Has anybody tried making a burner using an old diesel fuel injector as a nozzle? If so, how di you do it and how did it work out?

I have a couple of ideas on how to set it up so that the tiny opening won't clog from evaporating fuel (I'm aiming at svo, but multi-fuel would be nice, too).

Scenario 1: shield the injector as much as possible by sticking it into the burn chamber through a piece of insulation (fire brick, fire cloth, riser sleeve material, or even better yet, a piece of that stuff they make the skin of the space shuttle with) and then keep the injector itself under 200 F.

Scenario 2: fog the inside of an insulated pre-chamber that has a hole leading into the burn chamber and blow or draw the fog into the (preheated) burn chamber.

What do y'all think? I only have one injector to play with right now, so if it clogs, I'm probably out of business.

well, what kind of pump are you using to create the -2000psi- with? seems like that pressure may not be so practicle for many to use.

maybe possible to re- set the pop pressure lower, but how much??

but, any luck?

Hey Wvoalaska,
How about a power steering pump? Most power steering pumps have the internal pressure relief set at around 1800 to 2000 psi. This would open a 115 bar (1667 psi) Mercedes injector. Might be pushing it for a 135 bar (1957 psi) injector, but you could probably take the pump apart and shim the spring to get a little more pressure.

The only problem I see would be the need to turn the pump very slowly to get the discharge volume down into the gallon per hour range, but that would be pretty easy with a compound pully set up.

Just a thought!
Cheers, Chris

I have heard a simpler way would be to pre-heat your wvo and use the standard nozzle, one guy even adjusted (Higher) his burner pump presure for proper atomization. a furnace pump can probably put out 150 psi I am still blindly feeling my way through burning WVO in a standard Becket(Brock) burner. I have had some luck with simply adding a few percent methanol but this is expensive, I hope to develop an oil heater tomorow..
Harry in Moncton

Thanks for the responses, guys.

I have an old airless paint sprayer pump that I think might give me the pressure I need, and the volume shouldn't be so much that the bypass can't handle the excess. I have almost everything I need to do some tests with this setup, but have put this project on the back burner because I decided to go with a siphon nozzle from a torpedo heater. I think that's probably the way to go with wvo, because clogging will be less of an issue (in theory). If anybody else does any testing with fuel injectors, please post. When I get something going on my end, I will post some more on this thread.