]

I bought a motor yacht last summer, and i live on it. I had a Webasto 3kw diesel heater on it, when the cold arrived i started to use it, after about a month i went up in flames, well almost. As I found replacement parts kind of expensive, I got myself a Vevor 5kw diesel heater. After a month of continues use, the exhaust pipe was lighting up red hot and strange sound coming from it. I took it apart and found so much carbon buildup in it, the burn chamber was blocked. What you see in the video here was nothing compared to what i found. Realizing that this was an issue, i opened up my diesel tank. It was clear that I had very old diesel with huge chunks of bacteria floating in it, plus the tank itself was just dirty and rusty. After I cleaned up the heater, I used it until my tanks were empty. Cleaned out the tanks, cleaned the diesel heater, put 150 liters of diesel in it, and never had anymore problems. I recently filled up my tanks again. Oh and i replaced the diesel filters on my engine and on the heater. A good filter does stop a lot of that crap as I never had any problems with my engine. It has 3 filters, one to seperate the water, a normal filter and a fine particle filter. Either way, use clean tanks and fresh diesel, that is to make sure everything runs as it should. A little side note, the glowplug and the mesh was actually looking the same as in the video. Because of this experience and videos and forums, I know a lot more about those things and I'll have my Webasto revised. Because it produces more heat then the Vevor. Also the Webasto has a ventilation function that Vevor doesn't have.

[@reubenk7331]

Very interesting video. I'll have to dig through the comments some too. What I had seen someone was doing, was starting it on diesel, switching to 50/50 diesel and oil, and then switching back to pure diesel before shutting down. This seemed to help get rid of any junk build up, and all you have to do is switch a valve, or just run it on the diesel if it's just for a bit. I am really glad you did a tear down right after doing straight oil, so we could see what actually happened. I am also curious about running it on a 50/50 blend with oil that is almost brand new. I occasionally get oil that only has 500-1000 miles on it from people that just change their oil every year. Heck, I have some 0W-16 that has 250 miles on it...

[@deepsouthNZ]

You can do a 60-40 mix to cut the cost of the diesel, probably cleaner too. Don't forget to strain the oil thru a coffee filter to remove the engine wear it will clog yr pump

[@patchvonbraun]

Here in Ontario, Canada, you can burn waste oil for heat, but only in the far-northern part of the province. But even THEN, you have to use a commercially-certified waste-oil furnace that is built for the job. Commercial waste-oil furnaces are specially designed for the task, including pre-heating of the fuel (above 60C as I recall), and they use a special "siphon" nozzle burner that uses compressed air to help atomize the waste oil (similar to what very-early diesel engines did). These furnaces need to be cleaned out regularly as well---because there will always be some "ash" due to the additives that are typical in lubricating oils, and the near-graphitic nature of the carbon that gets entrained in engine oils. ALL of the "DIY" waste-oil heaters that I've seen on YT use a completely-different "architecture" than these little diesel heaters, and there's a good reason for that!

[@DavidMcLuckie]

The thermobil waste oil burners just have a pan at the base that gets hot from the burning, waste oil drips into the pan, evapourates, burns, and all the crud is left in the pan.

[@patchvonbraun]

@@DavidMcLuckie Interesting. The ones I've seen in this part of the world are much more like conventional fuel-oil furnaces, with a few tweaks like the "siphon nozzle", and pre-heat of the feedstock. I'm aware of the "burn pot" design that I've seen on many DIY channels, but I wasn't aware that it was also a commercial design.

[@howardosborne8647]

@@DavidMcLuckie That is exactly how the early Kroll waste oil heaters/burners function. Just relying on the hot flash plate principle for vapourising the oil. they do indeed need frequent deep cleaning of the cast iron base pan.

[@assassinlexx1993]

Can you do a quick video on this unit after you burn diesel in it. So does it clean up the fuel lines, tank, pump and burner? The one good thing about it shutting down is the co2 dropped to safe level. A fast blast from the pressure washer will do the trick.

[@simonc4810]

Enormously useful video. Thank you. I’m not sure how much difference the viscosity of the oil would make wrt the build-up of crud inside the combustion chamber. It’s more likely that the deposits are just the non-combustible components of the oil, which would exist irrespective of viscosity. Modern oil contains viscosity-modifiers and detergents which possibly don’t burn completely. That said, oil for modern engines is also formulated to produce minimal ash when combusted in order to protect cats and dpf’s. Maybe older oil (non-synthetic or even single-grade) might yield different results? Although if vegetable oil also leaves a mess behind then it’s unlikely. I really like the idea of finding a cost-effective (and time-efficient) way to burn waste oil. I was wondering if a drip-feed of water, solvent, screenwash or petrol through the combustion-air intake would keep it clean? More research required?

