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101
Heating, Cooling, Lighting / Re: My miniture waste oil heater
Last post by Xeonpony -
right now a ton, and that is desired in this unit as it is mostly air heating, second chamber will be made larger and fully insulated for the boiler.

Now I am working on a small heated carburetor from an old pot burner for it, as mixing gasoline in is getting tedious

I did the math and for 4L per hour I need 250 to 300w to ensure cold oil will be at proper temp.
104
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by Bruce S -
Slight off-topic . OP send me a nag-o-gram if I need to stop
Here at work we have great equipment coming in from the 10 sheep-powered mower's area. 
When it comes to sending them back for repairs, phew!! the paperwork involved is 21/2 nightmares!!
I finally got them to allow me to do warranty repairs here in our office.
My needle-point temp controlled soldering iron was worth every shinny dime I could find!!

Back on-topic
I recently gotten back into my old hobby of repairing 4-cycle internal combustion devices. I've also begun to run into issue where a silicone based gasket has/had the nasty smell. I wasn't sure what/where it was coming from since none of the cylinders had standing wet sludge in them. NOW I KNOW TOO!!
I'm old school in that I still use cork and a hammer to make my own gaskets, so I'm glad I still do now.

SparWeb;
I do remember on the original forum that several founders did the same of skewing the magnets to lessen the cogging problems. If I remember correctly, this wasn't a big problem until the Sumerian-Cobalt <-sp? and higher powered mags started coming down in prices. I don't thinks this is/was ever a problem with ceramic mags.
I could be wrong.

Cheers
Bruce
106
Heating, Cooling, Lighting / Re: My miniture waste oil heater
Last post by Xeonpony -
IMG_20260510_143510.jpg

Well here it is, siting on its home for now where I can do all that pesky electrical and safety stuff out of the wind and rain!

 
IMG_20260510_143728.jpg

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Need to clean the area now that some serious energy will be produced. As expected too powerful with the 0.5mm nozzle, need to get a 0.2mm, can try a needle valve to choke it down.

All ready used it to  peak the house up in temp, certainly fine tuning needed but for now it has performed as desired and intended, can't ask more then that!
107
Heating, Cooling, Lighting / Re: My miniture waste oil heater
Last post by Xeonpony -
Part 4 due to the lack of an edit button!

Sadly for some reason the secondary air bracket fabrication and test burns never saved properly but, this is the secondary air welded on. and a dusting of bbq paint for looks after much sanding.

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Now the real question, what does the inside look like after 2L of nice nasty waste oil from a car and diesel power plant been run through it?

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Pretty dam good apparently!

That is the looks of Success! Good clean burn, white ash means full combustion and nice even oxide formation means good mixing and even heat distribution.

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Refractory target laid in, this will aid in combustion and extend the life of the rear of the burn chamber, this is where I am at, once this is cured I can start fine tuning the flame, this needs to be done with every batch of fuel that is made, so it pays off to mix very large batches! Now with a per-heater this whole mixing thing goes away, waste oil needs to be preheated to 80C for it to behave like diesel and nothing more than a spark is needed, but part of this was to side step that for now.

The electrical stuff will be a reply to this thread down the road.

Small remaining structural things is to add some bolts to press off the front for cleaning the body and servicing the refractory target, and an adjustable foot at the rear of the chamber, and possibly touch shield

108
Heating, Cooling, Lighting / Re: My miniture waste oil heater
Last post by Xeonpony -
Part 3:

Here it starts to come together, those used to the old life style may see where it is going once you see this part!

IMG_20260507_185224.jpgIMG_20260507_185233.jpg


This flange is what sits on the wood where the usual burner plate sits to securely lock it on the wood stove (that flange gap on the burner assembly will be dealt with!) When it will be used for a boiler that flange can be clamped on to a fabricated socket


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Test fit, looking good


109
Heating, Cooling, Lighting / Re: My miniture waste oil heater
Last post by Xeonpony -
Part 2:

IMG_20260503_145114.jpg

Checking sizes before moving on, yup all fits and clearances as intended

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Lets get all the nasty burned off and test the basics! Yup, she's cooking!

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Exhaust tube, made from same shell from the flame tube, weld is ground and some what smoothed for good gas flow.
110
Heating, Cooling, Lighting / My miniture waste oil heater
Last post by Xeonpony -
Design goal:
- Minimal parts / complexity
- Readily and easily salvageable materials
- Simple easy to service design
- Flexibility of application, So atm it will be used on a wood burning cook stove to heat the house, but it will be very easy to mount to a boiler (I prefer secondary exchange for comfort and safety)

Utilizing Air atomizing siphon nozzle for the heavy oil with a 0.5mm Nozzle @ 14.5psi gauge, Ideally should be a 0.2mm nozzle.

The 0.5mm Nozzle at 14.5psig should make apx a little over 20,000 btu/h

Goal is to not use preheating, to save some energy, so I am using a gasoline waste oil mix, now you may ask doesn't that defeat the point? Well 16L gas makes 64L of fuel and gas is cheaper then diesel and used oil is generally free (It costs you time and effort to get it, but with careful planing and asking around every time you do a trip!)


