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burning waste oil in a rocket mass heater?

 
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I was wondering if anyone has had success with burning waste oil , in an RMH ? Preferably passive  ( no electricity or compressed air). YouTube hasn't been any help.
   I'm currently running a successful 8"RMH.
   Any ideas would be appreciated.
 Thanks.
 
pollinator
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Admittedly I haven't tried it with my RMH, but in my woodstove I have gone to using waste oil for starting with less-than-ideal kindling.  I spread a sheet of newspaper on the floor in the garage, place the kindling sticks in the middle of the paper, then drizzle waste oil onto the sticks.  Wrap it up loosely into a bundle and place into the firebox.  Monitor carefully and learn by trial and error how much you wish to use each time.  Been meaning to see how it might work to just leave some of the pieces of split wood sitting on-end in a bucket with low amount of waste-oil.  The oil should seep up to an extent through the fibres of the wood, but all should be experimented with carefully.
 
rocket scientist
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Tim; I haven't done it with a RMH myself but I did see a post here several years back ... someone in texas was using waste oil with their rmh in a green house. Their whole set up looked sort of rube Goldberg, to me but they were pleased with it. In very small amounts it would be smoky but OK.  The heavy equipment shop I used to work in burned waste oil in the regular wood stove.  We simply had a 16 gallon barrel on a pulley, to lower it for refill. Attached to the bottom/ side we hooked a 6' piece of 3/8 copper pipe with a petcock on it. You could adjust the flow from a slow drip up to a 3/8 stream of waste oil.  Poked a hole in the lower barrel and stuck the end of the 3/8 pipe thru, worked great , really got the stove hopping...  However ... during the day we had to be careful how much we put in or the bosses secretary would complain about the "smell ! " .  
 
Tim Straw
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Thanks for the input. Will try soaking the wood . Hoping that someone has figured out how to deliver oil directly to the burn chamber.
 
Rocket Scientist
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I have seen videos and read about people using waste oil in a RMH. A metal-cored system burned out very quickly, as apparently the flame was hotter than a wood fire, and I have heard that the oil soaks into firebrick and damages it. I think I have heard about metal trays or pans to hold the oil as it burns. All these are fairly tricky as far as I can tell.
 
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I don't know much about fire but, would it be possible to use a burner as is used in kerosene stoves? I've seen kerosene heating stoves with a long skinny metal pipe feeding kerosene through, so it heats up and comes out of the burner slowly and already vaporized so it can burn well. Used oil would have to be filtered so as not to clog up the pipes and holes, but this might be a way of feeding it into a fire that is already drafting. These kerosene burners are very simple and low tech, and commonly used by the army and other people in my region who access to cheap or free kerosene that "falls out of the back of an army tanker truck," so to speak.
 
John Weiland
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@Rebecca N: "...access to cheap or free kerosene that "falls out of the back of an army tanker truck," so to speak."     ...

Actually that reminds me of a stove that one could use perhaps in emergency purposes for burning waste oil, so long as one is sending the fumes up a stack or is outside with the unit.  The photo below is of a kerosene wick stove that I bought some time ago.  Haven't used it that much, but I think they are popular in the rural areas of India..??    I could see where one might be able to use it for waste oil, but may have to mixed with a bit of kerosene or diesel for fluidity.....if the firebox were large enough, the entire stove could fit inside for those times when it was needed.
KeroseneStove.JPG
[Thumbnail for KeroseneStove.JPG]
 
Tim Straw
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Thanks all, for the input. I will investigate these ideas.
  Rebecca,do have any pictures of these kerosene burners? Maybe a link? I think they might use a pressurized fuel tank like the old camp stoves?
 
 
Rebecca Norman
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We used kerosene wick stoves one winter, long long ago, before our solar heated houses were fully in order. Gack, what horrible fumes! That's the worst! Yes, I guess if they are vented properly, yeah, but ... not for me.

The popular kerosene heaters, called kerosene bukharis, that heat the liquid kerosene before it comes out and ignites, don't give off nearly such bad fumes. And they always have a chimney to outside.

I haven't been in a room with one for several years, and I never used one regularly, but I think you didn't have to pressurize the tank as you do in a portable little kerosene cookstove. Instead, I sometimes saw the fuel tank hung up higher than the body of the stove. That was for low-tech homemade ones. Fancier commercial models had the fuel tank and the burner together in one appliance like this but I don't know how it works inside.

I just googled "kerosene bokhari" and came up with some nasty news articles about kerosene attacks and stuff, so I'm sorry, I gave up on trying to find you a good diagram of the inner workings.
 
Tim Straw
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Thank you,Rebecca
 
I got this tall by not having enough crisco in my diet as a kid. This ad looks like it had plenty of shortening:
Rocket Mass Heater Jamboree And Updates
https://permies.com/t/170234/Rocket-Mass-Heater-Jamboree-Updates
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