BIO-Diesel

Guest · Sun Aug 05, 2007 11:12 pm

I saw a website with pumps for bio-diesel for use in heating . Has anyone heard of a furnace that can use bio diesel yet . I dont want to try it . Just wondering if it could be done. I think it gets to cold up here for that . I used about 300 gallons of K-i kerosene here for a 14 * 66 . I ran at 73 F all winter . When I was home , timed thermo with 60 F when gone .

hvac1000 · Mon Aug 06, 2007 1:02 am

Anything can be done. There are furnaces that are setup for burning waste oil but they are not rated to be used inside of a mobile home. If you ever decided to do this you would have to house the unit outside of the home and duct it in to stay with in the code (HUD) rules.

At camp I have a work shop that just about anything can be done in and I use it in the winter sometimes. About 15 years ago I set up a normal oil furnace to burn waste oil. The reason for this was I had at least 500 gallons of used motor oil per year from all the boat oil changes and no where to get rid of it at. I solved that problem by burning it.

Now if I did not have the free supply of old oil I would have never set up that kind of furnace because the cost would have out weighed the value of the free heat. I also see where you burn number 1 oil instead of number 2. Number one is lighter and flows easier in very cold climates but number two has a higher BTU content and depending upon your situation you might save a few heat dollars by using number two or a blend of number one and two.

Never try and use number two oil in a heater not designed for it like small space heaters that some folks set on there floor in there mobile home. The oil will soot up the wick and smell up the house from not burning clean. It can also cause nasty CO problems and be bad for your health.

Guest · Tue Aug 07, 2007 12:30 am

HI , i was wondering about the future . I was told using the blended fuel in a K-1 was not good for furnace and would require more cleanings . The blend is actually cheaper by about 10 cents a gallon . Not a lot of money saving when i only use about 330 gallons a year . No where to get bio here yet .

hvac1000 · Tue Aug 07, 2007 1:22 am

dherr555 wrote:HI , i was wondering about the future . I was told using the blended fuel in a K-1 was not good for furnace and would require more cleanings . The blend is actually cheaper by about 10 cents a gallon . Not a lot of money saving when i only use about 330 gallons a year . No where to get bio here yet .

I believe everyone here worries about our future needs when it comes to heating our homes. We have all seen the price of fuel accelerate very quickly in the past four years no matter what fuel we use to heat our home with. We have all been spoiled by cheap fuel prices for years and now that peak oil has arrived it will do nothing but go up from here. Our entire country was built on the basis of cheap oil and utility's. It is very difficult for the average person to pay the extra cost for heating our homes and gas for going to work etc.

There is really no fossil fuel cure for our problems. Oil is getting more expensive to locate and recover since all the easy oil is almost gone. This is what the term peak oil is all about. Yes there is still oil but it will cost more to get it and eventually it will cost more to recover the oil that what it is worth.

In the mean time we need to conserve when ever possible and tighten up our homes to prevent the heat from escaping during the winter. This board does a wonderful job by allowing us to communicate with each other about our homes and asking and receiving answers that are customized to our needs as our mobile homes are different than stick built.

Winterizing our homes will become more important in the near future. Windows,doors,insulation,caulking,proper furnace care, and plain old common sense are the subjects of many posts and since we all like to save money most of this information is posted for the do it yourselfer in a language we can all understand.

In your case for now I would stick with the K-1 you are using. With out knowing exactly what your circumstances are a fuel change might do you more harm than good. Many folks in this area (Ohio,Indiana, and Kentucky) use number 2 oil since we do not have as severe cold weather that they do as up north and if it does get cold here they automatically blend the fuel to prevent gelling and frozen fuel lines.

I heat with my trailer with propane but for a large part of the winter I keep it set on 50 degrees since I am not there except for a couple of days per week. I also have it set up so when I call the phone that is in my mobile home at camp and punch in a code my furnace will go to 70 degrees to allow it to heat up during my 1 hour drive. It is always nice and cozy by the time I get there.

I used a old code-a-phone answering machine and a relay to activate my mobile furnace. When it asks if I want to review my messages I punch in the code number and the one time drop relay activates the low voltage section to bring on the heat. When I leave I just reset the machine and it goes to the 50 degree bypass selection. This set up saves me money due to my circumstances of not being there all the time.

Hopefully you will find some information here that will help you conserve energy and also some tips and tricks to tighten up your home.