powerstroke pump

I was wondering if anyone has tried to use a 7.3 Ford powerstroke high pressure oil pump to supply fuel to a burner. It is a gear driven swash plate pump it puts out I believe 3500 psi not sure of the volume. I was thinking the high pressure would give good atomization.

We usually just go to the store and purchase a Beckett 12 volt furnace gun. These come with nozzles from 2 to 5 1/2 gallons per hour kerosene and have an integral fuel pump and sparker with the fan. Some people use Riello burner guns. The better place to purchase these is at some steam cleaner business as they usually have a few burned out coils from running dry and the burner and water pump are still good. A steam cleaner generator does not attempt to be either efficient or to make good quality steam. They can be adjusted to do that. Therefore the short answer to your question is that any gear pump making 100-150 psi will do more than a good enough job of atomizing the fuel and so higher pressures are not necessary. What you have done is to recognize something that few people fully appreciate, the importance of making a fire first. I have worked with a home made furnace gun assembly and without the Beckett sheet metal swirl fins and all the burner made all kinds of amalines or anamines or whatever it is that happens when cold fuel hits a hot metal wall. These things burn your eyes and really stink up the shop for days. Secondly the squirrel cage fans are cheap but not efficient nor do they put out any pressure, which is handy when the coil stack is wound too tight. After the burner furnace gun makes a fire there needs to be a large combustion chamber with swirling around to complete the combustion. I have made those in different shapes. Something is necessary. Tom Kimmel

Tom,

Yes and definitely use the Delaval and Monarch fuel nozzle catalogs, vast number of flow rates, spray patterns and cone angles. 100 psig is standard.
Webster makes good oil burner fuel pumps with internal adjustable relief valves and filters too.
Ordinary squirrel cage blower wheels are good way past 600 cfm and 26" pressure. Large diameter, backward curved and wide vanes work just fine.
Axial blowers scream like air raid sirens if delivering large flow rates.
Secondary and tertiary air inlets to the fire can are a great help in clean combustion when using an atomizing fire. So is a cyclone firebox.
Recirculating hot gas post mix vaporizing works just fine once the atomizing start up fire heats things up sufficiently.
If you really want to atomize fuel, try an ultrasonic nozzle. Expensive, bulky, uses electricity; but the fuel instantly is a hovering cloud over the transducer. Sub micron particle size.
All depends on how exotic you want to go.

Have fun.

Jim



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/10/2013 04:17PM by Jim Crank.

Thanks for the advice Tom and Jim,its always appreciated. I have a number of furnace guns,one of the perks of working in sanitation for years you come across a lot of good stuff. I was just thinking that the higher pressure could offer some advantage as far as ease of lighting and better combustion. Another plus being in case of breakdown on the road it should be fairly easy to get a replacement pump.

Joe,

Actually your initial question was right. With a given nozzle like a Monarch, increasing the pressure from their standard of 100 psi does produce finer droplet size.
In the race car I used four 14 gph nozzles; but ran them at 175 psi. With the blower I used, the burner ran the cleanest when the fuel flowmeter said 76 gph.
Air atomizing nozzles give a very clean burning spray; but then you need an air compressor.
The size and shape of the firebox has a huge influence on how the fuel is burned..

Jim

Jim, You have experience with the White and Doble I was wondering if you had any thoughts as far as comparing their boilers and the ses boiler I'm not sure if you are familiar with that one. I would like something fairly compact but producing a good amount of btus any thoughts?

Joe,

Impossible without knowing exactly what the end use is to be.
What horsepower do you need, the engine type so the water rate can be at least guessed at, the pressure and superheat you will want, a good guess at the burner fuel rate, atomizing or vaporizing burner, how much space you have available, etc.. etc.
I know the SES unit. There are many configurations that work very well; but define the use first.

Jim

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