Storm Norm Leduc first off. I have to say you have saved me quite a bit of time, sweat and frustration. Most importantly for something that many touted as cheap and easy seeing what you must have spent in buying parts just trying to get it to work, all that, for me, would have defeated my purpose. Mine being to help heat my family home. I am running one in South Central Pa. I have used old (like 20 year old) Kerosene, new kerosene and about 2/3rds of a gallon old fry oil mixed to one gallon with new kero. That mix got notably warmer. I simply use a water separating fuel funnel to filter the old and new kero out. It has some mesh that helps keep dirt and deposits out also. ORIGINALLY I was about to put used motor oil in my unit. Then I FOUND YOUR CHANNEL and decided to see how you fair. I am sorry to see your frustrations however ya saved me the headache. I wouldn't have the cash and time to have fixed it after it got gummed up the first time. I'll stick to kero and diesel. I will keep watching your videos though.
Take some of the soot you collect from the burn tube and see which cleaning product dissolves it in a jar, this way you 'know' what will work best? Also if you can run your heater on full power with kerosene for the first 10 minutes and the last hour of use this will keep it cleaner. Regards from the UK. 🇬🇧
Hello Storm; I always run my heater on full blast and NEVER turn it down when running WMO. They just work better that way. I don't have quite the wet oily build up that you have, but I get a real hard chunk of carbon and a real thick like powder soot in my burn chamber. A little pickin and grin in an the carbons mostly gone. I use a 2 micron filter in all my Cummins and I don't filter it at all after that! I use a 60/40 mix for now but hope to run a little more richer mixture in the future but don't want to push it. I preferred the Cast Aluminum housing for better heat displacement. I also use a Glass Bead Machine to clean my burn chamber. I first blow them out with compressed air and then use Brake Cleaner (or whatever) and a parts brush to clean them out before I Glass Bead them. Always start them on diesel and shut them off on diesel. Keeping that burn chamber HOT and clean is key!!! Once You get Your Afterburner You will be able to have more control of your Heater. You are going to really like it. Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your Adventure. Really enjoy Your content🙏🏻👍
I used to run waste oil in my diesel... id cut the wmo with 10% rug. Mix and let it sit for a week. Then filter it down to 5 micron. Then blend that 3:1 with regular diesel.... never had a coking issue
Hello! I don't think the carbon build up is created by carbon particles in the oil. I believe it's just a by-product of the oil burning. Those heaters are tuned for diesel, not oil burning, so the air/fuel mixture is almost perfect for diesel, but not for used oil :( But the filtering test is worth a try, at least to see if the oil can be cleaned and maybe you can get a better result! So please go on and skip any bad criticism! People often forget that our fiddling and hacking is basically for FUN :) and yes, we're having fun with those heaters. At least, I am! :) Cheers from Sicilia, Italy, and happy holidays and I wish you all the best for the new year!!!
I would really recommend drawing air from outside so there is no negative pressure in the room that way there is no chance of exhaust coming in through cracks and such I know it's not that big of thing especially in a big room It's just another layer of safety Really did enjoy the video
Unfortunately, there is really no way to scrub the carbon from WMO, aside from redistilling it. Settling with gas, and filtering to 1 micron is good enough for old diesel trucks (which still can experience carbon buildup if not started/stopped on diesel. Even the expensive centrifuge setups have a jet black output - the small carbon molecules are much smaller than a micron. More heat and more air is the best option. Reducing the length of, expanding the dimeter of, or eliminating the intake tube may help with throughput in the combustion chamber - the same applies for the exhaust (except eliminating is not really an option).
I’ve just watched a video by hobbychanel Germany and he has an interesting mod to make burn chamber cleaning much quicker . Might be worth a look . Note spelling is correct! He cuts the burn tube on the outside of the burn chamber. Seems to be using 50% and a pretty lean mixture. Starts and stops on diesel. Hope this helps
I was going to set my heater up to run a 10% used oil mix. Start on pure diesel, switch to mixed and run on high, then pure diesel before shut off. Really not sure whether it's worth doing as it seems like a lot of hassle to clean every 60 hours if that's the case. I've been running the heater on low for most of the day without any issues so think I might just try and pick up some red diesel to make it cheaper.
If you want (or need) to burn hotter or at least at a higher setting, why not just simply make a hole in the wall so the heater can take the outside air and heat that...the heater needs to work harder that way and it is not recycling the inside air and being efficient and all...I mean, why make it hard on yourself when you can just make it harder for the heater to warm up the place and in doing so make it burn cleaner...it's waste oil so it's free and so you don't have to save money on running it on low settings 🤷🏻♂️👍🏻
I Managed to get my inner ring out. It is crazy how much crap was behind it. It looks like mine is the newer model burn tube. The ring was welded in, and it looks further away from the back plate. To get mine out, I took a die grinder to the weld, then smacked it with a 10 lb sledge and a perfect size drift (around2"). then (and this is a big deal) you flip the ring 90 degrees. grab it with long needle nose pliers. it came out. bent, but reuseable. that took me 12 hours just to get the ring out. Another note, the outer pipe was a smaller diameter than the pipe, where the ring was initially sitting. its why I had to flip the ring to get it out.
