Harm from burning used motor oil. Do-it-yourself waste oil stove

Disposal of used motor oil (waste oil) is a fairly serious problem all over the world. At the same time, the energy potential of mining is high; By burning it, you can get a lot of heat, incomparably cheaper than from any other energy source. The question of how to make a burner for testing with your own hands is of interest not only to those professionally involved in the automotive industry - a stock of mining will help save a significant amount on heating utility rooms in a private household. The waste is completely unsuitable for heating residential premises due to the original additives contained in the motor oil and the impurities that got into it during operation. However, waste is a very specific fuel, and any other liquid fuel burner will not work with it. This article discusses what types of burners “eat” waste and what needs to be taken into account when making them.

Fuel Features

Spray fuel is not only dirty, but also very sticky. One of the tasks of engine oil additives is to ensure that a thin layer adheres to friction surfaces operating under difficult conditions. Therefore, burners during processing work almost exclusively with heating of the fuel, which increases its fluidity: too viscous fuel will not mix properly with air, will not pass through the nozzle nozzle, or will not coat the spray head in an even layer (see below).

Setting fire to the waste is also not so easy: what kind of engine oil would it be burning in a very hot engine? In fact, only an electric spark and a gas torch are suitable for quick and reliable ignition of waste. There is, however, one exception, see below.

And thirdly, the waste is contaminated not only with solid particles, but also with water and/or antifreeze that got into it from the internal combustion engine cooling system. Fuel filtration is a rather complex process. It makes sense to organize it only if fuel burner is constantly available, for example, in a fairly large and busy auto repair shop, and the burner used for burnout for irregular use should be insensitive not only to solid contaminants, but also to water content in the fuel.

Electricity for burner

This leads to an unfavorable conclusion: there are no energy-independent burners during mining. There are ways to burn waste without pressurization and heating, but such devices (see below) give acceptable technical and environmental indicators only as part of heat-generating devices developed at the same time and are not burners as such. Therefore, if your power supply is unreliable and there is enough waste, it would be better to use a boiler.

Which one should I do?

Based on the listed features, a homemade waste oil burner can be made according to one of the following. systems:

Ejection with supercharging.
Spray injection (Babington burner).
Fuel-air free volumetric combustion (cup evaporative burner).

Comparative advantages and disadvantages

Ejection

The ejection burner ensures complete combustion of fuel and the minimum possible amount of by-products in the exhaust gases. The flame is hot, over 1200 degrees, fuel consumption is minimal for this class of devices (see also at the end). The power of homemade ones is 1.5-100 kW. Burner power adjustment (modulation) is possible within the entire specified range. It is applicable without restrictions for technological purposes, and in exceptional cases it is applicable for temporary heating of residential premises, if the combustion door of a standard heating stove or boiler opens into a non-residential premises - in the hallway, closet, furnace room, etc.

Note: the kitchen and bathhouse are considered living quarters.

The disadvantages of an ejection burner during mining are also significant:

Technically complex: precise metal parts are used that require machine tools for production;
In untreated mining, it immediately fails, so it is pointless to make an ejection burner at mining without acquiring a fuel filter station;
The most energy-dependent - its own specific power consumption is approx. 20 W per 1 kW of thermal power in the range of the latter 5-40 kW. Below and above these values, the own specific power consumption increases.
Requires the supply of control automation, because it is very sensitive to the properties and quality of the fuel, which are also unstable in purified waste;
More than other types of burners during testing, they are prone to avoidable operational failures.

Ejection burners are used to burn waste, mainly for heating large premises or to support technological processes in conditions where fuel for them is constantly available.

Injection

An injection burner is completely insensitive to the degree of contamination of the fuel, as long as 30-40% of something combustible remains in it. Technically simpler than the previous one, a Babington burner can be made at home from scrap materials (see below) if you have a tabletop drilling machine. Power range in amateur version – approx. 3-20 kW. Burner modulation is possible from approx. from 30% of maximum power. It is possible to achieve modulation from 10% maximum, but the technical complexity of manufacturing increases significantly, and the tendency to failure increases. Can operate without electrical fuel heating; in this case, its own energy consumption is up to 300 W, regardless of the thermal power; in the vast majority of cases - up to 100 W. If the fuel is heated by a heating element in the storage tank, then its own energy consumption is the same as before. case. Without automatic control, it is prone to failures when changing a batch of fuel without reconfiguring the burner.

For do-it-yourselfers, an important advantage of the Babington burner is that its pressurization can provide compresses from an old broken refrigerator, see below. However, the Babington burner has plenty of disadvantages:

Fuel does not burn completely. The fuel efficiency of the simplest Babington burner (see below) is approx. 80% It is possible to bring the degree of fuel combustion to 95-97%, but then its technical complexity increases to that of ejection. True, turning and milling machines are still not required for manufacturing, and the burner’s own energy consumption does not increase;
As a consequence of the previous p., the Babington burner emits a lot of fuel vapor into the air, which makes it absolutely unsuitable for residential premises and limitedly suitable for premises with people and/or objects sensitive to oiling temporarily staying there. However, it is possible to drive the flame of a Babington burner into a pipe (see below), which significantly reduces these disadvantages;
The flame is also dirty and not very hot, up to 900-1000 degrees. Therefore, an injection burner during processing is of limited applicability for thermal technological processes with ferrous metals, but it will ruin non-ferrous and especially precious metals.

Homemade Babington burners are most often used for temporary heating of utility rooms or in simple technological processes, for example, for heating ordinary structural steel for bending.

Evaporative

A fuel-air burner for processing can be made from scrap materials at hand without the use of complex technological operations. Power – approx. 5-15 kW. Fuel without reconfiguration consumes any heavy fuel: in addition to waste, other mineral and vegetable oils, fuel oil, oil sludge. It only fails if used incorrectly. It emits more by-products of fuel combustion than the previous one, therefore it is applicable either for temporary starting of heating devices with a good chimney in non-residential premises, or in the open air. For technological purposes, its applicability is very limited, because produces a column of hot gases with a temperature of less than 600 degrees. The type of burner that is most accessible for manufacturing by beginning craftsmen is to be tested.

