Hi Gang,

I was doing the biodiesel thing for a while but have started looking into wvo to reduce the processing time and my exposure to nasties like methanol and caustic. Anyway, I am wondering if anyone on the forum has any experience with a KingBuilt http://www.kingbuilt.com/index.php waste oil furnace? It is UL listed and can be used in residential heating unlike traditional waste oil heaters which are not ul listed. The boiler is a Buderis (sp?) which is known to be top of the line and the gun is the propriatary part. I called the rep and was quoted a price of 4600 for a complete system but I'm looking for any feedback that anyone can offer. Thanks for reading . Have a good one.

Tom

Some time back, I spoke with Kingbuilt about possibly representing their products locally (Vancouver Canada).

Unfortunately, natural gas is so cheap around here that waste oil heating isn't really very competitive. About the only way to sell them around here is to aim for installations that don't have natural gas piping nearby.

Anyway, they look like the best waste oil burners commercially available.

For the money, I'd probably just weld up a Murphy style burner, then install it in a cinder block furnace shed a little ways away from any significant buildings.

Slapping a boiler on a Murphy burner and piping hot water to wherever heat was needed would be a cheap heating solution.

I'd insulate the boiler piping from the burner shed to where the heat was needed.

Murphy burners are dirt simple, but are reported to run cleanly, safely and reliably (cheap too).

I'd use manifold valves to redirect hot fluid wherever heat was needed, then just keep the Murphy burning 24/7 in order to avoid costly control systems (Murphys light manually).

In warm areas, leaving the thing burning 24/7 would be wastefull, but in cold climates, a small burner running constantly might be reasonable.

www.murphysmachines.com

Kingbuilt is located near me and I've seen a number of their units in person and have received reports as well. From what I've gathered, the waste oil burners work well as long as you don't try to fuel them with glycerin. The company claims this capability, but users have reported problems. The one I've spoken the most with gave up on burning glycerin (note that the add-on cost him ~$1k, and is now useless).

Bottom line: for waste oil, great stuff. INOV8 is worth a look too. Oh, and DON'T buy an oil seed press from the Kingbuilt people unless they can guarantee in writing that their electric motors and controls will work for at least a few years.

Some photos of the unit in question (click on the image for a more detailed version):



Note the external fuel pumpS on the right; the second was install glycerin (duel fuel), but is no longer used.

quote:

From what I've gathered, the waste oil burners work well as long as you don't try to fuel them with glycerin.

That doesn't surprise me, glycerin can be tough to burn.

I wonder how well glycerin would burn blended with about 20% gasoline?

A glyc/RUG blend might not be too safe in any burner that preheats its' fuel as it nears the burner head like the Kingbuilt does.

Keep in mind, they manufacturer had a dual-fuel injection system that injected no more than 50%glycerin into burner (the remainder was oil) and this still failed.

Great feedback guys! Thanks very much. I especially appreciate the info on burning glycerin in their burners. That option was attractive to me as I know a few local bio producers who would be happy to keep me in a supply. Too bad

I dont have the welding skills to fabricate a murphy style burner and I am uncomfortable retooling my existing burner as many have done on the yahoo altfuelfurnace group so this may be my only option. If I end up going this way in the future I'll share the experience. Thanks again. Tom

I was looking at them last winter.

Needless to say, I havent taken the plunge. At the time I didn't need a new furnace. Now, I think I do. I think I may have a cracked heat exchanger on my old FHA furnace.

My project will include plumbing baseboard radiators to the entire house.

Yes, they do have a listing for residential use, but..... the listing is NOT valid when used with waste oils or SVO, only with #1 and #2 fuel oil.

Also, they don't work as well with waste veggie oil as they do with waste motor oil.

Hi All,
On the glycerin boiler topic,I have built and am using a bio/diesel/////Glycerin boiler at my shop.I use it for all of my waste oil,and boidiesel fuel production.. Also for heating the shop,, I am using a small amount of bio/diesel fuel to ignite a much larger amount of Glycerin that still contains the methanol after processing the bio/diesel fuel. I am still fine tuning the system and hope to have something available for anyone interested in using their glycerin by product for processing and shop or home heating. I will try to keep you all posted on this. Thanks. Duff