Babington Burner

[Ivan]

I've spent a few hours researching babington burners and turk burners, enthused by Chug's links.

Here's an interesting link - how to build your own babington burner.

http://www.aipengineering.com/babington/Babington_Oil_Burner_HOWTO.html

This is more a reminder for myself than anything else - if you use fuel containing volatiles like petrol or ***methanol*** (eg biodiesel waste product - glycerin), it can cause the sump to ignite with exciting consequences.

I suspect that Turk burners don't suffer this problem - maybe Chug can can answer that one?

[welshboy]

Hi Ivan, My recollection of the babington is that the fire burner emanates from the hole in the sphere which is then focussed in a horizontal tube/pipe.Liquid fuel dribbles over the sphere and down into the sump from where it is recycled by a pump. So you have a potential flash point below the burner in the sump. In the turk the liquid fuel is already burning in the burner bowl so I cant see how it can cause a problem- just burn faster

[Ivan]

That's what I assumed. So babingtons are not a good choice.

I can't work out how you meter the fuel into a Turk burner to stop it filling up and overflowing. Or does it just burn faster if there's more fuel going in?

[Listerclones]

I made a Babington about 4 years ago but could never get it to run consistently.
I used a prop shaft from a truck as the blast tube and had it glowing red hot several times.
The main problem I found was after approximately half an hours running the ignition point of the flame got further and further away from the ball where the spray emanated from. The result was the flame blew itself out but there was still oil bing sprayed down a red hot tube. You can guess what happens next, boom ,flames 10 to 15 foot high coming out of the chimney stack but also backfiring. This, I decided,was quite a lethal beast so have never bothered with it again.Definitely one of those alternative energy ideas that you can't leave unattended.
Turk burners,on the other hand,are pretty good.

[Ivan]

I should think that's quite easy to sort out - just need some glowing wire at the intended point of ignition. I think gas stoves use something similar. (says he, comfortably from the armchair, with no experience of DIY burners!)

[welshboy]

Hi Ivan- turk combustion depends on getting the right balance between fuel supply,the surface area of the burner and air (oxygen)to burn it. I recall fuel delivery systems being discussed in an old motherearth article about waste oil burners. The one that appealed to me was a smallish container from which the fuel flowed by gravity through a tap in the pipe into a sight glass and on to the burner. The fuel could then be metered by the tap to the burn level required. Taking an oil fired aga as an example the fuel required is about a gallon and a half a day.  So a two gallon tank topped up daily gives you control and the knowledge that you are not overdoing it. The Turks chug describes heating the water at a rapid rate are burning at a level you dont want in your set up. Just calculate the btus in the timespan -its very impressive and suits their purpose .

[homebrewpower]

I actually now manufacturer Babington Atomizing Nozzles in the UK.

See http://homebrewpower.co.uk/Babington-Burner-Nozzles-For-Sale.html

Took me a long time to set up production but I am selling them as fast as I can make them!

All the best

Andy Mahoney
www.HomeBrewPower.co.uk
Renewable Energy Tips & Advise

[Chug]

one of the lads on Paddy's goat biofuel forum has recently made a good un and even better with his 2nd attempt
 

http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12339&page=1#pid130977

http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12610&page=1

[Ivan]

Impressive stuff. I'm tempted to have a go at building one, but I'm not sure how's the best way to utilse the heat. I guess the burner assembly needs to be built into a room-sealed radiator of some kind (eg woodstove or old propane bottle connected to flue), or perhaps retro-fitted into an oil boiler in place of the original oil burner.