Waste oil as RMH fuel?

[Nirky]

Has anyone tried burning waste oil--either auto oil or cooking oil--as a fuel in their rocket stoves/heaters? Coating wood in the oil or even slowly dripping small quantities into a warmed up stove?

I'm thinking it pretty much HAS to work, as regular wood stoves actually produce crude oil & gas & diesel that are never burned, just wasted, in contrast to the rocket which burns off most all wood gassification.

[matt walker]

I think your best bet would be a drip system, but I really am just guessing. Haven't seen that one done yet.

[pa_friendly_guy]

There used to be a drip oil burner designed and used in Trailers back in the 1950's and 60's. They ended up burning many of the Trailers down. They were dangerous as Heck and have been out lawed for many years. The system allowed fuel oil to gravity flow into the burn chamber with a steady drip, drip, drip. You had a steady heat from the furnace no matter what the outside temperature was. They tended to over heat and that caused fires. They would also go out and the oil continued to drip, drip, drip, when they were relit they flashed back and could cause fire or burns. [ Think Mini Explosion ] The question was, Would it work, the answer is YES, but would it work safely? If you were there watching the fire constantly, and had a slow drip, and had a fire extinguisher close by, and took a few other precautions that I can't think of off the top of my head, it would work. To get rid of some waste oil and get something valuable out of it [ Heat } it might be worth it. But I would only burn it when I was there and awake, never while I was asleep. Just my thoughts.


PS I was an Insurance for 35 years. Our county has more Trailer Homes in it than any place outside of Fla. There is no more chance of a Mobile Home catching fire than a regular stick built home. But once it does catch fire get out, don't try and get Grandma's sugar bowl, don't try and save your guns, don't worry about anything but getting your self and your family out of there. They go quickly, and they burn like a wind tunnel once they get going. Get out safely, that is the most important thing.

[Nirky]

I can imagine the dangers in the past of misusing such a system!

One of the differences with our system is that there are no flames to rise up to pre-ignite the oil.

I'm imagining a long thin copper tube set two feet or more above the fuel entry chamber, connected to a small portable fuel reservoir of no more than 16 ounce capacity. A Coke can? Then I'm imagining a precise chem lab type valve which allows only for slow dips.

Of course you would only use this oil delivery when you were present to monitor. I think this can work safely. As safe as being present with a lit RMH.

[pa_friendly_guy]

I have seen videos on Utube with wood stoves using such a drip system with either waste oil or veggie oil. I am not saying it won't work, I am saying be carful.

[matt walker]

Nirky, I just realized I've actually often burned waste oil in my heater. I have a dust collection system in my wood shop, and for years I have mixed the planer shavings or even table saw dust with my old motor oil and used it as fire starter. I haven't done that inside here for a while now since my heater is so easy to start, but now that I think about it, I used to put a little handful of the stuff into the heater when my fuel was wet to get things up to temp and going well. The mix was extremely light on oil, just enough to wet the material when all mixed together, but a little bit burns for quite a while. Food for thought.

[Nirky]

Maybe for any oil to be burned safely in a Rocket we ought to

1) only add small amounts to the wood fuel, like a slow slow drip or a light light coating on wood

2) know temps pre-oil and monitor temps after oil is added to make sure temps do not go up too much

3) always be physically present any time oil is added to a burn to monitor

Dunno, any more? I'd love to try this today but I don't have my home finished so that I can even start on my RMH.

[matt walker]

Sounds reasonable to me. I think Guy illustrated a great reason not to have a reservoir of any significance. I totally agree about adding it to another fuel like wood. I'm sitting on my warm bench with a fire going right now, perhaps I'll give it a try and let you know how it goes. I do wonder about what residues it creates though. Not that I'm worried about a little testing, but if it was regular use over a long period of time, I wonder what gets left in the system. Anyone?

[Nirky]

burns kerosene & also a waste oil/kerosene mix in his rocket stove, claims 8 ounces burns for 4 hours in his setup.

devised a waste motor oil setup. Not a rocket stove, but it's fierce and sounds like one. Wouldn't trust such a system for home or cabin, possibly good for outdoors, maybe to heat water in a water heater through thermo siphoning.

[whitefire]

Comming from someone that has yet to cast their core, I don't see any problem with residue because if your heater is burning clean, it will also completely combust these hydrocarbons into h2o and co2. The problem I see is oil absorbing into the porous perlite, so I would say soak wood in the oil or add it to a running stove so it evaporates quickly. Maybe just let it drip into the hot coals, kinda like a candle.