WMO burner/heater

Fordguy64 · 10-20-15, 06:17 PM

So i have started building a WMO heater. i have my old water heater tank that i plan to make the heat exchanger out of.

i did something different from all of the other videos and things i have found on the interweb. Most everyone goes with a minimum of a 1 GPH nozzle i have got with a .2GPH nozzle. my thought behind this is who needs 150k BTU? i know i dont. I have a brand new 95% t stage furnace that is rated at 72K and its more than enough to heat my 1600SF house. so if we base the WMO btu output at 150K (ive seen many numbers online) i should be at about 30k btu and thats probably under what i need but i might end up jumping to the .3 nozzle size.

Anyway this is what i have so far its a ,2GPH nozzle with 3PSI.

this is the retention head i made for it. you cant see it in the pictures because its in the tube. it serves two purposes one of them being to put a slight swirl to the air and the other is it gets red hot and helps to keep the fuel vaporizing.

'
and this is just a short video
https://youtu.be/yxw0056m3X8

Fordguy64 · 10-20-15, 08:06 PM

more tinkering today

mechanic · 10-20-15, 08:58 PM

Nice, so your heating a shop with it? Are you using the air pressure to siphon up the oil? Pre-heat on the oil? My work has an ample supply of wmo and a huge gas bill as the doors are constantly being opened. We had looked into commercial systems before but never went for them. They sounded high maintenence as well.

Fordguy64 · 10-21-15, 07:46 AM

Currently I'm not sure if I'll just be heating my garage or try to get some of the heat into my house. Yes the air pressure is used to atomize the fuel and siphon the oil up to the nozzle. As far as pre heating the oil I've had it running with and without pre heat. It runs ok with no pre heat but seems to clog up easier? Not sure if it really does but it seems to run less smoothly with out pre heat. I've been pre heating it to 140-160f.

Up till this point I've been running in filtered oil straight out of my car/truck. I have a centrifuge that I've filtered some of the oil with and I'm going to start using that the next time in messing with the burner.

The only real problem I've been having with it so far is that after it's been running for a while the flame will begin to cut out for a split second but restart instantly. This only happens a few times a minute but then it will continue to get worse and eventually the flame will go out. So that is the next big to work on. Once that is solved I'll be making the heat exchanger

Fordguy64 · 10-21-15, 08:46 PM

so i spent a few more hours tinkering with the burner. and i have another thing im going to try tomorrow and see if it makes any more improvement but if not, i think im at the best its going to get

thats filtered oil at 3psi. very hot!

Fordguy64 · 10-23-15, 07:07 AM

http://youtu.be/XgPjwpMrD-w

The latest run. Pretty sure I have fixed all of my little issues I was having with the burner. So now I will start working on the heat exchanger. I'm planning on using my old 40 gallon water hear. I want to hear air and water with this set up so I'm still in the thinking stage on it. Any one have any thoughts?

MEMPHIS91 · 10-24-15, 07:05 PM

Awesome work, I am very interested in your project. We have 3 Mack trucks that get the oil changed every 4 months. That is 33 gallons of oil every 4 months.
I'm thinking a copper water coil inside the pipe with the fire or just blasting onto a large tank of water, then two heat exchangers, one air 20x20 Water to Air Heat Exchanger New Front Mounting | eBay and one water to water, either homemade or bought. Like coil in coil, or like a solar water heater tank.

Daox · 11-02-15, 02:04 PM

Wow, I missed this thread. Love to see more of the build though, and how you go about prepping the oil.

Where have you gotten most of your information on designing it?

Fordguy64 · 11-02-15, 05:52 PM

ill have some more of the build in a few days hopefully. i actually have a centrifuge that i use to clean the oil. it really is pretty amazing how different the oil looks after its been cleaned.

as far as getting info on the build ive just been looking on the web and youtube. lots of people are making oil burners but most are the drip type which is great and all but even after you turn the fuel off it continues to burn for a long time so its not the safest way to do it.

as of now i have th burner set up to heat about 20 gallons of water and im really not happy with the results at this point. but i have a few other ideas and one of them is jumping up to the .4 nozzle which will double my heat output.

Fordguy64 · 11-02-15, 08:27 PM

https://youtu.be/Z1MZpr64620

latest run of the burner tonight. i made a few adjustments and now im able to get water temp over 160f and thats about 40 degrees better than before. also these little adjustments cleaned up the exhaust smoke that i was having

10-20-15, 06:17 PM	#1
Fordguy64 Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cincinnati ohio Posts: 338 Thanks: 40 Thanked 35 Times in 31 Posts	WMO burner/heater So i have started building a WMO heater. i have my old water heater tank that i plan to make the heat exchanger out of. i did something different from all of the other videos and things i have found on the interweb. Most everyone goes with a minimum of a 1 GPH nozzle i have got with a .2GPH nozzle. my thought behind this is who needs 150k BTU? i know i dont. I have a brand new 95% t stage furnace that is rated at 72K and its more than enough to heat my 1600SF house. so if we base the WMO btu output at 150K (ive seen many numbers online) i should be at about 30k btu and thats probably under what i need but i might end up jumping to the .3 nozzle size. Anyway this is what i have so far its a ,2GPH nozzle with 3PSI. this is the retention head i made for it. you cant see it in the pictures because its in the tube. it serves two purposes one of them being to put a slight swirl to the air and the other is it gets red hot and helps to keep the fuel vaporizing. ' and this is just a short video https://youtu.be/yxw0056m3X8

10-20-15, 08:06 PM	#2
Fordguy64 Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cincinnati ohio Posts: 338 Thanks: 40 Thanked 35 Times in 31 Posts	more tinkering today Last edited by Daox; 11-02-15 at 08:42 PM..

