Was talking on the phone with Terry L and he was curious of our truck, so here it is.
The Drain King !!!
Is out front in the center of entry of the Motel I’m at.
I’m thinking it would make a really nice cooler don’t you???
Hi Herb, If all goes well, we’ll be driving through Nashville on Saturday around lunch time … The cooler is too big to haul around :o) … Mike
Give me a holler, I can meet you someplace!!
Last night on the office hangout Marvin W asked me about my waste oil furnace and I promised him I would show how I built it so here it is.
Don, I have been looking to build a waste oil heater. I have a spare furnace in my garage and didn’t want to use natural gas. We have been collecting waste vegetable oil at work, so I will have all the oil I can use this winter. I just not sure how to actually hook it up to the furnace.
Thanks Mr. Don
Very simple and clean design.
What kind of seal do you have between the fry pan and the stainless plate on top of it?
Al D
Al, I ground a couple of bumps off the rim of the cast fry pan to get it as flat as possible and that was it. A little leakage there is fine.
BTW gas prices are coming down!
I thought maybe there was no gasket. It is a simple idea. Never thought of bubbling the oil… Pretty cool sir.
Yes, cash-o-line is down to 2.92 down here. I’m thinkin’ is probably has “something” to do with the upcoming elections… Ha.
Al D
What else is going on? Everything else, it seems like… Currently laying a natural gas line to the garage for heat this winter. New territory for me, as I’ve never installed natural gas at all. But leak testing woodgas plumbing is very similar to leak testing natural gas. Since everything you read online says “just hire the professionals, it’s too dangerous”… I thought I should post my experience. I believe anyone capable of building and operating a woodgas truck should not hesitate to plumb up natural gas. Leaks are leaks, and you must seal things to hold very similar pressures. Your job is much easier with stab couplers and threaded iron pipe than the usual PVC we work with. Of course gas leaks are more dangerous inside the house (also expensive), so you should be extra diligent. But it’s really not that hard.
When it comes down to it, I can’t see paying a plumber a grand just to dig a trench and put a plastic pipe down… I can do that. It’s been pretty easy/fun so far! Next is getting it inspected and buried.
Pictures show the ditch from garage to house, the gas pipes installed, and yellow pipe in the ground.
Taking Ditch Witch back to rental place (note the old leaky lid):
Looks good Chris. Is that soil naturally filled with flat rocks like that? How do your pictures come through as singles? The last few days it seems like the pics came in as doubles.
Yep, Kentucky is limestone country… when they put that sewer line through here they had to jackhammer through it for weeks. Plenty of material for a stone walkway.
Ha! I get about the same amount of “rocks” up ditching here except mine are rounded glacier rocks. Probably too late to tell you this ChrisKY but DO NOT put the rocks back into the ditch! Even soil cushioned 12" away from your tube/piping ground freezing causes them to travel and sooner or later a rock edge will be grinding against the plastic. I’ve had water lines leaks years later through even very tough resilient schedule black PVC.
Regards
Steve Unruh
Just kidding, if it were available, I’d have it. Just paid $2.20 for propane last month.
Not too late Steve, thanks for speaking up. We don’t have as much freeze/thaw action here, but still no reason to take chances. The rocks will go on a stone walkway at surface level.
Carl, I cringe thinking about how dependent we are on this natural gas line. Hot water, cooking, heating. Propane isn’t entirely off grid I know, but at least you’ve got a tankful of backup energy right on your property!
Testing for leaks are easier with natural gas. It’s positive pressure. We use a lighter. 
Nice job on the trench!
Hi Chris,
I installed some natural gas piping for my in-laws. I had to work with the gas company in that I had to connect to their meter, run a line into the house and install a tee with a pressure valve and air inlet valve to pressurize the line for a leak down test. I tested the line myself and the gas company also tested the line before they would turn on the gas to the meter. Any line I have laid in the ground was backfilled with 6" of sifted sand and site inspected before I could finish backfilling.
Be safe, man.
Pepe
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