Schemes and designs

Ejection

Another feature of mining as a fuel is that it is very difficult to supply all the air necessary for its combustion under pressurization; a lot of it is required. Therefore, by pressurizing in burners of this type, fuel is mainly drawn out from the ejector nozzle and atomized, and air for afterburning is sucked directly into the flame. This scheme makes it possible to use electric power of up to 100 W for supercharging, and the rest is spent on heating the fuel with a heating element. In general, the idea is this: we use part of the electrical power (with a significant increase, by the way) necessary for pressurization with more fluid fuel to heat the waste, and a generally conventional ejection burner works on it.

A well-known diagram of the design of an ejection burner during testing and drawings of its heart - the nozzle for approx. 3-30 kW are given in Fig. Such a burner is installed on a blind flange in the combustion opening of the furnace/boiler, and secondary air is sucked into the torch through the ash pan. However, in addition to the nozzle, there are still subtle points in this design.

Turbulizer

The first of them is an air flow turbulator (swirler in the diagram in the figure above). Pressurization of the ejector burner during processing can be provided by a built-in volute fan or, through a gearbox, by the pneumatic system of the enterprise or by an industrial (possibly domestic of a similar design) piston compressor. For a burner power of about 3-15 kW, boost from a refrigeration compressor of 250 W electric is also possible.

Depending on the method of pressurization, the design of the turbulator changes. The compressor or compressed air distribution for driving pneumatic tools provides, under the conditions necessary for fuel ejection in the burner air jacket, an air flow that is too powerful and fast. The same is possible with a snail that is too powerful, for example taken from old trash. In this case, the turbulator should be an annular diaphragm around the nozzle with wide, slightly curved outer blades, pos. 1 and 2 in Fig. A pseudo-laminar jet of air from the diaphragm will pull the fuel out of the nozzle and ensure its stable ignition (see below), and 3-5 cm from the diaphragm, the burning oil mist will be picked up by a powerful whirlwind, atomized until it evaporates and is completely burned.

If the air flow is optimal (built-in volute by calculation) or weak (compressor from a refrigerator), then a turbulator made of many narrow, more curved internal blades is combined with the diaphragm, and an annular gap of 0.5-1.5 cm is left along the edge of the turbulator. Diaphragm - the swirler has less resistance to the air flow, a weak but immediately well-twisted vortex effectively sucks out and sprays the fuel, and the annular flow from the gap prevents the vortex from spreading to the sides until the fuel evaporates in the torch.

Note: the appropriateness of one or another turbulator for a particular burner is determined by experience - fuel ignition should be stable, and there should be no flameouts throughout the entire burner power adjustment range. You need to start with the diaphragm with the outer blades, bending them more and more. If it doesn’t work out, you need to switch to a turbulator diaphragm with internal blades.

Ignition

The second subtlety is igniting the torch. An auto candle with a removed “foot” (body lamella) is not very suitable, because designed to ignite light fuel vapor with a short spark, and not heavy fog with a long spark.

The burner torch must be ignited during production using electrodes for igniting liquid fuel boilers, see fig. The distance between the dischargers (spouts, points) of the electrodes is required to be 3-8 mm (for burners 3-30 kW), and the distance from the bare metal parts of the electrodes to the nearest metal parts of the structure must be at least three times greater. Turning on the nozzle: at the moment of ignition, the spark gaps must be in the oil mist emitted by the nozzle and ignite it with a spark among themselves. Ignition with a spark from a spark gap to the injector will produce a weak, unstable flame that can easily be disrupted by fluctuations in boost or fuel supply.

To ignite with two spark gaps, a special ignition transformer with an insulated secondary winding of 6-8 kV is required. Its terminals are connected to the ignition electrodes with wires in thick, from 2 mm, heat-resistant insulation made of silicone or Teflon (fluoroplastic). The latter is better: when heated to 150 degrees, the penetration resistance of fluoroplastic-4 remains approx. 80 kV per 1 mm, and silicone will not exceed 20 kV/mm. Such a huge margin of electrical strength is necessary due to severe contamination of the wires during operation.

A special ignition transformer is expensive because... These are produced for boilers from 20 kW. If the burner power is up to 15 kW (and for the Babington burner described below), you can use a single-wire ignition circuit from a car ignition coil with a spark from the electrode to the nozzle; This means the presence of only one high-voltage wire. The condition is manual switching to the mode: the burner is lit at minimum power and manually brought to the standard setting, making sure that the torch does not clog in convulsions or break.

To ignite the burner during testing using a single-wire circuit, the body terminal of the transformer is connected to the burner body and the nozzle with different return wires. The spark is not a direct current, but a pulsed discharge, and the electrical circuit becomes sensitive to the presence of reactivity in it. The electrical reactivity of the massive burner body is greater than that of the nozzle, which already makes it easier for the spark to choose the nozzle. If you additionally include a small inductance in the body return wire (see figure), then single-wire ignition will become quite stable.

About automation

Burners for testing, the operating mode of which is set from a remote control (for example, the well-known NORTEC) are very expensive, but without automation there is no point in installing a homemade ejection burner for testing: even with a fixed power and filling with fuel from the same batch, it is necessary to regulate simultaneously to obtain a stable flame fuel heating and air supply. Therefore, homemade ejection burners during development (excluding samples, just to tinker with them) are made semi-automatic with manual power setting and the use of relatively inexpensive automation from heating boilers, see for example. video

Video: burner in operation with automation

Babington burner

Robert Babington himself, who patented his burner in 1979, admitted that, having despaired of coming up with a nozzle that would not become clogged from working out, he remembered one of Murphy’s laws, which states: “If the iron still doesn’t want to work, try making it it's the other way around." Babington tried blowing air through a thin layer of oil - it worked. The fog began to set in, and how to burn it is a known matter.

This technical solution was possible due to the fact that oil is a rheological liquid. Simply - superfluid. It is not only exotic helium II that is superfluid. There are plenty of rheological fluids all around us. Anyone who has forgotten an open jar of sunflower oil on the table will immediately understand.

