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Used cooking oil fuels foundry...

Metalcaster: Go heavy on the oil when making those french fries.
Chef: But sir, what about the fat and cholesterol?
Metalcaster: Oh, my furnace doesn't care about that!

Even before I started melting metal with propane I dreamt about building a
burner that cleanly burned used or "waste oil." I got interested after seeing an
old article from "Mother Earth News magazine" about a homemade heating stove
that burned waste motor oil. A guy like me is big on recycling, Earth friendliness
and saving money... So if I could build a burner that used FREE fuel, was clean
burning and easy to use then I'd be set. Nov./5/2002

CAUTION! Working with or around burning and hot oil/grease can be dangerous,
especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to
put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials
and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This
information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not
assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the
instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work
and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web
site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers.

This is my first oil burner which is

working but I won't call it a success.
Controling and maintaining the flame isn't
easy or practicle. This flame produced a
little smoke and would leave a lot of soot
in the furnace. And if you're wondering...
no, this is not a Babington burner.

There is a watering can in the background

but it is NOT to put out any oil fire.
Water is one of the WORST things to use
when putting out oil fires (it spreads it
and gets it to flare up more)! Cover the
fire with dirt or sand.
Believe it or not the picture above shows what I consider a "lazy flame". Look how
soft and "loopy" it is. And notice how quickly it starts arching upward. Plus there is
a little smoke coming off the top. A soft flame may be good for hot water heaters
but it's not for metalcasting. This one will leave soot all over the furnace and
therefore needs a more forceful air blast to tap the real power of this flame!
I collect used cooking oil by pouring it into
a steel can straight from the frying pan.
Every time some fish or chicken is fried I
pour the oil into this can and store it. The
bits of fish, french fry etc. settle to the
bottom and I can pour off relatively clean
oil.

Any well used cooking oil will do. For those

who demand the best for their foundry I
suggest extra virgin olive oil imported
from Italy or Greece.
Page contents copyright © 2002 by L. Oliver II -
www.BackyardMetalcasting.com

For easy refueling and storage I pour the

used oil into a container (in this case the
empty olive oil bottle). The solid matter
settled to the bottom forming a thick
crust that stayed in the can so I didn't
have to filter the WVO (waste vegetable
oil). This oil is ready to be poured into the
fuel tank.

Chef: Oh my God! There's a grease fire in the kitchen! Do something!

Metalcaster: Ok, hold on... I'll get some aluminum!

Here's a quick look at the fuel tank. It's

nothing more than a 1-gallon steel can
that I attached a threaded fitting to the
bottom of leading to the fuel line.

The tank is hanging from a fixture made

from a steel pipe. Gravity feeds the oil
into the burner and valves regulate it.
 www.BackyardMetalcasting.com

There's just a little flame coming out now

since I closed the valve down some. The
Lab has expended a LARGE CHUNK of its
department of energy research budget
into the development of a new burner...
And that $10.00 went a long way.

I melt metal with used cooking oil

(sometimes even discarded engine
oil)!
As I was conducting oil combustion research in the Lab I received a packet of
oil burner design information in the mail. It was sent by a mysterious unknown
figure with no return address...

...Okay, not exactly. It was sent to me by Vincent Phelps. He wanted to share his
oil burner info in hopes that it will 'cause clean burning homemade oil burner
designs to evolve and become as popular as the propane burners did recently. The
Lab's "department of energy and combustion" was happy to assist since it was
already involved in this research field.

CAUTION! Working with or around burning and hot oil/grease can be dangerous,
especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to
put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials
and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This
information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not
assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the
instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work
and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web
site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers.
 This burner was inspired by
the info I received. Vincent
sent me a few pages of a
mail order info kit
(advertising stuff, not
No lazy flame here!
construction plans!) from
the 1940's about a burner
called the "Ursutz" burner.
It appeared to be a device
that the designer built in his
shop and sold through the
mail. The advertisement
info's short description was
enough for me to build
something based very
roughly on the same
principals. While it was far
from a set of plans I was
able to "wing it" and make
something that works.
The original burner was
made from what looks like a
large steel pipe with fittings
and ports welded to it. I
lacked the ideal material so
decided to use sheet metal
for the body. Being that
square parts are easier to
attach than round ones (at
least for me) I made
everything square and pop-
riveted the parts together.
This work was done with the
crudest of sheet metal
working tools (i.e. regular
pliers, a wood board to bend
and form the corners,
blah...blah...blah...)
 I collected the waste (used)
motor oil from the lawn
mower and a friend's
motorcycle. I put about 1
quart into the burner's fuel
tank to compare it to used
cooking oil. It lasted about
15 or 20 minutes (equals
about 1 U.S. gallon/hour).

I prefer used cooking oil,

also called WVO (waste
vegetable oil) since it's
potentially safer to burn. I
hope to hook up with a
restaurant to supply a few
gallons/month. I could also
buy kerosene or diesel fuel
but that's not recycling...
Metalcaster: I need to change my car's oil every 3000 miles. Better get to it!
Metalcaster's friend: But didn't you change it yesterday? It's only been 11 miles!
Metalcaster: Close enough!
This rig is cheaply made and
needs some improvements
but I've successfully melted
aluminum with it on two
occasions prior to these
photos.

This thing seems to burn

very cleanly. The only visible
emissions were a little
smoke which was actually un-
burnt oil vapor which was
escaping through the
cheaply put together burner
body.
Here's a glimpse inside the
hot combustion chamber.
You can't really see it but
the oil is entering the
combustion chamber and
being vaporized by the hot
interior. It is then ignited
into a violent vortex of heat
and fire.

The way this burner system

melts metal is simply by
pushing the flame exit port
up against the hole in the
furnace which ordinarily
would hold the propane
burner (or air blast on a
charcoal furnace).

