I have a 30+ year old Kutrieb waste oil heater (my shop behind my house used to be a transmission shop in the 70's and 80's). The heater It is getting to the point it is needing some parts replaced. I'm just curious if anyone else runs this type of heater. I'm trying to decide if I should fix this one up or maybe it is time to start thinking about a newer one...

I have 3 - 300 gallon storage tanks for used oil as well as about another 300+ in 55 gallon drums so I have lots of fuel for "free heat".

We have one at our shop that was installed last year. I don't know to much about it other than it cost about $5000.00 and it needs 30 pounds of air pressure to run.

My buddy owns the local Harley dealership. They have used a waste oil heater for years. A few years ago they doubled the size of the shop so they upgraded to a new heater. He tells me the new one is light years ahead of the old one. It burns cleaner and needs less maintance. I would upgrade the old one, it will be cheaper in the long run.

Dana, After feeling how warm your shop was yesterday I wish I had one.:thumbsup:

There are shops around here that use them as their primary heat source--including the Chevy dealer.

He's down 70 oil changes per day at the "quick lube" attached to the dealership; and with restricted amounts of waste oil, the heating bill is "killing him".

Once upon a time, folks would GIVE you barrels of waste oil; and be damn glad to get rid of it. Now, whoever hauls it from place to place has to be registered and bonded--'cause if they spill any, the folks who generated it are scared they'll be sued for the environmental damage, and bad publicity.

If you've got a ****load of waste oil; get another furnace or fix the one you have. If you DON'T HAVE READY ACCESS TO WASTE/USED OIL, think twice.

Yeah, ATF is the best...

I talked to the owner of Kutrieb this afternoon. He said he had been working on these heaters since around 72 (he bought out the original owner and designer) and he has never seen one exactly like the one I have based on my description. Mine is serial number 80 so he thought this might be an early one from when they were trying to get the design perfected. He told me to send him detailed photos of it and he should be able to help me get it back to "like new" working condition (as Jon eluded to above, even with it being 30+ years old, it still works pretty darn good - my shop was 70 degrees and I think it was only 12 degrees outside on Saturday!). After pricing the new ones, I could easily pour some serious cash into this one and still be money ahead. But I think for a couple hundred bucks, it sounds like I should be able to replace nearly all the worn parts. For this thing to have lasted 30+ years, that tells me they certainly used quality materials back then!!

Dana, I have two in my shop now, The newer ones work just like an oil furnace. The older ones you had to always adjust the oil and air pressure. On the newer ones it's all automatic . You have to very careful not to get any contaminated oil like anti freeze or chemicals. We keep on top of them cleaning them when I see they are a little dirty. It's just like anything else if you maintain it and keep it clean they work great. Saved me a ton of money over the years but you have to do a bunch of oil changes. I use to take oil from other sources but found out they were just giving me bad stuff just to get rid of it so I would be stuck with the junk so I stopped accepting it from other places. If you do get bad oil it fouls up the nozzles and will eventually burn out the tubes inside the heater. if you want you can pm me for the makes and models. All in all I been really happy with them. I had to replace one after about 5 years because of the brake clean and the cleaning chemicals that the guys use in the shop and they were putting it in the waste oil . That stuff is hard on the tubes.

Sam

I wanted to buy one, until this is the cheapest one I found:

http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_586_586

I agree with Shurkey. I worked a several shops that used waiste oil for heat. Its really nice but after all, its a shop. We did several oil changes a day and in the dead of winter when business started to slow down, the less used oil we had on hand until eventually, we had to have some sent to us in a tanker truck. Yes, there are outfits out there now that actually sell used oil. The same companys that come and take it from those shops that do not use it for heat, or have too much in thier tanks when it gets full (as such in the nice weather months). Seems this sort of thing is getting quite common. Unless you have access to a cheap source of unlimited amounts, perhaps from a shop that doesnt use waist oil to heat, then it can become a problem.

However, maybe thats it. Hit up the shops during the nice weather months and see if they can spare it then. Otherwise, they have to pay someone to come a take it.