Hey all, first time homeowner here. We are moving at the end of August to our new place and it has an oil burning furnace. Can I dump my used motor oil, gear oil, etc. in the oil tank? It sure would be convenient...
Hey all, first time homeowner here. We are moving at the end of August to our new place and it has an oil burning furnace. Can I dump my used motor oil, gear oil, etc. in the oil tank? It sure would be convenient...
The smell would be awful and the combustion chamber would get awfully gunked up I would think.
In order to burn waste oil you would need to convert to a siphon nozzle and also pre heat the oil. It can be done but it takes patience and a fair bit of money. It would also require adjustments anytime you change fuel types. Google CK burners to get a little more info. He has a good site with info on what is required for the conversion.
Sounds like it's a terrible idea then, thanks everyone. I guess I'll make the 10 min drive to Napa to dispose of it.
No.
You can make a decent forge that burns it though if you are interested in that kind of thing
No.
Heating Oil is basically #2 diesel with red off-road (no road tax) dye in it. An older burner "might" be able to tolerate it. Newer, more efficient types designed to tighter tolerances would probably be damaged.
There are waste oil heaters, but those are not quite the same.
Waste oil burning heater. Not cheap:
Interesting it won't work with synthetic motor oil. Flash point is too high.
https://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_586_586
Short answer: No
Long answer: Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
That being said for a few years I was heating with oil a got from a guy who had the responsibility of pumping diesel out of stationary generators and replacing it every so often as a PM process. Needless to say that generates a LOT of diesel that is usually fine, sometimes has some sediment. Ran it through a centrifuge filter and had no issues with it. It was dirty cheap when fuel oil was expensive. Now that fuel oil delivered by a guy in a truck is cheap, there is no use calling the Oil Dick for Dick Oil.
We've had other discussions about waste oil heaters before, but one thing to consider besides the "no synthetic" part - which would be a deal killer for me - is simply how much waste oil you need to keep around if you plan to heat a shop on a regular basis. Considering one normal car oil change will provide about 8 to 12 hrs of heating. Unless you have a shop feeding you old oil, you'll spend a lot of time collecting oil to keep the shop heated for a season.
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