[@somewhat7]

13:07 I don't know what i was expecting, but that was waaaayyyy more than I expected! 😆 And from only 1 tankfull at around 80% used oil to boot. Thanks for all you do, by far the best (and fun)

[@neiladcock8382]

I ran my Hilux Surf for 4 years on WVO. 50,000 miles. I filtered it down to 8 microns, through denim jeans forced through with a central heating circulation pump. I had no issues whatsoever. BUT there is a very good reason for this, it was an indirect injection engine with a Nippon Denso injector pump. The killer of WVO and engine oil as a fuel; is heating. You cant start a CRE on cold oil. You can get away with it on an indirect injection engine, but not on a common rail one. Almost all shop front diesel now contains WVO and its the reason that DPF's are clogging up because cars aint getting hot enough to burn all the crud that WVO produces when burnt, because of little short journeys to Asda. It looks like the same principal occurring here.. Keep up the good work!

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Someone may or may not have had a 3.1 Trooper that ran on black diesel. ;)

[@oliver90owner]

Indirect injection is compared with direct injection. Common rail injection is almost in a different category - electronic injection control rather than a distributor pumping head.

[@neiladcock8382]

@@oliver90owner Its to do with the plenum chamber in the head on the indirect engine. It allows the fuel (in this case WVO) to mix with air before it goes into the cylinder to be combusted. With the direct injection, fuel and air mixed in a dish on the top of the piston. The danger here is that uncombusted WVO or in this case used oil; can carbonise around the rings. Worst case scenario, oil from the sump passes up the cylinder, past the rings and causes the engine to rev to numbers of biblical proportions until it destroys itself.

[@neiladcock8382]

@@DavidMcLuckie Indirect injection with a Bosch or Nippon Denso pump. 😉

[@oliver90owner]

@@neiladcock8382 I fo know the difference between indirect and direct injection, thanks. The fuel is injected and burns, initially, in the separate combustion cell, within the head and separate from the expansion to drive down the piston, with indirect injection. The Harry Ricardo swirl chamber was the precursor to later developments. Worked well with Landrover cylinder heads, back in the 60/70s (even if those engines were not the best of diesel technology). Most certainly direct injection of WVO can cause unburned fuel to mess up compression rings. Mechanical injection pumps operate at around a couple thousand psi. Common rail pressures are an order higher, so a muchly different ball game. I doubt any common rail engines are anything other than injection directly over the piston - indirect diesel engines are slightly less thermally efficient due to the increased surface area for potential heat loss - but they are quieter than some of the direct injection equivalents (compare ford with peugeot engines, of the late 20th century). I would not countenance feeding a variable viscosity fuel to the CR pump. They are temperamental enough, as it is! Mechanical injection pumps usually wear out. CR pumps just fail (and injectors are b. expensive).

[@SVMSICE]

Haha I just watched the video you mentioned at the beginning of this and got curious so I entered it into the search. Thank you for taking the time to do this experiment and video it for us. Much appreciated 🙏 I kind of guessed it would build up in the burn chamber and that appears to be the result of doing this.

[@hoglundh]

As soon as you picked up the needle nose pliers I knew what was about to happen. I did the same thing.

[@holdenbrougham1056]

Tip with cleaning exhaust out let it get cold an tap it with screw driver , tap it with slapping action or pull screw driver back like sling shot and let it hit hard an sharp listen to to carbon shocked free from exhaust an it shall rattle out or be blown free by running heater flat out for hr straight

[@jorgruthschilling]

Thanks David for sharing yet another great diesel heater video! You are absolutely right! It makes no economic sense to burn waste oil in a Chinese diesel heater. A Chinese diesel heater can run a few thousand hours on red diesel without cleaning the burn chamber. If you have to clean your waste oil tortured diesel heater every twenty hours, you will not save money, you will burn a lot of lifetime hours and a lot of money on gasket an other maintenance materials. It is good to know that a Chinese diesel heater can run on many flammable liquids in an emergency. But operating with waste oil comes at a high price.

[@chris8957]

unless you ran a garage I don't know how you'd have enough waste oil for it to make much sense anyway.

[@jorgruthschilling]

@@chris8957 You can get waste oil for free because a garage has to pay for waste oil disposal. BTW, in most European countries it is illegal to give away waste oil this way.

[@alexmacdiver]

Add a comment... This brightened up my morning & probably saved some lives. . . . . . . Let's take a moment to thank the sacrificial heater. . . . . The Chewing the Fat comedic accent is so right and appropriate here. . . . " Gizza Swatch Yer Heater "

[@007tallguy]

Great video, good information to know! 👍👍 I can see mixing waste oil at 20% and 80% diesel and run the heater slightly hotter. It would work in a pinch without fouling it up too bad. And you'd save 20% on the cost of diesel.

