I majorly lucked out and bought, at auction, a Clean Burn CB-2800 oil fired furnace. http://www.machinerymoverschicago.com/blog/Clean-Burn-CB2800-Furnace/ The furnace, though old, had only 7 hours on it, which I discovered to my astonishment after I removed a huge amount of crud from the hour meter (and the rest of the furnace). It seems to have sat around for years, and that is how it collected all that dirt. Inside it was pretty clean. We did fix what was wrong with it (air solenoid was stuck due to rust). It seems to work now. The furnace came with the tank, and blower, but WITHOUT the waste oil pump and filter. I have a few questions. 1. Can I use a 1/2" diaphragm pump to pump oil? Diaphragm pumps have great lift, they are power efficient, and do not burn out. The only thing that concerns me, is that they might cause periodic pressure fluctuations. I did run this furnace on this diaphragm pump and it seemed to be OK, but I wonder if somehow I set myself up for failure. Keep in mind that at these super low pumping rates (2 GPH or so), the diaphragm pump changes its direction (cycles) only once per minutes or so. You can see the pump below. 2. I want to make dead sure that the oil is properly filtered, so that water and crud would not ingress the furnace. What would you recommend for the filter? (to be installed between pump and furnace). I do have a screen inside the tank. Can I use, in addition to oils, a "cutting oil" for metalworking, not soluble but straight oil? What about way oil, compressor oil etc? I go to auctions a lot and barrels of that stuff are usually available free for the taking.
Not sure this address is still good but I had it from some place when looking for information on the two CB5000 heater we had at work: [email protected]
Ours was a different brand but it used a regular oil pump from a fuel oil furnace with a regulator and return for the unused oil Keep the pickup tube well off the bottom with the tank angled to the drain for water use a large tank to pump out of so it has time to settle I used a automotive oil filter in the line so it was cheap and easy to change when you get your unknown barrels let the water freeze in them before you pump
Jonas302, thanks. The furnace came with a large 4x4x4 tank with a well designed bottom drain and elevated pick-up with a intake strainer. I will use that. Definitely a good filter, between the pump and furnace, is a must. My real question is whether the diaphragm type of pump is acceptable. A diaphragm pump runs on compressed air only, and is super power efficient at low flow rate. It also can pump very thick fluids. It also does not burn out if it tries to pump into a closed circuit. There is nothing to burn out in it.
Why not? the only issue I'd see is having it controlled by a solenoid so the air comes on with the burner. I've heard people rig stuff up with oil burners and regret it when they come in and find a floor covered with oil. Even with one well designed tank, you still want another tank to let stuff settle, to keep the junk from even getting into the final tank. Like a 250-500 gallon tank with a drain valve at the bottom, and a side drain a third of the way up from the bottom. Let that sit a few days between adding oil and passing it along to the final tank. Antifreeze in the bottom of an oil tank is far worse than water, you don't wont that or the oil that was next to it to ever get to the final tank or filter.
Delmer, ok, what you are saying is that it is advisable not to leave the diaphragm pump on against a closed valve, but instead, have it wired so that it only runs when the burner runs. The reason for your suggestion is to avoid having the pump pump everything out to the floor in case if some tubing fails or starts leaking. Right? If I understood you correctly, what you say makes sense as a extra safety, a set of suspenders to go with a good belt. The diaphragm pump itself can sit "deadheaded" (against a closed valve) all day long. It does not mind.
Not Delmer here but I believe that was the idea to have the air supply to the pump cut off when furnace is not running and calling for fuel. Should be a simple job to hook in a solenoid valve for that purpose. I think I would also have a pressure regulating valve in the air line to keep the max pressure from the pump within the spec's for the Cleanburn. Where I worked we had a large storage tank outside and they used electric motor gear pump to bring the waste oil in from that to a 275 gallon "day tank" so the oil to heaters was "warm". Problem as you can imagine is if it got down near 0º F oil outside was too thick and electric motor pump would trip breaker. Your diaphragm pump would have been ideal for that! It would be a good idea to open the drain on the tank everyday to check for water or anti-freeze, especially after someone dumps fresh load of "oil" into it!
Kshansen, and Delmer, I appreciate your suggestion. I will definitely wire in a solenoid valve to supply air to the pump only when called for. I have lots of solenoid valves laying around from all the equipment that I was scrapping. I already put a small air pressure regulator before the pump air inlet, to adjust the pump output pressure (as it is equal to input air pressure). Right now I set it to 40 PSI. I generally want to have an "A+" installation, following all best practices.
I was thinking that was how the pumps worked but could not find something right off that said "what goes in comes out"!
Exactly. Two tanks is the same idea. With the work you do, you just might be able to find a spare tank or three somewhere.
https://www.cleanburn.com/products/manuals/CB-1400_1800_2800 BOOK.pdf Installation manual if you hadn't already found it
I had a lot of GREAT tanks, but I sold them all. I had them before I acquired the heater. I am weeping posting these... http://yabe.chudov.com/Used-Oil-or-Diesel-Fuel-Tank-90227 http://yabe.chudov.com/Huge-1000-GAL-appx-OIL-Tank-on-Base-biodiesel-vegetable-waste-used-19162/ http://yabe.chudov.com/WASTE-OIL-USED-OIL-CONDENSATE-TANK-with-SWITCH-AND-PUMP-90025/ http://yabe.chudov.com/Fuel-or-OIL-TANK-250-GALLON-ON-LEGS-14491/
Your furnace originally came with a small electric gear pump controlled by the main electronics. Pump also has a stainless steal cleanable screen attached to it. on the end of the suction line( mine is 3/4 copper) is a check valve and another ss screen. I clean mine once a year, about 700gal. the pump has a vacuum gauge on it also and tells you when the filters are getting plugged. I would get the original from cleanburn. they only need 2-3psi of oil pressure to operate. If you don't have s steady oil flow it will make the flame sputter and kick the burner off. cleanburn is a good company to get help from and parts, I have had mine 12 or so years. and 7,000hrs on the meter. My dealer is in South Dakota. if you need a contact info I can find it.
Farmerlund, I purchased that intake suction filter and will incorporate it into my system. I will try to use the diaphragm pump to save me money. If I have issue with flame going out, I will replace it. But I was able to run the furnace for an hour with it without the flame going out. Another question. Should I also buy a fuel/water separator filter like Racor, to add it after the pump, or that an overkill?
All I have is a ball valve at the bottom of my tank, 250gal. I check it every once and a while. water ends up on the bottom as you know. My suction hangs in from the top of tank and is 4 or so inches from the bottom. I once got 20 gal of water out of it. I try not to use barrel that have been outside for years now. I think that's the only time I have gotten more than a gal or so of water out of it.
I wouldn't use any "cutting oil" in it!!!! the other oils will burn just fine even synthetic oils. the lift pump should only run when the furnace is running or tstat is calling for heat.. make sure its adjusted correct & that the "target" in the back of the burner tube is in place!! or is in there at all, especially since its been moved around!! if its not it will melt/burn out the back of the heatexchanger!!! if you have any questions just PM me & ill help you all I can!!