Anyone burn used cooking oil?

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Can it be used for heat or lite?

-- Grizz in Western Maryland (southerneagle@yahoo.com), February 24, 2002

Answers

I reuse my cooking oil,, till it is real dark,, what is left,, I pout on firewood,, or use to help start the fire. but burning it exclusively may be a problem,, unless you have a oil burner

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 24, 2002.

MEN had plans for building a waste oil burner using an electric hot water heater years ago. Somewhere on the internet someone is offering a set of plans for another design. There's a couple of posts on waste oil burners in the shoptalk part of the talk section at www.agriculture.com.

If it was well filtered, I don't see why the oil couldn't be used in a Petromax type lantern.

I'd love to find a restaurant that didn't have a buyer for their waste cooking oil. If you have access to a lot of used cooking oil, it could be used for diesel fuel.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), February 24, 2002.


I was told the resturants have to pay to get rid of it!!

-- Grizz in Western Maryland (southerneagle@yahoo.com), February 24, 2002.

Would'nt it be neat if you had a system that would just drip into the wood stove just to add a little bit of fuel at a time?

-- Ned (homeontherange@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

Hi; This is a repost to something I found long ago on the net.

This works best in a Canadian winter in an uninsulated shop: Nail a 5 gal can of water on the wall on one side of the woodstove over there.Nail a 5 gal can of old motor oil on the wall on the other side.Lead a 1/4" copper tube down from the bottom of each can. Install a little control valve into the line bringing in the water. Smack the oil line against the wall with a hammer, to give it a bit of a squash.(Or, if you are well off, just buy a control valve for the oil line.)Join both 1/4" tubes at a 'T' fitting so the oil and water will try to mix.Install another control valve (the shut off) below the oil/water T junction, in another 1/4" line.This final line leads down through a hole smashed into the the top of thestove. Since the oil and water don't want to mix; fool with the setting on thewater valve and smack the oil line around until you get a shot of oil followed by a shot of water coming into the stove.Set a hot kindling fire in the stove.Install the oil/water mix line so it drips over the fire. The water hits the fire, turning itself to steam and blowing flaming oil over the inside of the stove. Throw in some wet wood now and again to keep the stovea nice red colour. (Try not to ignite the 5 gal oil can behind the stove.That is considered bad form. Also on the fringe is turning the stove pipe red all the way through the roof when showing off the system to your friends. When it gets too damn hot, open the garage door.

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@noaddr.com), February 24, 2002.



Restaurants in Las Vegas sell their used cooking oil to a re-manufacturer who makes it into bio-diesel. It sells for $5/gal and it powers many of the delivery trucks and taxi cabs in NV & CA.

-- al (yr2012@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

Grizz, I suspect it depends on the area. It's probably like used motor oil. Depending on the market a service station change may have to pay or they may be paid.

The restaurants I've checked have contracts with protein companies that buy the stuff. If you look out back there's usually a large 250+ gal container with the name of the collection company on it.

In some states like NJ, I think used cooking oil is considered hazardous waste and you need a state permit to handle the the stuff.

I've seen lots of articles about people converting the stuff to biodiesl. I'd do the same but I've never found a restaurant that would give the stuff away.

You might have better luck with a restaurant that wasn't part of a national chain. If you luck into hundreds of gals someone wants to give away and it's more than you need, let me know and I'll be there with a bunch of 55 gal drums. I'm about three hours from Cumberland.

-- Darren (df1@infi.net), February 24, 2002.


army uses heaters in tents that drip deisel fuel into a pan thats burning,,, ,its just a simple nozzle control,,works the same as a oil furnace without the heat exchanger

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), February 24, 2002.

My husband goes to the local restaurants here in town to get their oil, he mixes it with the sheep feed, the owners can not get any one to take it so they give it to us.

-- Sue in PA (suelpn30@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

Here is a link to a great biodiesel/Straight vegetable oil forum.

Biodiesel forum

-- ourfarm (ourfarm@noaddr.com), February 24, 2002.



All the places i talked to here have to pay!! Guess its small quanitys or something!!Seems every gas station and small resturant here has deepfryers!!Id like to try the drip method in the outside wood stove!!

-- Grizz in Western Maryland (southerneagle@yahoo.com), February 24, 2002.

Hubbie has a Used Oil drip system set up on our wood fired hot tub. Works great, keeps the fire going! And when you want to slow down the heat to the tub, that's all we use. The oil dripping on the coals is just about right ;)

-- Michelle in NM (naychurs_way@hotmail.com), February 24, 2002.

cooking oil will smoke something fierce if used in "normal" lanterns, but makes good "string lanterns". Take a pint jar. Put in oil about 3/4 full. Take a piece of cotton string (the 'regular' package tying stuff, as if it is too large in diameter, that is what makes it burn funny). Cut a piece a little longer than the oil is deep, and tie one end on a light weight (I use 2 crossed nails). Light it up. Some folks like to take a piece of wood (small, to float on oil) and put a hole in it to hold the one end of the string out of the oil a bit. Same principle as an old time "button lamp" ,"betty lamp" or old time biblical design. Gives about as much light as a birthday candle. Enough to keep from tripping over things in the dark, and you can make more than one. See the book "Nuclear War Survival Skills" for excellent plans for such an "oil lamp". Advantages are that if it tips over, fire goes out rather than spreading all over. And it is fun project for children. The book, although some find it objectionable since in implies one can survive a nuclear war, does have wonderful, inexpensive and creative solutions to problems of light, cooking, storing food, etc. with the research to back up their proposals (not just talking thru his hat). So have fun burning the cooking oil, but keep the wicks very, very, wee, or you will get lots of problems with smoke, gummed up wicks, and such.

-- kathy in oz (katymareus@yahoo.com), February 27, 2002.

Grizz, my ex put a waste oil burner in at his business. I'm not sure what brand it was, but I do knw that he's pretty pleased with it. I can ask him for more info if you'd like.

-- Polly >^..^< (tigger@moultrie.com), February 27, 2002.

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