How to Make a Burnt Oil Stove Cleaner
Every time you cook your stove top gets a little dirty. Spatters of sauce, spices and random food particles build up all over it and turn into a baked-on crust that’s almost impossible to get off with a brush or even a putty knife. But, with a little know-how you can clean your stove without destroying the surface or ruining the beautiful stone countertops you’ve installed!
The most efficient, easiest way to do this is with a waste oil burner. As you can see from the diagram below, this is a simple and straightforward bolt-together unit that anyone who’s handy with hand or power tools should be able to put together in no time at all.
A waste oil burner is an excellent choice for a small, space-efficient home heating system. You can use it on a gas stove, wood-burning stove, electric heater, or any other conventional home heating system. It’s especially effective for heating a large room since it’s very efficient in getting the maximum heat out of used cooking oil.
It also works surprisingly well on glass and enamel stovetops, because it’s gentle enough to not scratch the surface, but strong enough to scrape away anything that’s stuck there. And it’s a lot safer than chemical stove cleaners, which can cause toxic fumes and burn the skin with prolonged contact.
One of the most interesting things about a waste oil burner is that it’s actually a lot easier to make than you might think. We’ve purposely made it so that even people who’ve never worked on a project of this sort before can easily and quickly build it from scratch.
We’ve used a salvaged water heater tank for the stove’s main construction. First, we chalked out the holes we’ll need to cut in the tank to accommodate the intake and chimney stacks.
Next, we turned the tank over onto its side so that we could drill the hole for the access door. Once we’ve done that, we’ll stand the tank upright and cut the holes for the air pipe and funnel.
Once that’s all done, we’ll fit the funnel to the stovepipe and then screw the funnel down over the burner. The funnel’s flared bottom opening is about the same size as the burner assembly’s main chamber. Once that’s in place, we’ll light the kerosene and the perlite, and then let the stove fire up to make sure the blaze is working. This process establishes the air-flow – or lack thereof – and will help you tune up the flame to your liking.