1978 - Volume #2, Issue #2, Page #24
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New Furnace Burns Waste Crankcase Oil
Just before this issue went to press, we learned about still another exciting new development in waste oil heating that could be one of the "biggest ever" breakthroughs for heating livestock barns, farm shops, manufacturing plants, garages - may be even farm homes.
It's the new fully automatic, direct-fired Davair furnace which operates on untreated waste crankcase oil. Developed in England, it's reportedly the first fully automatic and thermostatically controlled space heater which uses untreated waste engine oil as it comes out of vehicles.
Output of the Davair is rated at 250,000 to 350,000 btu's per hour. It can be operated entirely on waste engine oil, without soot or odor problems. Or, if the supply of waste oil is limited, it will also operate on regular fuel oil.
The Davair is equipped with a specially designed burner which burns untreated waste oil "as is" as it gravity feeds from a storage tank. "Waste oil is fed through a built-in filter, into a small pre-heater and then atomized into the combustion chamber with compressed air," Ian Harwood, marketing director for Davair, told FARM SHOW. "With only one moving part, the burner does not employ a pressure jet or oil pump. It's virtually trouble free, requiring only routine twiceyearly servicing. The unit is selflighting and has fail-safe controls."
Harwood notes that, in addition to farm buildings, the Davair has application to garages, filling stations, manufacturing plants and other "industrial type" buildings. The waste oil furnace was first introduced in England two years ago. "We now have hundreds of units operating in England and are exporting to various other countries. In the U.K., we have licensed the largest manufacturer of warm air heating furnaces, Powermatic Limited, to use our burner, and we also sell direct under our own name. We are currently looking for a company to market our product in the United States." Meanwhile, the company welcomes inquiries from anyone interested in buying or possibly manufacturing and marketing the waste oil heater in the U.S.
The company's selling method is principally based on the large sayings in heating with waste oil instead of regular fuel oil. "Until we started publicizing the advantages of using waste oil, it was very seldom used on account of the fact that it was not possible to provide a burner which was fully automatic and which would burn clean. Initially, our greatest difficulty was convincing potential buyers that they worked. However, we now have so many out that one sells another, and we enjoy an extremely good customer relationship," Harwood reports.
He adds that the waste oil heater in England sells for approximately double the price of conventional space heaters: "However, this price gap will narrow as production builds up. A suitable manufacturer of heating equipment in the U.S. would already enjoy considerable production advantages and, like motor cars, I expect the units will be cheaper in America than they are here in England."
For more details, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Ian Harwood, Marketing Director, Davair Heating, Ltd. 51 Norwich Avenue, Bournemouth, Dorset, England BH2 6AJ (ph. 0202 765067).
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