Brian
I appreciate the input. I recall the old stoves when I was a kid
visiting some backwoods shop with a drip WOH.

I've been thinking about this a while. The reasons I'm leaning toward
compressed air:

1 - From what I've read, it's makes the hottest flame, the quickest. I'm
more insterested in complete combustion than BTU output, but quick heat
is desirable. I typically get to the shop at about 6:30 and work till
10:00, so the quicker I get heat, the more I can get done. I don't want
any black smoke coming out of the stack to bother my neighbors, who are
pretty closeby. This shop is situated in a mobile home community.
2 - Drip feed means I'd probably want the waste oil source at a higher
level than the stove. That would make it inconvenient to pour into.
With compressed air the venturi vacuum would siphon out of a floor-level
drum.
3 - The drop distance I'd have would be whatever I could get out of a
55-gallon drum on it's side, less the height of the catch-pan, so the
oil would only drop about 14". Would that be enough?
4 - With the oil feed entering the hottest part of the firebox, I'd be
concerned about carbon or gunk buildup from oil residue at the opening.

Brian Lawson wrote:
On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 09:14:54 -0500, Rex B wrote:


BIG SNIP

My intention is to convert it to waste oil by adding a compressed air
line blowing across a tee-fitting to spray the oil into the drum. I'll
start it by burning the usual waste, then cut in the oil as it burns down.



Hey Rex,

The compressed air is not necessary. If you "dribble" the used oil in
at the top of the fire box, a drop or so per 1 to 5 seconds, and
provide a splash/catch pot near the bottom of the fire chamber, that
will suffice. As the drops fall through the flame, they "pre-heat"
and when they hit the splash/catch pan, the striking/splashing on the
hot can vapourizes them and the oil burns quite nicely, almost as a
gas. It does require a pre-existing fire to get started though, to
heat the can and rod. An old "space heater" is perfect.

In the "old days" we would hang a coffee tin (1 or 2 pound tin??) on
an 8" long 1/4" steel rod poked though the tin from side to side just
below the open end, and hung across the space heaters existing fire
ring The drops would actually hit the red-hot rod, and create such a
heat as to make the whole stove "dance" from the combustion
reactions, and get very hot if you let too much oil flow. At an
un-educated guess, I would think that this created a BTU output factor
of roughly 4 times what the highest setting using just the proper
stove oil (like a kerosene), and the stove flow valve.

These proper space heaters had a fire-box access door for lighting
them with a match to ignite the stove oil, so ready-made access to do
what we did.

Try something like this first, before you get all elaborate.
Admittedly, you won't want this to be left un-attended for any length
of time.

Take care.

Brian Lawson,
Bothwell, Ontario.