The best way to burn any type of waste oil is burner on babington principle. No filter, low pressure air, one pump and tank for heating oil....there is also cheap chinese nozzle which doing this job good...good luck
Im wondering if is worth dealing with all the problems for just 15% used oil in my country Bulgaria for 1 kw of electricity the price is 0.17 Euro 💶 the diesel is 1.55Euro/L so my theory is as follows for one kW of electricity heat i pay 0.17 per hour but if i used my diesel heater ("8kW") on pure diesel on the lowest setting which is about 140ml im paying just 0.019 euros per Kw energy. For me the interesting question is can we use Methanol in those diesel heatera in one of your previous videos you shared that Methanol is very expensive in the US but in my country the price is just one euro per liter (this will make significant difference on the heating bills)
Hey Leduc, thanks for taking the time, having the perseverance and investing money for your attempts at to use of waste oil. I'm not a chemist but maybe you can investigate trying to separate the precipitate out of the solution which is in the waste oil. You may also need to extract through a chemical reaction whatever chemical out of the waste oil that is causing all your problems. Hey, I have an idea, since your spending all that money to find the answer for using waste oil why don't you try new clean engine oil to see if it works better.
brother I'm trying to help you out but i don't know if your not seeing my comments or what. It is -11 where i live right now i cracked mine open a few days ago after running 2 years straight and it was so clean i could see aluminum i don't know how your oil guy isn't explaining this you cant just run used oil without refinement i have 20+ years experience with diesel,gas and Lp engines you have to understand that lubricant is designed to hold up to high temps with minimal flashing motor oil hydraulic oil all have additives to prevent flashing and promote cooling allot of people don't know that in a engine no matter diesel or gas the pistons are cooled via the oil quenching the bottom of the pistons in order for oil to survive a running engine it needs to be resistant to high temps oil has a mineral base that's what your after but you have to remove the additives the buildup you keep cleaning out of the chamber is the exact same thing i find in severely over heated engines i left you a link on a comment a while back on the basics of how to refine any kind of oil back to its mineral base that's the key and if your not able to do that then buy home heating oil AKA #2 diesel not kerosene a 55gal drum is around $150 where i live.
@james duffus thanks for the insight about refining. Can you share the link about the basics of refining oil back to its mineral base? I went through a lot of Norms videos (I think all of them) and cannot find your comment with the link. Thanks again.
Did you see the video, where a guy used a stainless steel mesh, at the base of the burn chamber, to stop the buildup by 98% The name of the video is "Modifications required to run a diesel heater on waste oil", by "Hobbychanel Germany"
I saw that vid, my main takeaway was that the heater will need cleaning burning oil, here are the modifications to make that as easy to do as possible.
try a cylinder hone. I haven't needed to do it yet but that's my plan. As far as filtration you might want to try a Frantz toilet paper bypass filter. Someone made a larger version that used a roll of paper towels for the element but I don't remember the brand.
The core problem is that the oil you're trying to burn is designed not to. Contained within waste oil is volatiles which will burn, but leave a carbon residue on the mesh. Even if this got hot enough to combust the carbon, you'd still get ash which would soak up the unburnt oil as the heater continues to pump it in. The mesh is at the coolest part of the flame, the hottest part being blown down the burn chamber tube. In fact, as a mesh evaporates diesel as it should using that fuel, it's temperature is slightly lower due to the evaporation taking place. In waste oil burning, the flow rate of the fuel should match the combustion rate of burn so no build up of unburnt oil happens. In these heaters, the mesh gets saturated. This leads to potentially dangerous problems.
Norm, I continue to appreciate all the work you do on this, and the fact you try suggestions you feel are worthwhile. Did some quick research, claims are that carbon is all the way down to 1/10 of a micron. However 1-5 microns is a common size, if filtering to 1 micron takes out a fair bit of carbon, maybe its still worth it? I'm curious if slowing down pump flow without reducing airflow would bring the temps up enough to prevent some of the issues. Is that possible by "tricking" the unit by reducing voltage to the pump since this isn't adjustable on your unit? Frustrating as it seems that so much of the problem occurs where the fuel enters the unit. Is that something that would be affected by burn temperature or not? It's obviously not viscosity as an issue if you are thinner than diesel already.
🤔 I wonder if a small percentage of E85 blended with the Oil / Diesel mix, would help with a cleaner burn, 😉 or maybe small amount of acetone. 🤪👍 Don't Go Boom! 💥
Generally to get the carbon to convert to CO2 higher volumes of air are required a conventional waste oil burner uses air to atomize the oil better to help it burn getting more oxygen to the vapor to oxidize the carbon
I think you are 100% correct about the carbon. What about instead of trying to get the carbon out of the oil. Just put transmission fluid, or seafoam to deal with the buildup during the run?
