$300 Waste Oil Boiler Heats House
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Paul Oliver sees no reason to pay for fuel when he can get it free and no reason to buy a boiler when he can build one for $200. Since he has figured out how to do both, he is helping others follow his lead. Oliver is selling plans for the boiler through his company MurphysMachines.com. He estimates most people with welding skills can build one for $300 or less. The oil is free.
"I place an ad now and then and talk to folks at shops that change oil or have waste mineral spirits," he says. "I've even burned Rust-Oleum in my waste oil furnace."
Oliver first built a waste oil furnace for use in his shop. However, waste oil can't be burned inside a home, so he designed an outside boiler with a hot water jacket. Adding a coil to his conventional furnace plenum lets him use the heat inside. Dual thermostats let him use the furnace fan to distribute the heat.
Like Oliver's waste oil furnace (Vol. 32, No. 6), the waste oil boiler is built mostly from recycled parts. It uses air pressure to deliver atomized waste oil into a hot burning chamber fabricated from a propane tank.
"I used 55-gal. drums, a 100-lb. and a 25-lb. propane tank and some pipe fittings," says Oliver. "My filter is a large holed screen with an old tee shirt spread across it to keep twigs and bugs out."
The bottom of the boiler unit is a 55-gal. drum holding electrical circuits and a valve. A center drum holds the water jacket and propane tank burn chamber. The top drum is the exhaust vent. About the only thing Oliver didn't do himself was spray insulation on the drums. The spray-on insulation lets the boiler sit for several hours before the temperature drops below 100?.
"The boiler produces 180? water at 140,000 btu's per hour," says Oliver. "It's designed to be outdoors and exposed to the elements. It's efficient too. Even with motor oil, there is very little smoke. Vegetable oil and hydraulic or transmission fluids all burn even cleaner."
Oliver's biggest expense was the coil and components for transferring heat into the house. It was also the most technically challenging.
"The stuff on the inside is the same as needed if installing a wood burner," he says. "I just ordered a Sidearm heat exchanger, so I will be getting my hot water heated by the boiler as well. At $200 for it and some extras and current hot water bills of $35 a month with my electric hot water heater, it will pay for itself in less than a year."
Plans for the boiler are available online or by mail. An automated ignition parts kit , if desired, sells for an extra, $515 plus shipping.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, MurphysMachines.com, P.O. Box 49, Almont, Mich. 48003 (ph 586 995-0101; information@murphysmachines.com; www.murphysmachines.com).
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$300 Waste Oil Boiler Heats House ENERGY Waste Oil 34-1-31 Paul Oliver sees no reason to pay for fuel when he can get it free and no reason to buy a boiler when he can build one for $200. Since he has figured out how to do both, he is helping others follow his lead. Oliver is selling plans for the boiler through his company MurphysMachines.com. He estimates most people with welding skills can build one for $300 or less. The oil is free.
"I place an ad now and then and talk to folks at shops that change oil or have waste mineral spirits," he says. "I've even burned Rust-Oleum in my waste oil furnace."
Oliver first built a waste oil furnace for use in his shop. However, waste oil can't be burned inside a home, so he designed an outside boiler with a hot water jacket. Adding a coil to his conventional furnace plenum lets him use the heat inside. Dual thermostats let him use the furnace fan to distribute the heat.
Like Oliver's waste oil furnace (Vol. 32, No. 6), the waste oil boiler is built mostly from recycled parts. It uses air pressure to deliver atomized waste oil into a hot burning chamber fabricated from a propane tank.
"I used 55-gal. drums, a 100-lb. and a 25-lb. propane tank and some pipe fittings," says Oliver. "My filter is a large holed screen with an old tee shirt spread across it to keep twigs and bugs out."
The bottom of the boiler unit is a 55-gal. drum holding electrical circuits and a valve. A center drum holds the water jacket and propane tank burn chamber. The top drum is the exhaust vent. About the only thing Oliver didn't do himself was spray insulation on the drums. The spray-on insulation lets the boiler sit for several hours before the temperature drops below 100?.
"The boiler produces 180? water at 140,000 btu's per hour," says Oliver. "It's designed to be outdoors and exposed to the elements. It's efficient too. Even with motor oil, there is very little smoke. Vegetable oil and hydraulic or transmission fluids all burn even cleaner."
Oliver's biggest expense was the coil and components for transferring heat into the house. It was also the most technically challenging.
"The stuff on the inside is the same as needed if installing a wood burner," he says. "I just ordered a Sidearm heat exchanger, so I will be getting my hot water heated by the boiler as well. At $200 for it and some extras and current hot water bills of $35 a month with my electric hot water heater, it will pay for itself in less than a year."
Plans for the boiler are available online or by mail. An automated ignition parts kit , if desired, sells for an extra, $515 plus shipping.
Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, MurphysMachines.com, P.O. Box 49, Almont, Mich. 48003 (ph 586 995-0101; information@murphysmachines.com; www.murphysmachines.com).
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