Waste Oil Heater

Techman

What is the btu content of motor oil/tranny fluid/rear end fluid? I was told the btu of motor oil is the same as #2 oil .

Jamie Hall

Close enough

anyway, for most purposes (there are slight differences).  To watch out for, though:



Some hydraulic and automatic transmission fluids are not petroleum based, and will have very different properties (some are, indeed, essentially fireproof -- intentionally).  I have no direct facts, but it seems possible to me that some fully synthetic motor oils may also have rather different heating values.



Another big difference to watch out for is, of course, viscosity, which will affect (sometimes dramatically) the flow rate from a specific nozzle at a specific pressure, leading to potential combustion problems.



And there is a third, but with the type of oils you are looking at it shouldn't be a problem: flashpoint and volatility characteristics.



Some lubricants have metallic compounds (usually molybdenum or lithium) added to enhance their properties under high contact pressure -- I know that some rear axle lubricants do.  They might give you problems with ash or coking; I don't know.

Techman

Well now,

that is a lot -a- bit more info than I got from the Reznor girl ! Thanks Jamie! The ash is a yearly cleanup on a yearly routine.