been gone for a while

[badcars2]

Just had a chance to stop by and see how everyone is doing. everytime i split wood my mind drifts back to this site. This is also the first time my kids have actually helped stack, they are 7 and 5.
As my body gets some age on it, 36 years, but i have not been very kind to myself in that time. I played with the idea of one of those big hydraulic log splitter. i only burn five cords a year in a earth stove fireplace insert with blowers, that i have converted for stand alone use.
A couple grand for a splitter seems to kind of defeat the purpose of saving money by burning wood. After today, we split about a cord, i again realize there is no satisfaction like splitting wood with a maul for your own use. The "heats you up twice" comes to mind.
Lets see to anyone who cares , a few updates that have happened since i was last here.
I fabbed up a waste oil burner for the garage, these things are cool, Free heat, does it get anybetter!
Building a new greenhouse, a 20x40, thinking of heating it with one of those barrel stoves that you make, looks like a neat project.
Anyhow, if you had the patience to read this far, i appreciate it. i realize this post was long winded, and i appologize for wasting bandwith, but it is good to be back!
Later!

 

[sundance]

Care to offer some details on the waste oil heater and its design?

Sundance

 

[badcars2]

waste oil heater

to the intersted party, here is the plans for the waste oil stove.
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_library/ethanol_motherearth/me7.html
the journey to forever also has other plans for waste oil stoves at this link, they are all on the same principal.
this thing will literally run you out of your shop with heat, and when it is up to temperature there is literally no smoke coming out of the flue.
just good, no nonsense free heat.

 

[hornett22]

welcome back badcars!

i used to have a lot of friends in Kingsport back in high school.wonder where they all went now.nice area.i miss those hills of East Tennessee! nothing like them.great people down there.can't get good biscuits and gravy here either! :greenchainsaw:

 

[KsWoodsMan]

I had been thinking about making one of these stoves.

I came up with a good 40 gal. gas heater. It was discarded, recently, because of a loose inlet fitting from the original install 2 years ago. I had wanted a fuel solenoid to thermostatically control the temperature in the shop. This required electricity meaning battery backup for power failures. Then considered using the original control valve from the unit. Breaking the circuit between the thermocouple to the control valve and putting a thermostat in-line with it. I'm getting ready to tear into the control valve to see if it might be able to handle fuels besides LP gas.

It has a pilot adjustment and I'm hoping it wont take much to "tee" that in after the flow valve. So the minimum and maximum output are separate. I'll probably have to rework the pilot passageways to get it to allow enough oil flow for minimum operation. Then adjust the maximum flow/temperature adjustment valve afterwards. The temperatures below the burner are considerably lower then those above it. I'm thinking I might be able to use the original control valve as a high temperature shutoff to keep the thing from going into meltdown but still allow the pilot to stay lit. I figure the thermocouple should stand the heat if it is installed right below the burner. There are a couple of 3/4" fittings in the right areas for this and a Brinkman cooker thermometer looks like it will thread right in so I can check this out easily when I get to that point.

Having the whole setup with a thermocouple should keep the bottom from filling up with fuel in the event that it goes out if left unattended. It might take a minute or two for it to quit but that time can be adjusted with the spacing distance between the burner and the thermocouple. When it's set right it will be primed with fuel in the burner waiting to be re-lit, without overflowing.

I'm imagining getting the kinks worked out on this before spring and having another one setup in my unfinished basement for next winter. My boys are liking the idea of warm floors and more wood to sell next season. Or is it they are looking forward to having 2-3 fewer cords to cut ? Either way, they are pitching in their help and we get to spend some time working on it together.

After that , I'm thinking ... wood kiln. Oh YEAH ! Premium kiln dried firewood anyone ?

 

[KsWoodsMan]

In our excitement to hear of what you had been upto and imparting your travels and adventures, your welcoming words were forgone.

Welcome Back !!!!

Not wanting to hijack your thread I'll hold off discussion of what I am trying to blow myself up with, and post the rest separately, later, as it happens.

It is a sweet feeling to have your children out there with you. Knowing that some of these moments are the ones they wil carry with them through their childhood. They are only that age once enjoy them while you can.

