Anyone tempted to burn a little used motor oil with your pellets?

[fataugie]

HOLY DOGSH#T!

You're kidding, right?

There is no way you are burning motor oil in a pellet stove...a NEW pellet stove...you just posted that to tug on our sausages....right?

 

[fataugie]

By the way, my motor oil goes to a guy and family that has a burner in their shop so he can stay warm and busy during the winter, doesn't bug me a bit that it is getting burned.

Ah hell, I don't care that the oil gets burned....I use old oil to jump start lazy fires in the burn barrel. My concern would be using it in a brand new stove. If the stove was old and an experiment in the garage or workshop....fine. But not something you spend 2K or more.

 

[gpack]

I've had my stove for 4 seasons. I had it serviced professionally for the first two seasons but have been doing this myself the past two so I'm learning a good deal about servicing and adjusting the stove. I don't have access to the manufacturers service manual but use other references and in particular this site to research whatever it is I'm planning to do. I think I'm fairly good with it and would never think to do something like this. I think you will keep the service guys busy or you're going to end up chilly this winter. I'd take the advice of most of the folks here and burn without the additive.

 

[Elad]

I just bought my 1st pellet stove, P68 Harman and with everything, about $3700 with vents & heat reclaimer adding it all up.
I had no fear/qualms about using my old synthetic Mobil1 oil to it at all. Syn will take higher heat to ignite. Its not like gasoline, so no way a hopper will flame up.
The hopper is in a slight vacuum and is usually closed off with the slide plate. Granted, the auger drive could stop with slide plate in the open position so I had thought of that. Certainly you wouldn't want a low flashpoint product in the hopper. But the heat does not get that far back in the auger drive.

I started about the same, a qt/bag but a cold restart with them oiled pellets, it took bit longer to auto-ignite.
So. I have reduced that to a pint/bag as I will go through a lot of bags a season and works out great in the stove that I can tell. I too am a mechanic/technician history btw so am not concerned about self-repairing anything on the stove.

When running on them I do notice a bigger, hotter flame (at 1qt/bag) so much so, I had to move my feed down to 3 instead of 4.5, so its burning hotter.
I have no visible smoke and the glass is no different. I do not see any signs of a oil film on the glass at all!
Them pellets burn so hot - there is no residue left over that I can tell!

I 1st experimented by soaking a handful of pellets for a few days to see if they were going to breakup into mush. They didn't. Tossed them into the pot - got a big flame
Then I heavy soaked 10 lbs of pellets (about a qt) and dumped them in with hopper when it was almost empty. Them sure were really big flames - lol.
So, then went to adding a qt into the hopper after I dump a bag in. Mixed them up in the hopper and checked on it all day. Did some cold restarts just to be sure but like mention above, took longer to fire up.
Now, just a pint+/bag as will be running out of oil soon at this rate. And, no problems refiring up the stove like normal at that low level.
Never thought about old cooking oil. Thanks for that tip Will give it a try


Reminds me of my old boss when I asked him for a raise.
He said 'you never get it if you don't ask', even though I asked, didn't get it... lol
The point is, you never know unless you try. I tried, and as far as I am concerned, I scored on this one.
Some people are just TOO SCARED. Probably Obamaized.
Like winter drivers. There may be a foot of snow on the ground, but a bare clean street, yet they will drive 1/2 the speed limit. How frustrating!
Maybe there just too cold to be able to push the pedal to the metal.
No Guts, No Glory... You go play with your warranty... I'll be burning my warranty...

From a ultralight flyer, motorcycle driver & hot-rod driver (1972 Gremlin w olds/455c in, 6pack, 3/4race cam,headers, modified heads - burn baby burn!

I will Live Free, or Die!


p.s. Its just me living alone in the country, a single guy now so am really Free ;-) , so don't
get bent out of shape thinking I am endangering anyone else in my home & how I burn my stove

 

[ffspeed]

I don't know how it is where you live. But where I am, just about any place I can buy motor oil, takes old motor oil. And I do also believe if they sale just so much, they have to take it. Also if you have enough of it, they will come and pick it up. There is a fee to do this, but if you have enough they will pay you.

 

[Elad]

Not out here. Am 45m away from town. I don't want to carry dirty oil jugs in my CR-V even to the garbage recycle area some 10m away which is only open 10am to 3pm - sure during working hours Thr & Sat (which I work).
I use to use it in the wood stove which made a lot of smoke and far too hot & messy, but no longer am using the stove very much (burn the trash in there about all once a mo.)

Besides, I paid for that expensive Syn. oil ($30/gal w/tax). Might as well get all I can out of it by burning it and its far easier to regulate the burning of it
I turn down the auger feed 1 number (to #3 out of 6#'s) and still maintain 78^ upstairs @28%humidity (split level house 2400sq ft. Its -14^f outside now and am nice & toasty upstairs here in the far bedroom converted to computer room.

It really make a difference in getting same heat (if not more using oil) set at #3 instead of 4-4.5 on feed in the Harman 68 as far as pellets consuming.
My glass is easier to clean - seems to stay cleaner longer as well. Same pellets so nothing changed there...
I closed off the other open port to the chimney so its drafting harder than normal, although the wood stove is still connected and its pipe damper is turned closed. Firing up the wood stove creates more powerful draft in the chimney so I remove the plastic cover during that burn.

The Trimpot for combustion motor on the P68 is set to minimum as too much air moving through my stove. I could use some restrictions in the exhaust so hoping for some buildup... Then I can open the exhaust at the elbow and replace it with a 3"Tee for cleaning.
I use no OAK system. Enough airleaks already.
With clean pellets, I restrict the air intake on the P68 by 7/8th of closing it off, but with oiled pellets I don't - its wide open.
Actually not sure which is hotter - restricted air or open. Flames are a bit higher but a bit more ash buildup in pot, opened intake the mostly burned up pellets do the dance and sometimes pop out.
I will admit that oiled pellet burning at feed 4, I get some smoke with restricted air input and flames circling down as its at the top heat exchanger.
So, I leave the air wide open and flames are 1/4th to 3/4 high (new feed - the flames jump up) at #3 setting.
P68 piped into 7"flue chimney some 25'+ high. I run 2' of straight 3" and 3"90^ then step up the 3" to 6". then through a 10 tube heat reclaimer, then into a 6"Tee & into the chimney. I use to keep the Tee opened as too much draft from chimney - its closed so am sucking the p68's exhaust. Yes, that same plastic cover is still there over a month - not melted. You can hold your hand on the Tee and not get burned.
Pop the power cord while the p68 is running hard and I will have no smoke coming into the house