The Steamboating Forum

What does that make me then? I use a plumber's torch to light the barbi !

Bart has suggested that I might dribble crankcase drain oil on my wood fire for extended range. Does anyone here have personal experience with this? Might it help to arrange the drip pipe such that the oil gets pre heated? Does it produce a horrid stink?

Will that work? Oh yeah, that is a common thing to do in rural garages where wood heat is used and drain oil plentiful, it really kicks the heat out. They are usually an old one gallon can with a small valve at the bottom and a metal tube over the fire.

Not sure I'd want to be on the lee side of the stack burning old motor oil. Lots of additives/chemicals in motor oil.

-Ron

The problem might be that I would still have to keep feeding some wood as it is pretty much a zero residue fuel and the oil would soon have nothing to soak it up.

I can see it now. A bed of some sort of pumice stone or something like it. Of course the natural evolution of this idea will be towards an ordinary oil burner. Sigh.

A steel disc about a half inch thick. Suspended in the fire box. Heat it red with your touch then turn on the drip valve from the used oil tank. Oil drips on the hot plate and almost explodes it burns so hot. This was the heater in my dads shop all while I was growing up.

Interesting idea. Now to make it work in my firebox.

Much of the time I will be firing with wood so I don't want this hunk of steel to get in the way of the natural draft. I suppose I could build the plate with three legs so that I can put it in there with tongs when I want to use it and then remove it when converting back to wood.

This will take some thinking so that I don't get way too much cold air getting past the plate.

Now some sort of a removable 'drooling'/atomizing type burner is looking better. Often the old solutions were the best.

Pat and Mike, That is how these small all fuel camp stoves work. A metal disk in the center of the burner, then the fuel is sprayed through an orifice from below against the disk or vaporizer. The downside of that is that it needs a pressurized fuel tank.

Gravity is the most reliable.

-Ron

Deviating slightly from the liquid fuel conversation. I am with Mike and Ron on using wood as the primary fuel. I saw a comment earlier about using charcoal. Is there a benefit to that ? I can get hardwood lump charcoal. How would I use it ? Would combining it with wood give me a more even fire ? I tend to spike up and down a lot.

Thanks !

Jon

I spike up and down a lot too. But it's the M & M's in the saucer by the computer that are doing it.

I believe that theoretically charcoal has a higher energy content than wood (no water, just carbon) but it is messy and hard to find a lot of the time.

I was thinking I could put charcoal in paper bags and then toss one is occasionally. I have seen videos of the guys in the UK doing that with coal.

Jon