<x-charset ISO-8859-1>Jeff, > Has anyone tried burning wvo in a kerosene heater? Some kerosene heaters have round, fiberglass wicks and it seems like they might just work for wvo.
It won't work as they are designed. You need to keep the fuel level less than one inch from the combustion point due to the poor wicking properties of vegetable oil. You may also experience reasonable amounts of carmeling due to the glycerol fragment of the oil molecules. Take your lead from "floating" oil candles, canning jar oil candles and some of the designs of ancient oil lamps. What you will find in each of these instances is that the combustion point stays near the fluid level. With floating wicks the wick platform lowers as the fuel is consumed, keeping the flame at a constant distance from the fuel. In canning jar candles the wick oxidizes (self-trims/burns)as the fuel is consumed, keeping the flame at a constant distance from the fuel. In oil lamps of ancient design (Greek, Roman, Arabic, Gothic, Jewish, etc.) the lamp resevoirs are a low profile yet relatively broad, permitting a moderate amount of fuel in a vessel of small height, keeping the capillary function relatively short and the fuel level always in near proximity to the combustion point. You'll find the same problem exists, albeit to a lesser degree, with biodiesel, which is still slightly more viscous than kerosene. You'll also find biodiesel to be a cleaner burning fuel than veg oil, requiring less wick maintenance (carbon buildup and carmeling) and quite suitable for indoor use almost no matter what the parent feedstock was. The solution to utilizing existing equipment, such as the wick heater you are speaking of, would be to design a drip fuel system that fed the wick at a level just below the combustion point. Leaning out the fuel-to-air mixture would be accomplished through a needle valve that would increase or decrease fuel flow. The oil would have to be well filtered to prevent needle valve plugging. Todd Swearingen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jeff" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Wednesday, February 18, 2004 11:05 AM Subject: [biofuel] Re: WVO wick > Has anyone tried burning wvo in a kerosene heater? Some kerosene heaters have round, fiberglass wicks and it seems like they might just work for wvo. > > Jeff > > > > From: Keith Addison <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: Re: WVO wick > > >Has anyone tried or had luck burning WVO with a wick? > > Yes. > > >On another board I read that a guy built a burner based around a > >wick method. > > So did we. It's said, as with biodiesel, that it won't travel up a > wick, but it depends on the wick. The wick should be loose, not > tightly wound, thick (about 1cm) with plenty of room in whatever it's > fitted into (a loose fit), and the burning bit has to be less than > about 3cm maximum from the fuel level. Todd Swearingen previously > suggested a donut-shaped arrangement around the burning wick(s) to > get the fuel level right. You'd need a few such wicks going for an > effective stove, maybe six or eight. Adjusting them all, and lowering > them to extinguish the stove, are problems to be solved, but > shouldn't be too hard. > > Best > > Keith > > > >Thanks > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ </x-charset>
