Waste-Oil Boilers

[ME27272727]

Anyone have experience with heating hot water waste oil boilers? I've seen them installed in automotive repair garages, but I don't have any practical design / construction experience with them. I proposed using them in a project similar in building type, but the owner shot it down because they are a "pain to maintain". However, if waste oil is readily available, and fuel oil / diesel is already on site in sufficient quantity as a backup source, it seems very feasible. Also, anyone know of the premium you pay to go from fuel oil to waste-oil capable boilers?

Thank you.

 

[LittleInch]

Define "waste oil".

Vegetable / cooking oils?
Dirty, carbonised Vehicle waste lubricating oil?
Something from a ship?

Filtrations, and variance in quality are two issues never mind the extra air you need to prevent coking and soot formation.

Like most things if you know what you're burning you can make the system accept it, but it's not a common fuel in a domestic / small industrial setting.

Remember - More details = better answers
Also: If you get a response it's polite to respond to it.

 

[ME27272727]

Automotive waste-oil from engine oil changes.

 

[itsmoked]

You must not be in California where the Air Quality Board would dispatch black helicopters to have you picked up and taken to a re-education camp for even considering this.

Do check with your local AHJ before spending much effort in this.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[ornerynorsk]

The forced air variety of waste oil heater is likely to be more common and available than a boiler system. A quick Googling of "waste oil heater" will produce sufficient results.

These used to be very common in automotive shops, more as a back-up than a main system.

It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.

 

[MintJulep]

About 3 minutes of Googling finds:

https://www.cleanburn.com/

http://www.kingbuilt.com/

http://www.thermobile.co.uk/products/

and a few more.

 

[chicopee]

I think that the OP is incorrect. What I believe he is to say is that garages have waste oil as fuel for suspended heater, boilers or furnaces. Clean Burn is one of the leading manufacturers of waste oil burners.

 

[chicopee]

Also if you intend to have such a set, I suggest that you have two filters in series since waste oil can be very dirty and would clog up the burner nozzle.

 

[willard3]

Either keep many spare oil filters or spare filters and nozzles

 

[chicopee]

Willard3's suggestion is good but labor intensive.