How to get a pellet stove to burn some veggie oil?

[rmay635703]

I have access especially during the summer to waste lard from the fairs probably several hundred gallons or so.

I am curious what temperature wood pellet stoves operate at and if it is high enough to burn veggie oil?

I would think so since the ash would "wick" the oil and I have found plans for veggie oil candles.

Then the hard part, I believe a small drip tube could be sent down between the heat exchanger to drip on the pot, trouble is how to control it without massive headaches.

My grandfather did this for years in his woodstove, but obviously used motor oil and transmission oil bleck. he even burned small amounts of coal in the stove.

[Ryland]

You might be better off finding an old oil furnace.
otherwise to use the wood pellets as a wick I would create a small pool of oil that the pellets either over flow in to or are fed in to to create the wick.

[thatguitarguy]

Most of the landfills around here burn used oil in their oil burning heaters. You might check with your local landfill about how they are set up.

My knowledge of pellet stoves is that they burn hot, but they are touchy because the mechanism that slowly feeds pellets to the burn chamber can easily wear out or get jammed, and they can be expensive to replace parts. Much more of a headache than a woodstove, and as far as feeding it oil of any kind - my feeling would be that it's too dangerous to mess around with. Get a dedicated oil burner that's meant to use fluid fuel instead of solid fuel.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by thatguitarguy

My knowledge of pellet stoves is that they burn hot, but they are touchy because the mechanism that slowly feeds pellets to the burn chamber can easily wear out or get jammed, and they can be expensive to replace parts. Much more of a headache than a woodstove, and as far as feeding it oil of any kind - my feeling would be that it's too dangerous to mess around with. Get a dedicated oil burner that's meant to use fluid fuel instead of solid fuel.

The mech is hi on the side above the 1" thick pot.

My estimate is that it would work fine, I do not plan on having a lot of oil going on the pellets, only a very small drip from a 1/16" tube. I would want to feed the oil at a rate much much lower than it would be consumed.

And as a note, I have burned old dogfood, corn, rancid nuts (cashews) nut shells, soybeans and a lot of other HI fat content items when they were cheap/free without issue, which Is why I would think the pellet stove with its internal blower and thick burning pot would handle a little oil.

[Christ]

Can you take some percent of your fuel pellets and soak them in the oils, then mix them back in with the bulk before delivery to the stove? That way, you're not introducing liquid fuels at all.

I suppose you could also (if you wanted to do it a more difficult way) use sawdust soaked in the oils, then press them into your own little pellets to be mixed in with your fuel pellets, or something like that.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Christ

Can you take some percent of your fuel pellets and soak them in the oils, then mix them back in with the bulk before delivery to the stove? That way, you're not introducing liquid fuels at all.

I have done that with greasy dogfood (aka mix with pellets) to prevent jams

However the amount of pellets to soaked pellets would likely not allow a significant amount of oil to be used, likely only ounces per 40lb since pellets don't really absorb anything and if they do they fall apart.

The pellet stove insides are blocked off like a blast furnace with a sealed door so I don't see how I would end up with out of control flames, even if it burned up the fill pipe it would be such a small opening the flame would loose O2

[Christ]

I guess a liquid drip probably couldn't hurt, so long as you had a flame arrester on the liquid input, for over-caution reasons.

We had a two-barrel wood stove in the garage with a funnel on top that had a plain hose-bib attached that allowed used oil to drip into the stove through a 3/16 brake line. The hose bib leaked water, so we replaced it, and it was the perfect flow rate for the fire in the lower barrel.

[rmay635703]

Originally Posted by Christ

I guess a liquid drip probably couldn't hurt, so long as you had a flame arrester on the liquid input, for over-caution reasons.

We had a two-barrel wood stove in the garage with a funnel on top that had a plain hose-bib attached that allowed used oil to drip into the stove through a 3/16 brake line. The hose bib leaked water, so we replaced it, and it was the perfect flow rate for the fire in the lower barrel.

Where would I get a flame arrester out of curiousity? I definately want a very small steel tube for the input and a shutoff. I want the flow rate as low as possible but am not sure how to accomplish it gravity fed given the viscousity of the oil.

[luvit]

mmm. maybe you'll always get to smell french fries while burning the oil..

[thatguitarguy]

If you're talking about burning lard, I think you really need some kind of heat exchanger from your stove to preheat/liquify the lard before it goes into the stove to burn.