Burning Used Motor Oil in my Chinese Diesel heater  

Two tanks on a Y piece should help it mix better then you can shut off the used oil until it gets hot enough to introduce it , also running a copper brake line wrapped around the exhaust will heat up the used oil and help it combust quicker, before you shut it down run it on straight diesel for a few minutes so it’ll start up on straight diesel from cold

The algorithm has been feeding me diesel heater videos. I am a farmer here on youtube and I know of a lot of places to get this "black diesel" as I have been hearing it called. I like the bus and you are making me think about picking one up to make into a mobile workshop. Subscribed! Have a good one.

The Vevor 8Kw wall mount heater puts out 220F-240F consistently. I use straight used tractor oil in the spring and fall but Winter Diesel through the Winter months that we have 20F to -25F. I use two of these in my shop. The key is to put a course screen filter followed by a fine screen filter followed by a paper fuel filter that I change ever three months. A build up of carbon (without filters) will build up over six months but with filters you will never have to clean it out. I’m heating a 1200 sq.’ Rabbitry and a machine shop of about 2500 sq. ‘ with two of the 8Kw heaters. The cost when running both from a barrel of diesel is about $.04 per Kw or about $6 per day.

Hello from the high desert of New Mexico USA 🇺🇸. I have been installing and repairing diesel air heaters for over 20 years. I just wanted to mention that you really need to route the exhaust out from under your bus. I personally would not run oil in my diesel heaters in my bus, it's just too much hassle, besides I have my heaters plumbed into my bus fuel tank.

I just watched a video of a couple guys in the UK run straight used oils in their unit for 3 years before they had to take it apart and clean the inner screen out. He said that he should have had it filtered before the heater. But they cleaned it out and put it back together and had it running again. The other guy had it plumbed into his house for heating it up in the winter. But it smoked a little bit at first but then it cleared up.

thanks for posting, there is a little screen around the glow plug that can gum up with carbon and contaminates. if it starts to smoke or not stay lit, pop the glow plug out and clean keep posted about issues with it

Be careful the oily funnel does not gather dust and grit, it is best to store funnels in a tin or box.

Morning Dave Love the new intro shows off some of your many talents Great video Dave

We used to burn the used motor oil from changes in the old heating diesel furnace which found a new home at the garage when we had natural gas installed. It was fine.

I have several of these put away for emergencies, I love this idea. Would love to see how dirty it is running though.

It piles up when you do your own work. Great idea.

Very interesting of course. I'm confident the heater will handle it but most plastic starts to degrade or melt at 200 degrees F. So as long as the hot air supply piping is ok with that temp I say fire it up. I'm going try this as well. I just purchased my first diesel heater. My torpedo heater runs just fine on ag diesel, even in stupid cold weather. But it uses a siphon system so I don't think I will try mixing that with motor oil. This is good to know.

I sometimes run used motor oil in my diesel truck, 7.3 IDI. at about the same ratio maybe a little less oil , but you should filter it before you dump it into the tank. I just use a cone filter meant for paint sprayers, put it right in the funnel and just poor the oil through it. I do have one of those diesel heaters in my motorhome which I live in. Good to know I can start using used motor oil 👍

Measuring a precise amount into a container then a mixing attachment on your cordless power drill could do a better blending job...maybe. Some cheaper paint thinners or other solvent could thin down the used engine oil Also priming the heater with a little kerosene or similar would ensure the thing getting a good ignition. I am glad you shared this with us thanks 👍

After you poured that black mixed fuel in the diesel heater fuel container I said to myself here comes the trouble 🤣, there's too many comments to read but take in consideration that used motor oil has fine particles from metal, copper, aluminum and other contaminates which simply the burner will not be able to burn and eventually clog up from 8 hours to max 2 days,also make sure you don't mix motor oil with gasoline, if you do gasoline will ignite before the motor oil when it gets injected and you will clog your burner in less than a day.

You have an awesome intro for this video! Great music and great scenes. I look forward to seeing how things work out over time with the 50/50 blend.

Used oil generally has a lot of soot from the engine built up in it, so you've got a much higher carbon content. (especially used diesel oil from things like your bus) It'll need to have a leaner mix to avoid coking up the inside of the burner. For this reason most waste oil burners use high pressure air to disperse the fuel and have combustion chambers that are easy to clean. For these heaters I'd probably get the advanced settings code and lean out the mix as much as will still run reliably on the used oil to slow down the buildup, and then put in a fuel line switch to flip it over to something with a lower carbon content like propane occasionally and reduce out what carbon deposits do occur. Unfortunately, you do kind of have to choose between needing to clean it occasionally if it's too rich and burning out your combustion chamber if it's too lean.