The design of the Babington burner is shown on the left in the figure, and on the right is the design of the combustion chamber (afterburner) for it. The disadvantage of this burner is already visible here: to burn the waste by more than 95%, a 3-stage air supply is required (except for atomization), and partially heated. Although boost is still not required.

The Babington burner operates quite simply: fuel drips onto a spray head with a spherical surface, which ensures its uniform spreading. It drips in excess so that the air always has something to blow off. The oil thrown out by a jet of air from the nozzle in the head forms a mist, which is set on fire. The fuel film constantly creeps onto the nozzle due to the rheological properties of the oil. Excess fuel flows into the collection tank, from where the feed pump supplies it through the heater back to the supply tank (feeder). Often, instead of a float turning on the pump, the feeder is provided with the excess in the tank draining directly into the collection tank; In this case, the feed pump operates continuously. However, the Babington burner also has enough design nuances.

Is a full sphere necessary?

The power removed from one Babington burner nozzle is limited by the finite value of oil fluidity. Therefore, the heads of powerful Babington burners are literally riddled with pores. If no more than 5-7 kW is required from the burner, it is possible to use part of the spherical surface instead of a technologically complex full-spherical head.

The design of a Babington burner with a partially spherical spray head is shown in Fig. (how to do this is described in detail and with photos here: diyworkplace.ru/14-diy-oil-burner.html). In addition to the availability of materials, it is good to learn how to adjust the fuel supply with this burner: a little more, the oil flows behind the blade of the head, stinks, burns, and clogs the spray chamber.

The sphere is still better

The spherical head in the Babington burner is also better because it saves fuel: in a burner with a partially spherical head, a good portion of the return burns until it is impossible to use. In the end, it turns out that there is still a quarter or more in the tank, but the burner does not start.

How to make a Babington burner spray head from inexpensive materials for a completely different purpose, widely available, is shown in the figure:

The good thing about a curtain rod plug is that its cut surface is flat and even. Drilling a nozzle hole in such a head blank is not difficult on a conventional drilling machine. If it moves away from the pole of the sphere within 1-2 mm, it’s okay. The main thing is that the axes of the nozzle and the sphere will be parallel and the torch will shoot evenly. You can even increase the power of the burner by drilling 3-4 holes around the pole of the sphere no closer than 6 mm from each other in a triangle or square. All that remains is to decide - how to drill?

How to make a 0.25 hole with a 0.6 drill

The permissible limits for the diameter of the Babington burner nozzle are 0.1-0.5 mm. Less maximum power is removed from a narrow nozzle, but the range of its adjustment is expanded, which is carried out by changing the air pressure for spraying. The latter for a 0.1 mm nozzle can vary within 0.5-5 atm, for a 0.25 mm nozzle - 1-3 atm, and the pressure in front of a 0.5 mm nozzle must be kept within 2 (+/-)0, 2 atm, otherwise the flame either breaks or goes out. Babington recognized the nozzle diameter of 0.25 mm as optimal; narrower nozzles become clogged with dust from the air, which requires at least 2-stage cleaning.

But how to drill a hole with a diameter of 0.25 mm? You can’t buy drills like this everywhere, and the machine needs high precision, otherwise the drill will immediately break.

The way out is to make a nozzle from part of a needle from a medical syringe. The channel diameters of syringe needles are 0.2-1 cubic meters. cm are just within optimal limits, and their outer diameter is 0.4-0.6 mm. These drills are widely available, and they can be inserted into a regular tabletop drill. Making a Babington burner nozzle from a medical needle is done as follows. way:

Cut a piece from the needle 2-3 mm longer than the thickness of the head wall.
We use a thin, stiff wire to remove sawdust and burrs.
Using a drill slightly larger than the outer diameter of the needle, we drill a pioneer channel in the head. If you use a 0.6 drill to drill a channel for a 0.4 needle from the outside, it’s okay.
Using a drill with a diameter 0.15-0.2 mm larger than the pioneer one, we countersink the hole on both sides. The chamfer needs to be removed tiny, so we countersink by hand, wrapping the drill shank with electrical tape and turning it with your fingers.
We insert a piece of needle into the pioneer hole.
Using two sharp awls or, better yet, metalworker's scribers, we unfold the ends of the needle segment. You need to unfold it at the same time, pressing lightly and turning the tools in opposite directions.
We leave the bell inside as is, it does not interfere with anything.
We remove the external excess using an emery stone no rougher than No. 360.
Once again we clean the nozzle channel, blow it out - the head is ready.

What if the head is already ready?

A very possible option. If you take a ready-made diesel fuel nozzle onto the head; A defective one made from junk or cheap will do. Fans are confused by the fact that they are produced with a power of 20 kW, but in this case there is nothing to be afraid of, because It is not diesel fuel that will flow into the nozzle, but air. But its working surface is precisely hemispherical, mirror-smooth, with a collar that prevents the oil from flowing where it shouldn’t and burning. The nozzle, however, will be from 0.7 mm, but it can be narrowed as described above. How to make a Babington burner head from a diesel injector, suitable for long-term intensive use, and even with automation from a water heating boiler, see the story

Video: Babington burner with automation

Compressor for atomization

Atomizing air in a Babington burner requires a little air, but under decent pressure. A compressor from an old refrigerator is best suited for this purpose, but you need to put a car air filter in front of it, otherwise the vacuum pump will quickly fail. You also need a receiver, because... Such a compressor will produce a highly pulsating jet.

How to adapt a compressor from a refrigerator to supply air to a Babington burner during mining

The great advantage of such a system is the ability to automate burner ignition without electronics. For this we use a safety valve (see figure), because The refrigeration compressor builds up pressure to more than 5 atm. Let's take the worst valve, a disc valve with a flat seat (the disc and seat will need to be ground together with abrasive No. 600 or finer and washed with alcohol). Such valves have a large hysteresis (the ratio of opening and closing pressures), but in this case that’s what we need. We will also increase the hysteresis of the valve by placing a weight on its stem. When the compressor pumps the receiver to the initial response pressure, the valve will “puff” sharply, jump up and close the microswitch that supplies power to the ignition transformer for 1-2 seconds. The oil consumption will go up for combustion, the air flow will increase (it is more difficult to blow through a cold oil film), and the valve will begin to work part-time, not reaching the mic. The adjusting nut is convenient for changing the air pressure to change the burner power.