 

[badcars2]

KS woodsman

i do love the engineering take on this design. I am a bit of an electronic junkie and to be honest i did "eat it up." i loved you variations of the original design posted.
To be honest i am working on an outside whole house system based on this same design. as my wife says "I cant leave well enough alone"
a simple on off valve, relayed to a temp sensor should do the trick easily to stop fuel as soon as fire is lost in the actual combustion chamber. just my take but have been busy , not much tinkering time...LOL
The main thing is and i will preach to anyone who will listen, we need to lessen our dependance on oil. My 1 ton burns a mix of used transmission fluid and used cooking oil. not the best of fuel, but it is free.
if i can get any heat from waste oil, i will take it/
I do really appreciate your interst!!
Later

 

[KsWoodsMan]

BadCars2, Thats not my design. It is the one I am modeling after though. I have run into a couple of snags trying to use the original tank control vale that wont let me put a thermostat on the wall but did figure out that I might be able to install the valve in the skirting under the tank. We'l see how that goes.

I like the idea of it mostly because it doesn't require electricity of any kind. 6-7 years ago we lost power for 2 weeks during sub-zero temperatures. During that time it was 2 space heaters and a borrowed gas bathroom heater in the basement that was keeping 2 rooms above freezing inside. That spring I ran onto a like new "Vogelzang deathbox". It does a decent job heating our house, now that I figured out how to shut off most of the air getting into it. I've built a few barrel stoves from scratch for friends. Their only complaint is that the barrel rots away from the door, legs and flue within a few years. A heavier burner chamber would make all the difference in the world I'm pretty sure. I scored 10 ft of 2' schedule 40 oil pipe ( 3/8" walled) a while back. I hope to turn some of it into a "wood pig", someday. Till then I'l run what I brung.

 

[KsWoodsMan]

A buddy of mine does HVAC systems and has offered a few ideas as well. One is a cadnium sulfide photocell for flame detection. When burning, the flame should emit light, picked up by the sensor and giving a faster responce time then a thermister. Another idea is to increase the length of the preheating tube. Building a shroud that encloses the air inlet and runs down along the outside of the tank/chamber and draws in cold air from floor level instead of at 4" off the ground.

The second idea I liked. It could easily draw the air out through the original burner opening into the shroud to the inlet at the top. I plan on installing the original control valve under the burner chamber shielding it from some of the heat. The moving air will help to cool the temp sensor on the original valve. Hopefully making it more responsive to temperature changes. He has mentioned a "balanced draft door" in the shroud. It closes as the amount of draft decreases to help conserve heat while the unit is not running or idling on low temp setting. Almost seems feasible. We'll see how much draw there is and consider implementing it later. I figured the fuel line could be ran either inside or outside the shroud depending on how much preheating it needs before ascending down through the air inlet tube.

So far the basic precepts of the plan remain the same. A few changes I want to try while fine tuning it is to use the original burner from the water tank as the new burner. This saves making one. It is conical and 5 1/2" across, mount it on a 3/8" (10 mm) all-thread through the floor with a knob underneath to adjust the burner heigth to fine tune the position for cleanest/hottest burn. Second, change the air restrictor out for a swirler at the top of the air inlet and a hood over the burner to create more velocity at the outer edges of the burner and lower velocities in the center. For better flame stabilty using higher flashpoint fuels, ie WVO. Third is to install a shield around the burner to reflect the heat back into the flame area raising the cumbustion temperature and eliminating the red hot band on the outside of the heater, adjacent to the burner. Fourth is to induce a vortex inside the chamber to "scrub" the sides of ash. Possibly getting the superheated air to stay along the outside wall longer giving better heat transfer. Fifth is the balanced draft door in the air inlet shroud. And a high limit switch to keep it from going into meltdown. That was his idea not mine.

In basic form it makes good heat , as expected and doesnt take long to start burning relatively cleanly. But I am getting a lot of soot inside on short runs and hope making the height adjustable and the heat shield will cure that with a cleaner burn.

The original design is simple and easy as is the the improved burner. But I like to tweak stuff and like you said ... "cant leave well enough alone".

I'm not in a big rush to get this done before Spring so the implemetation of the ideas may come slowly but I hope they gave you some ideas to play with on your next one.