Mother Earth News waste oil heater

Vaporization of the oil onto a hot 8" frying pan. The oil gets heated and becomes runny in that 1/4" copper tube then drips onto the hot pan and vaporizes. The vapors are what burns. This heater will get HOT!

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

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• mother
• earth
• news
• waste
• oil
• heater
• roger
• sanders
• drip
• feed
• vaporization

[torr58]

I know, I believe it happens, but how does it work that way? How does the fire not shoot straight up and out the intake? Is it just common physics of air flow and how chimneys work? I attempted this in an alternate way and the flames shot out through the intake pipe, must be because it wasnt air tight. Just wondering if there is another reason it draws air through the intake and out the flue and not vice versa.

[yonmoore]

@torr58 It's because the hot air rises and creates a draft. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't work if I didn't have a flu that extended a few feet above the air intake. Maybe yours has air leaks, but I think the flu length is the biggest issue. the more hte merrier.

[torr58]

how does the fire not shoot out your intake?

[yonmoore]

@torr58 Cause that's where the air comes in to fuel the fire. Pretty cool how it works, the intake air comes straight down to give oxygen to the flame and it spreads the flame out to the edges which is why it can get red hot on the sides.

[alaskanalain]

is this the original mother earth heater? It looks like the Roger Saunders design, I don't see how his design can work well compared to the original with the air preheated and the burner plates that has a secondary burner built in. When I read the blurb for the conical design and that it burns cleanly by not burning completely I shook my head and laughed. Does it work well and burn all it's own smoke and soot? If not the best may be a blower design or one with a secondary burner.

[yonmoore]

@alaskanalain I like the simplicity of his design but his version of clean isn't quite what I had in mind. He may have a point, but it still looks bad and if people find out you're burning used motor oil it looks even worse. Check out youtube username "ozzirt" I scrapped this heater and built ozzirt's instead and it looks like you're burning natural gas. Amazing. Completely clear emissions. And all the solids and crap just stay in the pan and don't go into the air. I love it.

[yonmoore]

haha I wish. It wasn't too stinky, not that I could smell and I haven't had any complaints from the neighbors yet. But I've only used it a couple of times since I'm working on a cleaner burning version. It's used motor oil.

[CosmicGnarler]

and stinky :-P what oil were you using? Can it run on the rainbows in the parking lot after it rains ?