Fuel Oil Drum Evaporator

[BryanEx]

C.Wilcox... in the back part of your evaporator what did you use to fill in under or otherwise support the brick? That's the area I need to redo on mine but not sure how to proceed without welding skills or using a 1/2 ton of brick.

[C.Wilcox]

BryanEX,

The brick is sitting on a layer of 1" insulation which is supported by a 1/8" metal plate that's tack welded to the sides of the drum. You could also accomplish the same thing by drilling and bolting angle to the sides of the drum and then bolting your plate to that. No welding required.

To be honest, while this thing works pretty good and was fun to build, I think if I did it all over I would go much simpler (assuming you're planning to use a flat pan). I would just cut an over-sized door in one end, add a stove pipe adaptor to the opposite end with a baffle in front of it to force the flames up against the bottom of the pan, add rails, and put a 2X5 pan on top. Instead of insulating and bricking the drum I'd dry stack concrete blocks on the sides and back to keep people from getting burned. Let the sides get as hot as they want. They'll last for quite a few seasons before burning out and by then you'll have found a replacement. No defined ramp and firebox in the drum. Just grates the entire length of the drum and if you used the original top of the drum as the bottom you'd have two built in holes through which to force air if you wanted or just allow natural draft. You'd be able to generate a great boil the entire length of the pan that way.

[BryanEx]

You could also accomplish the same thing by drilling and bolting angle to the sides of the drum and then bolting your plate to that. No welding required.

Good idea - thanks! Cutting, drilling, bolting I can do... it's just that pesky welding that gets me hung up on projects like this.

[matrob]

I agree with Rob1640. If you aren't pleased with your boil, add forced air draft. I have a 6" squirrel cage blower mounted to a 3"x3ft long iron pipe with holes torched in it similar to a gas burner. It is capped at the other end. This lays on top of my grate. When I turn on the blower, it turns the fire into a forge. Stand back when you open the door. My homeade arch is about 2X7 flat pans, and when I get going it cooks off up to 20 gallons an hour.