Small Waste Oil Garage Heaters?

[onewhippedpuppy]

With my in-work 3rd car garage addition, I'm looking for a better heat option than my current radiant propane setup. In my past days as a mechanic we heated most of our shop with a big waste oil furnace, I always thought it was a practical way to dispose of used oil. In looking online all I can find have been big garage heaters, does anything exist that I could use to heat about 900 sq ft of garage? I currently recycle my waste oils, probably to the tune of about 30 gal per year. For intermittent weekend tinkering that seems like enough oil to heat my garage, as most of the heaters are about 140,000 btu per gallon of oil.

[Hard-Deck]

Google the subject and you will find a lot of info

[onewhippedpuppy]

I'm all Googled out. There are a number of big shop heaters for $3k+, but nothing for a small garage. Lots of instructions to build your own, but I'm wary of building a furnace from steel drums.

[daepp]

Google smudge pot. Add exhaust ducting. Small and cheap - the citrus farmers around here swore by them for outside heat - plus they got rid of all their waster oil!

[VincentVega]

I havent found a small one that seem safe and went with a Hot Dawg forced air heater in my last place.

http://www.qcsupply.com/modine-hot-dawg-heater.html

Excellent unit.

[ckelly78z]

I have really looked into this in the past and found that alot of guys are using a slow drip system that drips into a small firebox inside of an access panel in the bottom of an old water heater. I think they use an overhead 5 gallon tank suspended from the cieling that uses gravity feed and is exhausted out a 3" pipe through a removed window panel or a hole cut in the sidewall of your garage.

Look on youtube for instuctional videos.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Thanks guys! Considering that the garage is attached to my house I'm not sure if I'm comfortable with building my own. I may go back to my original plan, which was installing a pellet stove. I already have one in my basement, so it makes sense to use the same fuel.

[RWebb]

a waste oil furnace is an extremely toxic way to "dispose" of used oil

used engine oil contains heavy metals (from bearings, etc.) and these will be released into the air your children breathe

recycle the used oil and avoid the pollution -- if you live in Witchita there are likely laws against this and consequent heavy fines if/when they catch you

[RWebb]

Used Oil

[cstreit]

THe thing with the inexpensive waste oil heaters is that they have to be lit and started every time you want to use them. You cannot have one just for keeping the garage warm. Those have injectors and pressure pumps, etc...

Most inexepensive ones have drop feeds, which do work very well.

So I bought one 5 years ago. Thermobile. Works VERY well. Burns clean, easy cleanup, etc.. but it must be cleaned every 5-10 uses. You start it with kerosene. Puts out about 75-80k BTU's on low. Keeps my 1000 sq ft shop with 15' ceiling at 75 degrees easily. Takes about 30 minutes to heat it up from the 45 degrees I keep it at when I'm not in there (using electric).

This is the one I have. Thermobile Oil Heaters

Subscribing to the thread in case you have followups. I am very happy with it. Paid $1200 a few years ago. More than paid for itself in that time frame with zero failures. BTW when I bought them they were red and listed as waste oil. They changed over to "bio" fuel but it's exactly the same heater. Got mine cheap because they were selling out the waste oil heaters (Red) and changing to bio fuel (green/grey)... lol.

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by RWebb

a waste oil furnace is an extremely toxic way to "dispose" of used oil. used engine oil contains heavy metals (from bearings, etc.) and these will be released into the air your children breathe recycle the used oil and avoid the pollution -- if you live in Witchita there are likely laws against this and consequent heavy fines if/when they catch you

Rwebb.

Actually the design of most is that the soot and heavy metals will fall into soot and be collected for disposal rather than burning up and flowing out. The EPA allows these to be used because while not entirely clean, they are still largely less harmful than the risks, spills, etc.. of disposing of used waste oil that happen all the time. No air from combustion reaches the heated area anyway, its directed out the chimney.

Of course each states laws vary...

[Joe Bob]

They won't listen to ya....if they wanna burn it, they'll burn.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by cstreit

[1] the soot and heavy metals will fall into soot and be collected for disposal rather than burning up and flowing out.

[2] ... while not entirely clean, they are still largely less harmful than the risks, spills, etc.. of disposing of used waste oil that happen all the time.

[3] No air from combustion reaches the heated area anyway, its directed out the chimney.

Of course each states laws vary...

I am surprised at #1 as the particle sizs involved are extremely small - microscopic for many of them

Cite for #2?

The emissions out the chimney pollutes the atmosphere - and will pollute the most near the chimney, i.e. in your yard, etc.

I'd let the certified haz. waste disposal places burn engine oil.

[Joe Bob]

Shouldn't be burned at all, recycled oil is on the market and when done correctly is just as good as virgin oil....

[cstreit]

Originally Posted by RWebb

I am surprised at #1 as the particle sizs involved are extremely small - microscopic for many of them

Cite for #2?

The emissions out the chimney pollutes the atmosphere - and will pollute the most near the chimney, i.e. in your yard, etc.

I'd let the certified haz. waste disposal places burn engine oil.

