My rayburn Turk Burner - running on waste veg oil

[knighty]

could you put a T in the line from your fuel tank, and then feed in some water (a very small amount) to steam clean it ?
(once it's up to temperature)

a few drops should do ?


sounds crazy at first.... but I think you would be ok with just a couple of drips....?

[Ivan]

Might be worth a shot.

The day before yesterday I found out water doesn't burn. I poured some gunky veg oil into the tank, but then realised that there was a lot of water in it, but it was so gunky that it hadn't separated. It didn't burn for very long before it stopped!

[Ivan]

It seems that having the fuel delivery tube going right to the bottom of the burner is not a great idea - it clogs very quickly - only 8 or 10hours. I'm going to modify the burner to have a side-entry fuel delivery tube (maybe ultimately 2 - to allow me to deliver two different fuels (eg one for gunge, one for nice WVO), or as a backup to allow me to instantly switch if there's a blockage. I'm going to put a T-piece instead of an elbow to allow me to 'rod' it just before I light it - should hopefully sort the problem. The question is, where should I deliver the fuel? Just above the air-holes of the burner / At the same level as the air holes / Below the airholes? I'm guessing at the same level is likely to give the longest burn times before clogging.

[Fintray]

What about having a concentric air supply pipe round your fuel feed pipe; this may prevent the tip of the fuel pipe from clogging up? 

[Ivan]

I think this would help. I also think that side entry will stop the fuel being pre-heated by the combustion chamber (which everyone says is a useful feature - but I think most of the anecdotal advice comes from people who have run turk burners for no more than an hour at a time). So side-entry but including a concentric sheath to help keep it cool. I don't think it will stop it gunking where the fuel exits the pipe, though.

I've tried running on 100% biodiesel, and I've been running on about 50% biodiesel / 50% veg oil mix. I thought it would be a cleaner-burn fuel so less likely to clog up,but the opposite is true. I think this is because the biodiesel burns quicker and hotter, therefore heating the oil in the delivery pipe to a higher temperature, thus it clogs more quickly. It only seems to last 10hours before it needs to be unclogged.

I've also got to reseal the joints in the flue pipe. The firecement has cracked, and you can feel the cold air leaking from these joints when the rayburn is cold. I've got some high temperature black silicone which I'll be using for sealing the joints - the flexibility should sort it out.

[ecogeorge]

Ivan , can you provide more info  on the peristaltic pump ? I'm in the process of building a forced air , oil drip feed burner based on motherearth plans.
I have access to what seems  similar sized pumps but the ones I know will dispense about 400ml/ min  !!!!!!!
They run at about 120 rpm!!!!
Have you measured revs / output etc
any info gratefully recieved.
rgds George.

[Ivan]

I believe it's geared. It also has inbuilt motor speed control, which is incredibly useful in setting it up. Originally I considered having the adjustment available to increase/decrease the power of the heater depending on requirements, but I'm happy to settle for something 'in the middle'. I

Are you sure you've seen 120rpm peristaltic pumps? Peristaltic pumps by their nature run slowly. I'd see that as the upper feasible limit for peri pump speeds. Most are under 60rpm (often well under). Also, most are much lower than 400ml per min (are you sure it's not 400ml/hr). Usually, you have an option of several different size pipes. Maybe manufacturers tend to quote the highest speed/largest diameter to give the most impressive delivery rate. Dosing pumps were what I first looked at (quite cheap on ebay) - but I'm not sure how reliable they would be in constant operation. The ones I have, very kindly donated by knighty are

The pump is a SEKO PR1 pump (1litre/hour max). I guess the maximum speed is around 1rpm, but I settle for around 0.25rpm (although that's only an estimate). I think it's around 0.6litres/hour - which is around 6kW output - so it's not going to replace a domestic boiler, but, for example, I've run it today from about 11am until now (still running) without additional heat in the house, and it's maintained a steady  and the outdoor temperature has varied between -2C and -5C over most of that time, and yet I've maintained the temperature of 18-20C across the house (not all rooms heated evenly using this heat source, for obvious reasons).

[Ivan]

Here's a picture of the latest modification (sorry for the lack of focus - it wasn't very light when I took the photo). The 8mm T-piece has a blanked end, which means I can relatively easily unscrew this and force a brass brazing rod through the fuel delivery pipe to remove any carbonised material forming in the exit of the fuel delivery pipe by merely unscrewing one fitting. Seems to solve the problem so far....

One thing I think needs mentioning: Because the air is forced into the stove, we have a problem not encountered in non-turbocharged stoves. Namely that any non-airtightness may introduce fumes into the room rather than suck a little air out of the room. So we need to make very sure the stove is completely sealed, which is not necessary (nor likely) for example, with woodstoves. I have made up an inner door for the rayburn (none present on the machine I purchased, and didn't even know one should have been present until helpfully pointed out in an earlier post on this thread). So I now have a 10mm steel plate in place, which seals (nearly) on some self-adhesive flat fibreglass rope (courtesy of Burley Appliances Ltd). It's not perfect, as my plate or the rayburn flange it is supposed to seal on aren't perfectly flat (you can wobble it slightly), but it has improved the situation no end.

[Ivan]

Recent cold weather has highlighted a major failing. I ran out of 'nice' WVO, so I've started to use the lower quality fuel I have. However, I have had trouble in getting anything to stay liquid, as the temperature plunged to below -6C for several days without really improving - even during the day. My system finally gave up, as on Boxing Day the temperature dropped, and eventually at -9.5C, the fuel froze in the pump/lines causing the stove to stop. The temperature continued to drop to a low of -12.4C!! (The evening before, the thermometer recorded a low of -16C, but long after the stove had been shut down for the night). Unfortunately, I forgot to turn the pump off, so when it thawed, about 9litres of fuel were pumped into an unlit rayburn. Not sure where it all went - I think most of it exited via the air pipe, so fortunately, not a massive WVO flood in the house, but nevertheless some appeared where it should not have done....failesafe required!

The low temperatures, and my lack of success in liquifying the solid fuel has convinced me that I need to develop a fully heated fuel system - a heater in the fuel tank and trace heater wire (as recommended in the Making Lard Liquid thread) to heat the fuel lines. I'll be ordering the appropriate equipment in the next few days.

[frotter]

Sounds splendid - bring it on!