Compressor lubrication

In a refrigerator, the compressor is lubricated with refrigerant, because It pumps out freon mist from the evaporator rather than pure steam. Suddenly the compressor starts to sputter, which means that there is too much refrigerant and it circulates in the system in a droplet-liquid state. If you force a refrigeration compressor to pump air, it will soon deteriorate without lubrication.

You can lubricate the refrigerator compressor with a spindle or other machine oil for precision mechanics. First you need to make a lubricant dispenser, from a 50-100 ml tank, a needle from a regular syringe for 2-10 cc, a tube from a blood transfusion machine and a pair of clamps from the same. The upper one shuts off the lubricant supply, and the lower one regulates its amount.

The dispenser is adjusted in free space. It is necessary to ensure that a drop of lubricating oil accumulates on the tip of the needle, pointing straight down, for 2-4 minutes, and hangs for the same amount of time until it comes off. Then the needle is inserted perpendicularly into the compressor supply air duct so that its bevel is in the middle of the lumen and oriented along the flow. If the needle is turned sideways or against the air, the oil will not flow.

The system is ready for use, but you will still need to monitor it during operation. Suddenly, some time after starting the burner, the combustion character changes, which means that a lot of oil goes into the compressor and it drives the excess with air. If at least 10 minutes have passed before this, and the flame remains, just begins to pulsate or smoke, you can correct the matter by slightly turning the needle, no more than 45 degrees. If it doesn’t help or symptoms appear earlier, you need to reconfigure the lubricant dispenser for a longer drop accumulation time.

Flame down the chimney!

You can do an interesting experiment with a burner during testing, the results of which are visible in the trace. rice.:

Having passed the burner flame through just 1 m of a wide pipe, we will see it no longer so furious and much cooled down (pos. 1), and a powerful flow of heated air will be noticeable from the pipe up. If you take a pipe with a diameter of 200 mm and a length of 3 m (item 2), then the temperature of the gases at its outlet will drop to less than 100 degrees. Let's expose the mouth of the pipe to the outside - the oily stench in the room will no longer be felt, although the gas analyzer will show that the impurities exceed the housing norm. All that remains is to hermetically connect the mouth of the pipe to the chimney, and we will get a heating system with an efficiency of more than 80%.

Evaporative

The waste can be burned without pressurization or heating at all, by dropping it drop by drop into a hot bowl. But such devices, as mentioned above, work more or less decently only as part of a boiler or furnace during mining, so they are not burners in the proper sense and are discussed in other publications.

A fuel-air mixture is supplied to the bowl of the evaporation burner during exhaustion, i.e. a small boost is required (fan from 20 W). The bowl is preheated either with a gas torch (item 1 in the figure), or with regular fuel supplied dropwise (not yet pressurized), ignited by a glow plug (item 2). The latter is easier, but during the first 3-5 minutes there will be a lot of soot. When the flame from the next drop is cleared and begins to rise with noise, the candle is turned off and air is allowed in. Blue tongues will appear in the bowl (positions 3 and 4), indicating complete combustion of the oil, but impurities in it will transform into a chemically more aggressive form and go into the air, so you need to use evaporation burners during processing carefully, see above. The evaporation burner is not critical to the size of the parts; base – 1/2″ and 2″ water pipes.

Note: for temporary start-up of, for example, a garage potbelly stove, it would be more convenient to use an evaporative burner that operates on the same principle, but into which the fuel-air mixture is supplied tangentially from the side, see the video below:

Video: evaporation burner in production for a furnace

Let's sum it up

So, the burner used for testing is quite a complex device; you can’t make one like this on a table at home. However, when deciding whether or not to have a burner in your hands, take into account one more significant circumstance. Namely, the specific fuel consumption for heating is the lowest: approx. 100 ml per 1 kW of thermal power per hour. The best diesel and oil burners consume from 130 ml*kW/hour, and kerosene and gasoline burners from 160 ml*kW/hour. The cost of heating from those, others and others cannot be compared, because working out has already worked out its price in the engine.

Installation, operation and service waste oil furnaces are associated with certain restrictions and prohibitions aimed at the efficient and, most importantly, safe use of liquid fuel heating equipment.

Note! All air furnaces using waste oil are designed for heating industrial premises. The use of equipment other than its intended purpose is strictly prohibited.

1. Do not use liquid fuel stoves for heating residential premises, cabins for builders, summer cottages and houses and administrative facilities.

2. Despite the seemingly simple operation and design of an oil heating stove at first glance, it is a source of increased danger. Therefore, when carrying out any work related to the heater, it is necessary to strictly comply with the requirements specified in the operating instructions.

3. Liquid fuel heaters operate on waste oil, diesel fuel, kerosene, and heating oil. The use of other types of fuel is excluded. It is also prohibited to burn transformer oil, heavily contaminated fuel, with mechanical impurities, water, antifreeze, paints and varnishes, gasoline, solvents, acetone and lubricants.

4. It is prohibited to operate waste oil stoves in places with high humidity, in dusty and cluttered rooms, in the open air and in places where flammable liquids, toxic or chemically active substances are stored or placed.

5. If in a heated room there is only an exhaust hood (the presence of powerful fans, paint booths, etc.), and there is no influx of fresh air, then a reverse draft effect is possible, that is, combustion products can enter the room. Therefore, the presence of supply and exhaust ventilation is mandatory when using liquid fuel heaters!

6. It is strictly prohibited to independently make any changes to the design or settings of the stove using waste oil or other liquid fuel.

7. Grounding when operating liquid fuel stoves is mandatory.

9. Do not operate a faulty heater.

10. Do not install an oil furnace into an air duct system - they are not designed for this. With the exception of those models whose manufacturer gives permission for use with air ducts.

11. Do not try to dry clothes or shoes on a working stove, or use it as a stove for cooking.

Tips for transportation and storage.

12. Delivery of liquid fuel heating equipment to the site must be carried out in a strictly vertical position. Other options are excluded.