Here's the burner nestled

up to the flowerpot crucible
furnace. Since charcoal isn't
being used as fuel there is
more room for the crucible
and I can actually get a full
load of metal from my 4"
diameter crucible with ease.

The flame is very dark

orange which I think means
that there isn't enough
oxygen in the mixture. This
picture is from a seperate
test I conducted using old
mixed with NEW motor oil.
New oil doesn't seem to
burn very well at all (I was
expecting that) and left
 some soot on the furnace lid.
I have no doubt that I could melt brass and bronze with this burner. And with a
few improvements I could probably melt iron.

In 2003 the waste oil research budget

was stepped up...
...I had an extra $5 in my pocket.

A lot of people are against waste oil as a fuel and assume it always burns with a
smokey, dirty flame. This is only true if your burner design sucks! Therefore in
2003 I took it upon myself to begin perfecting homemade waste oil combustion
technology.

I'm convinced that for anyone wanting to melt large batches of any metal at one
time or melt iron (except for iron in a cupola), oil is by far the most economical
fuel. I think waste oil burners could become the majority in hobby foundries in
the future. The burners are destined to become more compact while the ease of
use and efficiency continues to increase. And the fuel is FREE! -June/20/2005

CAUTION! Working with or around burning and hot oil/grease can be dangerous,
especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to
put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials
and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This
information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not
assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the
instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work
and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web
site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers.
 This is the furnace unit back
in 2003. THE STEAM is
from a newly poured open-
face mold. This is a self
contained unit. The furnace,
burner assembly, and fuel
tank are attached to a cart-
like frame on wheels.

The unit has experienced

many modifications since
this photo was taken, some
small others large. The top
goal for this unit is to be
able to melt iron as easily as
most backyard metalcasters
can melt aluminum...

This is a photo of some of

the early mockup and initial
planning of the foundry unit.

Here I'm welding together

the framework for the
waste oil burner unit. The
frame work is made up of
steel water pipe and rebar.
It was pretty fun to watch
the thing start looking like
the image I had in my mind.

www.BackyardMetalcasting.com
 This is an experimental
rotor that I cast from
aluminum for the blower
assembly. It has reverse
inclined blades because I
read that they are more
efficient. I also cast a non-
inclined rotor for the
blower. I didn't notice much
difference in efficiency
between the two.

I built the blower for this

foundry myself. I made a
pattern for each half of the
blower housing and cast
them. The motor was
purchased from Ebay and
was originally meant for a
home heating system oil
burner.

Here is a picture of the

original "Hot Momma"
Ursutz derived waste oil
burner which I refer to as
the G1 (generation 1) and
next to it is an improved
version (built about april or
May 2003) called the G2
version.

Notice that the G2 version

is smaller and is one piece
with no seperate lid.
Metalcaster's friend: Gosh, these french fries are really oily, I think they
cooked them wrong...
Metalcaster: I know what you mean, there's entirely too much potato in this
oil!
This is my stockpile of used
cooking oil. There are about
32 gallons here (each jug
holds 5 1/3 gallons). At one
time (after this photo was
taken) I had over 70 gallons
of used cooking oil in
storage!. A small local
"southern fried food"
restuarant let me collect all
of their used cooking oil
(about 15-20 gallons/month).
This is cheap vegetable oil,
but if you demand the best
for your foundry I recomend
extra virgin olive oil from
sicily.

This is my fuel of choice

since it's organic and
there's no risk of toxins or
heavy metals being in it as is
potentially the case with
used motor oil. Also,
environmentalists call
vegetable oil "carbon
neutral" because burning it
doesn't release any more
carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere than the original
plants abosorbed from it.
Here is a small stockpile of
used motor oil. The blue jugs
are actually 5-gallon
capacity kerosine jugs. I can
store 15 gallons in the jugs
and another 20 gallons in the
steel drum next to them if I
choose too.

I'd love to obtain a 55 gallon

drum. Then I can just pour
all my oil into it and attach a
manual pump to the top and
pump out 1 gallon at a time
into a small container for
filling the fuel tank during
furnace use.
This is the fuel tank made
from a barbecue grill sized
(20lb) propane tank. A
"dipstick" style fuel level
guage was added for
convenience even though I
usually just look into the
filler hole.

This tank can hold 5.75

gallons of oil versus the
original 3 gallons of propane
that they usually contain
(propane is stored in
pressurized liquid form)

For safety the propane tank

was filled completely with
water during all welding
procedures to prevent fire
or explosion from propane
fumes.
 Here's a picture from back
in 2003 of the G4 burner in
it's test stages without the
furnace. The G4 design is
very different from any
previous versions. One of
the biggest improvments is
the "intake manifold" for
improved air/oil mixing. The
flame is about 2 feet long.

No smoke, no soot just clean

waste oil combustion. And
according to this U.S.
government EPA document
the clean burning of waste
oil for the recovery of
useable heat is a form of
recycling.

Can this burner explode? No, oil is far less flammable than gasoline or propane. It
requires so much heat energy to ignite and maintain combustion that if too much oil
were to enter the burner the flame would cool off and begin to extinguish, not explode!

Used cooking oil shows aluminum who

the boss is!

This website is sponsored in part by America's waste oil producers.

No matter how nice your propane burner is, propane is still very expensive is
many parts of the U.S.A. (and other parts of the world) It cost me $21.00 last
time I got a refill on my barbecue sized tank in 2004 (up from $17.00 in 2003).
This price gouging has caused many metalcasters to return to cheaper, simpler
fuels like; wood, charcoal and even regular coal. But more interestingly it has
helped spur an increase in various types of oil burners (kerosine, diesel, waste oil
etc.). Now oil in general is the "newest" backyard foundry technology. Used
cooking or motor oil fuels the Lab's foundry for free and can melt any metal from
lead to iron! -June/20/2005

CAUTION! Working with or around burning and hot oil/grease can be dangerous,
especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to
put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials
and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This
information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not
assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the
instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work
and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web
site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers.