Have you changed the voltage to the heater? Yesterday I saw a Video on running 13-14 volts or so will speed up your fan and may help with extra fan/more air for better air in your air fuel mixture maybe get your temp up!!! Hope this helps!!! I haven’t gotten into ease oil yet on mine. I have a small batch coming though.
Removing that screen may increase your airflow out of the heater, but it also reduces your burn chamber temperature. I'm not sure that's the direction you want to go.
If you cut the tube just below the washer, could you make an adjustable tube length by adding a sleeve so the washer part can move away from the clogged area? If that makes sense.... 😀
Do either of the meshes have a catalyst metal on their surface? Usually a microgram of platinum or palladium would have have a major effect but be invisible, but a catalyst would put the flame where the designer wanted until it's coked up or poisoned. ...
I did the same thing at 15:12 and it's a game changer. Has nothing do with the flame out, but hey, nice trick as long as ur heater isn't getting crap in it like mine picks up, but mine is on the ground and sounds like it's playing ping pong sometimes when debri gets into it, lol.
That washer "as you call it" at the bottom of the burn chamber is not a washer it's a cap if you put an angled pick under the between the cap and the centrepiece and slowly pull on it from side to side it will come out there is a wire mesh under it that gets clogged up and needs cleaning
I ordered one of these and started it outside as a precaution. After starting it for the first time 2 vendors from Rogers came to my door and after 5 minutes into the conversation I had to let them go because the wind was pushing the exhaust gases towards the intake and I had a diesel runway. I thought the thing was going to blow up.
Hi Norm, I’m wondering if the carbon is at a molecular level rather than a filterable level(I made that word up😅). I think, but I don’t know, that it’s not the larger particles that are causing the problems, it’s the chemical composition? Like I said, I don’t know but all your hard work is making me think that way. 👍
Have you considered trying if heater will burn cleanly using new engine oil mixed with diesel or kerosene? I have tried used engine oil but gave up and had to cut open two burners to clean them out using propane heat, pressure washer and sonic cleaner. Have found used engine oil burns fine in my wood burner.
I had my heater running for 20 hours on 30% diesel and 70% used oil. The third day wouldn’t start I’m having the same problem that you are having. All fall of trash.
Have you ever considered starting it on diesel or Kerosene and getting it good and hot then switching to a your oil mixture then before shutdown switching back to diesel/kerosene and maybe some alcohol or naptha and getting it hot again before shutdown? Maybe that will help reduce the hydrocarbons.
I really think your best option would be to buy a 2kw heater running on full whack, should be able to get your oil % up to 50%. Not sure about your controller but also some have an extra menu where you can change the fuel rate and the fan speed. The fan speed should be set to max and the fuel rate needs to be brought down.
I agree if running on an alternative to diesel, but generally increasing fan speed put more heat down the exhaust. I've tried and given up on anything other than the intended fuel, it's frustrating and a waste of my time to have to tear it down every few hours and eventually replace the burn chamber. I've been there and done it. My settings are as slow a fan speed as I can just above smoking point to keep the heat in the heat exchanger.
@@yodab.at1746 interesting, what exactly is the downside to having a hotter exhaust? Obviously you will loose heat, but I have a system that makes use of the heat from the exhaust, making it not an issue. Do you experience anything else other than that?
I have watched quite a fuel black diesel videos. They talk about using stale gasoline as it lost it's octane and doesn't burn off so quick. Maybe you could get some free from a junkyard and give it a try.
how are you filtering the oil? its more less too thick ,. has too much coke in the oil from soot. i have been doing testing on oil for years from 1999 to today best of luck
Hey Storm, take a look at Hobbychanel Germany channel on his modifications for waste oil. He cut the end of the tube off and now the cleaning is dead easy, plus changing the inner mesh easily. I think it's the way to go with these for waste oil. I will post a link, but it will probably be removed
What if we inject some pure O2 to increase the air fuel mixture and also increase the burn chamber temp? I am going to try that using my Oxy / Acetylene torch to just see? Keep up the great work.
By chance are you burning a synthetic motor oil in this? Because I know of I a guy that burns waste oil in his shop he doesn't like burning synthetic oil because it doesn't burn good and just basically does what your having in his big fuel oil furnace in his shop!!! I personally seen the burner when he was cleaning it
I found a solution for me. Try a 50 50 mix but use a dual tank setup to start on diesel. Also I cut the back of the Burner and riped out the mesh. Just put in a peace of stainless mesh every time you clean it. The cut back end is hold on by a wire tied to the bolts. I hope I did help at least a little bit. If you warnt pictures of a viedeo please text me.
Filter the carbon out of oil 🤣🤣🤣🤣 that's what oil is its carbon 85% is carbon. You won't burn heavy oil efficiently in these types of burners, the burner is too small, can't supply enough oxygen and don't atomise the oil enough and you need to pre heat the oil to at least 90c.. The carbon build up is unburnt fuel due to the lack of the above. I've worked on heavy oil boilers for 20 years and just having one thing out of trim creates huge amounts of smoke and carbon build up.
