Custom 275 Gallon Oil Tank Arch

[Stiets]

Looks really good. Post some pics once you get it fired up. Just finished up my new oil tank arch for a 2x4 smokey lake pan. 20180118_172757.jpg
20180120_113750.jpg

[SSS2017]

That’s awesome! How’s that blower working on the front? That’s all I have to do yet, cut in the auf opening.

[Stiets]

That’s awesome! How’s that blower working on the front? That’s all I have to do yet, cut in the auf opening.

Thank you, sorry for the rotated photos. So far so good with the blower. I originally planned to have the blower come from the back. But when it came down to crunch time, the front it was. Only did a short test boil with water last weekend. Will let ya know after tonight. Heres my grates. 2" angle iron with old fence posts cut to fit. 20180118_155312.jpg

[CR101]

I also have an oil tank arch very much like the ones displayed on this post. When I built mine I ran a 2" pipe from the rear of the tank into the firebox and then teed it into 4 laterals each 3/4'' to the very front of the firebox. At that point used an elbow and a 45 to direct the air flow up and back through the grate into the fire. The 2'' pipe is connected directly to a 105cfm blower from a hot tub. The blower is attached to a speed controller. Some of the positives from this setup have been that the blower is completely out of the way when loading wood into the firebox and directing the airflow back and up allows me to load wood without having to adjust the blower and I don't get a face full of smoke. The blower is running at about 1/3 output most of the time and I boil off at about 14gph on a 2x4 flat pan. I did try running at 100% and ended up burning a lot more wood with a cherry red stack and only increased my rate of evaporation by about 10%. Also noticed that I can burn almost any type of wood, in any condition with small adjustment in air flow with almost no ashes to cleanout.

[Pokegama Pointe]

Thanks. I just ordered a roll of 3/4" think.

? Where did you order it from?

[SSS2017]

? Where did you order it from?

Amazon.com

[SSS2017]

Thank you, sorry for the rotated photos. So far so good with the blower. I originally planned to have the blower come from the back. But when it came down to crunch time, the front it was. Only did a short test boil with water last weekend. Will let ya know after tonight. Heres my grates. 2" angle iron with old fence posts cut to fit. Attachment 17158

What did you use for your mortar? Refractory cement?

[mol1jb]

Refractory cement will work well. I have some waiting for me to use this week for bricking my arch

[Cjadamec]

I finished my oil tank evaporator over the weekend just in time to get my first run of the season on to the fire.

All the steel and the oil tank was free scrap I got my hands on. I lined the interior with 1" ceramic wool and some firebrick loose laid down in the firebox. There's auf in the back of the fire box with a 4" duct pipe connected to a 6" duct fan rated for 280cfm. Put the fan on a speed control but it's running full speed. With the 8" stack it seems like it almost needs more air. Didn't have the budget for a flat pan this year so I went with 6 inch steam table pans this year. For now I'm using the front 4 pans to boil and the back one as preheat. A coil preheat is probably in the future cause that back pan will get to a boil easily. I would say I'm getting about 10 gallons an hour thru it but I didn't actually time that. It might be closer to 15 if I really get the fire right.

[SSS2017]

I finished my oil tank evaporator over the weekend just in time to get my first run of the season on to the fire.

All the steel and the oil tank was free scrap I got my hands on. I lined the interior with 1" ceramic wool and some firebrick loose laid down in the firebox. There's auf in the back of the fire box with a 4" duct pipe connected to a 6" duct fan rated for 280cfm. Put the fan on a speed control but it's running full speed. With the 8" stack it seems like it almost needs more air. Didn't have the budget for a flat pan this year so I went with 6 inch steam table pans this year. For now I'm using the front 4 pans to boil and the back one as preheat. A coil preheat is probably in the future cause that back pan will get to a boil easily. I would say I'm getting about 10 gallons an hour thru it but I didn't actually time that. It might be closer to 15 if I really get the fire right.

That’s really cool!