Here is a hefty heap of

scrap aluminum that was
given to me. All I had to do
was take it away and confine
it neatly until I had a chance
to melt it. It took several
hours of bending, folding and
cutting to get it to fit
"neatly" in several large
garbage barrrels Which I
stored out of site.

Its almost entirely

"extruded" aluminum...
meaning that the objects
were formed by rolling or
stretching the metal etc.
rather than casting it. There
is a lot of aluminum house
sideing, storm doors, lawn
chair tubing, rain gutters
etc.

This alloy is excellent for

decorative castings since it
is very shiny after casting.
But the drawback is that it
shrinks a lot more than
alloys used for casting
aluminum auto parts.
In this photo I'm refilling
the fuel tank from a jug of
juicy golden-brown USED
COOKING OIL. It smells
like fried fish and chicken
and contains MASSIVE heat
energy ready to be
unleashed by the burner.
When empty the fuel tank
can easily accept this entire
jug. Since it's painted black
it really holds in the sun's
heat and warms the oil!

During the summer I don't

completely fill the tank since
the oil heats up and expands
on hot days. One summer
day I lost about 1 pint of oil
out the vent hole in the
tank's cap from the oil
expanding and flowing out!
Fortunetly the oil is
biodegradable and easy to
clean with dishwashing soap.
For awhile I was wondering
how the F all that oil got on
the ground. Then it occured
to me after I opened the
cap and felt how warm the
oil was.
 Here is a piece of window
screen in a funnel to filter
the oil going into the fuel
tank. It is ESSENTIAL that
a piece of screen be used to
filter out the crud in the oil.
This cooking oil contained
coagulated chicken fat,
crystalized salt and other
crap. I use window screen as
a filter but mesh sink
strainers might work better
since they fit the funnel well
with their circular shape.

One night, the oil would

barely flow through the fuel
line. I had just finished
refilling the tank with used
cooking oil from a
restuarant, but I DID NOT
filter the oil. To make a long
story short... The fuel
system was CLOGGED with
minced garlic! I had to drain
the fuel tank and flush it out
with filtered oil. The amount
of minced garlic that came
out was ridiculous!
www.BackyardMetalcasting.com
Here is the flame from the
G2 burner. It produced soot
in the beginning but burns
cleanly after a few minutes.

This picture was taken

during daylight, but the
flame is so bright the digital
camera automatically
adjusts causing everything
around the flame to look
 dark like this.
Popular myth!
Burning used cooking oil smells like doughnuts (or french fries, or etc...) NO! If the
oil is burned cleanly there is no smell. I do not smell anything from my oil burner
whether the fuel is used cooking oil or used motor oil!

Here’s a look at a crucible of

molten aluminum, the
crucible is almost full and
I'll be pouring some ingots
with this.

This is about 12 pounds of

molten metal.

Here I'm pouring some

aluminum ingots. The ingot
mold is actually an "open
face" (no top) greensand
mold. I made ingot patterns
so I could cast the ingots to
the exact shape and size I
want.

These ingots are 5 pounds

each. The little ridge in the
center of each ingot cavity
creates a break point for
the ingots so I can snap
them in half for two 2.5
pound ingots for smaller
melts.

This steel crucible is 6" in

diameter. It can hold about
14 pounds of aluminum when
filled to the brim
(dangerous) so to be safe I
usually only melt 13.9 pounds
 at a time.
This is about 215 pounds
worth of aluminum ingots.
From a heap of scrap to this
aluminum bullion. One of the
ingots looks darker because
it's from a 10 pound crucible
load that I accidentally
overheated so the ingot
oxidized on the surface. Yes,
you've gotta be careful with
a bad boy like this waste oil
burner. As the saying goes...
"With great power comes
great responsibility."

The ingots are 5 pounds

each +/- a few ounces and
can be broken in half at the
gap. The hammer is for size
comparison. Cost of melting
this with used cooking oil vs.
propane? Don't make me
laugh!
Metalcaster #1: The rising costs of a barrel of foreign crude oil is really
making my propane foundry expensive!
Metalcaster #2: Gosh, waste oil is $0.00 per barrel but I expect that cost to
soon double!
Here I had loaded a
complete lawnmower engine
in the furnace and let the
heat melt it. The molten
aluminum dripped out the
burner hole in the furnace
and into a steel pan. Instant
ingots!

Much easier than breaking

the engine apart manually. I
did this with three
lawnmower engines and some
alloy wheel parts. This was
about 11PM one night.

It's easily possible to melt

so much metal that you run
out of molds for it. This is
especially the case with the
huge scrap piles I had to
deal with. So I scraped a
trench in the garden and
poured metal straight in
making these rough ingot
logs.

I later remelted the logs to

create regular ingots. The
short "log" toward the upper
right corner is actually
bronze left over from a
decorative casting session.

Some advice if you use this

method is to make sure the
"logs" are narrow enough to
fit through the vent hole in
the lid so you can easily slide
them into the crucible from
the vent hole and let the
logs melt into it.
With this new burner and
metal capacity I've been
experimenting with
metalcasting for profit. In
this photo there are two
sizes of contoured grip sand
rammers (for making
sandmolds "big willy" style),
and a small aluminum flask.
 Waste oil burner design evolution*
*For political correctness feel free to call it "intelligent design"

After 4 years these vintage photos have finally

been...

DE-CLASSIFIED
Over the past 4 years I've received probably over 200 e-mails asking for more
details about the waste oil burners. Specifically the G4 and G5 designs. Well here
it is so don't say I never gave you anything! - May/31/2007

Let's start at the beginning. This is the

G1 (generation one) of this "box" type
waste oil burner. It's body is a simple
folded sheetmetal box. A paper and wood
fire is started in the burner's chamber
and the oil drizzles in. The air blower
blasts the oil into droplets that ignite off
the wood fire. By the time the wood burns
away the burner is hot enough to be self
sustaining off the oil.