Parts purchased:
Oil primary control - New
Nozzle Assembly - New
Regulator gauge assembly - New

Currently got body assembled and a refractory target end of the burn chamber. So now it is down to fine tuning the fuel mixture and secondary air mixture

Issues:
Internal flame tube is too small diameter for the nozzle it is 4" how ever should been ideally 7", rest of dimensions scaled accordingly

Now rest will be pics with some explanation.
IMG_20260430_202228.jpg

Nozzle assembly as ordered from Amazon dot Ca, I modified it by adding the rivets as a centering shim and slide to make it easier to insert to the flame tube

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Flame tube marked out and cut from a old 2.5lbs Strike first fire extinguisher shell. A fiber glass impregnated cardboard backer plate to secure the tube center

IMG_20260501_195632.jpg

Flame tube welded to the fire tube (It's job is to ensure full combustion by vaporizing any larger droplets and guide the flame to the end of the outer chamber) that is the larger flange at the front from a 40lbs Amerex extinguisher shell, this will make clearer sense down the road. Yes I suck at stick welding, TIG been much more preferable for me!

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The burner assembly is the removable element to facilitate cleaning and repairs down the road, so welding on the flange to form the lap seal with the main heater body

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Test Fit

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The fins serve 2 purposes, 1: is to center the tube in the main body, 2: to re-enforce the spin of the heated gasses to improve heat transfer

-Continues
112
Solar / Re: Fixing solar panels, I did something stupid
Last post by MaryB -
Quote from: bigrockcandymountain – on
Now i need to go smell my silicone.  That's good to know and I'm grateful for the advice.   The panel is still in the shop so it won't be hard to rectify if it is the wrong stuff.

I have seen ham radio operators use it to seal coax connectors... when they peel it off because the antenna quit working the metal is literally dissolved, turned into something nasty and non-conductive. Even using it to seal the lid on a box of electronics is bad news, the acetic acid fumes get inside and eats the copper off circuit boards!
113
Alternators, Generators, Motor Conversions / Re: I finally finished my Toshiba motor conversion!
Last post by MaryB -
Quote from: bigrockcandymountain – on
Oddly enough, we have the same eecol electric in Medicine Hat and every time i try to deal with them, my results are the same.  It's like unless you have an electrical business, they don't want anything to do with you.  

Nice, simple decogging.  I like that. 

On the TS-60, Charge Solar has one listed for $310 but only stock in Barrie.  It says call for availability in Calgary.  I can inquire if you are stuck.

I have a brand new TS-45 on the shelf you can have for $100 if it would work for you.  I bought it for some 48v systems i was selling at the time, but ended up liking victron controllers better for that application.

That TS-45 is tempting but shipping from Canada is outrageous right now, plus dealing with tariffs/customs...  I used to sell some astronomy accessories into Canada, a group who combined orders to cut shipping costs. Now shipping is MORE than the cost of goods...  and I haven't sold anything into Canada for years(this has nothing to do with current politics, it is a long running problem trying to ship goods cross border, small tiny businesses like mine can't afford it! It goes back 15+ years...)
115
Solar / Re: Free Panels !
Last post by Xeonpony -
They are a good panel, I have a couple and they have survived a lot, even one of the sheep deciding be perfect place to lay down on (till I got them mounted proper)
118
Forum Help & Suggestions / Image uploads
Last post by Xeonpony -
This system needs work, as much as I would like to add some nice build logs I am not going to manually trim and re code hundreds of images

There are add on's to do this server side
119
General Discussion / Re: I got one
Last post by SparWeb -
Quote from: bigrockcandymountain – on
Found On Road Dead
Fix Or Repair Daily

My Dad's a Ford fan.  First family vehicles I remember were a 1975 F150 and a 1982 Granada. Since then a couple of Tauruses (Tauri?) and a Bronco, Ranger, Fusion, a handful of others I can't remember.  But never a Mustang!  I think the Bucco was his favourite.

Meanwhile I previously cultivated a loyalty to Honda/Acura.  My intent to get an EV has meant that my next car wouldn't be a Honda.
120
Solar / Re: Fixing solar panels, I did something stupid
Last post by SparWeb -
Quote from: MaryB – on
Note: If your silicone smells like vinegar when curing it is NOT for use on electronics! It will dissolve enough metals to cause issues. Stuff is corrosive. I have ran into gasket maker that was acidic and some that isn't in a different brand so a nose test is in order!

I have personal experience with this, too! 
Had a customer bring a storage box that they wanted a customized mount built for, to attach to the belly of a helicopter.  We did the custom-mount, tested the installation, called it good.  Well they must have had some water get inside because later they sealed all the edges with caulk without calling us.  Then a guy from Transport Canada came to inspect, opened the case, and they were grounded.  The box was horribly filled with corrosion, and you couldn't get within 10 feet of it without gagging.