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Looking for the impossible?

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CapeCodOilGuy
CapeCodOilGuy Member Posts: 43
in Oil Heating
I'm trying to get my hands on an old low-pressure atomizing gun burner. Williams Oil-O-Matic ideally. They were made from about 1927 to 1970 or so. Winkler (by Stewart-Warner) was another well-known one. I want to experiment with firing vegetable oils and try adapting it to a flame-retention head. Somewhere, somehow, someone has one laying around in a garage, basement or junkyard. If you know of one, feel free to get in touch.

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  • billtwocase
    billtwocase Member Posts: 2,385
    edited February 2012
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    I got one, but

    not looking to part with it yet. I may know where there is or was a Williams Oil-O-Matic. I look into that. I do have some old GE and Rotary parts, but I think I can see why a set up power burner is needed. Will I get royalties?  :)I will let you know what i find. Funny thing, I just posted a pic of it in here for another guy who had questions.
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
    edited February 2012
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    Impossible?

    I don't think that that crud product will go through the carburetors and such of a Winkler LP burner without major futzing.

    The burners and set-ups for waste oil heaters use the same air/fuel mixing to work. And you will have much better luck trying to burn crud in a burner like that. And it is available.

    Winklers were hard enough to keep running optimaly with good oil. Not so much with waste oil burners.
  • CapeCodOilGuy
    CapeCodOilGuy Member Posts: 43
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    .....impossible?

    Actually, I wasn't planning on using waste petroleum oils (motor oil, etc.); supposedly the Williams would work on light fuel oil, heavy (prewarmed) fuel oil, veg. oil, etc. When I was a kid I had the old Audel Oil Burner Guide, which went into the Williams in some detail. I'm interested in the veg. oil capabilities. The large nozzle opening, plus the fact that the low pressure air continued after the oil stopped (so as to blow the nozzle clear) prevented them from gumming up. I''ve never seen a Winkler or read up on them until Billtwocase uploaded the picture of the one he has.
  • icesailor
    icesailor Member Posts: 7,265
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    Possibilities:

    I think that you didn't understand what I said.

    The waste oil burners will burn most anything including vegetable oil and work on the same principle as a Williams, Winkler and even to a point, a Timkin rotary.

    They do not use high pressure to atomize the fuel. Air is mixed in the nozzle.

    Find a Master kerosene heater, get a manual and figure out how it works. It works on the same principle. It's the air pump that really does the work. On a Master Kero heater, by turning in the air pressure screw, you increase the air pressure and increase the output. They have an unusual nozzle. The air acts like the sprayer on your hose. It is an atomizer. The air rushing by an opening, sucks the product out of a tank, mixes it with air and the ignitor lights it oss.

    That's all anyone is saying.

    Your idea has merit. I just don't think you will find what you are looking for. They are too old. But waste oil burners are around and made from standard burners. Find someone who has one and look at it. You can figure it out.

    I'll tell you this though, if you try burning reclaimed cooking oil, your neighbors will come to dislike you. Where I work, there are a couple of guys that power their small diesel trucks with it. To MY nose, the stench is unbearable. They believe that saw about it is cheaper to run a diesel without ever shutting it off. So, if they go to the supply house, they leave it running outside. Regular bad running diesels are bad enough. But to smell old Micky "D's" old oil can be difficult in the AM.

    Good Luck. 
  • CapeCodOilGuy
    CapeCodOilGuy Member Posts: 43
    edited February 2012
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    more on the impossible

    I think I understood you. I've never actually seen close-up a Williams or Winkler burner-just their explanation in the old Audel Oil Burner Guide. From what I can gather, the difference between them and the modern waste-oil burners is that they provided their own source of low pressure air. Also, unlike the kerosene "salamanders," which as you say work kind of like a perfume atomizer, the Williams provided oil from a metering pump to the nozzle at low pressure to mix with the air in the nozzle. If there were ever to be any merit to reviving the low-pressure concept for residential use, it would have to be self-contained like the old ones. Good point, by the way, about the odor-I hadn't thought about that! I think I'd prefer the occasional whiff of burned #2 oil to the smell of recycled french fries, which are bad enough the 1st time around! However, renewable-resource oil-seed crops might be a different story. How about hemp oil-the DEA would be beside themselves trying to find the pot-smokers....



    By the way, Icesailor-thanks for taking the time to reply, I appreciate your willingness to share your considerable experience. This is really a great forum!
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