Hey Storm.....i found the holy grail for your need to burn waste oil. Since you are pretty handy with a welder, etc, this will be easy to make. Take a look at this guy's video of his 100% burn on waste oil. It has blown air that burns with a rotating burn blue flame and NO smoke from the flue at all. I think you could make this easily and use a hair dryer for the intake air. It is the absolutely best burn i have ever seen and he should patent it. It will burn ALL your waste oil with no issues and no tough cleaning. I can't paste a link as TH-cam just deletes my entire comment, so can only give his channel name. The video i mean is 4 years old, so scroll through. Here: 道楽道場 Dawlac Dojyo
Ok next we need to add diesel emission injection system, set the regen for every 30 mins and we are golden. LOL Or we inject methanol. We will get those burn chamber walls clean.
Video I saw of hydraulic fluid being burned showed the burn temp needed to be higher through adjustments, which I don't think Norm can do on his. But even afterwards, the hydraulic oil coked up the heater too.
@@Storman77 in that video I am running 5-10% gasoline the rest is waste oil that was ran through a centrifuge, idon't think that is required tho. I welded another tube to the side of the oil line to inject the air. Atomizing the air inside of the chamber seems to make a large difference without it the flame is rather lazy. I think the oil is actually puddling behind the flame retention washer and that is what is leading to the coking. You can tell by the way it gives me a large flame after I initially start applying the air but it then settles down a bit after that puddle has burnt. It doesn't take much air at all just enough to get the amount of fuel that is injected to burn.
@@Storman77 my air compressor is set to 60 psi currently but I'm not giving it full air flow but I can't tell you what I'm giving it currently. In my real waste oil burner I know I only give it around 8-10psi tho. I'm injecting the air right into the stainless fuel line. I got crazy and welded a second tube to it but honestly you could get away with putting in a tee right at the inlet. The fuel pump has no problem overcoming the pressure being positive displacement. I can send you a picture of my modified burner if you would like. I do know while I had my burner out I blew air into the tube I welded in and it did create a vacuum on the fuel inlet line so I must have done something right with the angle I put it in. Not sure if you would get those results just with a tee
Have a look at this video, seems like a good idea to make cleaning easier and also a few setting the take note off. th-cam.com/video/SZnAp_gBP3Q/w-d-xo.html
As much as enjoyed your video life is too short and time toooo valuable ! If you want a experimental subject fine but you said you don't know what's going on ...... Your running it on dirty oil is what's wrong !!!!! Iv ran my heater for 4 winters on kerro for 3 months streight without out an issue !!! And my friend Simon has ran his for 2 winters he sets his on auto and it just runs all winter too and his is outside with a setup like yours , mine is an all inclusive box type which runs my sunroom so undercover . It appears Meby your jet is squirting not spraying as it's water thin even kerro is 28sec and diesel is 32 sec thickness and your thinner (has) petal is separating with the heat and burning off quicker than the oil it's not designed for that duel fuel mixture !!! Try the same mix but with kerro and 15% oil this will still have the diesel rated burn rate but your thinking it up to near the 32sec thickness that your jet needs to make a spray pattern !!!!!
Hmm,, are you using wasteoil from "diesel cars"? I using now only wasteoil fron petrol engine cars, in diesel engines is to much soot, and as I wrote before did you try with 50%E85 + 50% wasteoil/petrolengines, MIX FIRST than filtering.
Storm Norm Leduc first off. I have to say you have saved me quite a bit of time, sweat and frustration. Most importantly for something that many touted as cheap and easy seeing what you must have spent in buying parts just trying to get it to work, all that, for me, would have defeated my purpose. Mine being to help heat my family home. I am running one in South Central Pa. I have used old (like 20 year old) Kerosene, new kerosene and about 2/3rds of a gallon old fry oil mixed to one gallon with new kero. That mix got notably warmer. I simply use a water separating fuel funnel to filter the old and new kero out. It has some mesh that helps keep dirt and deposits out also. ORIGINALLY I was about to put used motor oil in my unit. Then I FOUND YOUR CHANNEL and decided to see how you fair. I am sorry to see your frustrations however ya saved me the headache. I wouldn't have the cash and time to have fixed it after it got gummed up the first time. I'll stick to kero and diesel. I will keep watching your videos though.
Run 5 liters of new oil to se if particles is the problem. Great videos, thanks for them!
Take some of the soot you collect from the burn tube and see which cleaning product dissolves it in a jar, this way you 'know' what will work best?
Also if you can run your heater on full power with kerosene for the first 10 minutes and the last hour of use this will keep it cleaner.
Regards from the UK. 🇬🇧
Hello Storm; I always run my heater on full blast and NEVER turn it down when running WMO. They just work better that way.
