How to Convert a Beckett Burner to a Babington Burner: Any kind of standard #2 heating oil burner can be converted to a babington with some success and minimal cost. I've done this to 3 burners so far. I don't own a welder, so I've done this without. Here are the issues: 1. The pressurized oil supply tube should now supply pressurized air. No problem, just get a babington ball with a 1/8 npt fitting on it and unscrew the spray nozzle and replace with the babington ball. Now disconnect the other end from the oil pump feed and attach an air pressure line. I recommend a small airbrush type compressor because they are small, cheap and quiet, while delivering the correct pressure and volume. A good one can be had from Harbor Freight for about $65. 2. I had the most success with an older style burner chassis, it runs at 1850 rpm on the pump. If you then attach a pump from a modern "high speed" pump, it will cut the flow down enough so it can be more easily controlled. The bolt pattern is the same. The plastic or fiber shaft connector may have to be adapted, but that is fairly easy to do by saving the shaft ends from the two styles and joining them together. I did that with duct tape and it held up just fine. 3. The fire tube, about 3-1/2" diameter, needs to be a little longer to accommodate the new system. It can be easily replace with a length of 3-1/2" thin-wall electrical conduit. You'll probably have to buy a 10' length from an electrical supply house. Cut off 20 to 24" for this purpose. 4. Cut a hole in the conduit with a hole saw under the new babington ball, about 2-1/2" or 3" diameter. Take a cheap 3-1/2" or 4" diameter tin funnel. The top edge will bend around the conduit over this hole to form a tight seal. Amazing but true. Secure that in place with 4 or 6 pop rivets This provides a catch for the excess oil under the b-ball that doesn't get used up on each pass and dribbles off the ball. The funnel can then direct this oil to a reservoir through a hose. 5. Move the electrodes to a place in front of the b-ball a couple of inches. Use the existing electrode spacer and attach it to a bolt drilled into the conduit. It takes 3 holes, one for the bolt, two for the electrodes. This is in the vertical orientation. Position the electrodes so they make a spark in front of the b-ball. The wires from the transformer will have to be run out of the housing with extension wires coming out of the back of the burner through a hole you cut. Since the voltage is up to 10,000 volts, and standard wire has only about 600 volt insulation, run each wire inside a piece of small diameter urethane (vinyl) tubing as an extra layer of insulation. Use lugs on each end and wire it up. Test to see that you have a good spark. 6. We're getting there. Now, add a length of small diameter copper tubing to the outlet of the pump with a flare fitting. You probably want a needle valve to fine tune the flow. Direct the tube over the ball and through the conduit with another small hole. This will deliver a steady small stream over the top of the ball so it flows over the b-ball hole(s) at 0.01" diameter. You do know how to make a b-ball, I hope. 7. The fire eye now has to be moved to the front of this system, since its original position is blocked by the b-ball and it can't see the flame. Cut a hole at least 6" in front of the b-ball and attach a 6" length of 3/4" conduit running horizontally to the side. Use a conduit fitting to attach it. Put the fire eye into this conduit so it can see the flame from the side. Attach it to the controller. 8. This may work as is, but I have replaced the controller with one with a 45 second safety shutout delay so the slightly slower to catch vegetable oil flame has a chance to stabilize before the system shuts down on safety. 9. I had to attach a flange to mount this to the furnace, but with all of those burners lying around, a spare one was handy. I recommend you pick up several old burners, fast and slow types, since they are universally disposed of at all heating oil contractor shops. That way you can find all sorts of nifty attachments, such as solenoids, etc. I also had to prop this on a stand because of the longer flame tube wasn't supporting the new burner as well as I wanted. 10. I've run this on WMO, WVO and all sorts of nasty liquids. Its reliable and effective.
Please don't take all of the WVO out there, I need it for the biodiesel factory I'm building. Good luck. Tom Leue ----------------------------- Homestead Inc. www.yellowbiodiesel.com _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://wwia.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/biofuel Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel archives at Infoarchive.net (searchable): http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/