13. When loading and unloading, avoid sudden shocks and impacts - The heater attachments may fail.

14. During transportation, protect your waste oil furnace from precipitation.

15. When accepting heating equipment, make sure that it is not damaged. If the heater is damaged, then additional approval is required for its further operation, based on the current damage.

16. Do not store the liquid fuel stove outdoors, or in very dusty or dirty areas.

Installation of a waste oil furnace.

17. Installation of a liquid fuel heater and its components must be carried out by specialists with the proper experience and approval, in accordance with current SNiP and SanPiN standards, while strictly observing the requirements of the operating instructions, current technical standards and regulations, as well as fire safety rules.

18. The waste oil furnace must be installed on an absolutely flat surface. If the surface has unevenness or differences, the distribution of waste oil on the plate will be uneven, which can lead to poor combustion.

19. Do not run liquid fuel equipment without a chimney or in the open air.

20. The chimney must be folded in full accordance with the requirements of the operating instructions for the equipment.

21. Connecting a chimney of reduced or increased diameter, as well as a general chimney system, is strictly not recommended.

23. Use a voltage stabilizer if there are frequent power surges.

Operating a furnace using waste oil.

24. Ignition of the liquid fuel heater during testing is carried out exclusively in a cold state. Failure to comply with this condition may result in uncontrolled ignition of waste oil vapors and burns. When restarting, be sure to wait until the device has completely cooled down.

26. Do not add diesel fuel to a hot plate, or after the flame has started to burn.

27. Do not disconnect the waste oil furnace from the mains while the fan is running. This can lead to breakdown of the fan itself, as well as overheating of the combustion chamber with its subsequent failure.

29. The efficiency of a waste oil furnace depends on many factors, one of which is timely cleaning of the combustion chamber. We recommend Maintenance combustion chambers and bowls until the performance of the liquid fuel heating unit deteriorates. Dirty devices work and heat much worse than cleaned ones.

30. When starting maintenance on the liquid fuel stove, wait until it has completely cooled down.

31. When daily servicing a plate on which waste was burned, we recommend not throwing a hot plate into the snow, or trying to “beat off” unburned residues by banging the plate on the asphalt. All this can lead to premature failure of the plate.

32. If a lot of water/antifreeze collects in the fuel storage tank, be sure to remove these fluids. If they get on the combustion bowl together with waste oil, it can cause uneven combustion and strong hissing of the flame, which is incorrect and unsafe operation.

We wish you safe, long and efficient operation of your waste oil furnace!

No part of this article may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or published on the Internet without the written permission of the copyright owner. © ThermoAlliance, 2014.

This year, the editorial staff of our newspaper traditionally participates in the regional competition for the best publication on environmental issues. In general, the topic of ecology is close and interesting to us - we know that we can make our own, albeit modest, contribution to the discussion of this topical and, in the full sense of the word, vital problem.
While sorting through a wide variety of material, I came across a number that simply amazed me. It turns out that about 100 thousand tons of lubricating automotive and industrial oils are consumed annually in our country. And the amount of waste generated as a result of their use is 80-85% of the original volume. The result is about 80-85 thousand tons of waste oil per year.
From life I remember that I have repeatedly heard and seen how wooden structures are lubricated with “working off”, supposedly this makes them last longer. I can still smell the pungent smell. It's no secret that not all car enthusiasts bother themselves with worries and pour unnecessary oil anywhere, but we already have almost a car for every second resident. And also the production scale.
And in fact, do we know why “refining” is harmful and where organizations and citizens can and should dispose of waste petroleum products? We received answers to these questions from the head of the regional inspectorate of natural resources and environmental protection, Valery Belavsky. First, about the harm. Undoubtedly, waste petroleum products are dangerous pollutants of almost all components of the natural environment - surface and groundwater; they are extremely harmful to soil and air. The thing is that used oils are only partially biodegradable, so their disposal in the natural environment has a very detrimental effect on the latter. For example, waste oils poured into any water source significantly reduce the amount of oxygen there for plants and any living creatures. How do you like this figure: 1 liter of used motor oil poured into the soil makes hundreds to thousands of tons of groundwater unusable!
The practice of burning waste oils is often used. It's like a way out. However, there is a big “BUT!” This can only be done using special safe systems. Otherwise, we are exposed to emissions of combustion products, carcinogens that are harmful to the environment and humans. It has been clinically proven that vapors from burned petroleum products affect the cardiovascular and central nervous system, cause acute and chronic poisoning, sometimes fatal. When the human body is exposed to waste oil combustion products, people are at risk of cancer.
Now let's talk about what to do with waste petroleum products? Unfortunately, we have to admit that we do not yet have a unified system for the collection and disposal of used oils. As they say, a threatening and obliging sword does not yet hang over consumers. But the process of education in the field of ecology is still far from perfect. Although any normal person should know that hazardous substances are not released into nature.
The following comparison is repeatedly given in the specialized literature: the volume of waste petroleum products that is discharged into soil and water bodies significantly exceeds all emergency oil discharges during its production, processing or losses during transportation. Therefore, recycling of used oil is a prerequisite for all industries. Moreover, rules and specialized organizations have been defined that collect this waste and process it in the necessary ways.
As Valery Belavsky said, the district inspectorate of natural resources and environmental protection is constantly monitoring the situation at our enterprises and organizations. There the oils are collected and stored in sealed containers. At the same time, the emphasis is placed on the fact that improper collection and storage can also cause significant damage to the environment. The waste is then handed over to a special organization. The largest enterprises in our region have entered into agreements with IOO "DVCH-Management", which is located in the village of Krupsky. Where possible, the “working off” is reused to lubricate the rubbing parts of the mechanisms. And car enthusiasts can leave them after replacing them at car repair shops; they will know what to do with them next. Although it is no secret that many do not bother themselves and, taking advantage of the lack of a strict legislative framework, burn this waste, pour it into sewers, water bodies or throw it in landfills. Garage cooperatives are especially guilty of this. Of course, the collection process from individual users and small organizations is in its early stages, but this does not mean that each individual has the right to be negligent about it.
Remember the saying “You can’t spoil porridge with butter.” Of course, it was born long before synthetic oils came into use. And if in the literal sense this is true, then in relation to our topic it is exactly the opposite. Waste oils pose a serious environmental threat to the environment and human health - this is an axiom.
Ideally, as Valery Belavsky said, all used oils should be recycled. In addition, although this waste is secondary, it is a very valuable raw material, since in the process of its regeneration it is possible to obtain restored oils suitable for reuse, as well as other petroleum products. And this is money that can work for the country’s economy.
Let's summarize what has been said. Manufacturers are obliged, according to established rules, to collect used oils and hand them over to special organizations. Individual users - change oils at service stations or collect waste in containers and then hand it over to special organizations. For example, in our area there is “DHF Management”, and on the website of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection you can find a list of other organizations that will accept this type of waste. In my opinion, it’s easier and more professional to do this at a car service center. The question arises: is it really necessary to wait for the strict letter of the law, which will prescribe severe punishment for us? Or maybe, even without the whip, we are able to understand that the environment we pollute is dangerous for us? And such oil can ruin any porridge, literally and figuratively.