I don't have quite the wet oily build up that you have, but I get a real hard chunk of carbon and a real thick like powder soot in my burn chamber. A little pickin and grin in an the carbons mostly gone. I use a 2 micron filter in all my Cummins and I don't filter it at all after that! I use a 60/40 mix for now but hope to run a little more richer mixture in the future but don't want to push it.
I preferred the Cast Aluminum housing for better heat displacement. I also use a Glass Bead Machine to clean my burn chamber.
I first blow them out with compressed air and then use Brake Cleaner (or whatever) and a parts brush to clean them out before I Glass Bead them. Always start them on diesel and shut them off on diesel. Keeping that burn chamber HOT and clean is key!!!
Once You get Your Afterburner You will be able to have more control of your Heater. You are going to really like it.
Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing your Adventure. Really enjoy Your content🙏🏻👍
Glass bead machine.....now that's the way to go.
They're called diesel heaters for a reason!
my chamber burns clean of soot when i throw it in my firestove and burn the whole thing red/white hot
I used to run waste oil in my diesel... id cut the wmo with 10% rug. Mix and let it sit for a week. Then filter it down to 5 micron. Then blend that 3:1 with regular diesel.... never had a coking issue
Hello! I don't think the carbon build up is created by carbon particles in the oil. I believe it's just a by-product of the oil burning. Those heaters are tuned for diesel, not oil burning, so the air/fuel mixture is almost perfect for diesel, but not for used oil :(
But the filtering test is worth a try, at least to see if the oil can be cleaned and maybe you can get a better result! So please go on and skip any bad criticism!
People often forget that our fiddling and hacking is basically for FUN :) and yes, we're having fun with those heaters. At least, I am! :)
Cheers from Sicilia, Italy, and happy holidays and I wish you all the best for the new year!!!
I have seen someone take out the inner ring of the combustion chamber and then it looks quite easy to clean inside.
I would really recommend drawing air from outside so there is no negative pressure in the room that way there is no chance of exhaust coming in through cracks and such
I know it's not that big of thing especially in a big room
It's just another layer of safety
Really did enjoy the video
Unfortunately, there is really no way to scrub the carbon from WMO, aside from redistilling it. Settling with gas, and filtering to 1 micron is good enough for old diesel trucks (which still can experience carbon buildup if not started/stopped on diesel. Even the expensive centrifuge setups have a jet black output - the small carbon molecules are much smaller than a micron. More heat and more air is the best option. Reducing the length of, expanding the dimeter of, or eliminating the intake tube may help with throughput in the combustion chamber - the same applies for the exhaust (except eliminating is not really an option).
I’ve just watched a video by hobbychanel Germany and he has an interesting mod to make burn chamber cleaning much quicker . Might be worth a look . Note spelling is correct! He cuts the burn tube on the outside of the burn chamber. Seems to be using 50% and a pretty lean mixture. Starts and stops on diesel. Hope this helps
Think unwise to remove screen at air inlet of heater. Will improve air flow but will also cool down heater causing more build up of soot.
I was going to set my heater up to run a 10% used oil mix. Start on pure diesel, switch to mixed and run on high, then pure diesel before shut off. Really not sure whether it's worth doing as it seems like a lot of hassle to clean every 60 hours if that's the case. I've been running the heater on low for most of the day without any issues so think I might just try and pick up some red diesel to make it cheaper.
If you want (or need) to burn hotter or at least at a higher setting, why not just simply make a hole in the wall so the heater can take the outside air and heat that...the heater needs to work harder that way and it is not recycling the inside air and being efficient and all...I mean, why make it hard on yourself when you can just make it harder for the heater to warm up the place and in doing so make it burn cleaner...it's waste oil so it's free and so you don't have to save money on running it on low settings 🤷🏻♂️👍🏻
I Managed to get my inner ring out. It is crazy how much crap was behind it. It looks like mine is the newer model burn tube. The ring was welded in, and it looks further away from the back plate. To get mine out, I took a die grinder to the weld, then smacked it with a 10 lb sledge and a perfect size drift (around2"). then (and this is a big deal) you flip the ring 90 degrees. grab it with long needle nose pliers. it came out. bent, but reuseable. that took me 12 hours just to get the ring out. Another note, the outer pipe was a smaller diameter than the pipe, where the ring was initially sitting. its why I had to flip the ring to get it out.
