Cooking oil

[murferd]

Has anybody boiled with used cooking oil? Either with a conventional oil burner or a waste oil burner? Have got a source of cooking oil from a potato chip plant,
might be worth checking out.

[GeneralStark]

I was involved in an operation where we used waste cooking oil to fire a steam boiler, and then used the steam to boil with. In this case it was a dual fuel system and we would start on heating oil and then switch to VO once the burner was hot. We also had a steam jacketed fuel line and an electric fuel line heater to heat the VO prior to combustion in the burner. A heated fuel filter would have been ideal as well as we did struggle at times with hydrogenated oils and fats.

Your best bet would be to use a waste oil burner as modifying a standard oil burner would be tough. Possible but tough. Either way, the vo should be heated to approx. 130-150 F prior to combustion for best performance and to prevent excessive carbon build up on your nozzles. Waste VO is a totally different animal than waste motor oil, and can be solid below 40F, and sometimes at higher temps. It totally depends upon what type of oil your chip plant is using.

Here in VT it is illegal to use a direct fire evap. on waste oil so you may want to see if there is any regulation regarding that in NB.

I ran a couple old mercedes and vw diesels on used vo for years with dual fuel systems year round and it worked well, though dealing with waste vo is a pita.

[mrnorthshore]

Hi Murray, I am looking at switching over to using WVO also.
Right now I am just collecting and filtering the WVO.
I have a friend who heats his house using it and runs his truck and his car using WVO.
I will let you know how it works out for me over this next season, Please let me know how it works out for you also if you give it a try.
Good luck
Paul