I guess it's a matter of degrees. Most of the shops around here are running waste oil legally. I don't have the reference for #2 unfortunately, however it was pretty prominant on the EPA site while I was researching the legality of using it here.

Don't entirely disagree with you, but I guess it all depends on the volumes...

[cstreit]

Most small waste oil systems are 80k-200k BTUs. ..but full disclosure, I haven't spent a ton of time assessing the veracity of the discussions.

http://www.moderncarcare.com/articles/1999/09/used-oil-heaters-deliver-multiple-benefits.aspx

The three primary rules adopted by the U.S. EPA for the operation of used oil-fired heating systems are:
•Burn only used oil generated on-site or collected from do-it-yourself generators
•Furnace or boiler must be vented to ambient air
•Capacity of the furnace or boiler cannot exceed 500,000 BTU.

These simple rules have been adopted by most states, and similar guidelines are in place in some Canadian provinces. The U.S. EPA reaffirmed its rules in 1992.

http://www.epa.gov/ttncatc1/dir1/w_oilacr.pdf

A prohibition on the burning
of used oils would thus have an air quality benefit near facilities currently burning these oils.
However, since the emissions from these waste oil furnaces were reasonably able to demonstrate
compliance with the ambient standards, it would not be prudent public policy to regulate these
fuels differently based on these emissions. Larger units than those tested however may need to
be subjected to more stringent requirements. A prohibition on the burning of used oils would also
have an adverse economic impact on the facilities currently burning their used oil for energy
recovery. It would also eliminate the incentive for these facilities to collect do-it-yourselfer oil.
In consideration of these factors, the Agency recommends a policy to conditionally allow the
burning of used oils in small waste oil furnaces with a maximum rating of 500,000 BTU per
hour.

http://www.iwrc.org/IWRC/index.cfm/services/past-services/small-business-pollution-prevention-center-sbppc/p2-impact-of-used-oil-furnace/

Environmentally speaking, installing a used oil furnace is a good thing. Supplying your own energy for heat has a far-reaching impact when considering air pollution. Many business owners have been reluctant to burn used oil onsite, thinking that it must be a smoky ordeal. On the contrary, air emissions from burning used oil in an approved furnace are considered at par with those from burning fuel oil.

The EPA has published the most common pollutants generated from burning used oil including carbon monoxide (CO), chlorinated organics, heavy metals, nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM, PM10), sulfur oxides (SOx), volatile organic compounds (VOC), and the global warming compounds carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). Additional hazardous organics that might be present in used oil or may be a byproduct of incomplete combustion include benzene, toluene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and polychlorinated dibenzo-d-dioxins. A study conducted by the New Zealand Ministry of the Environment further categorizes common heavy metal contaminants in used oil as arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper and lead. However, all predicted offsite metal concentrations after combustion were found to be below the acceptable limits. Most of these toxins are also generated by a municipal power plant.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by cstreit

I guess it all depends on the volumes...

Yes, the volumes*, and the local regulations (often based on how messed up that air shed is).

* for EPA an individual will usually get a pass, a shop might qualify as a small genertor for haz. waste purposes

The above will define the legal situations; the other issue is what one really wants to do based on if they have kids, a pregnant wife, or other susceptible individuals nearby, etc. If you are 80 years old then exposure to low levels of toxins is not a big deal...

[onewhippedpuppy]

Chris, thanks for the information.

As for the other debate, I'm fairly certain that it is legal here due to the number of shops that use them, but I'll double check. It seems that the perceived impact is far greater than the real one, particularly at such low volumes. While many don't think through it, there is pollution involved in nearly every option here. Creation of heat, electricity, recycling oil, all of them have byproducts or secondary effects. From the standpoint of total impact, my guess is that burning a few gallons of oil in an approved manner would be the lesser of evils.

[911 tweaks]

can any or all please update this subject with what may be new info since november of 2012... i am looking for a sm heater... thx bob

[fastfredracing]

I built one of those mother earth wast oil furnaces a year or so ago. My opinion, is dont waste your time.
I was only using it to heat the upper part of my building, which is where I tinker with my own p cars on the weekend. It did heat really well when you got it going, bu every Saturday, or Sunday, there was an hour or so ritual of getting the thing lit, and burning correctly . .
It would be hard to get lit sometimes, then , once lit, and burning nice, as the room would heat up, the oil would drip faster into the burner as it thinned, and then it would get too hot. If I was not paying attention , I could make the barrels glow orange. Then I would dial it back, and it would slow down, sometimes go out, or not put out enough heat etc, rinse, and repeat.
I ended up spending half my day fiddling with the thing to keep it going. I was also scared to death to leave it burning un attended.
It was a fun little excercise, but not worth the effort. I bought a small 220 v electric heater, and it works really nicely for what it is, I have low ceilings in this part of the shop however.
Although I dont really like the noise , or fumes, but on real cold days, I run a turbo heater for a little while in the am, just to bring it up to temp fast, then the electric maintains pretty well for the rest of the day .