Waste Oil Stove Heats Shop And Trailer House At Same Time

2001 - Volume #25, Issue #1, Page #10

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"It's a cheap way to heat two buildings at once," says Alec Yeager, Hendley, Neb., who used old oilfield pipe to build a waste oil stove that heats his 40 by 60-ft. shop, as well as a 14 by 70-ft. trailer house about 75 ft. away.
  The stove is equipped with a 4-ft. high water jacket around the flue that transfers hot water to the trailer house. It burns from 3/4 to 1 1/2 gal. of waste oil per hour.
  The stove mounts on four legs and consists of a horizontal length of pipe with a vertical length of 8 5/8-in. dia. pipe mounted on top of it that serves as the water jacket. Waste oil is stored inside a 50-gal. fuel tank off a Deere combine that mounts behind the stove. A continuously running air compressor that's located outside the shop blows air through a 1/4-in. dia. metal pipe that goes through the shop wall and into the stove. A venturi valve on the air pipe sucks oil out of the storage tank and atomizes it, so that the oil is blown into the burning chamber with the air as a mist.
  The oil tank is filled out of a 500-gal. tank that's mounted outside the shop. A float system ensures that the inside tank stays full all the time.
  The water jacket surrounds the stove's exhaust pipe. Heated water is pumped out the top side of the water jacket to an insulated hose, buried 1 ft. underground, which runs to the trailer house. There the water is circulated through a coil-type heat exchanger. The cooled water is then sent back through another pipe that leads into the bottom of the water jacket, where the water is recirculated and used again.
  "Instead of wasting heat by sending it up the exhaust pipe and out the roof, I'm putting it into water and using it to heat another building," says Yeager. "I built the stove nine years ago without the water jacket and used it for a year. However, the stove produced more heat than I could use in the shop so I decided to add the water jacket and also heat the trailer house. It provides a lot of heat. I have a central furnace inside the trailer house, but it rarely kicks on unless the temperature goes below zero.
  "I get most of my waste oil from local farmers.  The stove burns best with warm oil. However, I didn't want to keep 500 gal. of warm oil inside my shop which is why I added the smaller tank inside. A disc blade hangs loose on front of the stove in case the electricity ever goes out for a few minutes and then comes back on. Otherwise if the chamber is full of combustible smoke and oil shoots into the stove it could ignite again and cause an explosion. The disc blade mounts on a hinge which lets the stove vent.
  "The flame inside the internal chamber burns at 1,800 to 1,900 degrees. It burns as clean as propane, with no smoke outside.
  "I mounted a metal rack on top of the stove where I can put my boots or coveralls to dry them out."
  Yeager says he'd be willing to make a video showing how he built the stove if there's enough interest.
  Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alec Yeager, Box 504, Hendley, Neb. 68946 (ph 308 265-7466).

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Waste Oil Stove Heats Shop And Trailer House At Same Time ENERGY Waste Oil 25-1-10 "It's a cheap way to heat two buildings at once," says Alec Yeager, Hendley, Neb., who used old oilfield pipe to build a waste oil stove that heats his 40 by 60-ft. shop, as well as a 14 by 70-ft. trailer house about 75 ft. away. The stove is equipped with a 4-ft. high water jacket around the flue that transfers hot water to the trailer house. It burns from 3/4 to 1 1/2 gal. of waste oil per hour. The stove mounts on four legs and consists of a horizontal length of pipe with a vertical length of 8 5/8-in. dia. pipe mounted on top of it that serves as the water jacket. Waste oil is stored inside a 50-gal. fuel tank off a Deere combine that mounts behind the stove. A continuously running air compressor that's located outside the shop blows air through a 1/4-in. dia. metal pipe that goes through the shop wall and into the stove. A venturi valve on the air pipe sucks oil out of the storage tank and atomizes it, so that the oil is blown into the burning chamber with the air as a mist. The oil tank is filled out of a 500-gal. tank that's mounted outside the shop. A float system ensures that the inside tank stays full all the time. The water jacket surrounds the stove's exhaust pipe. Heated water is pumped out the top side of the water jacket to an insulated hose, buried 1 ft. underground, which runs to the trailer house. There the water is circulated through a coil-type heat exchanger. The cooled water is then sent back through another pipe that leads into the bottom of the water jacket, where the water is recirculated and used again. "Instead of wasting heat by sending it up the exhaust pipe and out the roof, I'm putting it into water and using it to heat another building," says Yeager. "I built the stove nine years ago without the water jacket and used it for a year. However, the stove produced more heat than I could use in the shop so I decided to add the water jacket and also heat the trailer house. It provides a lot of heat. I have a central furnace inside the trailer house, but it rarely kicks on unless the temperature goes below zero. "I get most of my waste oil from local farmers. The stove burns best with warm oil. However, I didn't want to keep 500 gal. of warm oil inside my shop which is why I added the smaller tank inside. A disc blade hangs loose on front of the stove in case the electricity ever goes out for a few minutes and then comes back on. Otherwise if the chamber is full of combustible smoke and oil shoots into the stove it could ignite again and cause an explosion. The disc blade mounts on a hinge which lets the stove vent. "The flame inside the internal chamber burns at 1,800 to 1,900 degrees. It burns as clean as propane, with no smoke outside. "I mounted a metal rack on top of the stove where I can put my boots or coveralls to dry them out." Yeager says he'd be willing to make a video showing how he built the stove if there's enough interest. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Alec Yeager, Box 504, Hendley, Neb. 68946 (ph 308 265-7466).

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