Homemade Waste Oil Burner Heater for Daily Use DIY 

WOW SIR!!1 What an awesome design and video presentation! Most people would be selling this design and here you are sharing it for free online. The world would really be a better place if there were more people like you in it. Not only are you a very intelligent man, you are also a true gentleman.

This is amazing! It's the only thermostatically throttled gravity feed WO stove I've ever seen. The idle and hi features are super clever. Astounding work Jeff!

12:53 "I have a ton of time in perfecting this, this is all my origional design" I cant spell either but much respect at a finly crafted furnace

2jeffs1, many city folk love to talk down on people who don't fit their idea of sophisticated. But... You sir, are a example of someone who has a chance when SHTF. When they are sitting in their $3,000,000 homes with no food or heat I'm guessing you'll be sitting in a heated place eating something that you have stowed away or shot. Very well done sir!

Thank You Chad. I came in after a days shooting of video and had over ~160 scenes. (Lotsa bloopers too.) Next day started editing, wasn't happy with several scenes. Shot a few more the next day! Spent the rest of the week editing. It was a challenge to get things in the best order for viewing & understanding. Glad you enjoyed the video Chad, Jeff

Jeepers, that is truly impressive! Dang, people like you make me realize just how lazy the rest of us become and how much we depend on gizmos other people think up while we just happily pay through the nose. Your pioneering spirit and self-reliance are something you should be proud of; and thanks for sharing!

I'm an experienced oil burner tech (for heating oil and biofuels), and a long time tinkerer. I can see you spent alot of time to make your device run smoothly and safely. I would love to see you modify one to run on waste cooking oil as well, Nice work Jeff !!

I had a landlord who spent most of his time in his garage. He had a wood burner that he rigged to burn crankcase oil. Simple set up with a storage tank, gravity fed to a feed tube that dripped onto a metal plate. He only burned the oil at night because the black smoke PO'd the neighbors during the day. Kept it nice and cozy.

farm boy engineering- AMAZING- how you worked it all out-down to automatic heat sensor on the fans to circulate the air- your attention to the details---AMAZING- good video

Things like and people like this built this great country

Thank you for taking the time to put this video together. It is well filmed and well edited... not to mention that you did a very impressive job explaining everything. This video WILL be bookmarked for future use!

Am impressed with your burner set-up. I'm also impressed with how clean you keep your shop.

To all the people attempting to make this with LED indicator lights: you cannot wire the yellow light in series with the solenoid, the resistor in the LED restricts the current too much and causes too much of a voltage drop. Yellow light must be wired in parallel, negative on yellow wire coming from relay, and positive from white wire feeding all the lights. You’re are most welcome 😊

juist wanted to say I have watched you video on that stove with the control you built probably 20 times and I'm not done yet..lol..so your views are going to go higher due to my views alone..lol..your explanation is right on the money...no black box...no smoke and mirrors, love it. will be watching for a lot more of your videos.

I heated a big drafty house for almost 20 years with a Lanair 110,000 btu waste oil heater in the basement. Using clean oil is the secret. Also I put a 5 minute time delay on the gun pre-heater so it didn't cook the oil all the time the heater wasn't running. When the thermostat called for heat the strips came on and 5 minutes later the furnace kicked in. Worked like a charm. No smell at all unless something was amiss.

I have a thermobile in my workshop and your system is exactly the same well done you, fantastic setup that you have made. 👍From uk

THIS IS GREAT FOR THE CAR SHOP , NO HEAT OR INSULATION IN IT , WE GOT TONS OF USED OIL , VERY NICE

Wow, this is a really nice setup. Looks professionally engineered.

Hi Jayson. I read your comment multiple times to make sure to obtain the total concept you are going to create. I tried many variances of mine but nothing close to your vision. One thing to tell you is the more air tight the stove is, the more efficient it will be, you want mostly rely on the injected air & very little outside air in. Yours sounds very interesting. Some of my first designs had a ton of bugs. You just keep refining until desired results are obtained, Jeff

It is relay nice job, design is great , think it is the most efficient design of waist oil stove ever seen on RU-vid. So clean around.

