Waste oil - workshp heating.

Over ten years ago my then local garage had a special heater that burned waste oil. So they had none spare.

And would picking up waste oil from a garage not be regarded as handling and transporting trade waste with all its attendant red tape?

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember Rod saying something like:

If you're an end user - a burner of it to heat your workshop, I'm fairly sure (but who knows the devilish tricks of the 'crats) the red tape doesn't apply, much. Same as for veg oil waste.

Mm. once upon a time it was dumped. Full of nasty metal particles - lead indium cadmium etc.

I THINK these days it gets recycled somehow.

Into low grade motor oil ;-)

I doubt any large garage will let you have it. Probably have to sign some eco certificate in blood to ensure its not released into the environment.

OTOH it does indeed make a really good source of heat..

My mate's dad is a self-employed mechanic. He now has a big workshop with a waste-oil burner (and an old heating oil tank to store it over the summer when the heater's not needed), but he used to just have some old drums which he paid to have periodically emptied by a mobile oil-picker-upper. I'm sure in those days he would have been delighted to find someone who wanted to take his oil away.

Yep, anyone with a workshop space and any sense ought to be doing that.

Yep. So instead of allowing this material to be reused, saving the equivalent amount of gas or electricity, this law mandates that lots of effort and energy be expended in disposing of it.

Pete

Aye the garages round here have waste oil burners for their workshops. Why continually spend money on expensive energy when you have free supply?

I think it would they have really come down on waste transport/handlling/disposal in recent times. Trouble is the legislation is very complex and not very well written. See case of driver of works van being prosecuted for transporting his lunchtime sandwich wrapper and banana skin home and putting it in the domestic waste with out a trade waste transfer licence and disposal permit...

I'm not overly convinced that such a simple burner won't produce all manner of toxins in the ash and/or flue gases.

Er, I'm a bit surprised that nobody's mentioned you have to have a local authority permit to burn waste oil...

Google "Small waste oil burner permit"

...Oh and theoretically, you can only burn oil from your own garage unless you do proper waste transfer.

There used to be a Lytag production plant at Tilbury which used waste oil burners to ignite the sinter strand bed as it passed under the flame hood. When maintenance time came round it was a dreadful job to do anything under the hood as all the tiny particles of grit (silica) in the oil had fused and formed glass stalactities which were incredibly sharp. The oil itself was very abrasive to the pumps, preheaters and injectors because of these same grit particles which were in suspension in the fluid. Tankers full of the stuff were delivered fairly cheaply by a waste oil collection service company on a weekly basis. It saved them from expensive reclaimation and refining so everyone gained.

I wasn't aware of it, but it doesn't surprise me one iota.

'Alle is Verboten"

er, the waste oil is being burnt in the workshop burner heating the workshop thus saving the kerosene/gas/eleltricity that would otherwise be required to heat said workshop. Without the energy costs of transporting, refineing it for reuse.

Which is better, burning (directly releasing fossil CO2) or transporting/refineing (indirectly releasing fossil C02) for reuse?

I did not mean that the garage would have a problem burning their own oil. But if someone agrees to dispose of it for them, then the rules might bite.

There used to be a contraption called an Ace Salamander that did just this. It was a fearsome piece of kit and resembled and sounded like a ram jet in use. The heat it produced was incredible. It was also lethal.

I never liked him anyway ...

Does modern synthetic oil even burn like the old mineral stuff? Obviously it will at a high enough temperature, but it doesn't seem to burn easily...

Lee

Lee explained :

I'm thinking the waste oil will be a mix of various types.

It seems it should be possible to make a multi fuel one, able to burn waste wood or waste oil. I'll post some the found URL's when I get a bit further with it.

I have already got an old gas bottle which I had set aside to make a chimera (sp?). I just need to source some suitable pipe for the flue.

Yes, that's what I said.

Pete

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember The Natural Philosopher saying something like:

Why do we always seem to creep closer to the German model of rule-making and slavishly following them? I didn't fight in the war, you know...

Harry Bloomfield was thinking very hard :

I promised some URL's...