Waste Oil Boiler for domestic house. Is it worth considering?

Itineoman

I had a brainwave last night while thinking about the fuel bill and did some searching online on whether Waste Oil boilers / burners were a thing and if I could realistically replace the ageing Firebird kerosene boiler with one.

What I found on a very brief trawl left me in a bit of a fog and I was hoping that someone on here could maybe help me see if it is even something worth considering for a domestic house.

Different suppliers / sites seem to be saying either:

a) We can supply a big unit that burns everything but you need a day tank, compressed air supply and main tank etc plus a vertical flue

Or

b) We can supply a burner unit that can be retrofitted to an existing domestic oil boiler

Or

c) Don’t even think about retrofitting an oil burner as it will destroy your kerosene boiler. Buy our boiler instead.

All say there is an increased need to clean/check/maintain etc which I’m fine with.

Details of the present setup are

180sqm house build in 2005. Heated with radiators.

Boiler is a Firebird (think 15000 btu) located in annex to garage away from the house and out of sight. Balanced flue to outside.

Any thoughts or advice on the topic would be appreciated - Maybe the whole idea is a non runner in the first place. Still at the idle thought stage but I like the idea of it.

Thanks.

jimf

big no no

where do you get the oil

how do you transport on site

how do you know you are just burning/getting waste oil

maybe better off looking at upgrading your existing boiler and getting it sized properly

is your house zoned

Itineoman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119926316#Comment_119926316

Thanks!

Oil can be sourced locally - I live in the countryside and there’s a middling sized service garage 200m away and I think I’d be able to manage to transport on a trailer / pump it myself.

Yes the house is zoned - three zones with a Systemlink setup that I put in when building 20 years ago.

Trouble is that the house is so big that we find ourselves doing the ‘Morgan Turn On the Heating’ thing a lot of time in the winter to save fuel.

I could improve insulation as the house is built to pre 2013 regs. It would be the best solution but that would involve big money. Pumping the wall cavities is a problem as the outside is dashed and can’t be filled or painted afterwards. About 1/3 of the house dates from 1840 and is drylined stone so that is a problem for pumping as well.

The idea is just conjecture / thinking aloud at the moment so I won’t be offended if it gets trashed. 😀😀

jimf

there are too many minus signs for what your outlay will be

your idea will not be trashed by any of the regular guys on here

we are here to discuss and give each other a dig out

Itineoman

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119927723#Comment_119927723

I guess what I meant was that all feedback is welcome. No worries either way.

dathi

https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1992/si/399/made/en/print

you need a permit to collect waste oil and there is a 1000 euro fine or 6 months on conviction for collecting without permit or for the garage disposing to a company/ person without permit

10-10-20

Look, I see where you're going with this and I know people who burn oil to heat workshops, but at the end of the day these oils are a residue of carbon and metals from the combustion process and serve to wash the cylinders after each piston cycle and they pickup any unburnt deposits from the incoming fuel, not to mention lead from classic cars. I'd be very concerned about long-term health implications of burning that "fuel". You really don't want to be breathing that stuff.

Now, if it was run-off from the local-chipper... then I'd be slightly less concerned. 🤣