Definitely one of the coolest things I've ever seen on RU-vid. Really impressive build and excellent video. Thank you so much for sharing!

Im from Texas but Married one hell of a Canadian Woman, Hamilton Ontario. 12 years, but sadly she passed from Breast Cancer. You have taught me alot, but mainly you've given me the Nostalgia of my old life. We had the same less Tech Used Oil Burning setup in the Army on Cold nights. We used Kerosene, but same principal. Army Regulations would not allow us to burn Used Motor Oil....that was the Humvees job Lol.

Propper top notch video... Great guy and doesn't do drawings and plan's before the build!! Just THE way it should be done, That's how you learn by your mistakes... SUPERB keep it up fella.

whew, that is a finished product there my friend. the time invested is obvious..

I don't think that I could build one of those without a diagram, but it is a good idea to save money on heating the home. Thanks for sharing this with all of us.

This is one fine unit. I've been looking at these for some time now and I have to say if I build one, this will be my choice. Gold medal winner hands down. Thanks for sharing this with everyone.

This is just about the best DIY waste oil heating setup I have ever seen. It's actually Safe, Well thought out, and efficient! NICE JOB!

WOW. I've been thinking of building a waste oil heater for several years and was not very impressed with the plans I have seen due to several factors such as expense, ease of construction, dependability, clean burn, maintainance, and most of all safety. I have to compliment you on your design, it meets all of my criteria above and beyond what I ever expected to find. Thank you for sharing this fantastic piece of engineering.

I've watched a lot of these videos on waste oil burning and of all of them yours is the most well thought out, cleanest and safest set up. Really liked the upside down sediment bulb as a drip monitor and the smog pump for air and the electric controls with thermal limit on the flue. Nice job on the presentation. Thank you.

Hello Harling. I don't do very many oil changes here. I rely mostly on people who drop oil off. It takes a little time but as more people find out you take oil you'll accumulate more. A farmer is an excellent source to link up with where tractors hold a lot per change. I never tried to figure out how much oil per hour / day but my best guess would be 2~3 gallons on a -10 F day.

Very clean well thought out design ,impressed on how you utililized different parts from the industry,oh ya and a positive attitude rounds off this video,well done.

Looks like my comment has already been made..... AWESOME , EXTREMELY Informative , I very highly respect your attention to detail and the absolute artistic display of the system......Fine Work , Very Fine

I Thank You, It's is so nice when people like you express so much appreciation!

Hi there Jamie. Years ago when I first started on this it reminded me of when you rebuild an engine and get to hear it run for the first time how exciting that was! Good luck on your build, Jeff

Thank you very much. It's nice to know the video is being enjoyed, Jeff

This one video was enough to get a subscribe from me. Hands down the best presentation of a DIY waste oil burner! Awesome!

Jeff, very clever design. I could have used this back in Minnesota all dem years! Thanks for your generosity

I'm just amazed with what you have built, you are one smart cookie! Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge.

I've been watching you're video for years now and convinced my boss to let me convert our shop stove to waist oil about 3 years ago. was really inspired by your setup, i did not do an elaborate build like yours only a 5 gallon bucket some copper tubing and black pipe and a pot, worked great until our 3,000 dollar Ingersollrand motor went. So now I took a page out of your book with the smog pump and 1/4hp motor. this route will definitely save the wear and tear on the compressor. Thanks for the great video and all your hard work.

This is by far the best video for an oil burner setup I have ever seen, phenomenal job

Jeff makes it sound like any and every Joe Blow can make this 😂 Nice setup though 👍🏾

Jeff this is one of the most impressive "RU-vid" videos I've ever experienced. Thank You for the huge amount of time and stay with'it'ness that you mustered to perfect this awesome waste-oil burner. I love ya man. Tim.

Sweet Jeff, Thanks for sharing and educating. RU-vidrs posting videos should take a notes on this video and how to do one. You sounded nonchalant on the whole operation and then I see what you wrote on what lead to it. Smart guy going smart work. I'll have to take notes and re watch several times to get it down. Thanks again.