[@dj0men666]

Sen a guy claiming 20% unleaded petrol in with the oil and running at high temp works ok. Also been thinking how best you could filter it first? Seen a few inline filters like car oil filters. Wonder if that would help with the crud?

[@wesrurede]

If you want to clean the inside of the exhaust pipe quick and easy: Get a bit of the metal wire with the plastic coating over it, usually for dog runs, and cut just the end of the plastic shielding off enough to unravel the wire... put the other end through the pipe and then stick that end on a drill.... Spin up the wire as you work it through the piping. If you make a short one for the aluminum housing you can clean that quickly and easily as well. I tried oil mix, I couldn't go one night on it without it caking up.

[@holdenbrougham1056]

You must clean your used cooking oil or it will stuff your pump , apart from the pump it can block the breath hole and the mesh screen , be a cheap state, but run 50 50 ratio of diesel and waste oil mixed , any more and it's bound to cause issues

[@curtwuollet2912]

Yes, if you boil off kerosene or other fuel oils you have very little residue, diesel a little. But used motor oil leaves a lot of sludge, ash and dirt. If it doesn't burn, it will deposit somewhere. It's just not a fuel for this type of burner. I want one of these for my shed so my convection kerosene heater doesn't ignite gas vapors. But my use case is occasional so I'll stick with kerosene.

[@shanehogarth6373]

Thanks David, another great video and really does reflect the reality of running waste motor oil. For now at least I have virtually given up on trying various methods of trying to get it to work longer term. I cut a burn chamber down after running quite a bit through it and discovered the large mesh ring around the bottom of the burner was damaged, thus why it wasn't running properly even after cleaning and switching back to diesel. I have video on my channel showing the damage caused. Also..starting and ending the burn on high with pure diesel, helps slightly, but only delays the inevitable clean up. Pre heating the oil, air or a combination of both doesn't really make a lot of difference either, despite constantly reading comments that it does. Well not for me anyhow. Joel, "lowered expectations" is doing quite a bit of experimentation at the moment, if you have time, it may be of some interest. Thanks again for all the inspiration and information in your videos.

[@Avlec1000]

I'm sure that mesh inside the burn chamber is needed but as you say it is impossible to clean to so you have to replace the whole burn chamber once it clogs or degrades. Which is not crazy expensive but seems like a design flaw to me.

[@datalorian]

@@Avlec1000 These are cheap knockoff heaters as it is, they are not going to be engineered to be reliable. As much as it is terrible for the environment, these are in fact made to be as disposable as they can because that is just how China operates.

[@oliver90owner]

@@Avlec1000 No design flaw, Charlie. The flawed part is those that advocate burning fuel other than specified by the manufacturer. Nobody in their right mind would burn engine oil (even unused and the thinnest they could get) in the expensive diesel engine in their car - so why should these little oil betners be any different?

[@luckyrobp]

@@oliver90owner actually if you put black diesel in KZbin search, you will find people that do clean it up & put it in their vehicles.

[@philpritchard3442]

@@oliver90owner it is better for the environment if you burn it properly. ie . complete combustion and not leave that black shit, you're all goo ging over it... and it is much better... these things CAN BE efficient and can burn almost anything..... BUT... the afr(Air Fuel Ratio) is very different with what your trying to burn.. the temp is different( in the combustion chamber) .... lots change to make this work.. there is a lot of waste oil out there.. keep trying

[@johnobiro5202]

Thanx for the comprehensive information on this one Dave.. I’m glad I’ve seen it with my own eyes. Great Vid mate. 👍🔧

[@SR-gt350]

Drill and tap a 3/4" npt plug in the end of the burn chamber then you can quickly remove 1, 3/4" plug and vacuum/scrape out the burn chamber without disassembly of the 8 Allen head bolts and destruction of the glow plug as well as the 2 gaskets.

[@bigoldgrizzly]

All goes to demonstrate that the original designers of these heaters really knew their stuff and that these little puppies run pretty sweet when correctly installed and fuelled with diesel. Folks who use waste oil seem to be lacking in basic maths skills. If they were to add up the costs of gasket kits, carb cleaner brake cleaner and the like, not to mention the time involved and shortened life of the heater, they would realise that it is cheaper [and safer] to just use diesel or kero in the first place.

[@bonitaboy4941]

not lacking just basic maths skills, but engineering and common sense missing too! 😂

[@bigoldgrizzly]

@@bonitaboy4941 I was far too polite to say that but hey ho - thick as two short planks should cover it ;

[@elobiretv]

Cant really blame people when the price of diesel is so high and it's very easy to get waste oil for free.