The best way to burn any type of waste oil is burner on babington principle. No filter, low pressure air, one pump and tank for heating oil....there is also cheap chinese nozzle which doing this job good...good luck
Im wondering if is worth dealing with all the problems for just 15% used oil in my country Bulgaria for 1 kw of electricity the price is 0.17 Euro 💶 the diesel is 1.55Euro/L so my theory is as follows for one kW of electricity heat i pay 0.17 per hour but if i used my diesel heater ("8kW") on pure diesel on the lowest setting which is about 140ml im paying just 0.019 euros per Kw energy. For me the interesting question is can we use Methanol in those diesel heatera in one of your previous videos you shared that Methanol is very expensive in the US but in my country the price is just one euro per liter (this will make significant difference on the heating bills)
Hey Leduc, thanks for taking the time, having the perseverance and investing money for your attempts at to use of waste oil. I'm not a chemist but maybe you can investigate trying to separate the precipitate out of the solution which is in the waste oil. You may also need to extract through a chemical reaction whatever chemical out of the waste oil that is causing all your problems. Hey, I have an idea, since your spending all that money to find the answer for using waste oil why don't you try new clean engine oil to see if it works better.
brother I'm trying to help you out but i don't know if your not seeing my comments or what. It is -11 where i live right now i cracked mine open a few days ago after running 2 years straight and it was so clean i could see aluminum i don't know how your oil guy isn't explaining this you cant just run used oil without refinement i have 20+ years experience with diesel,gas and Lp engines you have to understand that lubricant is designed to hold up to high temps with minimal flashing motor oil hydraulic oil all have additives to prevent flashing and promote cooling allot of people don't know that in a engine no matter diesel or gas the pistons are cooled via the oil quenching the bottom of the pistons in order for oil to survive a running engine it needs to be resistant to high temps oil has a mineral base that's what your after but you have to remove the additives the buildup you keep cleaning out of the chamber is the exact same thing i find in severely over heated engines i left you a link on a comment a while back on the basics of how to refine any kind of oil back to its mineral base that's the key and if your not able to do that then buy home heating oil AKA #2 diesel not kerosene a 55gal drum is around $150 where i live.
@james duffus thanks for the insight about refining. Can you share the link about the basics of refining oil back to its mineral base? I went through a lot of Norms videos (I think all of them) and cannot find your comment with the link. Thanks again.
I don’t run waste oil anymore. I will need to heavily refine and do more research. Been 3 weeks and zero issues on diesel oil . Thanks
You need a 2kw so you can just run it flat out all the time. Garenteed that would fix your problem
Did you see the video, where a guy used a stainless steel mesh, at the base of the burn chamber, to stop the buildup by 98%
The name of the video is "Modifications required to run a diesel heater on waste oil", by "Hobbychanel Germany"
Thanks I will look that up
I saw that vid, my main takeaway was that the heater will need cleaning burning oil, here are the modifications to make that as easy to do as possible.
try a cylinder hone. I haven't needed to do it yet but that's my plan. As far as filtration you might want to try a Frantz toilet paper bypass filter. Someone made a larger version that used a roll of paper towels for the element but I don't remember the brand.
The core problem is that the oil you're trying to burn is designed not to. Contained within waste oil is volatiles which will burn, but leave a carbon residue on the mesh. Even if this got hot enough to combust the carbon, you'd still get ash which would soak up the unburnt oil as the heater continues to pump it in. The mesh is at the coolest part of the flame, the hottest part being blown down the burn chamber tube. In fact, as a mesh evaporates diesel as it should using that fuel, it's temperature is slightly lower due to the evaporation taking place. In waste oil burning, the flow rate of the fuel should match the combustion rate of burn so no build up of unburnt oil happens. In these heaters, the mesh gets saturated. This leads to potentially dangerous problems.
Norm, I continue to appreciate all the work you do on this, and the fact you try suggestions you feel are worthwhile.
Did some quick research, claims are that carbon is all the way down to 1/10 of a micron. However 1-5 microns is a common size, if filtering to 1 micron takes out a fair bit of carbon, maybe its still worth it?
I'm curious if slowing down pump flow without reducing airflow would bring the temps up enough to prevent some of the issues. Is that possible by "tricking" the unit by reducing voltage to the pump since this isn't adjustable on your unit?
Frustrating as it seems that so much of the problem occurs where the fuel enters the unit. Is that something that would be affected by burn temperature or not? It's obviously not viscosity as an issue if you are thinner than diesel already.
🤔 I wonder if a small percentage of E85 blended with the Oil / Diesel mix, would help with a cleaner burn, 😉 or maybe small amount of acetone. 🤪👍 Don't Go Boom! 💥
Generally to get the carbon to convert to CO2 higher volumes of air are required a conventional waste oil burner uses air to atomize the oil better to help it burn getting more oxygen to the vapor to oxidize the carbon
I think you are 100% correct about the carbon. What about instead of trying to get the carbon out of the oil. Just put transmission fluid, or seafoam to deal with the buildup during the run?
Have you changed the voltage to the heater? Yesterday I saw a Video on running 13-14 volts or so will speed up your fan and may help with extra fan/more air for better air in your air fuel mixture maybe get your temp up!!! Hope this helps!!! I haven’t gotten into ease oil yet on mine. I have a small batch coming though.
Removing that screen may increase your airflow out of the heater, but it also reduces your burn chamber temperature. I'm not sure that's the direction you want to go.
If you cut the tube just below the washer, could you make an adjustable tube length by adding a sleeve so the washer part can move away from the clogged area? If that makes sense.... 😀
Just got a diesel heater
I'm in auto engines
And you can get read of carbion
With water
Maybe have two pumps
To add water
Do either of the meshes have a catalyst metal on their surface? Usually a microgram of platinum or palladium would have have a major effect but be invisible, but a catalyst would put the flame where the designer wanted until it's coked up or poisoned. ...
