Greenhouse: Self made waste vegetable oil heater, 1 by Cumulus79

Cumulus79 wrote:
The heat output of the flame will be somewhere between 150 and 190 BTU, depending on the size of the flame and the type of oil you use. You can make additional burners to increase the heat output.
The best use of those little heaters is when you put them directly under a stone, marble or metal shelf with the plants on it. The heat will spread over the shelf and keep the roots warm, which is very important for most tropical plants. It's a good replacement for those electric heating pads which are used often.
You can use it as a candle too, by replacing the cup with one of those small tea light cups. It will burn for about 3-4 hours.
When using it as a heater for the plants you should use bigger cups so you won't need to refill constantly.
The toilet paper will slowly disintegrate because of the hot flame, but it should burn between 8-12 hours before you need to replace it with a new "wick". When you let it running out of oil, the wick will burn completely and won't work anymore. In such case you can make a small but tight dot of paper (around 0,1 inch in size) and put it in the middle of the top of the charred wick. Fill with oil again, let it get soaked and it will burn again for 8-12 hours. You can replace this paper dot 4 or 5 times before you need to replace the complete wick.

Other tips:

- the nuts and wick should be in the middle of the cup if it's made from glass, to prevent it to get damages from the flame heat.
- a soothing flame means that your wick is too long. Trim it a little and relight.
- works with all sorts of vegetable oil, but you might need to adjust the length of the wick when switching to another oil
- don't use gasoline, spirits and harmful liquids as fuel
- the oil must be free of water drops
- when using as a candle, you might want to add aromatic oils for a pleasant smell. The candle will be odorless untill it burns out of when you blow out the flame
- put the oil in a dispenser for bath or handsoap so you can refill the burners easier. You can even refill 'on the fly' while the candle is still burning because the oil doesn't spread inflammable fumes
- provide some ventilation if you use a lot of burners at the same moment, because they'll "breath" too. They might go out in an unventilated room when the oxigen gets low.
- the wick kan be replaced easier when you make use of tweezers
- some restaurants give away their waste vegetable oil at no cost. Ask them for your free supply of heating fuel.
- ofcourse I'm not responsible for any damages or injuries resulting from any use of this self made burner.

Enjoy your new heat source,

Hendrik


This message was edited Oct 9, 2009 9:00 AM