You can heat a house, garage, or farmstead free of charge if you use waste. The idea of using waste oil to heat your home and garage is appealing. There is simply plenty of this kind of oil everywhere; it has excellent calorific value, on average a little more than 10 kW per liter, at the level of all petroleum products. Taking into account the efficiency of the boiler, about 10 kW/1l will be supplied for our heating. Next, we will calculate how much fuel is needed, the price of the issue, but most importantly - how to use the waste, boilers, furnaces, what experience we have and what it all leads to...

The garage can be easily heated with a furnace running on waste. But oil consumption in such a design is usually no less than 0.5 l/hour, efficiency is 0.75, so count...

How much work will be required to heat a house?

As you know, most houses in the middle zone (temperate climate) consume up to 20 kW of energy per hour in the coldest time. The average boiler power for a typical home over 6 months of heating is no more than 12 kW/hour. 28.8 liters of waste oil will be consumed per day, and a little more than 5,000 liters will be consumed during the heating season. And how much will this volume of oil cost? Sometimes it’s completely free, or just pennies for delivery...

Advice from experienced people: Ensure that at least half of the seasonal fuel consumption is stored in the house, but preferably the entire volume, so as not to be left without fuel in frosty weather.

How does the simplest furnace work?

The exhaust furnace is easy to manufacture, inexpensive, and at the same time quite powerful. This design can develop up to 15 kW. With slight improvement and up to 30 kW. Those. equipped with a water circuit, it is also suitable for heating small houses, and not just garages and utility rooms.

Diagram of a simple heating device operating on oil

A waste furnace can be purchased inexpensively. Many metalworking and welding associations put them up for sale.

On sale you can find stoves operating on waste for utility rooms. They are inexpensive.

How to make your own waste oil furnace

Below are detailed drawings for the manufacture of such a furnace, which absorbs free waste oil and produces the required expensive kilowatts of thermal energy. Metal and welding craftsmen can make this inexpensively.

Furnace design for testing that can be repeated independently

Another descriptive design of a fuel furnace for liquid viscous fuel.

General diagram of the furnace in production

What will the masters tell you about this in the video?

In what cases can wastewater be used to heat not only a garage, but also a house?

If perhaps 100 liters per season is enough for rare heating in a garage, which some people can simply collect for free from friends and neighbors’ garages, then the volumes for a home are calculated in tones, and here one cannot do without trade supplies. In theory, there are many enterprises that are working on the question of “what to do with used oil” - garages, ports, factories - and they will be glad to see a buyer bringing into their daily lives the radiant idea “I will give money for waste.”

Thus, to organize this heating at home, you need to create an ironclad agreement on the supply of fuel in the amount of at least seasonal consumption per year. But in practice, the question of price arises. It turns out that there is already a demand for mining, and the price for it has crept up. What is going on in a specific region, at a specific plant and car depot, can only be decided locally, and think about the “price/volume” question.

How to create heating using oil as fuel

But agreeing on the supply of used oil is half the battle. It is also necessary to create conditions for heating by working out in your home and on your garden plot. For some users, the heating process turned into hell. In hell, they constantly carry it in buckets and spill it, clogging everything around with practically impossible-to-remove toxic waste, spreading a terrible smell not only in their own home, but also frightening their neighbors.

Also, by burning what they have trained in some primitive equipment, they emit black smoke into the atmosphere, which removes stray dogs and cats from the area, but at the same time is the best incentive for neighbors to keep axes, pitchforks and scythes in combat readiness...

To prevent this from happening, you need containers for storage in the basement at a positive temperature. We need a mechanized supply and special equipment for heating a house by working out, which automatically regulates the air supply, fuel pressure, its temperature, supply volumes per minute, i.e. output power, and controlled not only by thermostats from home, but also via smartphone.

Equipment for heating a house by working off

An oil burner is complex and expensive equipment. It creates all the above conditions for heating the house. Such a burner, as well as the boiler for working with it, are common equipment for automated and trouble-free heating using waste oil.

But new branded boilers for these purposes are also not cheap.

Recommendations from craftsmen: Burners are expensive, so craftsmen often remake used diesel fuel burners, installing them in a used liquid fuel boiler. Then the idea of heating a house cheaply remains valid. But without delving into all the nuances of storage, supply of used oil, and the smallest details of the burner’s operation, you should not count on easy success...

For masters: - experience in converting a diesel burner for oil and an example of how many problems there are in this matter..

For enterprises where, as a result of their activities, large volumes of waste oil accumulate, the introduction of heating equipment that uses waste oil as fuel represents a beneficial solution for a number of problems.

The idea of using waste oils (WO) as heating fuel in a number of foreign countries has been in use for quite a long time and is very effective and is regulated by clear legislative framework. In the USA, this is a whole industry: about 60% of the collected “waste” is sent for recycling, the rest is disposed of, including being burned in heat generators of small and medium-sized heating systems. In many EU countries there is a complete ban on burning OM. In general, about 75% of waste is collected in Western European countries - 25% is regenerated, and 50% is used as fuel.