A basic ball valve controls the oil rate and

the oil just drizzles in front of the air
blast out the end of the fuel line. It's
dead simple and crude, but was "state-of-
the-art" for me back in 2002.
 Here is the sheetmetal shell for the G1
burner. This is a vintage photo from 2002
that I pulled from the vault. You can say
that this is the great grandfather of the
G5 design. To be politically correct you
might instead call it the great
grandmother if you choose.

I have to admit that when I built this

form I just knew that the burner would
work. I mean how can't it, start a fire in a
chamber feed it with flammable liquid and
blow some fresh air into it to keep it
burning and the flame blasting out the
exit...

Here you can see that the refractory is

simply rammed into the shell just like
when making a furnace. The form used to
create the chamber is 4" diameter.

www.BackyardMetalcasting.com

Here is an old rough diagram I found of

the G1 burner.
Here is the empty sheetmetal shell for
the G2 burner. It's ready for refractory.

This is the G2's shell nearly filled with

refractory. Notice a cardboard form is
used to leave the central chamber hollow
(like building a furnace). The ports have
cardboard tubes as well. They of course
burn out when the burner is first fired.

I had rebuilt the G2 burner more than

once so I could experiment with inner
chambers of different shapes to compare
combustion characteristics. If you look at
the side of the shell you may be able to
tell that it is painted black already
(except for the new flame port). This
photo is of one of the rebuilds.

Here is the primitive intake "manifold"

system for the G2 burner. Nothing more
than some fittings. The 90° reducing
elbow was to provide a crude venturi
effect for the oil to enter into.

Needless to say the performance was

lacking so with the G4 I began making
custom built intake manifolds.
Here is the rear of the G2. The G2 made
the G1 obsolete because it is slightly
smaller and it has steel ports for the
blower to attach and the oil to enter. The
port at the bottom was used for ignition.
I'd load wood and paper into the burner
chamber from here and ignite it to get
the burner hot. The wood fire would then
ignite the oil. One bad thing is that the
void created by the port disturbed the air
flow inside the burner messing up the
flame. And it got hot.

On top of that a vertically standing

burner like the G1 and this G2 has a worse
flaw. The flame is created at the bottom
of the burner chamber, then it has to rise
up and exit the burner chamber
perpendicularly. I considered this
orientation a contradiction to simplicity...
...Thus I designed the G4 burner. It is
basically a G2 burner on it's side. The
flame blows straight out of the burner in
a straight line. It doesn't need to turn
any corners or angles thusly allowing the
heat to easily enter the furnace rather
than be absorbed by the burner's
refractory.

Additionally I further improved the oil

and air mixing by producing a special
"intake manifold" So the oil is broken up
more finely.

Notice I didn't mention the G3 burner. It

was simply a G2 with an integrated
refractory intake manifold. It was crap.
 Here is a diagram illustrating the
differences between the burner
orientation of the G2 and the G4 burners.

Notice how easily the flame can exit the

burner and enter the furnace. The faster
the flame exits the burner the more heat
there will be to melt the metal. Rather
than it being wasted by being absorbed by
the burner.

Go to the; Previous page -- Next page.

Waste oil burner design evolution

De-classified photos part 2

Here are some miscellaneus photos that you may consider interesting. Rumor
has it that Lionel's Laboratory is like the government... No technology is
declassified unless something better exists... - May/31/2007

This is the method I devised for mounting

the motor and blower. I cast two half
circle "clamps" to wrap around and grip
the motor. The clamps are attached to a
mounting post attached to the cart.
This mold is for the side of the blower
where the air enters.

Here is a comparison between the blower

patterns on the left and the castings. The
blower rotor in this photo is actually
rather ruff since I was overly gentle
when ramming the mold causing the sand
to contact the pattern poorly.

Here is the frame before it's all been

painted and without the fuel tank and
burner.
 Tragically even the advanced G4 burner
had a serious design flaw. The sheetmetal
body did a poor job of supporting the
refractory and allowed it to shift and
crack. Flames burst forth and oil runeth
out...

This is the welded steel shell for the G5

waste oil burner. The holes (cut with a
hole saw) and the flat spots surrounding
them are where the intake manifold and
flame exit port are bolted on.

I used diamond tread plate because

that's just what I had available. But flat
plate would be easier to work with.

A respectable waste oil flame This is the G5 (Generation 5) burner and

it's potentially iron melting flame! The
poor quality of my furnace refractory
prevented reliable iron melting but I did
melt some. It has many improvements
over the G4 burner. The most obvious
improvement is that this burner has a
welded steel body composed of steel
diamond tread plate. It looks nice and I
just happened to have a big piece of it.
The rugged tread plate design can also be
a metaphor for the merciless brute force
of the massive thermal energy out put of
this device.

The overall problem with the "box burner"

design such as this is that the flame is
generated inside the burner box and
therefore a lot of the heat is absorbed
by the burner and doesn't contribute to
 melting the metal. None-the-less back in
2005 this was the state-of-the-art in
homemade waste oil burners here at
Lionel's Laboratory. Now I think of it the
same way most people think of black and
white televisions...
Doesn't the flame have to be blue to be superior?

Short Answer:
Negative. The G5 burner's flame is the perfect color for this burner, yellowish white. Oil
molecules have so much more carbon than propane has that the oxygen in the air can not burn it
all at once. So the temperature of the excess carbon drops down to the yellow/orange color range
and burns slower. The great quantity of this yellow burning carbon blocks out the blue areas of
the flame which would otherwise be visible.