Interesting video. The only thing that I can think of that might be a negative is, if the little fuel pump can handle the oil. That oil is a bit heavier than the fuel. Other than that I think your good to go.

Well since I try to make as small footprint as possible, Im glad to see that a lot of others are doing what they think is the best for the environment.

That one way to save some $$. I would suggest using the small jugs of oil up first. Be knocking out one those todo list items.

Burned used oil myself. Found out running it on the low setting was a really bad idea. Cleaned it up and ran it on high. Got about 12 hours before it plugged up and shut down. Was much easier to clean as it was more soot than clinkers. At this point, I’m only going to run used on the weekends so I have time to clean it each day.

With regards to the amount of oil in the slope sided container: You could fill it up with diesel fuel and using a permanent marker, put on calibration marks, say every half gallon dispensed. Motor oil has all sorts of additives in it to make it work properly: i.e. dispersants, anti friction. and alkali compunds to counteract the acid build up from sulphur in the fuel etc. These are going to create ash deposits n the oil burner. When you service / clean it, do not breathe in the ash.

A clawfoot tub in a school bus? I admire the stones. :)

Interesting...didn't know this was possible!

Good stuff, thanks! I don't use oil but I believe that synthetic oil burns well too, better, and with less impurities. As for me, I'd like to see more information about frequency of cleaning the burner. Not an fun task.

Very interested in how you get on using old oil . Im looking into doing the same thing with mine

Good job dave 👍

That’s awesome!😊

I tried a 50/50 mix and seem to work fine on low.. but i like to have a tap where i can regulate the motor oil and diesel on a split fuel system. That way i can put it on clean before i turn off.. i used straight engine oil but soon stopped working.. i had to use a blow touch to burn off the crap that was inside the burn chamber.. now normal motor oil is best. But if you use fully synthetic oil it will smoke then clog up over time.. also there are acids in motor oil so might corrode over time..

Used motor oil is full of contaminants, that's the black colour. If you don't see smoke coming out it'll be leaving a small amount of residue in the heater, free heat is free heat though and I'll be doing this to mine. Waste oil heaters are great too, burn red hot.

I’ve ran a 30/70 gasoline to used oil blend for the winter 30 gas/70 used oil n I’ll adjust that a bit depending on the temperature so my heater can cycle n run on the low settings as well I also cook the gasoline into the motor oil n use a plate heater to keep the oil fuel warm right before it goes into the heater for better atomization

With all due respect I strongly suggest you stop doing this. I spent hours experimenting with used motor oil in my diesel heater a couple of years ago to much regret. I tried different blends of diesel, kerosene, ran it for days on end etc. Each and every time the burner unit would clog up with deposits that were hard as rocks. I had to chip and chisel them out. I ended up buying a new burn chamber in the end as they were just too difficult to remove. Straight oil (I heated it with a copper pipe coil wrapped round the exhaust to make it easier to pump) will only accelerate the fouling of the burn chamber. I took pictures and videos which I can send over if you are interested.

Yeah, I tried that with mine and it ran for a couple days before it fouled out and I had to clean it and the burn chamber had hard deposits that I literally had to chisel out of it. It was like concrete and was stuck in the back side of the burn chamber where thier is a metal mesh. It was actually stuck in the mesh and I damaged the mesh trying to get it out. I don't recommend doing it as I eventually had to replace the burn chamber due to loss of metal mesh that actually heats up and sustains the flame in the burn chamber. Burning used motor oil eventually destroys the burn chamber to the point it no longer can burn properly.

Im feeling bad for the guys in the UK right now. They just banned burning used oil in these heaters. Because they want you to go to recycling plants, where they get paid to burn it anyways. Its just more businesses trying to squeeze money out of the people.

That’s awesome.

There’s a video of a guy that ran his on used engine oil/hydraulic oil for 3 yrs with no problems. He did run it full blast though, he takes it apart to inspect and clean it, it’s more coked up than running on clean diesel obvs but well worth the time invested in cleaning the unit for the free fuel.

I just started working on mine doing the same, yet I use petrol instead of diesel/K1. I have only run about 20% petrol in the mix and did find hard deposits on the bottom of the burn chamber. In order to prevent oil pooling I tips the heater straight up and down so the burn chamber faced down. This made it so any extra oil would burn at the bottom, instead of making a solid rock inside the burn chamber. I would imagine that 50/50 WMO and Petrol would actually burn much cleaner. Also if you have the red LED controller you can reduce pump speed which might help. Keep us updated! I’m going to try and get this running cleaner. Maybe even start and stop on diesel so that it comes up to temp on diesel and burns hotter with waste oil.

