Talked to Duane Oaxley today

[lance]

and what a nice guy and very generous with advice and info. I will probably be buying one of his diesel heaters when I get going. It's very adjustable for single or dual wand heating BTU's. And it has electronic ignition with auto spark whenever water is flowing thru it.

It can do up to 400,000 btu's, so for single wand you only need 60% of the heater's max to get 225 degrees at about 2 gallons a minute AT THE WAND. I don't know how long they have been in the field but it seems to me that with Duane's high stardards it might last 5-7 years of daily use and then "re-built" with parts from him to last another 5 or 6 years.

If it lasted for 5 years with no repairs, then that heater would cost about $500 a year not including gas. And I bet there aren't many HX's that can preform that well at that low of a equipment price (think about diverters, switches, solenoids, etc.)

First time I have talked to him and I was very impressed. Very easy to talk to.

 

[Mikey P]

Duane probably assumed you were from Uranus.

 

[AshleyMckendree]

Ive met him in person at his shop, great guy.

 

[Dolly Llama]

DooWayne's a good egg


you don't need anywhere near 400,000 BTUs though
(unless you plan to pressure wash at 4-5 GPM)

200-250K BTU will give 250 temps at a "constant" 2 GPM open flow with tap water temp incoming feed.
With the average wand duty cycle (keyed and off for dry strokes) you'll have more heat than you can "safely" use.
there's no difference in cleaning efficacy going from 250 to 280+.. I "know" this from experience
all it does is prematurely cook hoses and wand valves ...I "know" this from experience too

if you go fuel fired burner, burn K1 kero, not diesel fuel .
Much cleaner, no soot or diesel "stink" and you'll have less problems over the life of the system ta boot



..L.T.A.

 

[lance]

Larry, Duane has posted about this and also told me when I talked to him that...he decreases the flow and increases the pressure of the fuel so that it completely atomizes inside the heater. This makes it more efficient and also burns all the fuel so that none is left to exit the heater, which I think would prevent soot. Duane says it has very little smell this way too.

There aren't very many propane places open around here from 8 to 5. So diesel will be a lot easier to get. A 24-hour gas station two miles away from me has diesel so I can get it anytime I want to.

I hope Duane will post here as I he knows alot more about than I do.

 

[Dolly Llama]

I hope Duane will post here as I he knows alot more about than I do.

I know a little about them too, Lance .
I've run lg diesel burners for 16 out of 21 years , HX'er for a year and propane the rest of the time

DooWayne can correct me if I'm wrong, but the over whelming majority of his TMs have all been propane burners .
Maybe he's found some wizardry that no one else has been able to to... cause the most efficient diesel burners still stink when burning #2 diesel fuel.
I'll bet my last bullet, that in sun light you can see slight "puff" of blue smoke every time the burner first ignites and shuts off .

if kero is available to you, burn it instead....trust me


..L.T.A.

 

[Chris A]

Larry, have you tried it since 07, when they switched to ULSD? Might make a big difference as it reduced smoke on a lot of road engines

 

[Dolly Llama]

Larry, have you tried it since 07, when they switched to ULSD? Might make a big difference as it reduced smoke on a lot of road engines

"ULSD"??
Ultra low sulfur ??

sure.
there are times due to my head up my azz syndrome the kero tank will be nearly empty .
if the first job isn't near a Sheets or other station that carries kero year round, we'll pump gal or two of diesel from the nearest gas station.

diesel stinks....

if i had to run diesel only , I'd go with propane instead (even though it was a PITA to me as far fueling )


..L.T.A.

 

[floorguy]

ohhh never mind......

you all will say i am stupid....soooo never mind