Oil burners which use a coil to vaporize the oil can burn with a blue flame because the coil
removes the excess carbon and turns the rest of the oil into a gaseous vapor (like propane). But
just like propane there is less heat provided from this method because much of the carbon has
been removed and left in the coil as soot and crud which must be cleaned out from time to time!

Long(er) answer:

Lionel's scientific discussion on the colors of flames and the

reason for said colors.
Many people believe that a flame must be blue in order to provide complete
combustion. For the standards of backyard metalcasting, complete combustion can be
had with a yellow flame and incomplete combustion can result with a blue flame! For
our particular discussion the flame's color depends on how rapidly the carbon in the
fuel is combined with oxygen and burned. Blue flames are called "non-luminous"
because they put out very little light. Yellow flames however are very luminous
putting out a lot of light. The real experts test for complete combustion not by flame
color but by testing for the presence of carbon monoxide in the flame byproducts
(exhaust). Complete combustion combines each of the carbon (C) and hydrogen (H)
atoms in the fuel with sufficient oxygen (O2) molecules resulting in nothing but
Carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). If there is insufficient oxygen then the
exhaust contains carbon monoxide (CO).

Oil is MUCH more dense than gas (such as propane or natural gas) Oil molecules
have many more carbon atoms in their molecules. Also the bonds between the
molecules are stronger (as oil is used the heat weakens the bonds breaking them down
which is partly why used oil is easier to burn than new oil). However as the oil burns
the bonds between the carbon and hydrogen atoms must be broken for the oxygen to
combine with the carbon and hydrogen properly. This takes more time with oil than
with gaseous fuels.

Oil molecules have so much more carbon than propane has that the oxygen in the air
can not combine with and burn it all at once. So the temperature of the excess carbon
drops down to the yellow/orange color range and burns slower and further from the
burner (sometimes as an orange flame that blasts out of the furnace vent if the furnace
is too small). The great quantity of this yellow burning carbon blocks out the blue
areas of the flame which would otherwise be visible. You can think of this orange
flame as millions of tiny sparks all grouped together.

That is in reality what it is! A spark is a burning piece of material, such as the sparks
from charcoal are burning specs of charcoal. The orange flames blasting out of the
furnace can be considered millions of tiny sparks created by the excess carbon atoms
burning in the orange color rage! This is lost heat/fuel. If the furnace were larger then
this carbon would burn within the furnace chamber and the heat would not be lost.

If this excess carbon contacts a comparatively cold surface then it may cool
completely and form soot (the excess carbon)! However given enough space (a large
enough furnace chamber or out in the open) the carbon can combine with oxygen and
burn completely (at least in theory since there are other variables to consider).

Oil burners which use a coil to vaporize the oil can burn with a blue flame because the
oil has been turned into a gaseous vapor (like propane). But just like propane there is
less heat provided from this method because a lot of the carbon is left in the coil as
soot and crud which must be cleaned out from time to time! And this carbon is
therefore lost as a fuel source! Thusly, an oil burner with a true vaporizer assembly
may burn with less heat than a propane burner!

Additionally since the propane flame is blue (a higher temperature color) the flame is
hotter than a yellow oil flame, but the larger oil flame and oil's higher heat density
(British Thermal Unit - BTU content) makes up for it with a quality burner!
 Unfortunately the manifold design was
flawed. There seemed to be some air
turbulence in the manifold which
prevented the burner from running
properly. The turbulence seemed to be
some "back flow" of air. To solve the
problem I removed the cap from the top
of the manifold and replaced it with this
swiveling lid which provided a gap for the
excess air to "leak" out of. This greatly
reduced the turbulence and let the
burner run much better.
Unfortunately again, The gap from the
swiveling lid allowed oil droplets to splash
out fairly often. So to "encapsulate" the
sprayed droplets I used this elbow fitting
and section of pipe. The turbulent air was
still able to escape but the oil droplets
were mostly caught. Most of the oil shown
on the manifold was from it dripping down
when the swiveling lid was in place. Often
a lot of this oil would vaporize off the
surface when the burner was hot.

Even so this burner is now a part of the

Lionel's Lab museum of retro technology.

The small oil heating chamber became a

problem when I didn't heat the oil. It
tended to allow sludge to buildup.
Therefore I had to pressurize the fuel
tank to push the oil through. If I
regularly used the oil heater this probably
would not have been necessary.

Waste oil burner design evolution

 De-classified photos part 3

This is the final page of photos taken out of the Lionel's Laboratory vault. I
have dozens of others. I always take a lot of photos that usually never make it
onto the website. Maybe new "vintage, nostalgia, throwback" pages will be put
together in the future. - May/31/2007

Metalcaster #1: So I see you're melting metal with used motor oil,
how's that working out for you?
Metalcaster #2: It's great but I only accept it from American cars to
reduce my dependancy on foreign oil!

Here is a bunch of used motor oil that was

given to me by an auto mechanic who
works out of his home. He found out that
I have a waste oil burner and is more than
happy to give me his used oil and avoid
paying to dispose of it.

The guy even delivers it to me! You know

you’re a metalcasting "pimp" when people
bring the fuel to you!
Here is one days haul of WVO (waste
vegetable oil) from a small local fried
food joint. The restaurant is very small
with a kitchen the size of a kitchen found
in a typical house. But I ended up getting
about 15 gallons of oil per month from
them. The four jugs in the back are empty
but good for later collections.

At the time 15 gallons/month was an

overload because the technology was still
very crude and caused a lot of problems.
But now I could burn 5 gallons a week
easily if I want to do a lot of aluminum
casting. Regularly casting brass, bronze or
iron can easily double that figure. In the
green bucket are my collection tools. The
most important of which is the manually
cranked oil pump.

Here is a venturi that I cast in aluminum

using a two piece wood pattern. This
venturi is inserted into the air pipe of the
intake manifold.