I did the same thing at 15:12 and it's a game changer. Has nothing do with the flame out, but hey, nice trick as long as ur heater isn't getting crap in it like mine picks up, but mine is on the ground and sounds like it's playing ping pong sometimes when debri gets into it, lol.
That washer "as you call it" at the bottom of the burn chamber is not a washer it's a cap if you put an angled pick under the between the cap and the centrepiece and slowly pull on it from side to side it will come out there is a wire mesh under it that gets clogged up and needs cleaning
I ordered one of these and started it outside as a precaution. After starting it for the first time 2 vendors from Rogers came to my door and after 5 minutes into the conversation I had to let them go because the wind was pushing the exhaust gases towards the intake and I had a diesel runway. I thought the thing was going to blow up.
You need to heat the fuel mix before it goes in heater
I do heat it up to 180 f
The cleaner the waste oil may burn cleaner and always run them on high .
Hi Norm, I’m wondering if the carbon is at a molecular level rather than a filterable level(I made that word up😅). I think, but I don’t know, that it’s not the larger particles that are causing the problems, it’s the chemical composition? Like I said, I don’t know but all your hard work is making me think that way. 👍
I think you are right.
Have you considered trying if heater will burn cleanly using new engine oil mixed with diesel or kerosene?
I have tried used engine oil but gave up and had to cut open two burners to clean them out using propane heat, pressure washer and sonic cleaner.
Have found used engine oil burns fine in my wood burner.
Any updates on the heater? Have you given up on using waste oil? I look forward to new videos.
I had my heater running for 20 hours on 30% diesel and 70% used oil. The third day wouldn’t start I’m having the same problem that you are having. All fall of trash.
Have you ever considered starting it on diesel or Kerosene and getting it good and hot then switching to a your oil mixture then before shutdown switching back to diesel/kerosene and maybe some alcohol or naptha and getting it hot again before shutdown? Maybe that will help reduce the hydrocarbons.
I really think your best option would be to buy a 2kw heater running on full whack, should be able to get your oil % up to 50%. Not sure about your controller but also some have an extra menu where you can change the fuel rate and the fan speed. The fan speed should be set to max and the fuel rate needs to be brought down.
I agree if running on an alternative to diesel, but generally increasing fan speed put more heat down the exhaust. I've tried and given up on anything other than the intended fuel, it's frustrating and a waste of my time to have to tear it down every few hours and eventually replace the burn chamber. I've been there and done it. My settings are as slow a fan speed as I can just above smoking point to keep the heat in the heat exchanger.
@@yodab.at1746 interesting, what exactly is the downside to having a hotter exhaust? Obviously you will loose heat, but I have a system that makes use of the heat from the exhaust, making it not an issue. Do you experience anything else other than that?
@@modzzjust4u if you are able to recover the heat, then all good. Most people can't/don't.
I have watched quite a fuel black diesel videos. They talk about using stale gasoline as it lost it's octane and doesn't burn off so quick. Maybe you could get some free from a junkyard and give it a try.
how are you filtering the oil? its more less too thick ,. has too much coke in the oil from soot. i have been doing testing on oil for years from 1999 to today best of luck
Try blowier in it get it hot when its starts acting up get it red hot ? Clean it out?
.
To get a remarkable smooth surfaces hone.
.
Hey Storm, take a look at Hobbychanel Germany channel on his modifications for waste oil. He cut the end of the tube off and now the cleaning is dead easy, plus changing the inner mesh easily. I think it's the way to go with these for waste oil. I will post a link, but it will probably be removed
What if we inject some pure O2 to increase the air fuel mixture and also increase the burn chamber temp? I am going to try that using my Oxy / Acetylene torch to just see?
Keep up the great work.
If you do that it'd get so GD hot you'd probably turn the heater into a molten pile of metal.
too expensive of an option..
By chance are you burning a synthetic motor oil in this? Because I know of I a guy that burns waste oil in his shop he doesn't like burning synthetic oil because it doesn't burn good and just basically does what your having in his big fuel oil furnace in his shop!!! I personally seen the burner when he was cleaning it
I found a solution for me.
Try a 50 50 mix but use a dual tank setup to start on diesel.
Also I cut the back of the Burner and riped out the mesh. Just put in a peace of stainless mesh every time you clean it. The cut back end is hold on by a wire tied to the bolts.
I hope I did help at least a little bit.
If you warnt pictures of a viedeo please text me.
Ist makes cleaning so much easyer, faster and cheaper
We ALL want a video! :)
@@asbestomolesto th-cam.com/video/SZnAp_gBP3Q/w-d-xo.html
Have you tried running the waste oil through a centerfuge like in some of the black diesel videos?
I will take a look thanks
When will you Post another viedeo?
