Greetings all,
When I built the shop I went through the litany of heating options, and
spent some time looking into the concept of Waste Oil burners.
It sure sounds like a sweet idea, you don't have to pay for the oil, and
you have a thermostat to turn up at will...
But, they are a high maintenance item. They don't go a season without
cleaning them out. That alone didn't sound so bad.
The problem is, you never can be too sure what is in the waste oil you are
getting. A car with a blown head gasket gets it's oil changed, and you have
a gallon of oil, and a gallon of antifreeze. Since most garages will take
whatever someone off the street CLAIMS to be waste oil, who knows what you
are really getting. I wouldn't want a tank of waste oil full of PCB's, of
some other nasties in my back yard. I live in Connecticut, where the
Department of Environmental Resources is particularity tough.
If you are still thinking about it, you encounter the problem of getting a
good source for the waste oil. Getting all the neighbors to give me their
waste oil won't even take the chill off my shop, so you need to arrange
something with a commercial source. Or two. Then you have to have the
ability to store whatever they bring you, 12 months a year. Not being able
to accept the waste oil 'cause the tank(s) is/are full will stop the flow
from that source real fast. So, I am not sure an individual can easily get
the neighborhood garage to stop using their waste disposal service.
Then you have the tree huggers making sure waste oil is being properly
disposed of, or in this case, burned. I don't want anyone with a bunch of
test equipment looking at my furnace exhaust.
Needless to say, I passed on the concept. I went with radiant in-floor
heating, the heat source is a 30 gallon hot water heater!
Henry "will try to keep his opinions shorter next time" Frye
thefryes@iconn.net
At 07:32 PM 12/15/98 -0500, bob bownes wrote:
>
>
>Since it's gotten to be winter in these parts, I've turned my thoughts back
>towards heating the garage...
>
>So, I been thinkin about how...
>
>See there is this cast iron wood stove in my basement doing nothing...(bad
>idea)
>
>And some one has offered me a used Fuel Oil furnace...(better idea)
>
>And I know where to get a used LP furnace...(much better idea?)
>
>But I'm really attracted to the concept of a brand new waste oil
>furnace...(interesting idea)
>
>Now I unnerstand all the issues with WOFs. Anyone have an opinion?
>
>iii
>
>
>
>
>
|