No-Mess Waste Oil Furnace

No-Mess Waste Oil Furnace ENERGY Waste Oil 33-5-42 If you burn waste oil, the Handi-Tank can save you time. The simple-to-install kit with screen, stand pipe, barrel stand and valve turns any 55-gal. barrel into a filtering system. Add a float valve, and you eliminate the mess and hassle of oil storage and transfer. "The Handi-Tank filters particles greater than .002 in. out of the oil, while the stand pipe in the bottom allows water, antifreeze and sludge to settle out," says Scott Robinson, Chippewa Valley Alternative Energy (CVALTE). "Add our float valve, and you have a continuous flow of filtered oil to your heater reservoir. The kit stand sets the barrel high enough so oil gravity-feeds to the furnace." Robinson and his wife own and operate CVALTE, selling and servicing Kutrieb and Aladdin waste oil heaters, parts and accessories. "We married the float valve we sell on heaters to the Handi-Tank. It makes for a great way to handle waste oil," says Robinson. "You get away from having cans sitting around, and it's easy. You can dump in a bucket of waste oil with dirt, paper, dead mice, whatever, and only the oil flows through." The filter sits in a basket that's sized to fit standard 55-gal. barrels. Installation is simple. The user cuts and deburrs a hole in the bottom of a barrel and installs the kit, which includes a 5-in. standpipe and a 2-in. bung with a valve. Install the float valve in the nearby waste oil heater, and the system is good to go. Cleaning the Handi-Tank is easy, too. When the filter gets clogged, pull the basket and let it sit at an angle to drain the oil out of the sludge. Scrape the sludge off, and spray the screen with a degreaser. Reset the basket, and it's ready to go. Periodically, bleed off water that has collected beneath the standpipe and scrape out sludge in the bottom of the barrel. Robinson says the Handi-Tank works well with waste vegetable oil as well. "If I am using vegetable oil in my waste oil heater, I'll use two Handi-Tanks," says Robinson. "I put a belly band heater and bubble wrap around the one with vegetable oil to warm it up. Meanwhile, I start up with waste oil, and when the vegetable oil is warm, switch over to it." Robinson says if a single tank is being used, a user can also place a magnetic crank case heater under the inlet screen of the reservoir heater. This should warm the vegetable oil in the heater tank enough to run through the heater. Depending on the temperature and the size of the room and the heater, it will warm the vegetable oil in the tank back to a fluid state. Robinson sells the Handi-Tank kit for $455. The float valve is another $65. If a customer orders the Illuminator 120 waste oil furnace ($2295) and a Handi-Tank, the float valve is included at no extra cost. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Chippewa Valley Alternative Energy, 1204 Superior St., Chippewa Falls, Wis. 54729 (ph 715 924-4871; or 866 460-8656; www.cvalte.com).

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