In Russia, the process of using fuel from waste oil does not yet have a clear legislative basis. The corresponding equipment is certified as heating equipment operating on liquid fuel. To organize a heat supply system at the OM, it is necessary to draw up a project that takes into account the impact on environment the entire object as a whole.

In Russia, there is also no established system for the collection, recovery and disposal of waste materials, and existing processing enterprises use the collected oils to restore solid oil and low-grade oils, which are of little use in technology today. However, the use of “working off” for heating in our country is very promising, The potential of the fuel base based on waste technical oils from motor vehicles and other types of equipment in Russia is up to 500 million tons/year or more. Less than half (40-48%) is reused: 14-15% of this goes for regeneration, the rest is used as fuel.

One of the most promising areas for waste disposal involves using it as fuel for heating industrial facilities. This approach allows the enterprise to reduce heat supply costs by refusing: the services of energy supply organizations, the consumption of traditional gas or liquid fuel, the cost of disposing of used oil as hazardous industrial waste. At the same time, the burden on the environment is also reduced - burning waste using high-tech equipment is environmentally safer than its uncontrolled “disposal”. The content of harmful compounds in the combustion products of OM burners must comply with the standards established for burner devices using conventional diesel fuel.

It is obvious that for such enterprises as auto repair centers, ship repair yards, vehicle depots, pumping stations, where OM is constantly being collected, its use for heating their own production premises is especially beneficial. At the same time, p According to experts, the average price for used oil is two to three times lower than for diesel fuel, with almost the same calorie content. Therefore, the use of this fuel turns out to be profitable even regardless of the volume of own “production” of oil. Of course, when conducting a feasibility study of the use of heating equipment at the OM, it is necessary to take into account the costs of carrying out regular routine maintenance on cleaning heaters and heat exchange surfaces.

The most widely used heating units operating on waste oil are furnaces and air heat generators.

Waste fuel stoves

Furnaces operating on OM are usually not very powerful and are used to heat individual premises of auto repair shops, spare parts warehouses, etc. In these heat generators, fuel is burned in a combustion chamber in a special bowl, usually cast iron, to which fuel is supplied by a drip method. Under the influence of high temperature, the oil evaporates, and the resulting vapors mix with air and burn. Air is forced into the combustion chamber under low pressure, which ensures a stable combustion mode.

In particular, waste oil heat generators ZHAR-25 and ZHAR-100 are equipped with a blower fan. In these devices, the fan is controlled by an electronic controller, and thanks to this, it is possible to change the power, which leads to more economical fuel consumption. In addition, the control unit of such heat generators is equipped with an automatic temperature maintenance function.

Products of fuel combustion heat the heat exchanger and are discharged to the street through a chimney, which must have a length of at least 4 m. Heat is transferred from the stove heat exchanger by radiation or removed using a fan.

Ignition in such furnaces is often done manually; the bowl is preheated by burning a small amount of fuel in it. During operation, fuel is supplied automatically from the fuel tank (either mounted on the stove or located remotely) using a pump.

The safety of the heat generator is usually ensured using a temperature sensor that protects the stove from overheating and a fuel overflow sensor.

The temperature sensor is located on the inner wall of the housing and is connected to the drive circuit of the fuel supply pump. If the sensor is triggered, the pump turns off, fuel stops flowing into the combustion chamber, and combustion stops.

If the combustion mode is disturbed, fuel may overflow over the edges of the plate. In this case, the overflow sensor is triggered and also turns off the fuel supply pump.

When developing the OM fuel niche in Russia, stoves from foreign manufacturers, such as Kroll, initially became widespreadW401, W401L(USA), Thermobile AT 306, 307, 400, 500 (Netherlands). Domestic analogues have also appeared - for example, waste oil heaters "Teplon T 603" (ZAO "Belamos"), "Typhoon TGM 300" (OOO "Firm Bilyar"), "Zhar 25" (OOO "Lepta"), etc.

B More efficient combustion of fuel in furnaces during “processing” can be achieved by spraying it in a thin layer. In this caseThe OM is supplied from a built-in or external tank by a metering pump into the combustion chamber, where atomization occurs. The pump creates a pressure of 4-5 atm by connecting to the compressed air line, which causes ultra-fine atomization.

But even spraying OM with compressed air allows you to burn only about 70% of the fuel. The rest is deposited on the heat exchanger and significantly reduces heat transfer, so the bowls in waste fuel stoves, like the walls of the heat exchanger, need periodic cleaning. For different units, the time between cleanings ranges from 6 to 800 hours of operation or more, depending on the combustion technology used in them and the purity of the fuel used.

To further increase the efficiency of OM furnaces, the American company Clean Burn has developed a technology for secondary combustion of waste oil on a target. It is placed in the combustion chamber at a short distance from the rear wall, and OM droplets settle on it. In furnaces using afterburning targets, cleaning of heat exchangers has become necessary only every 800 hours of operation.

The heat transfer area in such furnaces is determined by the area of the combustion chamber. To increase heat transfer, a number of manufacturing companies began to use a tubular heat exchanger, and the efficiency of heat transfer is increased with the help of forced ventilation.

The company "Techno-Climate"based on heater Kroll W401, a heat generator model based on the Euronord EcoHeat OM has been developed, in which an evaporative (drip) fuel combustion scheme is combined with a highly efficient radial blower (Fig. 1). The heat generator supplies a large volume of heated air into the room in the complete absence of side thermal radiation, due to this the efficiency of the device increases and it becomes possible to more flexibly regulate the heating of the room.

Rice. 1. Heat generator running on waste oil

When installing a special fuel supply device, such a heat generator is capable of operating in a fully automatic mode (without manual refueling). This device includes a float that controls the fuel level in the heater tank, and a control circuit that turns on the pump of a standard Kroll or Euronord fuel supply unit when the fuel level in the tank drops below a predetermined level.

Air heating during “working out”

The highest efficiency of spent fuel combustion is achieved in the combustion chambers of air heat generators using forced-air burners. The efficiency of such stationary units reaches 93%. The combustion chambers of heat generators are made of high-temperature stainless steel and can work with any type of burner.Diesel fuel, gas, animal fats, waste or vegetable oil can be used as fuel. Thus, pThe advantages of air heating, which does not require an intermediate coolant, are combined in such systems with the economic advantages of OM fuel.

