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General => Alternative heat and power => Topic started by: Tony on July 15, 2014, 12:03:39 AM

Title: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Tony on July 15, 2014, 12:03:39 AM
Did a bit of searching around and found these:

DEVELOPMENT OF THE HEATER, IMMERSION, M-67, LIQUID-FUEL-FIRED, FOR CORRUGATED CANS
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/665390.pdf

M67 technical manual
http://www.liberatedmanuals.com/TM-9-4540-202-12-and-P.pdf

The first details the development and gives an idea of thermal output and fuel flow, as well as interesting statements such as: "In an emergency, the heater can be used for direct space heating of shelters or tents, and direct heating of liquid foods, such as coffee or soups."

The latter is an operators manual which states: "Operation with the alternate or emergency fuels will usually result In Increased lighting difficulties, decreased efficiency, more frequent adjustments to the fuel flow rate, Increased smoke output and shorter Intervals between scheduled cleaning."

After our failed glyc burn in one at BBB 2013 (and successful biodiesel burn!) Stephen apparently cleaned the burner torus by running it unsubmerged until very hot.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: julianf on July 15, 2014, 08:39:29 AM
It may be worth wondering if the term "emergency situation" possibly has a different meaning to the military than it would to the rest of us?

I can see how there's emergency situations where the fire has gone out, its dark, its raining, the tent is getting cold, youve had all the firewood within easy distance, and you only have your flip-flops...

...but then the military may have a different idea - one where it may be borderline which would die first - the M67  or the people its keeping warm!


Im just wondering what sort of decrease in life expectancy (of the M67!) would be acceptable to casual users?
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Mickindashed on July 15, 2014, 07:07:12 PM
I really like the idea of dewatering an oil drum full of wvo with one of those beauties!
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: photoman290 on July 15, 2014, 07:37:48 PM
It may be worth wondering if the term "emergency situation" possibly has a different meaning to the military than it would to the rest of us?

I can see how there's emergency situations where the fire has gone out, its dark, its raining, the tent is getting cold, youve had all the firewood within easy distance, and you only have your flip-flops...

...but then the military may have a different idea - one where it may be borderline which would die first - the M67  or the people its keeping warm!


Im just wondering what sort of decrease in life expectancy (of the M67!) would be acceptable to casual users?

the decrease in life expectancy ,of the user running it on petrol i suspect is rather a lot.as regards the heater i have 2 of the bases so will report when it stops working.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Tony on September 28, 2014, 09:30:17 PM
Mine runs OK on red diesel but a lot of soot builds up.  On bio it is much cleaner (even with my bucket of nasty bio that got left out in the rain).  In both cases it smokes and doesn't run perfectly clean, but it's better on bio.  Just adding bio to a diesel mix seems to help with the emissions.

If fuelled excessively it "chuffs" - I guess hence the name puffing billy, which is great for blasting the soot out and generating an awful lot of heat :)

What gets really exciting is accidentally getting water into the starting cup or the heater toroidal section, as soon as it's up to temp the water flash boils and then a lot of heat happens very quickly - whooomf!
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: rbdazza on September 28, 2014, 09:35:55 PM
Im loving mine. Best 30ĢI've spent in a long time
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Tony on September 28, 2014, 09:38:25 PM
Have you tried it on petrol/diesel mixed with veg yet? I'd like to give this a go because I don't have an unlimited supply of red/bio.  I guess it would run on any misfuel going.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: rbdazza on September 28, 2014, 09:42:34 PM
Not yet, I've got over 100l of questionable bio to use up first :)

Last couple of batches I've managed to dry the veg and run both stages without using the electric immersion heater, all on about 2l of bio used for fuel each batch.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Tony on September 28, 2014, 09:51:22 PM
Definitely onto a winner there!

If there was only a way to use it to heat 500l at once and get all the drying over with in one go.  Hmmmm.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: rbdazza on September 28, 2014, 09:55:40 PM
I've been thinking that myself. The only benefit of heating and drying as you go is carrying the heat into the processor and saving on electric.

Although adding a 500l processor to the equation sounds like heaven !
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: photoman290 on September 30, 2014, 06:28:18 PM
thinking of using my m67 to heat the yurt, not directly, the cover is pvc and the insulation is recycled plastic bottles,plus the frame is wood. not a good combination with  an open flame me thinks. the idea is to heat 200 ltrs of water outside then pumping it into another 200 ltr drum inside  the yurt using one of those 12volt diesel pumps. this is until i finish the rocket mass heater. that should be fine in the yurt as the flue runs outside and is only at 40c or so. not sure how long 200 lts of water at 70c will take to cool down but should be ok i hope.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Tony on September 30, 2014, 07:07:44 PM
You wouldn't need a large mass of water in the yurt, just a radiator - otherwise you're wasting valuable yurt space. I imagine hep2o would be the way to go for the piping. Sounds like a fun project!