Here is the venturi installed in the intake

manifold. Notice how the oil drip pipe
enters into it. It is interesting to note
that the intake manifold's air pipe on the
G4 burner was made from 1-1/4" steel
pipe and did not require a venturi. On the
G5 burner manifold the air pipe was
changed to a 2" steel pipe and the venturi
is neccesary.

This photo is of making the fuel line

connection. I use 1/4" copper tubing for
the fuel line. And to ensure no oil leaks I
use a double flared connection. I bought
the double flaring tool from JC Whitney.
It's actually just an extra piece that is
used with the regular flaring tool.
Here's a look at the foundry furnace unit
with the G5 newly inserted and the G4
nearby it on the ground.

Here is the G5 burner in use. This unit

looks like a mass of pipes and bars but it's
simpler than it may appear, the photo is
just cluttered. I didn't have a proper
blower mount at this stage. The blower is
simply resting on a 4" X 4" block of wood.
I didn't design a new blower mount
because I knew how often I change the
burner design. Of course this entire
foundry unit will eventually be ditched for
a completely re-designed one.
This is my homemade miniature charcoal
ignitor. It's just a small version of the
store bought ones used to ignite charcoal
for a barbecue. This one is for igniting
one or two pieces of charcoal, which I use
to ignite my oil burner.

Crumpled newspaper is stuffed into the

bottom and ignited. The charcoal sits on a
wire grid just above the newspaper and is
ignited by the direct flames. Here I'm
actually using some hardwood charcoal
left over from my mini-cupola fiasco.
Here is a bunch of wood pieces. It's
hardwood, mainly oak and maple. I load
the burner with 8 or so of these pieces
and drop the burning charcoal in on top of
it. I turn the blower on and the wood
ignites almost instantly. A minute or two
later the burner is hot and I open the oil
line valve. A big flame bursts forth...

It's an easy way to ignite the burner and

the wood can be spilt into thin strips then
cut to size very rapidly. I've even tried
scrap lumber split and cut to size. Plywood
scrap is somewhat decent but since most
lumber is pine it burns away too quickly.
Hardwood like the blocks shown is by far
the best.
 An evolutionary leap...

After seeing the success of Colin Peck's

waste oil burner I decided that the "box
burner" design that I have been working
on was the wrong way to go. There are too
many problems to resolve with the style.
So I discontinued that design and
developed my own "injection" style burner
which I call the G6-IS1 (Generation 6
Injection Style 1) and it gets busy!

The new Lio G6-IS1

A.K.A. "Lio's Hammer"

Here it is, the first true oil injection style burner that I've built. It's actually
designed to be able to run on either oil alone, propane alone, or both
simultaneously. Check it out!

CAUTION! Working with or around burning and hot oil/grease can be dangerous,
especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to
put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials
and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This
information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not
assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the
instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work
and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web
site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers.
 Here is my first attempt at an "injection"
type burner. Technically it's called the
G6-IS1 which stands for "Generation 6
Injection Style 1" since it is my sixth
generation of waste oil burner and the
first of the injection type rather than
the "box burner" like the G1-G5 designs.

But since the name sounds more like a

model of Lexus autos I've decided to give
it a more "human" name. Therefore since
it's shape is some what like a "T" or a
"hammer shape" I decided to call it "Lio's
hammer." That rolls off the tongue
better than "Lio's T-shaped burner" and
sounds more macho as well.

For the protoype burner I made the fuel

line out of this clear vinyl tubing. Here
you can see the used motor oil flowing
through the line. I've since switched to a
slightly larger fuel line. So 2-3 gallons of
oil per hour can flow through the line
when melting iron.

What does "Box burner" and "injection style" mean??

Those are two terms that I use to classsify the burners based on their method of igniting the
oil. The "box burners" are the G1-G5 designs. They are basically metal boxes internally lined
with refractory. The oil ignites and burns inside them and the resulting flames are blown into
the furnace. Plenty of heat is produced but the burner itself absorbs a tremendous amount of it
making the system less efficient. And the insides can get clogged with ash and oil residue like
creosote. As if that weren't enough the refractory lining can melt and deform decreasing the
effectiveness of the burner. Problems...

The "injection style" burner is like a fuel injector in a car engine. The oil is sprayed (injected)
directly into the furnace as small droplets that burn mostly in the furnace chamber. Almost all
of the heat is generated in the furnace. The burner is much more efficient, lighter and can be
built in about an hour from scraps. There's basically no maintanance. Nice...! In truth since the
oil is merely blow into the furnace and it burns there, the oil burner is not really a burner but
rather an "oil injector."
Page contents copyright © 2007 by Lionel Oliver II - www.BackyardMetalcasting.com
Here is a general overall view of the
burner with what I call the "thermal
transfer ring" on it. Basically it's a ring
that fits over the burner's tip. The flame
heats the tip and conducts the heat into
the ring. At the top of the ring a pipe is
cast within it and the oil moving through
the pipe absorbs the heat. Waste heat
put to good use.

The front of the burner is resting on a

brick because the base legs are un even. I
retrofitted this burner to fit my current
furnace framework which was designed
for the previous burner designs.
Here is another overall view of the
burner. The propane line is installed in
this photo. The reason the blower is
attached to a "T" fitting is because when
I first tested the burner the blower
pressure blew the propane flame out, and
I used propane to warm up the furnace
before I opened the oil line. So a
"shutter" was put on the open end of the
"T" for air regulation. I've sense learned
that this "T" fitting is not neccesary with
furnace use.

