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Can Purchasing A Waste Oil Burner Really Save Me Money?

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Most items the average homeowner purchases in his lifetime will end up costing him money as long as he has it. Vehicles, boats, appliances, furniture, various forms of entertainment and the actual house itself are not only expensive to buy but expensive to maintain during its lifespan.

So you can understand why I am a firm believer in any homeowner at least exploring the idea of investing into some kind of waste oil technology.

It is only item I have ever purchased for my home that has made me money instead of taken it away.

Any waste oil burner you purchase will not just save you money but put money back into your pocket.

Depending on which part of the country you live in you can potentially save yourself several thousand dollars a year in heating costs.

My current waste oil boiler that I bought back in 2007 is giving me an annual savings of over $4,500.

I have made some new additions to my home and without being supplied free heat my monthly bills would easily topple $500 a month.

But, where do you get the oil? I do not have access to enough used motor oil every month to run my waste oil burner?

True, I am in a unique situation. I owned a mobile oil change company and getting a steady supply of used oil was never a problem for me.

But, since I started this blog I have sold that company. I get all my oil from a local tire shop two miles away from where I live. Though their primary service is tires they offer oil changes as well for their customers.

That one store is able to supply me all the oil I need.

If that ever ran out I would go to several mechanic or transmission shops and cut a deal with them.

Most businesses that generate it just would like to get rid of it. Very few shop owners will expect you to pay them for something that is considered a headache. They would not mind at all someone coming every week, or month, to take it off their hands.

Isn’t maintenance really high for waste oil furnaces or boilers?

These heaters have a bad reputation for breaking down often. Many people make the argument that waste oil technology is great…when it’s working.

This industry has come a long way since its inception. The products being manufactured are better than ever now. I have owned my waste oil boiler from Energy Logic for 4 ½ years and it has never broken down on me.

I can attribute my boiler being problem free for two main reasons:

I do an excellent job at filtering the waste oil going into it. Not only do I let each barrel sit for several days so that all the sediment settles to the bottom but I also run all my oil through a waste oil centrifuge. Before I purchased my centrifuge I ran all my oil through a 30 micron filter, twice.
I get a tune-up every single year. I not only get my boiler cleaned but get it checked out by a certified technician. Several potential problems that would not have affected my boiler for months were caught and fixed well in advance.

For what waste oil burner can potentially save you I firmly believe that it is worth every homeowner at least checking into it. Some neighborhoods and city ordinances so not allow them but it is very rare.

Posted in Annual Oil Burner Cleaning, Energy Savings Techniques, Good Investment | Comments Off

Oil Burner Annual Cleaning

Monday, July 6th, 2009

I just bought a 10 year old oil burner from one of the busiest quick lubes in town. They have had it since they went into business a decade ago and felt like it was time to get a newer more efficient one. The owner gave me a screaming deal on it which came out to be 95% bellow market rate even for a boiler this old. I was a Buderus with a Wetzlar motor.

What Are you Going to Need to Clean Your Waste Oil Burner

You are going to need just a few things. They are the following a) masks b) chimney brushes c) broom d)shop vac (optional but nice if you have it) e) large piece of cardboard f) brake parts cleaner

Items You Will Need

Step 1- Cleaning the Oil Boiler Chamber and Door

You are going to need to lay the large piece of cardboard by the entrance of the boiler. If you do not than ash is going to get all over the place and believe me its extremely hard to clean up.

Waste Oil Burner Before Cleaning

We always like to start off with the door. These oil burner doors usually have an asbestos gasket on them so you want to use a brush with softer thistles like a broom and not the chimney brush which would be way to hard on it. Please wear a mask while doing this. Remember that this machine burns waste oil and you have no earthly idea what was actually in it.

You want to brush the door off really well. Ash is going to be flying all over the place. Inspect the opening of the chamber where the actual burner assembly goes. Look for buildup and burn marks. If there is a lot of build up than the boiler has probably not been shutting off like its supposed to.

Oil Burner Door Being Cleaned

You are then doing to want to clean the actual chamber. Again, I respect, make certain you have your mask on. Take the chimney brush and start scrapping away all the ash and debris out. This is going to take a good 20-30 minutes alone. You want to brush out as much ash and soot as you possibly can. A tenth of a millimeter of of extra ash or soot can reduce of efficiency of your oil burner by alot.

Take the shop vac at this period of time and vacuum up all the other loose dust that you missed.

The goal is really to get the chamber as clean as you can. The boiler chamber is what transfers the heat to the water and if its dirty its not going to do a good job of this.

Cleaning Oil Burner Chamber

Step 2- Cleaning the Actual Oil Boiler Assembly

Okay so here is the hard part. Up to this point we have just cleaned the chamber. Now we are actually going to clean and adjust the device that ignites that oil and produces heat.

So I like to start off with the burner gun. Its usually coasted with ash. Clean off with a brush.

Oil Burner

Continue to the flame retention head. Brush off what you can. You are going to have to use a flathead screwdriver to scrap off the excess ash.

Scaping ash from burner gun and flame retention head

Scraping ash from burner gun and flame retention head

Disassemble the whole assembly. You can start anywhere but you are going to have to wipe off and clean all the major components within the oil burner. You want to get them as clean as possible. You may want to start by removing the pre-eheater and shroud off.

Burner Ignitor

When you start to take the shroud off you are going to see the nozzle with the two ignitors right above it. This is the heart of the boiler. The way it works is that the waste oil comes out the nozzle mixed with air and is then ignited to produce a mass amount of heat. You can clean the ignitor and nozzle off with brake part cleaner. It usually melts the ash and soot away. Honestly there is most likely going to be a lot of grime that is going to be caked on so you are going to have to use gasoline to melt it away. You can see from the picture that we were forced to go this route.

Cleaning oil boiler with gas

Gas Melts Ash and Dirt Off Waste Oil Boiler

After you do this you can put everything back together. Your burner is now clean and ready to run. You fill find that it runs a lot more efficient and better than when its filled with dirt.

Tags: boiler chamber, burner gun, Oil Burner, waste oil boiler
Posted in Annual Oil Burner Cleaning, Boiler Maintinance | 4 Comments »