Heating with diesel

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I have several hundred gallons of stale diesel fuel. - Probably contaminated with algae as it is very dark. However, it burns like any diesel when used to start a pile of wood in the field. I am wondering if i could use it for a heat source in an outbuilding. Maybe put a hole in the can of the 5 gallon container and put a rope "wick" through it? Any one with related experiences or alternate ideas? Thank you.

-- RickE (vrevans@bigfoot.com), November 24, 1999

Answers

Sounds like you plan to heat the outbuilding with 'Tiki' torches that city folks put around their patios. I'd be more inclined to to soak some logs in it and burn them is a (barrel) stove, venting the fume outside through a stovepipe chimney. Alternatively, you might be able to find an old waste oil furnace cheap at a defunct corner garage. (My mechanic heats the place using the oil changes as fuel...)

Good luck, jh

-- john hebert (jt_hebert@hotmail.com), November 24, 1999.


Your "wick" idea probably won't work real well. The viscosity of the oil is too high.

The "organics" present in your diesel are a problem for anything with fuel filters.

While I would be cautious about burning your "stale" diesel in either a diesel engine or in a regular furnace (after all it's probably nearly #2 oil), there are other methods you could use to make it usable in some form.

See http://www.backwoodshome.com/forums/genforum.cgi?read=11099 for a forum dedicated to country things. Skip originated the thread telling us about burning waste oil using shavings or other media to contain the oil. I have a response you'll be interested in that includes references to a "home made" waste oil burner.

The barrel stoves you mention work good and throw a lot of heat but if you build one, be sure to "back up" the door frame of the stove with a solid piece of metal on the inside to prevent "buckling" of the drum head between the bolts holding the frame in place.

Best regards,

-- Joe (KEITH@neesnet.com), November 24, 1999.


Get some PRI-G diesel fuel additive. It will change "bad" fuel into good fuel (and has done so on 20-year-old fuel).

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@midiowa.net), November 24, 1999.

Make that PRI-D (diesel).

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), November 24, 1999.

Pump the fuel through a good filter first to remove any suspended algae or whatever. Then add the PRI-D as advised. That should do the trick.

Gerald

-- Gerald R. Cox (grcox@internetwork.net), November 24, 1999.



Go to http://www.batterymaintenance.net/fuel/pri/priintro.htm and consider treating the fuel with the Ocide and the PRI-G. Then run it through a filter. You could probably burn it just fine then in either the lamp or the stove made by Petromax at http://www.petromax.com/ or the lamp with the stove adaptor.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), November 25, 1999.

Typo city. I meant PRI-D not PRI-G, also PRI-Ocide. And the filter? start with something like a Melita, Mr. Coffee, Sunbeam, etc. type coffee filter at first. That might be enough.

#2 fuel oil = about 135,000 BTU per gallon. So 200 gallons of fuel = about one cord of pine on just straight BTUs. Of course in a wood fire much of your heat goes up the chimney.

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), November 26, 1999.


Get an Army surplus pot-bellied stove. They're designed to burn diesel, clean or dirty. They kick out a whole lot-o-heat, too. I've seen them advertised in want ads, available at surplus stores, etc.

-- rob minor (rbminor@hotmail.com), November 26, 1999.

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