I ran a school bus on used motor oil cut with gasoline at about 15%. Just had to advance the timing on the injector pump a few minutes. If you've never heard of it, look up "black diesel". It does stink like burning oil, but if you get the timing right, it runs fine and doesn't smoke.

I tried it in my 85 300sd Mercedes and it was wonderful but the suspended unburned carbon in black oil can and will settle out over time , in vehicles we just don't let it sit or sludge will build up . Another way if you have a 55 gallon barrel of waste oil is to run it through a purifier then its good to go however being a heavier fuel it might not be such a good idea for those heaters , there are heaters it will do fine in but those I think are to much for a school bus.

thanks for information

Great Idea!

I wanted to tell you that I enjoyed the way you edited this video....I noticed! The intro was awesome! The format was spot on. I liked that you welcomed us and gave us a brief introduction to what we were about to watch and learn about. This was perfect, Dave. Very good job. ❤️🇺🇸❤️

Any updates on the diesel heater? Are you still burning WMO? Any tips you can pass on to us?

With that style of IR thermometer you have to be really really close. Check the manual bc some do a 16" radius at 2" away . The laser is only a guide

Ran mine 6 months straight mixing gasoline n used motor oil 50/50-30 gasoline up to at -50c no cleaning it no problems yet

Great test. Have you done a CO exhaust check and calibrated the heater for the diesel/oil blend? It running hotter might imply it could use more air to run clean. Might test this on my heater.

i GOT 210 f OUT OF THE BOX WITH diesel, AND over 400 at the exhaust so I took baseboard hot water heat pipe with the fins and extended the exhaust to 10 feet to get ALL that wasted heat.. You Will get a lot more suite with oil and may require more cleaning or run a gallon of kerosene to help clean

Would it work on filtered vegetable oil? I'm guessing it would have to be filtered and probably preheated, but it should work very similar, no?

If you can run 500-1000 hours free fuel you have saved the price of the heater. So why not, then buy new and sevice old one.

My opinion is to start heater with diesel so proper temperature can be made, if you start with oil mixture than carbon build up is going to be greater because of colder combustion chamber. Also it is good to switch again befor shutting off to go again on pure diesel so chamber can be cleand. Here is video of guy who was burning pure oil for years and never cleaned the burner ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qpLhwuy9M9E.html

I have two main concerns, one being, will it cold start on oil only or high oil/diesel mixes, then next, is Can it burn too hot? Could it melt down, possibly burn a hole in the aluminum case, causing a fire? I think I'd rather go with biodiesel, I was thinking about building a tiny wood stove, from a refrigerant tank, or two, using 2.25"-2.5" exhaust pipe, inside a 3" exhaust pipe, using a small fan to pull air through the gap between, and feed the basically force fed rocket stove, But then, you got me thinking waste oil! Maybe use a similar stove pipe, but build a small oil burner / combustor using heat plugs and a small blower, and pump, still pulling the air through the pipe, basically the size of a qt jar, to a 3litre bottle, inside the tank, slightly smaller than a propane tank, it could also be used to heat water, with fail-safes, and safety precautions, using 3/8" -1/2" copper tubing, coiled inside, about 12 6" coils could do it, especially if used with a electric water heater used as a tank, using a pump to circulate the water, I'd use a 1" tee to circulate through, using one outlet as a pressure release, on both sides of the coil, and a similar setup could make steam, circulating the water through a 2gallon tank, filled less than half way, with relief valves, use the steam to spin a small alternator, 40amp or so, it would probably peak around 600-800watts, 100%duty would probably be around 300 watts, a very rough guess, it could per it's self at least, however scale it up a bit with a coil made from twice 3-4x the material or so, and it should do 2 kw easy, for a while anyways,

IDK. I might think of bolting that tank outside to prevent any spills, fumes or odors.

First time viewer just a few mins into the vid figured I'd let u know, your videos would and will do much better off with a much shorter intro. I pressed the f- fwd 2 or 3 times. Just thought u might appreciate the feedback, otherwise thanks for the video! I tried 50/50 mix with black motor oil and it was a smoke show 😅

Is it still working good on the 50/50 mix? I ordered an 8kw heater just waiting for it to come in and i plan on using a 50/50 mix since i have a ton of used oil to burn

the air filter needs to go inside so that it recirculates the warm air inside it will run much more efficiently that way.

So you had an opportunity to see how it has done over a few months. How has this worked out for your heating needs?

you need to get a conduction thermometer like a old school one. Your IR thermometer is giving you the temp of the surface of the duct you are shooting it into, not the air.

Hi, how have you been getting on with this? Are you still burning oil and diesel mix?