[@bigoldgrizzly]

@@elobiretv Absolutely fair and valid point and a choice each of us is free to take. Far better though if that decision is made with the knowledge of the down time to expect and just how much additional input is needed to maintain the heater in usable condition. My beef is with the many dodgy videos of folks running heaters on all sorts of waste oil, claiming brilliant results and maintenance free running year after year. These videos rarely feature carbon monoxide measurements or often any proper measurement at all. There must be hundreds of 'magic recipes' for combinations of all sorts of different oils, most having short and long term safety and health implications. The simple fact is that these heaters were designed to run on diesel and never run as well on anything else. It is easy to see how folks get suckered in to copying videos like that to try and cut costs, and end up very disheartened by the results. It is one thing to tinker with these as a bit of a hobby to heat a garden shed but another thing entirely when people start using them to heat their homes and other living accommodation.

[@BrokePrepper]

Lacking math skills? Lol. No, it's called being broke. It doesn't matter what the cost of oil or gaskets are when you can't afford them. Time is free. Someone who works two jobs can sacrifice a few minutes to clean the heater at night when they get home, but it's hard to sacrifice feeding your kids to pay the heating bill. Also: Gaskets? Carb cleaner? Brake cleaner? Really? The people who burn waste oil might be short on their math skills and less than you in terms of financial capabilities but they've clearly got one up on you when it comes to resourcefulness because they're not dumping money on that stuff. It really comes down to the understanding of the word "thrift", life circumstances including hardships, ones desire to be completely self sustainable, or a combination of the three. Of those four scenarios, I don't see any that warrant this type of attitude toward those who are trying to get free heat. Stop judging people so harshly. In the 5 minutes I researched this topic I found more condescending posts than I have productive posts, by a ratio of about 99:1. And my math skills, are pretty damn good.

[@austinmabry8462]

Just a guess, but by maxing out the pulse rate, you were likely running way too rich for waste oil. I that with tuning and filtering the oil, a very clean burn could be attained.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Fueling wasn't quite maxed out, but better tuning would help. Sadly not much can done with the designed to not burn additives in the oil, these heaters just don't hot enough for a truly clean burn.

[@tonyweavers4292]

I tried new 5/20 fully synthetic mixed 50/50 diesel. I found it seperated and run unburnt out of the combustion intake. Used veg oil seems to be running wellthough , again 50/50 mix.

[@MrDMIGNON]

I apologize f the question has already been asked. Could you increase the air to compensate for the higher heating value in the oil - compared to diesel - to achieve a hotter and cleaner burn?

[@Morzsaszar]

No

[@samuelweightman]

Great video, I have been starting my heater on diesel and then swapping over to used gear oil from my van, and then put it back to diesel 10 mins before I turn it off. You would never know that it was burning it. However looking at your findings it could look quite sorry for itself inside. Maybe I should go and see the chippy down the road and see if he will let me take some of his used cooking oil

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Haven't tried gearbox oil. Yet.

[@samuelweightman]

@@DavidMcLuckie could make an interesting video. Have you done anything with used cooking oil from takeaways?

[@MalawisLilleKanal]

It would be interesting if you run it on a small amount of new oil, and then compare it with used oil to see what filtering might do to the burn time. It would also be interesting to see what happens if you end the cycle by burning diesel or parafin for some time.

[@hightower005]

I would like to see you run a tank of diesel/ petrol mix to see if it burns the chamber of all the oil leftover. Maybe filter the oil and use a oil/diesel mix, obviously not here in Scotland 😉 Thanks enjoyed the vid.

[@chris8957]

kerosene might be a better choice, and run it hot.

[@steved1956]

I'd be concerned about all the carcinogens too. Love your videos

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Stinging smoke is always a good sign. To stop. :)

[@_CAT-lg4sr]

Great test David. End result and assessment / conclusion, just suck-up and pay the price for diesel or Kerosene. Thanks for going through all that trouble for us... so we don't have to.

[@SLeslie]

The problem with engine oil that it contains additives that do not meant to be burned. Waste engine oil is another one or more step further up on the ladder of concern as it contains a bit of most of the parts of the engine in form of very fine microparticles.

[@letmepicyou]

What about thinning the waste oil with something specifically tailored to increase the combustion temperature? Such as 91% Isopropyl alcohol, or maybe a little acetone? Like, an 80% oil / 20% alcohol?

[@coreybabcock2023]

I keep my 24 volt heater in my van as a spare to my 12 volt one I had to run my heater like crazy this past weekend in the wash DC area was so cold n Windy

[@jameshunt2141]

wow, i have always wanted to make some bitumen at home. thanks for the video!

[@DavidMcLuckie]

I would really like it to not be on my aluminium. Going to need a blowtorch.

