Outdoor waste oil boiler project

[mike_belben]

This is my 2nd winter farting around with this evolving project that has a lot of parameters to tweek to make it suit my unique stack of problems just right. 

The boiler tank itself is an adaptation from an image someone here graciously PM'd me of a commercial wood boiler they owned.  Ive developed it by trial and error error error into sort of an on demand tankless water heater circulating less than 10 gallons of glycol through a car radiator, burning dirty old red diesel for now, working towards straight motor oil which i have drum after drum of to use up.  It heats the old camper we started in that has basically become our outhouse and kitchen. We live in a cabin with a woodstove now, whos bathroom is still under construction.

Here is where i was at yesterday.  Working on blast tube and retention head setup today, as well as hanging 2 permanent fuel tanks. One for startup oil and one for primary fuel, just incase i cant get it to start on straight oil.

Please dont disclose my location or identity in the comments. I dont need some jihadi hunting down my family over my preaching habit.

HomeMade Outdoor Waste Oil Boiler - YouTube

[Southside]

That looks slick Mike!

[mike_belben]

Today i built a blast tube welded to the retention head and got a mean burn but now i have a boilover issue and i think my pump just has to get moved down low.  I think its getting sporadically airbound from accumulating bubbles up high in the system.  When its working right it works great but then it can just totally change. 

Inconsistent is a major bug in a heating appliance. Go figure.

[LeeB]

What are you using for a blower?

[mike_belben]

Air siphons the fuel oil and blasts flame into a homemade burn box with integrated water chamber.  Taco 007 pumps it to an automotive radiator and back.  Radiator sits onto a regular household box fan set to low, laid down, which together are sitting on 4" of dunnage so that the ground level air gets sucked up and pushed thru the radiator and blasted at the floor above it.

That is all in the underbody storage area of the camper blowing at the plumbing and to some degree throughout the whole "basement" which keeps the plumbing and tanks from freezing and eventually warms the floors and living space in that cozy way that only radiant, mass based heating can do. Unlike forced air which i hate.  The forced air in campers is awful anyhow. Everything about campers sucks unless you are living in a car or tent.

The original furnace consumed i dunno, 5 blower motors or so? It was fun to wake up at 4am with a frozen nose in the beginning, when the motors were $79 amazon specials.  When covid turned them to $200 and theyd only last a few months i took the *DanG thing out and said this will force me to be creative. Camper furnace motors have bushings, not bearings.  A camper furnace will run 24/7 once you get to freezing temps. Never met a 24/7 bushing before.

  All the forced air did was make it so that the "upstairs" was warm enough for your frozen feet to be angry at your warm head. The plumbing would still freeze and the propane bill was like $200 a month.  You cant be an efficient poor person shelling out that kinda money while the toilet and shower are frozen for a week so i started this as an as needed defroster project that evolved. 

[LeeB]

I guess my question was not very clear. Do you use some kind of forced air at the burner? Years ago when I worked on land drilling rigs we had diesel drip heaters with compressed air to keep it burning.

[Hilltop366]

If you only lived closer.....  I've got pot burners and oil fired water heaters just sitting around. Probably could scrounge up an old oil fired boiler too if I look around.

[mike_belben]

I guess my question was not very clear. Do you use some kind of forced air at the burner?

Yes, the burner is a manufactured air siphon waste oil nozzle.  Compressed air blows fuel particles thru an atomizer nozzle and retention head.

I thought you meant what forces the air out of the hydronic radiator.

[DavidDeBord]

Wow!

You absolutely are talented Mike!

Do You have an HVAC Background? How do You protect this unit against the Weather, especially since your controls 7 pump do not appear to be "Outdoor rated"?

Do You intend to add a rain cap to your stack? As far as a "Back flow valve", have you thought about adding an independent "check valve"? Still watching the video, but do you have at least one "Relief Valve"?

Have you thought about adding radiator bleed valves so as to get rid of any "trapped air"?

All in all,.... Although it couldn't be installed for a Customer of mine,.... Sir, I am impressed!