I can't believe it!

[KC0KBH]

Today I was with a friend, at his Grandma's house where the maple syrup is made. It is about a 350 acre piece of land, with 2 rental houses on it. At one (which is vacant), where many of my friend's relatives have lived, were some outbuildings. A shed, which contained some old car batteries, a hood off of an old Arctic Cat Lynx, last licenesed in 1979, an old overhead projector, and an old TV. Not really much useful, since the overhead was ancient, and the hood off the Lynx had a good crack in it. We looked around in the garage, which was pretty sparse (the house is vacant). I noticed, in a corner was a brown metal box, about 4' high. I thought it was a gas furnace. I got closer, and there was a cover on the top, so I took it off, and there was a heat exchanger. I started looking more closely, when I saw a filter, just like the ones used on oil furnaces. I looked more, and attached was an oil burner! It must have came from that house! My friend and I moved the thing out (it was heavy), and not only was the burner an oil burner, but it was a Beckett! What luck! So, I asked if I could take the burner home to work on converting to waste oil, and I could. So, it sits tonight in the garage on the work bench. It is only .5 GPH, and has a low fire rate insert that I'll have to remove (it is an AFG). But, what a find! I finally have a good burner for my alternative energy obcession, I mean project. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/laugh.gif

[KI4CBS]

That's the ticket right there. Just like a ham to find the way around this oil price wrangling that they have us in. I'm working on that myself here. Got to be a better way than kissing the sand over there for our energy. Keep it up 73's

[AG3Y]

Gee, I'm disappointed, I thought you were going to tell us that the brown metal box housed a Collins KW-1, or something like that ! ! !

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

Well, I'm happy for you anyway ! 73, Jim

[KC0KBH]

Quote[/b] (AG3Y @ Jan. 21 2006,15:32)]Gee, I'm disappointed, I thought you were going to tell us that the brown metal box housed a Collins KW-1, or something like that ! ! !

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/sad.gif

Well, I'm happy for you anyway ! 73, Jim
Well, I would have gone nuts either way. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif I really got excited. After months and months of having dreams (literally http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif ) about oil burners, and having a Beckett to convert, I finally have one. No more messing around with rusty old pieces of junk that were half buried in the ground, and were sitting rusting for 10 or 15 years. And, I can easily move it up onto the workbench, unlike those other 2 burners I had. Tomorrow I should be able to test fire it on diesel, and probably come up with a preheater, so I can run waste oil. I think for syrup, I'll have to go with a bigger nozzle. A .5 GPH is too small for what I want to do. I'm considering using the warm air furnace in the shed, and just taking the burner off in spring, during maple sugar season. That way, the burner won't sit outside all summer and winter, and I can use it in winter. I don't know. I'll have to look again at how far away from things you can have it. Maybe put it back in a corner in the shed, if my dad wouldn't mind.

[KC0KBH]

Quote[/b] (KI4CBS @ Jan. 21 2006,15:26)]That's the ticket right there. Just like a ham to find the way around this oil price wrangling that they have us in. I'm working on that myself here. Got to be a better way than kissing the sand over there for our energy. Keep it up 73's
Actually, there are a few hams around the waste oil burner Yahoo groups that have converted burners, and have done a heck of a lot better job on it than I'll ever do (mine will just be hardwired, so when I plug it in, it turns on.)

[KC0KBH]

I'm ready to go back out and test fire it on diesel. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[WB2WIK]

If you move someplace that's warmer and has more sunny days, you could power your home from solar energy for free, forever. And get not only an energy tax credit from the Feds, but also a huge credit from the utility companies.

Here in L.A., the Dept. of Water and Power will subsidize solar panel installations up to $10,000 and when the cost overruns that, they'll refund the balance over time. If you generate more power than you can consume, their switches put power back into the grid, and you're given credit for that. My next door neighbor receives a check for about $100 a month, for putting a lot more power back into the grid than they can use -- even though they have a lot of appliances, pool system pump motor, electric motor spa and pool heater all running off the system.

My gas bill is higher in summer than in winter, because we use gas for the pool heater. It's still quite low, though. We don't really have a "heating" bill.

If I was willing to take down my roof tower and the five or six antennas and radial systems up there, I could cover my roof with solar panels and get free electricity.

Thinking about it...now, where to put all that stuff...?

WB2WIK/6