[@guymorton2327]

I tried waste oil with my heater at 40% oil to diesel. It worked for couple of weeks. Then it wouldnt fire up. Took it apart & it was pretty coked up. Won't do it again. A good way to clean out the hard crap in stainless burn chamber is oven cleaner.

[@cartertanya1258]

30% mix of diesel to oil is no issue . As I've done it with no problem. But needs to be run 100% to start and 100% for last half hour . Combustion chamber was clean

[@ChippyOutdoors]

I seen some videos on this also before trying it and I tested oil 50/50 diesel mix, 25/75 and 10/90 everytime had issues keeping it running I haven't taken it apart since 25/75 to 10/90 but after 50/50 tank it was horrible bad with carbon. New engine oil burns way better but wmo I wouldn't suggest it personally for those who are curious

[@chrisgreen177]

I would limit the waste oil to regular SAE and not oil with Synthetic polymers additives, or "cut" the oil with diesel fuel to thin it a bit. That way, it stretches your diesel supply and saves you from having to clean your heater as often. It's also a "work around" to the laws against burning waste oil, as you're burning diesel that has waste oil in it, and not vice versa, lol.

[@WJCTechyman]

Do you have a MAP-Pro or regular hot burning propane torch? I would say instead of sitting there with brake cleaner soaking the whole thing (it may dissolve the aluminium/aluminum) just use the torch to heat the combustion chamber, heat exchanger and exhaust to a point where the sludge turns to ash. If that doesn't work, you can use the brake cleaner. It's a little trick to cleaning spark arrestors of soot and carbon for 2 and 4 stroke equipment. Listening to you testing these heaters and trying things with them reminds me of Big Clive and not just because both of you are Scottish. Of course, you give me nostalgia of watching the late Ed of Aussie50 as he liked playing around with stuff in his shop.

[@CluelessRanchHand]

Kinda scared to look in mine now 😅. I've been running mine on a blend of hydraulic oil, diesel motor oil and dye diesel for about a month now. The CO out of the exhaust does spike up every once and a while but doesn't sound like it is flaming out. Sadly even if I trash it out and have to replace the unit it will still be cheaper than paying the full price for natural gas to heat my home. Great video it never clicked in my head why the CO would spike and then go back to normal.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Hydraulic oil will be better than engine. It tends to have less trash in it.

[@AmalgmousProxy]

Kerosene where I live in the US, as of this writing, varied between $4.98 to $6.89 a gallon. Diesel is currently $3.80 (+/- 0.20) so I'm sticking with diesel. After this, I will not run straight motor oil in my heater. If I do I may try a centrifuge style oil filtration setup if I decide to try and run used oil. Perhaps it'll pull most of the carbon particulates out, possibility it'll run a bit cleaner. Needs testing. Then again, is it worth the time, effort, equipment and work space this filtration system will eat up... Dunno.

[@patrickday4206]

I also agree I don't recommend doing this! The mcluckie public service message is accurate!!! Lol Most people don't want their heater screwed up because of a video!! The results from synthetic are worse normally than regular oil but without cleaning of fuel and lots of modifications probably aren't going to work for long ! I did find someone that claimed that there burner lasted 6 months maybe but their motor oil was white from water saturation so perhaps??? I ran mine on a 50 percent brand new motor oil and 50 percent diesel it lasted about a week before going out!!! So not even perfectly clean does it work!!

[@gonzo_the_great1675]

I run my heaters on kero. Runs great. Cheaper than road fuel. If you want a waste oil burner, build a dedicated stove for it.

[@mooneyman13]

David, any interest in doing a video of injecting some DPF cleaner into the fuel supply line of a dirty diesel heater? I’m curious if it would have any effect at all. Feeding water into the fuel didn’t do much. Maybe DPF will? Love your videos, keep it up! 👍

[@poellot]

I wonder if a hacked high altitude sensor could make them burn cleaner, it would reduce the amount of fuel. Waste oil has more btu per gallon than diesel. So you have to assume it runs too rich. The only way i know to reduce fuel would be tricking it to thinking it is operating at high altitude. Heaters without this ability have an add on to use at high altitude that i think could be modded fairly easily.

[@trevorkingsley7002]

Apart for not burning efficiently, just think of what that carbon in the WMO is doing to the pump's internals as it passes though it. Even if filtered to 1 micron, there's still plenty of carbon and other contaminates to cause the same issues. Cutting the WMO (or any other oil) with whatever to reduce viscosity does not make it diesel fuel, nor give it the characteristics of diesel. Motor oil has long chain carbon molecules that need to be "cracked" to shorter chain molecules. This is how most diesel is produced, by refining, not by direct distillation of crude oil.