Click photo for a larger view

I'd like to mention that my work with injection style burners was inspired by the success of two
waste oil burners. One was built by Colin Peck in England and can be seen at Colin's website. He
probably casts more iron than any other individual in Europe and has published an interesting
book on his design! The book is a valuable addition to a backyard metalcaster's library! The
second burner is fueled by used automatic transmission fluid and was built by Cameron McKeown
in Australia and can be seen at Cameron's website here and another here. Had these two
burners not been built and put online I probably would not have begun design work on my own
injection style burner and would still be working on solving problems with the "box burner"
designs.
Here you can see the patterns for and
the actual part I call the "thermal
transfer ring." The pipe inside the casting
is connected to the fuel lines and oil flows
through it. The ring is installed on the
flare pipe and as the flare pipe gets hot
(it always does since it protrudes into the
furnace) the heat is conducted into the
ring and through the pipe to pre-heat the
oil. So the oil is warmed by heat that
would otherwise be lost.
Here is a view of the thermal blah...
blah... blah.. assembled and ready for the
oil lines and installation on the flare pipe.
Notice the reducing elbows, I made those
because otherwise I'd probably have to
go to a plumbing supply specialty store to
find them and pay an excessive price.

The ring is aluminum since it conducts

heat better than most other metals.

Notice how hot the flare pipe is, it's

glowing orange. But notice also how the
glowing stops at the thermal transfer
ring. It is effectively absorbing the heat.
Also notice the soot on the ring. While
it's hot it's not hot enough to burn it off
since oil absorbs the excess heat.

This thermal transfer ring WORKED!! But

unfortunetly it worked too well... The oil
was heated so effectively that it
vaporized and created pressure that
pushed oil back up the fuel line preventing
it from reaching the burner. So the flame
was very erratic.

Click photo for larger view

 When the thermal transfer ring stopped
the oil flow it began to really heat up
since no oil was passing through and
taking the heat away. So it actually began
to melt and fall off. I think this idea
would be much better with larger fuel
lines and a larger oil "reservoir" inside
the ring so the oil doesn't heat so fast
that it vaporizes. I'm not very motivated
to solve the problems with the design
because I've learned that preheating the
oil is not neccesary.

With these lessons I've built a new

burner with a bigger fuel line, no flare
pipe and no oil preheater. I call it "The
Brute." You can check it out melting iron!

Details of "The Brute" waste oil

burner
Technically it's a homemade fuel injector not a
burner

A lot of interest has been shown in this form of waste oil burner so I have
included more details about it. I classify these burners as "injectors" because all
they really do is inject (spray) the oil into the furnace. The oil actually burns
inside the furnace NOT in the "burner." Thusly it's just an injector. --
Jan./21/2008

CAUTION! Working with or around burning and hot oil/grease can be dangerous,
especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to
put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials
and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This
information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not
assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the
instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work
and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web
site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers.

Here is a diagram of "The Brute." The

burner is basically a steel tube into which
air blows into. Oil enters near the tip and
the air stream blows the oil into the
furnace where it ignites. The furnace
must be hot to ignite the oil. I preheat
the furnace either by running it on
propane for 5 minutes then switching to
oil or burning some wood in the furnace to
ignite the oil.

The fuel hose has an inner diameter of

about 5/16". It must be large enough for
at least 2 gallons per hour which is about
1/2 to 3/4 cooking type measuring cups of
oil per minute. Actually more is best so
you can regulate it down to the desired
flow with the valve. Preheating the oil is
optional but will make it easier to burn.

(Click diagram for a larger view)

The optional propane attachment is just a small piece of pipe that allows propane to
flow into the 2" pipe. No special jets, or mig tips or anything like that. Once the
propane is in the 2" pipe it mixes with the air from the blower. The air/propane
mix ignites and burns in the furnace.

To ignite the propane I put a wad of newspaper in the furnace and ignite it. Once it
is well ablaze I turn on the blower and then open the propane valve. The propane
usually ignites immediately. If the propane does not ignite, close the propane valve
and let the blower ventilate the furnace of propane fumes and start over with a
larger piece of paper (or paper with a few drops of oil on it) if necessary. Burning
pieces of paper will be blown out of the furnace vent so use caution.
Here is a short piece of pipe that I'll
demonstrate forming the taper on. The
taper on the end of the burner acts as a
venturi. I have however built a burner
without a taper and it also sprayed the oil
nicely so it might not be necessary. But
the Brute uses one for insurance.

The taper in the tip of the burner tube is

made by first cutting four "V" shaped
notches 1-3/4" long and 5/16" wide at the
ends. These notches are 90 degrees from
each other making them evenly spaced. An
angle grinder with a cutting disk makes
this task pretty easy but a hacksaw will
work also.

Bend the flaps between the notches

downward evenly (I tap them down with a
hammer) until the ends contact. The
result is a tapered end. A weld bead along
the seams will seal and strengthen
everything.

To see the burner melting iron visit this

page.

Igniting the oil with a wood fire:

The cheapest method of igniting the

burner is by starting a fire in the furnace
and letting that fire ignite the oil. I
usually use this method because it allows
me to burn away a lot of the scrap wood
left from other projects.

First ignite some big wads of paper in the

furnace. Once the paper is burning add
some strips of cardboard. Small sticks are
thrown in after the cardboard is burning.
When the sticks are thoroughly ignited
turn the blower on. The larger wood
scraps can be added a couple at a time
until they ignite.
Here is the wood fire building itself up.
Once well ablaze it will easily ignite the
oil. When the wood is mostly coals but
there is still a strong flame coming off it
(usually after about two minutes) I turn
the oil on.

After several minutes the remainder of

the wood will be burned away. The oil
burns best at this time since there is
more room for combustion. Using wood to
ignite the oil will cause ash to accumulate
in the furnace. This ash should be
removed regularly since it absorbs the oil
that gets sprayed into the furnace and
slows it's burning. Slow burning oil
produces lower temperature flames and
smoke. No good...

