Louis Katz on tue 6 sep 05
Hi Paul ,
There are commercial oil heaters available used for engine sumps. I
would be very concerned about overheating and fire. I found in Kansas
City that I had to insulate the lines going from the tank to the
burners to keep my oil from congealing along the way. Insulation is
generally a good wick or flamable or both. Be careful.
Filtering the oil was a problem as was getting rid of the crud I
filtered out.
My experience was with drip plates and just one firing.
Oil spills of any kind are extremely hazardous. Don't hurt yourself or
your property.
Louis
On Sep 6, 2005, at 9:55 PM, Paul B wrote:
> The whole time i have been researching and working on the project to
> convert my 70 cubic foot downdraft kiln to burn waste vegetable oil
> from
> restaurants i never even realized that i would be switching to a fuel
> with
> more, not less, btus. I knew that veg oil was slightly less than #2
> heating
> oil but just the other day found a chart that listed LP at around
> 90,000
> btu's per gallon and veg oil at around 110,000 btu's per gallon.
> Basically i have taken a pair of residential heating furnace burners,
> made
> to burn #2 heating oil, and replaced the nozzles and added pre-heaters
> to
> them which will pre-heat the veg oil to about 320F and also preheat the
> compressed air needed to power the "sipon nozzles" which are more or
> less
> the same kind of nozzles on the waste oil burners many mechanics use to
> heat their garages with waste motor oil. Except that most of those
> types of
> burners cost a couple thousand, i have less than $150 tied up per
> burner.
> Compare that to the cost of a new pair of forced air gas burners, plus
> fuel
> cost doubling or even tripling.
> I am still trying to find out if there are any other potters doing
> this -
> the only ones i have heard of were actually using a drip system to
> supplement a wood kiln, not firing a gas kiln exclusively on waste oil.
> Can anyone out there tell me if there is anyone else doing this?
> By the end of next week i will have at least one of the burners hooked
> up
> and firing, doing some tests with various amounts of compressed air to
> see
> just how hot i can get them - but most likely it should not be a
> problem to
> get 300,000 btu's per hour or more, per burner - which is more than
> enough
> to fire most kilns used by studio potters.
> Hopefully i will have some very good news for a lot of potters out
> there
> soon.
> -Paul
>
> _______________________________________________________________________
> _______
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
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>
>
Louis Katz
http://www.tamucc.edu/~lkatz
Paul B on tue 6 sep 05
The whole time i have been researching and working on the project to
convert my 70 cubic foot downdraft kiln to burn waste vegetable oil from
restaurants i never even realized that i would be switching to a fuel with
more, not less, btus. I knew that veg oil was slightly less than #2 heating
oil but just the other day found a chart that listed LP at around 90,000
btu's per gallon and veg oil at around 110,000 btu's per gallon.
Basically i have taken a pair of residential heating furnace burners, made
to burn #2 heating oil, and replaced the nozzles and added pre-heaters to
them which will pre-heat the veg oil to about 320F and also preheat the
compressed air needed to power the "sipon nozzles" which are more or less
the same kind of nozzles on the waste oil burners many mechanics use to
heat their garages with waste motor oil. Except that most of those types of
burners cost a couple thousand, i have less than $150 tied up per burner.
Compare that to the cost of a new pair of forced air gas burners, plus fuel
cost doubling or even tripling.
I am still trying to find out if there are any other potters doing this -
the only ones i have heard of were actually using a drip system to
supplement a wood kiln, not firing a gas kiln exclusively on waste oil.
Can anyone out there tell me if there is anyone else doing this?
By the end of next week i will have at least one of the burners hooked up
and firing, doing some tests with various amounts of compressed air to see
just how hot i can get them - but most likely it should not be a problem to
get 300,000 btu's per hour or more, per burner - which is more than enough
to fire most kilns used by studio potters.
Hopefully i will have some very good news for a lot of potters out there
soon.
-Paul
Andrew_M_Casto@PROGRESSIVE.COM on wed 7 sep 05
Paul,
This is fantastic and exciting work you are doing...I've been wondering
about the same thing with the recent spike in fuel prices. I know many
potters who would be interested in alternative fuel sources for their
economic benefit, but also for the ecological benefit as well. One of the
many reasons I get excited about my wood kiln is that I burn all waste
slabs and edge rippings, that would otherwise end up in a landfill taking
up space. I am currently working out plans for a future gas kiln, but would
love to be burning waste fuel as opposed to a non-renewable such as lp or
natural gas. Please keep us posted on your research and publish some info
on this...this could change things for a lot of us.
Thanks,
Andy
Paul B
Sent by: Clayart To
MICS.ORG> cc
Subject
09/06/2005 10:55 VEGETABLE OIL HAS MORE BTU'S THAN
PM PROPANE
Please respond to
Clayart
MICS.ORG>
The whole time i have been researching and working on the project to
convert my 70 cubic foot downdraft kiln to burn waste vegetable oil from
restaurants i never even realized that i would be switching to a fuel with
more, not less, btus. I knew that veg oil was slightly less than #2 heating
oil but just the other day found a chart that listed LP at around 90,000
btu's per gallon and veg oil at around 110,000 btu's per gallon.
Basically i have taken a pair of residential heating furnace burners, made
to burn #2 heating oil, and replaced the nozzles and added pre-heaters to
them which will pre-heat the veg oil to about 320F and also preheat the
compressed air needed to power the "sipon nozzles" which are more or less
the same kind of nozzles on the waste oil burners many mechanics use to
heat their garages with waste motor oil. Except that most of those types of
burners cost a couple thousand, i have less than $150 tied up per burner.
Compare that to the cost of a new pair of forced air gas burners, plus fuel
cost doubling or even tripling.
I am still trying to find out if there are any other potters doing this -
the only ones i have heard of were actually using a drip system to
supplement a wood kiln, not firing a gas kiln exclusively on waste oil.
Can anyone out there tell me if there is anyone else doing this?
By the end of next week i will have at least one of the burners hooked up
and firing, doing some tests with various amounts of compressed air to see
just how hot i can get them - but most likely it should not be a problem to
get 300,000 btu's per hour or more, per burner - which is more than enough
to fire most kilns used by studio potters.
Hopefully i will have some very good news for a lot of potters out there
soon.
-Paul
______________________________________________________________________________
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
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