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

if the CO alarms are giving you a headache and making you sleepy just take the batteries out.

[@paultro8457]

Ive been running mine on 50% diesel and 50% filtered waste oil with DIESEL 911 fuel treatment. But im going back to straight diesel with a fuel additive. It doesnt like to fire up properly below 20°F. It smokes a lot. You have to let it run till it hits 100°C, and then shut it down and restart it so the glow plug cycles again. Then it runs fine and stops smoking. Was hoping to double the amount of fuel on hand by mixing it 50-50 but i fear its doing more damage than good. It doesnt leak oil out of the exhaust, just a lot of smoke during a cold start.

[@BigPhatAlbert]

I believe there's a hidden menu that allows for higher heat and faster fan settings. I curious what types of waste oils would work best. Hydraulic. Transmission? Perhaps a secret cocktail potion lol... we're gonna see more and more of this as energy prices soar...

[@2003minis]

Have you tried to heat the air with the exhaust pipe to increase the possibility of a burn of waste oil?

[@user-xb5zu6zu7j]

Kero is the way to go. Greetings from the Highlands.

[@robbo770]

Can you try this again and then try a burn with clean diesel to clean burn the unit then inspect?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

I've had it running on a mix of diesel and screenwash to clean it out.

[@alwaysinmotion1]

I think if you add gasoline to it and get the viscosity right, it should work quite well. Just like making black diesel. But all water and contamination from it should be removed. Then, theoretically, shouldn't have any problems. Just a thought. Doesn't mean I'm correct 🤔

[@haroldbell1097]

Thanks David, at last someone saying as it really is! I fitted an Eberspacher diesel heater in my workshop over 25 years ago and the You-tube warriors are driving me mad as if it’s never been done before. There’s even an obsession with those heating their homes professing they can do it on a litre a day, or better still using waste oil. It is and always will be a diesel heater, before I retired as a fleet manager we had fitted hundreds with no issues what so ever. As they say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.

[@Alex-uh1mj]

It's actually a kerosene heater but close enough

[@russchadd8322]

Hi David, maybe use an old tea urn and heat the oil before its burned in the heater - I used to have an old Peugeot with a veg oil kit added and the oil needed to be heated to about 70 degC before it switched over to veg oil and then it ran perfectly.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Funny you should say that. Lidl or Aldi had a mulled wine warmer on sale so I bought one. 18L and has a thermostat between 40-100ºC. So I'll need to see how hot oils perform.

[@russchadd8322]

@@DavidMcLuckie Yer that would be perfect - add a 2 way valve that allows you to start and stop the heater on kerro/diesel and switch over to the heated oil to gently introduce it into the flow

[@box420]

I just started running mine on a 30%-50% mix with diesel. Oil is out of my car that takes 0w-20 so it's really thin already. But have noticed it like to fart puffs of black smoke every few seconds but it's nothing crazy but I think it was doing it from the wind blowing making it rich a sec or so. But probably won't keep doing that. Going to look for red diesel now

[@chris8957]

kerosene (heating oil) was cheaper than red diesel and should burn cleaner. Have a look to see if you can find a local supplier that'll do yard service and go buy 50 litres

[@box420]

@Chris i can get jet A at our small airport FOB but I don't think the co op has it here they would be the only ones. But it has less btu than diesel.

[@chris8957]

@@box420 Does oil fired heating not exist near you? In the UK it's not that uncommon if you don't live in a town or city for people to be using heating oil instead

[@box420]

@Chris no not really here in the USA it's vary rare but it is out there. Heating oil and red diesel,off road diesel are thr same thing just tax free red diesel. If you don't live near town like I do you ether have propane or electric heating. But electricity is super cheap here at .07 cents a Kwh.

[@chris8957]

@@box420 Looks like you might not have too much issue getting hold of it if you live in the correct area. But I didn't realise it wasn't a thing in the US, if anything I think of the US being more oil based. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heating_oil#United_States_and_Canada

[@christopherguy1217]

Nice experiment, now we need part two, cleaning and restoration of the heater to working condition.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

I've run a diesel and screenwash mix through it. It's running again. Haven't taken it apart again yet though.

[@dhenschel4]

Thanks for running this experiment - btw I haven't clicked on the 'click bait' vid you mentioned, hoewver YT has been putting it in front of me for over a week now. Anyway, you mentioned use kerosine, however do you have cheaper kerosene than diesel? Kerosine here is about $17 usd/gal while diesel is $5 usd/gal.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Our heating oil (Kerosene) is cheaper than our road diesel, and now I think it's still cheaper than red diesel.

[@brianeustace4175]

Have you tried running the exhaust through a house radiator to reclaim more heat

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Not personally, but I've been told it works fantastically.