Hey there Joel - Got a chuckle out of your comment! Glad you enjoyed the vid. It's neat when people say what area they are from too! I'm so glad that I posted this because it seems like it's helping a lot of people out :>)

This is amazing I am digging and digging to find how to make this in more detail

I'm very impressed. Very clever design. Artfully executed. Skillfully presented and explained. You've given me a lot to consider. Thanks!

Absolutely brilliant design.

Hey brother, Just wanted you to know that I watched this video last year and followed your design, now I have a well functioning, thermostatically controlled converted Coaldale stove heating my shop. The building is 2900 sq. ft. with 16 ft. walls, the heater keeps it 60 to 65 degrees even when it is zero outside, on about 10 gallons of oil per day. Thank you for sharing your ingenious design!!

I’m impressed by both the finished product and your skill level to create it. I know one other guy who is this meticulous and it’s the result of tending boilers on nuclear subs. Thank you for the video.

Very nice build. Really like your control system...simple and reliable with low cost components. Low tech over flow on the burn pot is another great idea I've not seen elsewhere. Really a well done video, thank you for posting it. Regards, Al

Awesome video. Very well thought out and extremely informative. I really appreciate anyone that puts their design on RU-vid, but your design is built like I would want mine to be built. Thank you for sharing all of your years of experience, I doubt anyone could come up with a system this nice their first time around and you have saved me a great deal of time and head scratching. Its 5 deg F right now where I am at, and I am ready to start building!

Hi James. That's an interesting concept / thought you had there. I can't believe all the different design video's out there that people put up on these waste oil burners! This RU-vid thing sure is additive! Thank You for your thoughts & kind comments James, Jeff

Hello. Once a year I remove that chimney section and blow the pipe and chimney with a air gun. It is a dust that forms in the pipes and stove - No brushing is needed. Also once a year I put a drywall bag in the shop vac and totally vacuum the entire inside of the stove, there is never any scraping needed on any of these parts, just the burner. Jeff

Thank you so much for watching my video. I'll take your advice and do some lighting changes

I like the two stage design, got me a new project now, Thanks!

You're like the MacGyver of heating systems!! Very cool

This is a wonderful video. I really like your build. I hadn't thought of using a smog pump, thank you.

I can't believe 13 minutes went by so fast Jeff--Excellent job and VERY informative!

Hi - Yeah, so many projects can be a bit of work but when a project is completed years down the road your happy you did that! Thank You for the sub, Jeff

Ahh Yes, I remember the days of messing with wood. These build projects can seem like a bit of work at the time of construction - but when done then one seems to wish you built that sooner!

I was in the navy and you have one hell of a design here my friend. Their is so many country folk that really do have a great ideal and very simple plans, have you thought of trying to use a defusser or atomizer on the end of this, it would really make a nice fire place. We have like a stationary turbine blade that spins the air and with the proper tip would make a big difference. I really enjoyed your video and would like to see more from you again thanks and have a great day James.

At first sight looks complex, but for safe running- this is the one to go for. Plus most of the parts can be sourced from re-cycle or scrap.

I am really impressed with this system and how cheap it can be built. I'm thinking of how to make it look a little more cosmetically appealing with some shields or some thing so it could be used in the house. Put one supply tank right on the outside in an enclosure with the air pump etc. Inside all you would have is the Thermostat and small control panel somewhere. Thanks for sharing it with us.

Very high quality build. Thanks for the lesson.

Clean, neat, professional. Very impressive. Love the thermostat.

great job mate. After watching practically all the waist oil burner stove projects on youtube,your system is the only one I seen that was self regulating. All the projects I've seen so far were straight valve so the the level in the holding tank goes down so does the flow rate. I solved that problem with a simple float valve and a tupperware container to act like a basic carburator. Thanks for your awsome video. Cheers Mate

I also one of your design. Although different than mine still very effective. Mine was built using a bought design but price was not out of budget ( $80). I have a video on my channel of my build. It took a good while to build... about a year and a half. When I first got it going there was a few bugs to work out. Now it is working awesome. I know what your talking about when you say it may seem like it takes too much work to build it but when you fire it up at first it is a rush!!