I was hoping to see where you purchased the tank with the 4 screw holes. capacity also..

You need to get a transfer pump it will help out a lot

Holy Mackerel intro is over a minute and a half long! Most others are only about ten seconds.

We need an update!

Does this heater smell when it starts and runs ???? What about when you shut it off ?? Thanks

I have an international skoolie. Hoping on veg oil to mix with diesel to run and heat it?

I might try that with my diesel heater I seen the video and where you are looking under the bus at the exhaust I could not see it. I hope it is vented outside the bus and not underneath the bus so carbon monoxide flows back in

Diesel fuel and motor oil have virtually the same BTU content so there should be no difference in heat output. IR temp sensors can't read air temp, you need a thermistor or some other physical sensor to measure air temp. It does make heat cheaper at the expense of more clean outs so it's a win....

I have had nothing but trouble trying to do this as well. One piece of advice is to run it on high and change the factory setting for the max and min fan speed up by 10-15%. I stopped trying to burn alternative fuels, kero or diesel only. And with the increased fan speeds I get over 212F and almost no carbon buildup. 1000 hrs running this winter (10 hrs/gal and 100+ gals) just wish diesel was $2 and not $5

I thought I was a genius 5 years ago and did the same thing and it plugged up the screen solid,took a bit of taking apart and cleaning to use it again, let me know what happens in a month or two

Have you tested the exhaust gasses with a Co meter... !!! The Co emissions when running Diesel on my unit is 35ppm Carbon monoxide, which could be an issue if you're parked in a poorly ventilated area, the fumes can build up and have a negative effect on the fresh air inlet for combustion. The emissions with a 60/40 mix of Diesel/Motor Oil is 90ppm which is lethal if you're unit is exhausting in a poorly ventilated area. Please consider this when using you're units with a Diesel/ waste oil mix..

Lots of free used oil left by the back door of my local Autozone.

and in negative 10 celcius, how does it behave wtith that mix? does it even fire up?

Your air intake that blows over the engine is sucking air from the room you're warming. So the warmer the room the hotter that air is before it passes over the heaters engine and in turn the hotter the heated air will be. This also means it could eventually overheat if you don't keep your eye on it.

Hi, did you end up burning straight used oil in it yet?

I wonder how jet fuel would work? After all it's usually got smokeless additives that might help with coking

I did the whole bus conversion thing and then had to replace the electric fuel pump and lift pump costing me over 4 grand parts and labor. Then 800 per tire. And if you break down you need a massive tow truck which is at minimum 200 per hour not to mention cost per mile to whatever garage can fix it. Not worth it. Buy a U-Haul type box truck and be happy

I heard of people using 50/50 used cooking oil + diesel too. Not sure how that work out on the heat, BTU and soot after sometime. Diesel is getting expensive nowadays.

I would have liked to have seen an internal and external thermometer displaying a comparative temperature rather than your heat sensor gun.

Interesting info here. Search: Chinese diesel heater ran on used waste oil clean out

Interesting,where do you get a used bus?

hows it holding up after a year

why not put the heater closer to your exterior wall and run the exhaust line as a floor heater and then exhausted outside near back of the bus , this way you can use the exhaust pipe as a radiant heat source.

chances are used oil will have traces of water in it fitting a fuel filter with a water trap inline before the pump

Could you try burning used veg oil blend?

How long did it last using oil in it pls.

I run a blend of waste vegetable oil and gas in my old 82 isuzu diesel engine, it's 4 gallons of very well filtered vegetable oil and one gallon of gas, I've saved close to 50k dollars in the last 17 years, do you think that would be a good blend to run in this heater, it runs extremely well in my car

How long does the heater run with a full tank of oil?

If you were only getting 145 degrees on diesel you have a problem. On wide open I get 218 degrees. Periodically if you run straight kerosene it will clean the burner.

I believe engine oil has a higher btuh rating than diesel.

I hope you filtered your old oil ? It's black for a reason !

Guess I won't be doing this

Anyone know if full synthetic used motor oil burns the same? It's all I use in my cars so if that won't work, no sense in buying the heater.

I used to think advert placement was a little random on US TV but YT is going the same way. Intro lasts 1min 36 secs and already there has been an ad inserted. I always thought it better to wait until you have hooked your audience with some, you know, content...

Why couldn't you mount that whole unit underneath the bus? Then put vent in floor lots of space under there

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Would an oil and kerosene mix work just as well.

My bet is it will shoot it up. I would not take a chance on used oil. Also is the pump in it made to pump heavy oil.

Make ya another box to vent it through and that is pretty close to the temp to dehydrate jerky at... just saying lmao

They will clog up and get dirtier faster FYI .

🥰🥰