Having been given 200l of red diesel I've got even more coming my way - it's all free heat in the M67.  Any misfuel would work a treat :)
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: rbdazza on September 30, 2014, 07:10:28 PM
I wanted to use mine to dry oil in my garage and double up as a heater for when the cold night brewing starts. Problem is I'm not convinced its safe enough to keep inside and as I rent, drilling a massive hole for the flew might not go down to well :)
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: photoman290 on September 30, 2014, 07:31:51 PM
You wouldn't need a large mass of water in the yurt, just a radiator - otherwise you're wasting valuable yurt space. I imagine hep2o would be the way to go for the piping. Sounds like a fun project!

Having been given 200l of red diesel I've got even more coming my way - it's all free heat in the M67.  Any misfuel would work a treat :)

the problem with doing that is i would need to run a pump continuously. i am on solar with  genny backup  so  running anything continuously is not always possible. running a 12volt pump for 7 minutes is much more feasable. once the drum in the yurt is full i tranfer the pump to the yurt drum ready to transfer the cold water back again. the drum with the m67 in will be insulated with 100 mm of celotex. which is insulating the coach at the moment. thermal mass  is the idea,as in
 the rocket mass heater.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Tony on September 30, 2014, 07:42:21 PM
You might be able to start thermal circulation with a rad, no pump required :)
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Julian on September 30, 2014, 07:52:13 PM
You wouldn't need a large mass of water in the yurt, just a radiator - otherwise you're wasting valuable yurt space. I imagine hep2o would be the way to go for the piping. Sounds like a fun project!

Having been given 200l of red diesel I've got even more coming my way - it's all free heat in the M67.  Any misfuel would work a treat :)

the problem with doing that is i would need to run a pump continuously. i am on solar with  genny backup  so  running anything continuously is not always possible. running a 12volt pump for 7 minutes is much more feasable. once the drum in the yurt is full i tranfer the pump to the yurt drum ready to transfer the cold water back again. the drum with the m67 in will be insulated with 100 mm of celotex. which is insulating the coach at the moment. thermal mass  is the idea,as in
 the rocket mass heater.

What about a series of Pletier cells round the drum to drive the pump?  If it's just circulating a short distance it only needs to be tiny.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: greasemonkey on September 30, 2014, 08:27:15 PM
I think you would get thermal circulation with a rad, from a 205.
The water will be cooling pretty dramatically once it reaches the rad.
The only thing I can say is, I don't know exactly how much water my central heating system holds, but it isn't long after turning the boiler off, that the rads start cooling. After all, a rad is designed to loose heat in the most efficient manner.
Another other thing to consider may be one of these baffles that the heated camping brigade use.
They get their flues mega hot, and just have a heat proof baffle taking it out through the side of the tent.
Next time the discussion comes up on one of the outdoors type forums, I'll try to remember to post a link. Won't be long, what with winter approaching.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: photoman290 on September 30, 2014, 09:08:50 PM
dont think it would thermo-syphon as   both barrels would be at the same height. i could try burying the outside one ,that may work if i can get down far enough  with out hitting granite,not too likely around here.
still think heating the water and transferring  it fast is the best option all the others mean losing  some heat to the outside. 2 ibcs and one barrel would be the way to go but suspect that would meet with disapproval, unless i disguise it somehow.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Bio-boy on September 22, 2016, 07:16:25 PM
I'm currently looking at an M67 as a means of utilising my Bio to heat my daughters swimming pool. However, I have a few questions.....
a) Do you need to start the M67 using petrol or will Bio get it going on its own?
b) How easy are they to light? Are they temperamental or straight forward to light?
c) How long does a full tank of fuel last?
d) Are they economical or thirsty?
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: Dickjotec on September 23, 2016, 08:27:19 AM
I don't use a M67 for the hot tub but a normal oil boiler running on bio with a heat exchanger. On bio the boiler is automatic with a couple digital temperature controllers and a timmer to control the temp in the tub and the whole system is hands off.
Title: Re: M67 immersion heater documents online
Post by: dgs on September 23, 2016, 03:11:14 PM
Yes, I was going to say using an M67 as swimming pool heat does work (bbb) but doesn't give a lot of control, especially if left unattended.

Rob, you can use virtually any fuel but avoid wmo because of the residue build up. They are very easy to light and economical to use. Re fuel consumption, the tank is about 5 litres and I would say it would last 2 hours ish on high. If you turn the fuel tap down to a drip every few seconds it will last hours (probably overnight) but doesn't produce much heat on tick over.