Tony,
I've been burning BD in my home heating system for three heating
seasons. I have a Beckett burner on my Burnham boiler. It supplies heat and
domestic hot water.
I suggest that you "T" a small tank into the fuel line so that you can
make adjustments to the system using increasing BD blends. Be sure to use
flare fittings and solid brass valves. Compression fittings and cheap valves
tend to leak. Have spare filter cartridges and nozzles on hand.
Personal Experience/burner modifications:
Year One: ~20% blend in my storage tank w/o any modifications.
Experimented w. higher BD blends in my "day tank"
I ran into start-up problems as my blend approached 40% BD.
Modifications: Increased pump pressure from 100 psi to 125 psi
Changed nozzle from 1.0 gph/80 degree to .75gph/80
degree
Reduced air flow into the burner
Sealed any openings to chamber other than the
inspection port.
I switched from a Suntech to a Webster Bio-Pump
("biodiesel
compatible")
It runs reliably on B100. I haven't bought HHO in two years.
My storage tank is in my basement ~50F (10C) winter temps.
- I ran the fuel line up and then down a section of pipe that carries
hot water to my baseboard heaters. It is heavily insulated. During the
coldest times of the year the fuel is warmed a bit before it gets to the
pump. This is not the same as a nozzle pre-heater. I have one, but never
installed it.
- For my heating system I make a lower quality BD (16 - 18 % methanol
vol/vol +
brew larger batches) that does not quite pass the quality test. It is washed
and dried. I suggest that as you "tune" your heating system, you use quality
BD in order to rule out the fuel quality variable.
- The "day tank" will be useful later if you want experiment w. burning
lower quality BD, BD/WVO blends, BD/FFA blends. At this point a nozzle
pre-heater may come in handy.
This is not a once size fits all situation. Different systems seem to
involve different adjustments; no serious modifications however.
Good suggestion from JtF:
"Alternative fuels furnace forum -- altfuelfurnace
Alternative fuels, like SVO (straight vegetable oil, waste vegetable oil),
waste motor oil and biodiesel are being successfully burned in adapted
residential oil-fired furnace burners such as Arco, R.W. Beckett, Carlin,
Ducane, Esso, International, Riello, Slant Finn and Wayne. The forum is a
meeting place to exchange information and ideas in adapting residential oil
burners that use HHO (home heating oil) to these alternative fuels.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/altfuelfurnace/
Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED]"
They have a section devoted to biodiesel.
Good luck.
Is Berkshire, NY in the Finger Lakes Region?
Tom
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tony Marzolino" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <sustainablelorgbiofuel@sustainablelists.org>
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 10:32 PM
Subject: [Biofuel] Bio-diesel replacing Home Heating Oil
> Hello List,
> Is anyone using BD to replace #2 home heating oil? If yes, where there
> any modifications to the finance? Are you using a mixture (ex. B50) or
> 100%. Is the tank located inside the structure or outside? If outside
> any modifications to prevent gelling?
>
> We did some very preliminary testings using B50 and found the output to
> be approx the same as #2. But the nozzle needed to be cleaned first.
>
> Any comments are greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Tony Marzolino
> Berkshire, NY
>
>
> ---------------------------------
> You rock. That's why Blockbuster's offering you one month of Blockbuster
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