Published on 12, July, 2020
I've been running one of those cheap chinese diesel heaters for a while now, (this is year three) to keep my garage warm in the winter and keep the damp out.
It works out at 5P a kilowatt hour if you run it off the correct fuel, (red diesel, apparently available form some BP garages) but I already had laid up a stock of kerosene form back when it was 70P a litre, so I was already ahead of the game even before I discovered that you can run the thing off used motor oil, thinned down with either kerosene, stale petrol or diesel...
***SAFETY WARNING*** Do not do this without a great deal more research. Mine made scary noises when being asked to run at full chat whilst swallowing a more experimental fuel at 03:45AM, and I've shut it down pending an investigation tomorrow.. I'm fairly sure that's why there are so many alterable combustion parameters, but this IS both experimental and "frowned upon by the sensible and well adjusted" activity for good reason.
In ecological terms burning waste oil in one of these isn't so bad as it is effectively a little forced air furnace, although like anything else where the government does not take a huge cut, it is frowned upon.
If you haven't gathered by now, our leaders have great plans for humanity, involving the likes of you and me owning nothing, eating insects and being the carbon (((they))) want to reduce.
Making the basics like heat and food as expensive as possible initially, then later dependent on your "social credit score", is part of the plan, so don;t expect fuel costs to ever noramalise.
Petrol went up to £1 a litre about when oil went to 100$ a barrel, but now oil is price fixed at 60$, did YOU see the price go down??
Being able to surreptiously burn practically any inflammable liquid for heat for 100 quid gives you a bit of respite from the evil clowns who currently direct the course of human events. We've added solar cells and a feed in invertor to reduce our electric bills, plus are controlling consumption more carefully, and I believe that the extra heat being introduce to our house by my alternative heat sources, will cause the Central heating to run at reduced duty cycle.
Electric is 35P per kilowatt hour, Gas is similar these heaters run at 5P a kilowatt hour, or half that if you run 50/50 waste oil/diesel mix. The stale petrol and waste oil I just scored, mixed, and started using this week costs me NOTHING per kilowatt hour...
I'm working on a system to scavenge heat from the exhaust With a surplus car EGR heat exchanger (10 quid from ebay) and convert it into electricity using a load of peltier elements so I can get rid of the charger.
(I bought a second spare heater this year, by way of an insurance policy, when they were ridiculously cheap (75 quid)
NEXT up SOLID FUEL...
I'm desperate for plumbing information if there are any "proper" plumbers out there, as I want to learn how to implement a gravity fed boiler radiator combo, and I also really, really, want to know if I can safely insert a pre-heater into my central heating circuit ahead of my combi boiler. I'm thinking of using a surplus diesel "block heater" as fitted to many cars found in scrapyards, which then means I can pre feed the boiler water that has had some heat already added by means of burning waste oil and solvent rather than american Compressed Natural Gas.
When (if) we get our table top fusion reactor self running, then the problem will be solved for quite a LONG time, but for now, this is as good as it gets in terms of "free energy"...
Running that Chinese diesel heater on the right fuel and getting it down to 5P per kilowatt hour is quite a steal! And using used motor oil as an experimental fuel? That's some next-level resourcefulness. Just remember to prioritize safety and do thorough research, especially after those scary noises at 3:45 AM. Safety first, my friend! As for plumbing info and implementing a gravity-fed boiler radiator combo, I hope you find some ""proper"" plumbers who can share their knowledge. They might be able to guide you on safely inserting a pre-heater into your central heating circuit. Exploring surplus car parts and finding ways to pre-feed the boiler with heated water definitely shows your determination to maximize efficiency. If you're ever in need of plumbing expertise, you might want to check out https://www.spartamech.co.uk. They could offer some helpful information to fuel your DIY projects.
Update:
Motor oil seems to give more heat at certain settings of the heater but MIGHT have overheated the glow plug which failed in the one heater. I've got one set of gaskets that came with the replacement glow plug, so I'll take a look inside my heater in due course. It seems to be that petrol isn't very good for this application it seems to add more noise than heat.
To do this "burn any liquid you can find" properly I believe the heater needs to have a separated combustion fan and heat exchanger fan and at least an EGT & lambda sensor. These heaters were clearly designed carefully to run off light heating oils of a known viscosity and calorific output and not a post apocalyptic "burn what you can find" world. But they do seem to like vegetable oil, on the one time I've tried it. Currently I've settled on kerosene as being the best basic commercial fuel, partly because I can also use it in my zipro heater and for cleaning parts, but mainly because it's cheaper than diesel and any micro spillage doesn't hang about like with diesel. In short, it's less filthy although I believe, quite toxic.
Thanks for bringing this thread back, I'm hoping that there are other people like me in the Autism community who do this sort of thing will chime in.
Energy is a big issue, when you realise that 1 Kw hour is effectively equal to the fairly hard working of ten subservient human beings for an hour. When you fire up that triton shower you would need at least 110 people pedalling furiously outside to make it work for you, absent of generated "mains" electricity.
I research both ends of the "free energy" problem, generation though scavenging, or generation though advanced understanding and technology, which Mr Tesla called "harnessing the very wheelwork of nature" It's proving difficult to obtain energy independence, so far...