More Thinking Outside The Box (A.K.A. Hairbrained Idea)

[captain ron]

Today I mixed the caramel colored thick stuff that settles out of my WVO in the cubies with sawdust and packed it into a cereal box and put it in the wood burning stove in the shop. It burned for 4 hours and put out a great amount of heat and very little ash. I also smelled outside like wood smoked french fries. So unhappy with the $300.00 a month I have to spend heating my bus I decided to build a boiler that will set outside my bus and run off of this concoction. It will tie in to my existing hot water heating system with quick disconnect fittings. We are going in the mourning to start scrounging for parts to build it. The first one will be a proto type and if it works well we will build a really nice one. Wa La free heat. Any input or ideas. I know you train drivers are gonna pipe in with all the safety issues so lets hear it.

[TomCat]

Looks like you're gonna have to eat a lot of cereal every winter!

Jay
87 SaftLiner

[Gary LaBombard]

Move South!!
Good luck with idea, that is how inventions get started.
Gary

[Paso One]

Ron  Try something like this My Bixby Corn stove the link to the right on the page.

Opps

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arUEQ1q4sIk&feature=related

[wvanative]

Today I mixed the caramel colored thick stuff that settles out of my WVO in the cubies with sawdust and packed it into a cereal box and put it in the wood burning stove in the shop. It burned for 4 hours and put out a great amount of heat and very little ash. I also smelled outside like wood smoked french fries. So unhappy with the $300.00 a month I have to spend heating my bus I decided to build a boiler that will set outside my bus and run off of this concoction. It will tie in to my existing hot water heating system with quick disconnect fittings. We are going in the mourning to start scrounging for parts to build it. The first one will be a proto type and if it works well we will build a really nice one. Wa La free heat. Any input or ideas. I know you train drivers are gonna pipe in with all the safety issues so lets hear it.

Charley this is an email I sent to a busnut this week who had the desire to heat his bus with alternative methods.

Hey ------, I saw your post on the --- site about how to heat your bus with an alternative heat source. I don't like to post on that site so I ask about you on the MAK BOARD. Here is my idea for you to heat your bus in a very economical way. If you have ever saw the outdoor wood burning furnaces made by Central Boiler in MN. I have a friend in MN that heats his entire 2000 sq ft house for about $300 a year in fire wood. Here is why I think this will work for you, and is what I intend to do for my bus. The outdoor furnace has a firebox that is surrounded by a water jacket that is automotive antifreeze, you substitute the automotive antifreeze with the bus antifreeze so you can use it to preheat the engine, And this is then pumped by an electric pump that is feed into the house through highly insulated pipes to small automotive radiators in the house. All of this is controlled by the house thermostat. My friend says he can go 3 to 5 days between loading the furnace depending on the demand for heat. Here is my plan for you, to make a connection   near the engine with two zones, one for the engine and one for the coach heat.  Now you heat the interior of the coach and keep the engine shut off but if you want to fire up the engine you just open the valve to the engine to preheat it before starting. These units are so well insulated that snow on top will not melt when the furnace in fired up, they are very efficient.


Let me know what you think and here is the link to Central Boiler
http://www.centralboiler.com/?src=googlecb&gclid=CI_Txpas0pACFQMsFQod_VsNVw

Dean
WVaNative

[captain ron]

Paso, the absolute cheapest corn stove would be $1400.00 and won't heat my water.
Wvnative, I am very familiar with those boilers but they are veeeeeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyyy expeeeeeeeeeensiiiiiiive.
I want to build a boiler that is made for WVO.

[DrivingMissLazy]

Kinda sounds like the stove that Dallas was working on to require no electricity. Seems like even waste engine oil and sawdust made into bricks might work for BK.

Richard

[Paso One]

Paso, the absolute cheapest corn stove would be $1400.00 and won't heat my water.
Wvnative, I am very familiar with those boilers but they are veeeeeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyyy expeeeeeeeeeensiiiiiiive.
I want to build a boiler that is made for WVO.

Thats true  I heat a 18 x 24 shop (pex in concrete)  with one 40 gallon electric water heater.  Water temp usually runs around 140 degrees keeps the shop at 70 (by choice)  We get temps down to -40, at that time I have another water heater on line that supplements the  first system.  Are you running your gen all the time as well?

I have a outside wood boiler set up for another application.  I was just thinking of the fact you move around so much and that you might not be able to use the outside boiler every where you go and they are messy.

There is also grain burners like the Corn burner on that video clip available. I don't know how small the units go as you would not need a big one to heat your bus. I was thinking of the clean factor...

You could maybe make a small unit. 

[Nick Badame Refrig/ACC]

Hi Ron,

Are you thinking a Wood fired Hydro Boiler??  If so, maybe you can copy one from this site
http://www.hydro-fire.com/products.html

or do what my dad did about 30 years ago, put a copper coil in the flu pipe of his franklin stove.

Nick-

[Tenor]

Finally! A way to heat your bus, make douhgnuts and booze in a single unit! 

[JackConrad]

We have a friend that has a wood pellet stove in his 4104.  I have no idea what it cost, but it looks like a minature franklin stove and will heat the bus quickly.  I doubt if it could be used when driving.  Jack

[HB of CJ]

What is a WVO and cubies? 

[captain ron]

What is a WVO and cubies? 

West Virginia Orphans living in a box.

Waste Vegetable Oil and the container it comes in

[wvanative]

Paso, the absolute cheapest corn stove would be $1400.00 and won't heat my water.
Wvnative, I am very familiar with those boilers but they are veeeeeeeerrrrrrrryyyyyyy expeeeeeeeeeensiiiiiiive.
I want to build a boiler that is made for WVO.

Hey Charley, yes these units are very expensive and I would not buy one for the bus alone. My plan was to buy one for my house where the monthly gas bill can run $150 to $300. then tie it into the bus also, that way you can keep her warm also and if you want to work on her it no problem to open up the heating system to her.

LOL that WVO joke was funny stuff, I love a good old hillbilly joke.

WVaNative   

[Chaz]

Today I mixed the caramel colored thick stuff that settles out of my WVO in the cubies with sawdust and packed it into a cereal box and put it in the wood burning stove in the shop. It burned for 4 hours and put out a great amount of heat and very little ash. I also smelled outside like wood smoked french fries. So unhappy with the $300.00 a month I have to spend heating my bus I decided to build a boiler that will set outside my bus and run off of this concoction. It will tie in to my existing hot water heating system with quick disconnect fittings. We are going in the mourning to start scrounging for parts to build it. The first one will be a proto type and if it works well we will build a really nice one. Wa La free heat. Any input or ideas. I know you train drivers are gonna pipe in with all the safety issues so lets hear it.

Always thinkin, aren't ya Ron.   That is actually a very neat thought as use for that nasty stuff. I will be processing WVO for the bus and the furnace in my shop. I think there may be a significant amount of the stuff around here in the future. Another stove may be in order for "veggy dust bricks"!  lol 
As far as using something like that on the bus............ are you sure you want to use an "external heat source"? Sounds like a pain in the butt to me. But for the home or shop, that would be pretty cool. Hell, there may even be a cottage industry there! (?) Both are waste products. We have a pretty good supply of sawdust around here. Most people just pick it up for use as horse bedding.

Now a corn/pellet burner in a bus is an interesting idea. Around here you can get plenty of "old corn" (usually moldy or whatever) that farmers have left in their bins. But there are plenty of places that a person can buy shelled corn or pellets. Maybe a less attractive/more functional stove would be cool in the bay. And adapted to use with an hydronic system is doable also.

   So many cool things to try - so little time.
      Chaz