[@jeremyj3017]

What if you use a small hh2o generator? My guess is it will burn hotter meaning the you will turntge heater down, cleaner burn chamber and possible a prolonged heater life.

[@Parastorm.]

Im guessing that your heater stayed at full power? I did try this once and it was much worse than yours but most of my carbon was in the back of the burn chamber. also it was around the glow plug mesh I also had unburnt fuel coming out the hole where the glow pug is and was dripping out the air inlet. but my heater was only running on low power.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Yes, I set it to run at full power the whole time. I knew it had no chance on low. :)

[@Faithinthedock]

One quick question.. My understanding is that Kerosene has a lower BTU rating than diesel and so will burn cooler than diesel? I'm not sure if it's a co-incidence but since recently switching from my boat's red diesel tank to the tank that comes with the heater and running pure kerosene, it loses heat bars on the controller when I run it on a lower hz setting.. I'm wondering if it's because of the different 'efficiency' of the kerosene?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Kerosene has a slightly higher energy density than diesel. So you need less Kerosene to produce the same of amount heat than Diesel. But it's only slightly, so turning down the frequency will reduce your heat output.

[@wiredforstereo]

I wonder if it could be run with an open heat exchanger with it pointed down so the ash can fall out. Because the upper end of the burner seems fine.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

The problem is the wicking mesh deep inside the burn chamber that can't be cleaned. I did a video cutting one open to show it.

[@lukasznowak8873]

engine oil is rich of additives to prevent it from burning, oxidizing, foaming, evaporating and the rest.. its a good way of testing oils me thinking :) like them C1 low saps oils recommended to be used in modern dpf fitted vehicles to see the difference in amount of crap build up after burning certain amount of clean engine oil to see if oil manufacturers lying to us charging us more for something what meant to make our motoring trouble free, keep exhaust clean etc i have seen a lot of folks recovering heat from exhaust whats your takes on that one ? i think its a silly idea and will cause a lot more soot build up i maybe wrong but i know what results are when you cool down flue on wood burning stove or what lets say egr causes when it comes to engines ...lowering EGT in every known to me case causes soot buildup.. , great video really enjoyed it another thing burning waste oil is unhealthy and fumes are known to cause all sort of cancers ;/ heating home and killing people in surrounding are sounds rather disturbing

[@joshuadelisle]

Hey David. Love your content. I'm sorry you don't like the title of my video. I take the veritaseum approach to using titles which I recommend watching on his channel. Using waste oil if you look at the new law is considered illegal to use in heating and as you can see can be acquired for free, so not really click bait as the facts are there. Regardless I'm testing a new approach to using waste veg oil by using preheating, filtering and air/fuel ratio settings to get a better burn. I agree it's going to clog up quickly using dirty fuels but I'm also showing how to make new atomisers in the next video also. Keep up the great work, I put links to your channel on my video btw. Hopefully you got some traffic come through. All the very best. Cheers J

[@DavidMcLuckie]

I shall apologise. I didn't mean to single out you in particular. There are so many, yours was just more popular than most. And I do enjoy other videos you have made. Keep up the great work. Have you tried using gelatin for cleaning the veg oil, I've seen a few comments on that recently?

[@joshuadelisle]

@@DavidMcLuckie thank you David. I'll definitely check the gelatin method out. I'm trying to find the most cost effective way to use these heaters, I managed to get everything needed to produce good amounts of bio diesel but I'm not keen on the use of chemicals, disposing of them or paying for them. So I'm on a journey to see and all the results will be visible for everyone. Kerocene is definitely the winner so far. I roughly calculated £0.08 per KW. Cheers J

[@patrickday4206]

Was that gelatin method for removing particulates from Robert Murray-Smith ? That also adds water to the vegetable oil which can be beneficial?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

@Patrick Day strangely I found his video after someone shared a different video, algorithm doing its magic.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

@Joshua De Lisle we tried making biodiesel once. There are companies that will buy your biodiesel leftovers to recover the ethanol and other ingredients. Or there was many years ago when we tried making our own.

[@Whadaa72]

HOLLYSHITBALLS! 😆 you make great videos because your indepth and keeping it real.

[@mightyfinejonboy]

can the burner be run vertically? so the burner is either at the bottom or top?

[@DavidMcLuckie]

Mostly yes. Hot air facing the floor, keeps the flame front hole at the glow plug on top so fuel doesn't leak out.

[@GeorgeAusters]

Probably best to mix it 50/50 at the most!

[@leeevans1874]

I've seen a few of your veg oil videos , not seen a veg oil acetone mix though seen quite a few papers on in as an alternative derv , I know there's a worry on plastics/tubes etc but if it works alternative storage and pipe could be used .

[@DavidMcLuckie]

If you can send me a link I'll have a read. Or if you've got a TLDR on why acetone?