In air heat generators (Fig. 2), hot combustion products, passing inside the heat exchanger, heat it and are discharged outside the room. The air forced by the fan blows over the heat exchanger, heats up and enters the room through adjustable blinds or an air duct system. Heat transfer begins immediately after turning on the unit.

The power of such heating units reaches 1.5 MW, thanks to which they can be used to create autonomous heating systems for large premises for any purpose: warehouses, hangars, workshops, trade and exhibition complexes, agricultural facilities, sports facilities, car service centers, etc. They can used in technological processes, in specific industries - for the preparation of hot air, drying and heating of materials and products.

Rice. 2. Air heating heat generators using waste oil

Such air heat generators are often supplied to the Russian market by the same companies that also produce furnaces operating on OM, for example, Kroll (Germany) - installations series S and SKE, EnergyLogic (USA), etc.

To prevent flame separation from the burner and the occurrence of a backdraft effect, EnergyLogic air heaters are equipped with an automatic vacuum control system in the chimney.

For ease of placement, manufacturers provide vertical and horizontal heat generator modules. EnergyLogic air heaters can be installed under the ceiling of the heated room, attached to a wall, placed on a platform made of non-combustible material, or located on racks on the fuel tank. The design of the devices allows you to supply heated air in different directions, separate the air flows and direct them to the ventilation system. To heat large rooms, it is possible to design a manifold fuel supply system to several burners installed on air heat generators operating in a cascade.

The heat exchange surfaces of air heat generators are cleaned using an industrial vacuum cleaner every 2-6 months.

Water heating on OM

Heating using waste oil can be not only air, but also water. An example of such boiler equipment is hot water boilers. EL-200B and EL-500B (maximum power - 58.3 and 146 kW) from EnergyLogic. They are equipped with two fuel tanks, in the first of which insoluble impurities and solid particles settle. After settling, the oil is fed through a filter that retains particles larger than 100 microns into the main supply tank. Before being supplied to the burner nozzle, the fuel is once again cleaned using a fine filter, heated to a temperature of 50-75 ° C, depending on the composition of the oil, and mixed in the nozzle block with primary air pumped by the built-in compressor. Secondary air also enters the combustion zone from the burner fan. The quality of OM combustion using this technology is comparable to the combustion of conventional heating oil. The fuel heating unit is made of a special alloy. It should be cleaned approximately every two months.

The EnergyLogyc fuel supply system also includes a patented metering pump that regulates the fuel supply depending on its characteristics to ensure optimal combustion conditions. The pump can supply fuel over a distance of up to 45 m.

The EL boiler has a two-pass design with a completely water-cooled firebox. Stainless steel turbulators are built into the smoke tubes. The boiler body is thermally insulated from a dense layer of fiberglass. The smoke chamber cover is removable, which facilitates inspection, maintenance and cleaning of the internal surfaces of the boiler. There is no need to dismantle the burner. The boiler is equipped with a coil for preparing hot water, and, if necessary, is also connected to a separate boiler.

Burners at work

How the majority works OM burners made in Europe similar to the one described above. The built-in fuel pump pumps fuel into a sealed intermediate chamber with an electric heater. After heating the oil to the temperature at which the control thermostat is set, the rotary-compressor group of the burner is turned on. A rotor with blades rotating in a sleeve takes primary air from the room and mixes fuel with it from the intermediate chamber. Then the finished fuel-air emulsion is fed under pressure into the combustion chamber through a nozzle. The burner fan forces secondary air.

Euronord EcoLogi with power from 20 to 240 kW.

Burners with rotary nozzles are also produced by the German company Saacke. High efficiency combustion of fuel (including bitumen, tar and residues of heavy mineral oils) when using them is ensured through high-quality regulation of various fuel flows. The air supplied to the burner is divided into primary (25%), which sprays the fuel film after the edges of the rotating cup, secondary (70%), which ensures combustion of the bulk of the fuel, and tertiary (5%), which protects the rotating blades from overheating and prevents the deposition of combustion products.

Reducing the formation of nitrogen oxides in Saacke rotary burners is ensured by the supply of recirculation gases to the primary combustion zone.

Rotary burners have a wide control range (1:10), and the excess air remains practically unchanged when the load is reduced to 20% of the nominal load.

Models of Euronord EcoLogic burners, which are supplied to the Russian market by Techno-Climat LLC, are equipped with a two-stage fuel heater in the heating chamber. This allows you to quickly heat the first portion of fuel to operating temperature and ensure quick start-up of the burner, as well as maintain the temperature in the heating chamber in the most economical way. On powerful models of Euronord EcoLogic burners, a dual compressed air connection circuit is used for stable operation of the burner in maximum power mode.

Universal burners from the Italian company Ar-Co can be called “record holders” in terms of power. Their size range includes models with power from 23 to 1395 kW. The most powerful burner in this series consumes 120 kg of fuel per hour, and its dimensions are 1520x920x600 mm.

Domestic developments in this area have also appeared. T ak, Obschemash LLC produces an automatic burner OMS-600 with a power of 11.8-117.7 kW (fuel consumption - 1.2-11.3 kg/h; overall dimensions - 275x300x475 mm; electrical power consumption - 0.35 kW ).

All of the burners mentioned above are universal, i.e. they can operate on both OM and diesel and heating fuel, fuel oil, as well as rapeseed and vegetable oil. The shape of the torch is a regular oval, close to a sphere. When switching from one type of fuel to another, it is not necessary to dismantle the burner; it is only necessary to adjust the supply of primary and secondary air, as well as the fuel preheating temperature. The heating temperature must provide the viscosity necessary for optimal combustion of a particular fuel. For example, used oil requires heating to 70 °C with a viscosity of 7 °E, and diesel fuel - up to 20 °C (viscosity - 1.6 °E). The content of CO 2 and soot in the flue gases depends on the type of fuel. The carbon dioxide content should be 8-14%, and soot - 1-2.5 (on the Bacharach scale). These values can be adjusted by changing the amount of air in the mixture. The temperature of the exhaust gases is approximately 260 °C.