The easiest method to ignite the oil is to

first run the burner with propane. "The
Brute" as detailed in the diagram has a
propane hookup point for easily attaching
the hose. Air hose quick couplers make
connections quick and easy. Running the
furnace on propane for five minutes easily
ignites the oil.

The procedure I use is to wait five

minutes with the propane burning. Then I
open the oil line's valve. Once a large
flame forms in the furnace and begins to
blast out the vent hole I know the oil has
reached the furnace and ignited. As soon
as this occurs (It's usually within 5-10
seconds) I completely turn the propane
off and the oil is adjusted as necessary.
Additional notes:

I currently do not use any preheating with this burner. No preheating of

the oil (but I may in the future). The "hot tank" shown on the brass
casting page was removed after I scrapped the last box burner and
started using injection burners. There's no air preheating either. In fact
I don't ever plan to preheat the air because hot air is less dense and
therefore contains less oxygen. This view is reinforced when you consider
that cars and trucks that use turbochargers often include an item called
an "intercooler" which cools the air blast from the turbocharger thereby
providing additional horsepower. I've also noticed that the furnace runs
better during cold winter days then it does during the hot summer. This
seems to indicate that air density is more important than oil temperature.

Preheating:

I've run the furnace on days as cold as about 20 degrees F. and it ran
perfectly. I merely increased the preheat time by using more scrap wood.
A thorough preheat of the furnace is a must. The oil used on these cold
days was always used motor oil which doesn't thicken nearly as much as
vegetable oil (used cooking oil). I've had a jug of used cooking oil that
literally turned to slush when I had it stored on the uninsulated outdoor
steps leading to the basement.

Oil flow rate:

Another important thing to note is that there is a minimum amount of oil

that needs to enter the furnace to sustain smokeless combustion. This
seems to be the result of the burning process. Since liquid oil doesn't
burn, but rather the oil vapors burn, if the oil flow doesn't keep up with
the vaporization rate then there won't be enough heat to both vaporize
the oil and then ignite the resulting vapors. I call the minimum quantity of
oil needed to maintain clean combustion the "minimum clean combustion
flow" or "M.C.C.F." This quantity changes based on furnace size and that
change can be calculated mathematically by what I call "Lionel's oil
equation" (Hey why not?!). Unfortunetly I haven't yet formulated the
equation... As mentioned earlier in this page the "MCCF" for my 10" bore
furnace is about 2 gallons per hour which breaks down to roughly 1/2 to
3/4 of cup per minute (cooking type measuring cup). I was not able to
obtain this with 1/4" copper tubing. It would produce smoke and a lot of
soot and often extinguish. So I upgraded to larger tubing with 5/16" inner
diameter.

Miniature waste oil burner test #2

Running a small furnace on oil

The first test was considered a rousing success since it actually worked on the
first attempt. The only problem was that too much oil was entering the furnace.
After a few burner modifications the new results should be a lot closer to what I
want! -- June/10/2008

CAUTION! Working with or around burning and hot oil/grease can be dangerous,
especially when proper safety precautions are not taken. Water should never be used to
put out an oil or grease fire. Use dry sand or dirt. Because of the variations in materials
and workmanship there are no guarantees on the information in/on this web site. This
information is simply what I have been successful with in my own experiments. I will not
assume responsibility for any injury, loss, or damage that may result from following the
instructions, advice or plans on this web site. There are always dangers in foundry work
and they have been pointed out whenever possible but it is not the purpose of this web
site to, nor is it possible to mention all known or unknown dangers.

Here is a good look at the hot furnace

interior. Look at the textbook swirl of the
flame. It looked even more pronounced in
person. This is a pure waste oil fueled
flame. Notice the white vapors exiting
the burner tube on the right side. This is
from the oil that vaporized in the burner
tube. The tube is very hot since it
extends into the furnace. I've therefore
designed it to be easily replaceable.

Also notice the dark spot on the left

across from the burner. This is where the
oil droplets splatter against the furnace
wall before igniting. The soot that you see
along the top of the furnace was from the
prior experiment.

Click photo for a larger view

Here's a look at the entire setup for
reference. This is basically just like the
first test run. This test took place about
a month after the first test firing in
September of 2007 so I was very excited
to finally fire it up again and see how it
turned out.

In this photo the burner is already firing

on waste oil. Note that the propane hose
has been disconnected and is on the
ground beside the furnace.

Here's a look at the oil flowing through

the clear fuel line. Yes the photos are out
of order...
Plenty o' heat here. Notice that the
propane line is detached and laying on the
ground in the lower left corner of the
photo. Propane was only used to preheat
the furnace. Propane is just an "opening
act" for waste oil's concert.

So for everyone who e-mailed me asking if

the HobbyMelter™ can be converted to
run on oil... The answer is an complete,
absolute, thorough, definite and
undisputed YES! In fact with an "oil
retrofitting kit" such as this I'm willing
to guess that almost any gas fired
furnace can be converted to oil!

Here's a shot of the flame on low. Notice

the shear volume of oil vapors blowing out
of the burner. And notice how hot the tip
of the burner is. At temperatures like
this the air inside the burner tube is so
hot that much of the oil vaporizes as soon
as it's injected.

Remember that this furnace has an 8"

diameter chamber. The crucible is made
from 3" pipe so indeed a small furnace can
run on waste oil. A clump of old brass is in
the crucible. It melted easily.

Click photo for a larger view

Here is the inside of the burner tube
after the furnace run. Notice the buildup
of soot and creosote. This is the result of
the oil being injected into the back of the
burner tube near the reducer coupling
(refer to burner diagram on previous
page).

Some of the oil naturally splashes inside

the tube and vaporizes inside it leaving
 this creosote (and therefore some fuel
energy) behind. The oil injection pipe will
be lengthened to extend to the tip of the
burner tube like it does in The Brute
burner. That way the oil will spray
completely out the tube.
Go to oilburners part; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11