Wow man! As an engineering student this was alot of fun to watch!

Hi dp, Yes you do get a tad of soot dust. Once a year I remove the chimney section (from the stove to the ceiling ) and blow it out from both directions. I also blow compressed air up the building chimney section while the other is removed. Nothing sticks to the pipes because they don't get hot. No scrubbing with a chimney brush is ever required. At that time I vacuum out the stove with a shop vac with a drywall bag installed too.

Fantastic work. I wish I had the skill set to put this together. This is a sweet rig. Thermostat controlled, timers, relays, fault lights, pumps, fail safes. Great work dude.

Thank You for the nice comment. Sure saved a lot of $ through the years running this!

I have just finished my own version of your burner. I have a couple tweaks to do to it to get it operating correctly. I will post a video on it soon. Thanks for the idea Jeff Wisconsin winters will be a little warmer for me.

Wow that's an awesome oil burner however it is anything but simple. As a matter of fact that's the most complicated oil for another I've ever seen.

Hi Stan, glad you enjoyed the video and Thank You 4 the comment, Jeff !

Hi Travis, Friends have commented "when are you going to build one for the house" too. I never pondered on that much. The shop never has any smell from the stove so with some figuring anything can be done. I doubt I would ever do that though. The big reasons for the shop is cold cars, snow covered trucks, tractors, and those overhead doors. That's where a furnace & the gas company will get ya. :>)

Very cool, I’m going to add this to my list of things to build. Thanks for sharing

Hi & Thank you much for the compliment The shop is 30 x 84 but usually keep part of it closed off and heat 30 x 50 with 10 foot ceiling. My best guess would be ~ 3 gallons in a day if it's 10 below zero out. The biggest thing is keeping the temp set at 60 ~ 70 where I used to run at 80 don't leave much cycling time and of course consumes more oil. I don't do many oil changes here and mostly rely on people dropping oil off. This should give ya a general idea - Jeff

hello, great stove design. I have built this works great and i added 2 features to allow it run unattended. I put a solenoid valve on the main line oil feed. this will be turned off to stop oil flow under 2 conditions : 1 in the tray under the stove where overflow oil is collected i put a sensor which when it senses oil ir will shot off the valve and second is where the temperature of the stove exceeds a pre determined temperature,,,

Converting a fuel oil furnace burner is rather easy. If you can get the used oil up to around 200 - 240 F at the nozzle it will ignite and spray just like fuel oil and diesel fuel do. I just made a preheater unit out of a 3" long 1"dia copper tube that has a simple 1/4" x 2" 200 watt cartridge heater and a thermocouple. The oil passes through one passage that is 5/16" dia with a 5/16" dia threaded rod inside it to keep the oil flow to the outside off the passage. For temp control I used a off the shelf programmable temp controler unit. Other than that I have a solenoid valve that bypasses the oil flow from the nozzle (Keeps it from dripping) until the preheater temp reaches ~190 F then applies full pump pressure above that.

I'm impressed Jeff! that 13 minutes flew right by!

BEST DIY heater on RU-vid and anywhere else I have ever seen! The automation is simple yet effective and makes the heater entirely practical and useful. It's one thing to get some oil to burn in the backyard, it's quite another to put the energy to good practical use where the heat can do some good. This thing is clean, effective safe and practical. A person would pay many thousands to get anything as effective in a commercial unit and then I think still have more maintenance and issues. I also love the fact you have fans on the thing to maximise the output and utilise some of the heat from the flue. Very few people pay any attention to all the heat going straight out there and do anything to utilise it. You seem to have thought of everything with this setup. One thing that may make the burner a little quieter is to use a blower from something like a VW Kombi. They are 12V and would blow plenty of air for your needs and are basically silent. There are other blowers from other cars as well you could use if you had any interest in making the thing any quieter that is. I kind of get the impression you are quite partial to the old faithful smog pump you have now though! :0) Brilliant job, I think this heater is definitely the Benchmark for all DIY heaters.

