On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 17:20:04 GMT, Gunner
wrote:

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_...earth/me4.html

http://www.backyardmetalcasting.com/oilburners.html

Im collecting Stuff for a waste oil heater. I will likely build the
Mother Earths one.

Gunner

I've been thinking about adding supplemental WO burning to my shop
wood burner for a while now. One problem I've heard of with the
needle valve drip setup is that as the oil gets hotter and thinner it
drips faster and faster. That causes you to be the feedback device to
keep the drip from overheating the stove, or getting too rich and then
smoking. In my case, I don't want to burn only WO, but just to
supplement the wood fire with a occasional shot of it.
I'm planning on building a small, say 1/2 to 1 oz piston pump
actuated by a solenoid or an eccentric cam to deliver a fixed volume
of WO at an adjustable interval. THis would just be a piston with the
appropriate check valves to make it pump one way. I've been thinking
about using the 555 timer circuit published in the 12/2000 1/2001 HSM
magazine titled "A new electronic circuit for Glenn Wilson's Coolant
pump" It does seem however that a better circuit might keep the
solenoid energized for say 1/2 a second to finish the pump stroke if
the oil is thick and cold and a cap discharge doesn't fully stroke the
pump. This way there would be not need to preheat the oil, the volume
would the same if it was axle oil or trans oil, hot or cold. It would
also be easier to turn off if you left the shop, and turn back on to
the same setting later when you added a big fresh log to the fire.

I'm also planning on insulating the ceiling in my shop, a 30' x 40'
pole barn with 12' ceilings. Now all the heat does is speed the
frequency of the drips of melting snow that come off the roof. I want
to hang bats of fiberglass from the trusses (2' on center) but I would
like to find some foil backed insulation to keep the shop as bright as
possible. 6" thick fiberglass is my plan, with firing strips to hold
it up. I thought of tyvek, its white, but adds another few hundred $
and the insulation will already have a vapor barrier. Sheet goods are
the same, more money, and I really don't need them, or the hassle of
hanging them over a too full shop. Insulation itself will be a bad
enough job. Any ideas where to get shiny foil backed insulation? I
know it used to be made.
Brad - in Michigan
Brad Heuver