[@holdenbrougham1056]

Tip for people always carry spare fuel pump in your parts supply as 99% of failure with diesel heaters is fuel related issues , glow plugs from what I know rarely fail ,

[@haulngrassracing]

I would like to see a test between kerosene (paraffin??) heat output compared to diesel. Great video 👍

[@haulngrassracing]

Maybe a 50/50 mix of kerosene and diesel.

[@oliver90owner]

@@haulngrassracing Why? We already know that kerosene is a lighter fraction than diesel. The heat output will be lower because kero has less energy per unit volume than diesel and running a weaker air:fuel ratio will mean more heat is carried out of the exhaust by the excess air. We don’t need to prove/demonstrate what is already obvious from the science. The problem which may arise from burning kero is that of damaging the pump due to refuced lubticity of the fuel. 28s kero seems to be OK in this respect. Those who can adjust their heater (not the type used in this video) may be able to reduce the excess air and run it efficiently on kero (the 28s Redwood variety). Any lighter fraction would be OK, if lubricant was added to avoid pump seizure/wear, but approaching the naptha fraction would not be a good move (likely cost, for a start - furnace/central heating oil is easy to source and buy. Many central heating boilers can be run on either gas oil or kerosene - sometimes without adjustment. The multi kW space heaters are the same - diesel or kero makes no odds to those - but the manufacturers advise to run on diesel if the heater is to be stored for any lengthy period.

[@dhenschel4]

@@oliver90owner Thanks for this information - however David did mention in this video that kero ran hotter than diesel and got me to look into pricing of kero vs diesel. Also, I believe the heater in this video has adjustable air/fuel ratio, covered in several YT videos getting into the password settings of the heater.

[@oliver90owner]

@@dhenschel4 There is a difference between ‘hotter’ and heat content. Look again at the controller on the heater Dave used in this video, it is not (easily) adjustable, if at all. You would have a job and a half getting into the controller to alter pump and fan speed - there is no access because there is no password selection possibility.

[@dhenschel4]

@@oliver90owner It isn't too difficult - David did a video with this controller, vid titled 'air fuel ratio tuning of the 5 - 8kw diesel heater /stage one using afr gauge' check it out.

[@pauls466]

Not to mention of how you gonna clean the back of the burn chamber.

[@WhiteDieselShed]

Will it run on Whisky??? :) Anyone in the Midlands know where to get Kerosene in 20L sizes? Last time I used to get Kerosene was a local garage that had it on a pump, garage is still there unchanged and so is the pump but its 99.9% rust now and not been used for many years. Looked online and there are places that can deliver 20L tubs but £38 + delivery. I may as well use premium diesel at that price.

[@ben31tube]

Great information and very entertaining! Thanks!

[@paullane8586]

I tried old oil at 25/75. The heater clogged up in 3 hours. When I tried to restart it, it just pumped out white smoke. Tried it twice🙄🙄 with the same result. Cleaned heater ( a ball ache) and back to clean deisel.

[@Faithinthedock]

The residue is like the ash in the grate of my old open fire. Amazing how much after just 5 litres.... I really wouldn't...

[@tjhouston4916]

Hey pappy, you need to run the exhaust outside. Also adjust your pump down and filter your oil.

[@DavidMcLuckie]

That was not the object of this test.

[@peterjohnson2245]

I would love to see how well they run on clean oil as a comparison, just to prove that it is the fact it is a used oil problem. i need to look back on the videos, i'm sure you did one on veg oil, again i think that was used, what about fresh?

[@joeking1019]

be far cheaper to just run on diesel.

[@danielmusat597]

Great video! I have also seen guys burning waste oil and, yes, they have millions of views. People are ready to believe whatever shit is served to them, unfortunately. It's good to also see the aftermath of such stupid decisions. Cheers!

[@DavidMcLuckie]

As I said it's the sad reality that people are having to explore every way to heat homes cheaply. I feel sorry for anyone that NEEDS to heat their home with a diesel heater and it stops working as it's now clogged full of waste oil remains.

[@BradMillsXRP]

That’s why Jiffy Lube and oil change service stations all have oil heaters cause the oil is free

[@vin9976]

Hey man, whats the right Ducting for the output hose for these? I have a portable one I've built and I want to use good ducting to run 6ft into my camper.

[@carstencroessmann]

Here in Germany Diesel is still cheaper per litre then Kerosin, I'll stick to Diesel or Heating Oil which is Diesel with Red dye in it, and it's leagl to use heating oil in those heaters and generator as well, and it's cheaper than the White Diesel at the gas station, because it's a lower tax on it. Greets from Germany

[@billienomates1606]

Another excellent vid, thankyou.