Hi Brian, Yes it sure is neat to have a use for something that otherwise must be disposed of, Jeff

a man with a plan, very good work

I like how you got a bunch of oil. Hope you have a large storage tank!! I really like how you are running a generator too. Sounds like you have a great handle on your project. Keep up the good work, Jeff

it certainly is, I build a lot of projects myself including a tractor couple of years ago and the hardest ones are the ones more worth it..take care man and keep them coming.. here in Nova Scotia Canada we wouldn't be allowed to use a homemade heating device but I am thinking putting one in a cement building outside my garage and piping glycol through it and a radiator with a fan..my shop is 24 ft x 36 ft so a fair shop to heat but the oil would all be free so I am going to try it for sure..

this is THE TOP OF THE LINE waste oil burner I have made a test burner in pot belly wood stove and I am very happy with the turn out couple things to fine tune. I used a 6 inch well casing for my burner works great but I need 2 supple lines or more volume above stove right now I have 4 gallons about 4 feet above and when the garage is cold I cant get the oil to flow to keep good fire burning. I have 1 3/8 line still working on it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! love the videos keep up the good work

I'm impressed about this system. You really got a well balanced and well thought out system, for a relatively low cost. I thought about a much simpler thing for my humble workshop, but now I think I'll go the extra mile and get something similar to yours. Thanks a lot for sharing your experience with us.

By far the most interesting waste oil vid I`ve watched on RU-vid so far !! great job ,,..

I think you are a very smart man, I prefer a simple heater, but I only use mine when I am working in the garage. It has a heat exchanger bullt into the freon burn tank, and I use a microwave fan, to blow more air around the shop. I did mount mine on the wall about 4 ' above the floor, becuse gasoline is more heavy than air.Dan

Had to watch it twice! Lots of great info in it, well done! You help a lot of us out by showing your hard work, I appreciate it!

This looks great!!!!!!!!!! I might try this in my workshop in the Netherlans.

Hello, Wiring can be a challenge but here are a few possibility's. Make sure your system works without the thermostat. @ TS jumper the blue in and the red out. Ypu should be able to cycle the system this way. Where I didn't have a p/n for the solonid maybe yours draws too many amps especially if you aren't using a relay. The one I used is app 750Ma (3/4 amp) Maybe to keep things simpler ignore the anticipater hook up. That isn't required, it just makes it cycle more often. Hope this helps, Jeff

Hello there, glad you enjoyed the video. I hoped it played OK for you - earlier today I checked and some of my video's on YT were compressed on the top and bottom. They played fine before. Sent YT a message - no idea what's going on, but Thank You very much, Jeff.

Well done!! I am in the process of making my Rayburn Novelle range run on waste oil. Its going to be much like your set up. Its funny that you said ask a few friends for oil. I did this with used cooking oil and ended up with about 400 gallons inside a month. That little lot is running the generator (11kva Lister TR2) that I supplying the power to write this comment. Again ,well done!!!

That sure is a totally different design. Looks like you get some pretty good heat off it too! Keep up the R&D, Jeff

I like your C & C Bike setup. A dead giveaway on your roots. I've been burning waste oil with a drip for a few years. Built my first one 57 years ago to heat the bike club house. I learned from your video that I was running my current Roger Sanders system with too little oil and too little air. Got it humming now with the heater shell @ 650°F and the smoke stack @ 220°F a foot above the heater. I did not figure out what the dial gauge on your control is indicating? Thanks for the videos.

It almost seemed harder to produce the video than building the stove, LOL Glad you enjoyed, Jeff

Fantastic, inspiring design. Great video.

Hi Dave. I would like to thank you for the nice comment, and yes if you were my neighbor you would be welcome over anytime to learn about many different things here!

Totally kick butt!!! I heat my shop with a home built wood stove now and when I build a new shop this is definitely something I will look into doing. Thank you for your video. Outstanding.