10-24-15, 07:05 PM	#7
MEMPHIS91 Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Oxford, MS USA Posts: 496 Thanks: 69 Thanked 87 Times in 61 Posts	Awesome work, I am very interested in your project. We have 3 Mack trucks that get the oil changed every 4 months. That is 33 gallons of oil every 4 months. I'm thinking a copper water coil inside the pipe with the fire or just blasting onto a large tank of water, then two heat exchangers, one air 20x20 Water to Air Heat Exchanger New Front Mounting \| eBay and one water to water, either homemade or bought. Like coil in coil, or like a solar water heater tank. __________________ שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה' אֱלֹהֵינוּ ה' אֶחָד Last edited by MEMPHIS91; 10-24-15 at 08:17 PM..

11-02-15, 02:04 PM	#8
Daox Administrator Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Germantown, WI Posts: 5,525 Thanks: 1,162 Thanked 374 Times in 305 Posts	Wow, I missed this thread. Love to see more of the build though, and how you go about prepping the oil. Where have you gotten most of your information on designing it? __________________ Current project - To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. & To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 0 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

10-20-15, 08:58 PM	#3
mechanic Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Aug 2014 Location: Saskatchewan, Canada Posts: 117 Thanks: 10 Thanked 16 Times in 12 Posts	Nice, so your heating a shop with it? Are you using the air pressure to siphon up the oil? Pre-heat on the oil? My work has an ample supply of wmo and a huge gas bill as the doors are constantly being opened. We had looked into commercial systems before but never went for them. They sounded high maintenence as well.

10-21-15, 07:46 AM	#4
Fordguy64 Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cincinnati ohio Posts: 338 Thanks: 40 Thanked 35 Times in 31 Posts	Currently I'm not sure if I'll just be heating my garage or try to get some of the heat into my house. Yes the air pressure is used to atomize the fuel and siphon the oil up to the nozzle. As far as pre heating the oil I've had it running with and without pre heat. It runs ok with no pre heat but seems to clog up easier? Not sure if it really does but it seems to run less smoothly with out pre heat. I've been pre heating it to 140-160f. Up till this point I've been running in filtered oil straight out of my car/truck. I have a centrifuge that I've filtered some of the oil with and I'm going to start using that the next time in messing with the burner. The only real problem I've been having with it so far is that after it's been running for a while the flame will begin to cut out for a split second but restart instantly. This only happens a few times a minute but then it will continue to get worse and eventually the flame will go out. So that is the next big to work on. Once that is solved I'll be making the heat exchanger

10-21-15, 08:46 PM	#5
Fordguy64 Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cincinnati ohio Posts: 338 Thanks: 40 Thanked 35 Times in 31 Posts	so i spent a few more hours tinkering with the burner. and i have another thing im going to try tomorrow and see if it makes any more improvement but if not, i think im at the best its going to get thats filtered oil at 3psi. very hot!

10-23-15, 07:07 AM	#6
Fordguy64 Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cincinnati ohio Posts: 338 Thanks: 40 Thanked 35 Times in 31 Posts	http://youtu.be/XgPjwpMrD-w The latest run. Pretty sure I have fixed all of my little issues I was having with the burner. So now I will start working on the heat exchanger. I'm planning on using my old 40 gallon water hear. I want to hear air and water with this set up so I'm still in the thinking stage on it. Any one have any thoughts?

11-02-15, 05:52 PM	#9
Fordguy64 Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cincinnati ohio Posts: 338 Thanks: 40 Thanked 35 Times in 31 Posts	ill have some more of the build in a few days hopefully. i actually have a centrifuge that i use to clean the oil. it really is pretty amazing how different the oil looks after its been cleaned. as far as getting info on the build ive just been looking on the web and youtube. lots of people are making oil burners but most are the drip type which is great and all but even after you turn the fuel off it continues to burn for a long time so its not the safest way to do it. as of now i have th burner set up to heat about 20 gallons of water and im really not happy with the results at this point. but i have a few other ideas and one of them is jumping up to the .4 nozzle which will double my heat output.

11-02-15, 08:27 PM	#10
Fordguy64 Journeyman EcoRenovator Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: Cincinnati ohio Posts: 338 Thanks: 40 Thanked 35 Times in 31 Posts	https://youtu.be/Z1MZpr64620 latest run of the burner tonight. i made a few adjustments and now im able to get water temp over 160f and thats about 40 degrees better than before. also these little adjustments cleaned up the exhaust smoke that i was having