Hello, just a thought, Could you possibly use the dishwasher to clean the parts?
Filter the carbon out of oil 🤣🤣🤣🤣 that's what oil is its carbon 85% is carbon.
You won't burn heavy oil efficiently in these types of burners, the burner is too small, can't supply enough oxygen and don't atomise the oil enough and you need to pre heat the oil to at least 90c..
The carbon build up is unburnt fuel due to the lack of the above.
I've worked on heavy oil boilers for 20 years and just having one thing out of trim creates huge amounts of smoke and carbon build up.
Hey Storm.....i found the holy grail for your need to burn waste oil. Since you are pretty handy with a welder, etc, this will be easy to make. Take a look at this guy's video of his 100% burn on waste oil. It has blown air that burns with a rotating burn blue flame and NO smoke from the flue at all. I think you could make this easily and use a hair dryer for the intake air. It is the absolutely best burn i have ever seen and he should patent it. It will burn ALL your waste oil with no issues and no tough cleaning. I can't paste a link as TH-cam just deletes my entire comment, so can only give his channel name. The video i mean is 4 years old, so scroll through. Here: 道楽道場 Dawlac Dojyo
Ok next we need to add diesel emission injection system, set the regen for every 30 mins and we are golden. LOL Or we inject methanol. We will get those burn chamber walls clean.
Norm do you think used hydraulic fluid mixed with diesel fuel would burn cleaner than the used motor oil mix.
Video I saw of hydraulic fluid being burned showed the burn temp needed to be higher through adjustments, which I don't think Norm can do on his. But even afterwards, the hydraulic oil coked up the heater too.
Norm You should check out my short video called "waste oil Chinese diesel heater air injection test" you may find something interesting.
Will do Lance
@@Storman77 in that video I am running 5-10% gasoline the rest is waste oil that was ran through a centrifuge, idon't think that is required tho. I welded another tube to the side of the oil line to inject the air. Atomizing the air inside of the chamber seems to make a large difference without it the flame is rather lazy. I think the oil is actually puddling behind the flame retention washer and that is what is leading to the coking. You can tell by the way it gives me a large flame after I initially start applying the air but it then settles down a bit after that puddle has burnt. It doesn't take much air at all just enough to get the amount of fuel that is injected to burn.
@@lanceulbrich6249 I will totally check out your video . Thanks so much
@@lanceulbrich6249 where did you put that tube ? And how much air pressure you sending in? Have you got an air regulator turned way down ?
@@Storman77 my air compressor is set to 60 psi currently but I'm not giving it full air flow but I can't tell you what I'm giving it currently. In my real waste oil burner I know I only give it around 8-10psi tho. I'm injecting the air right into the stainless fuel line. I got crazy and welded a second tube to it but honestly you could get away with putting in a tee right at the inlet. The fuel pump has no problem overcoming the pressure being positive displacement. I can send you a picture of my modified burner if you would like. I do know while I had my burner out I blew air into the tube I welded in and it did create a vacuum on the fuel inlet line so I must have done something right with the angle I put it in. Not sure if you would get those results just with a tee
Hey, your music in the background is not helping with listening to what you want us to listen to.
I could not hear it for the noise in the background!!!
Have a look at this video, seems like a good idea to make cleaning easier and also a few setting the take note off. th-cam.com/video/SZnAp_gBP3Q/w-d-xo.html
As much as enjoyed your video life is too short and time toooo valuable ! If you want a experimental subject fine but you said you don't know what's going on ...... Your running it on dirty oil is what's wrong !!!!! Iv ran my heater for 4 winters on kerro for 3 months streight without out an issue !!! And my friend Simon has ran his for 2 winters he sets his on auto and it just runs all winter too and his is outside with a setup like yours , mine is an all inclusive box type which runs my sunroom so undercover . It appears Meby your jet is squirting not spraying as it's water thin even kerro is 28sec and diesel is 32 sec thickness and your thinner (has) petal is separating with the heat and burning off quicker than the oil it's not designed for that duel fuel mixture !!! Try the same mix but with kerro and 15% oil this will still have the diesel rated burn rate but your thinking it up to near the 32sec thickness that your jet needs to make a spray pattern !!!!!
All that crap and shit you done to it lol
ive just come across the video where he get the bottom out (16.36 mins into the video) th-cam.com/video/rxmpJ1nUGI0/w-d-xo.html
Nice mod for cleaning burn chamber: th-cam.com/video/SZnAp_gBP3Q/w-d-xo.html
Have you watched this video? ----> --th-cam.com/video/skZt0rTH-_c/w-d-xo.html
I am trying to run mine today on 50% / 50% kerosene and used engine oil. First day today and first 6hours going well!
Let me know how you make out pls
Hmm,, are you using wasteoil from "diesel cars"? I using now only wasteoil fron petrol engine cars, in diesel engines is to much soot, and as I wrote before did you try with 50%E85 + 50% wasteoil/petrolengines, MIX FIRST than filtering.