anyone else have an oil reclimation device?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Feb 1, 2003
Messages
1,565
Location
palm beach
i took an oil can and cut a hole in the top, and i (one at a time of course) put my old oil cans in the hole for 24 hours.

after 4 oil cans were done, i had 4 ounces of extra oil!

heres a picure.
 -


this is my first design, years ago i saw at a rebuild shop a pcv pipe slanted slightly downward, with a number of holes drilled in the top. one end of the pipe was capped off, and the other end went to a quart sized oil bottle. this seemed like a cool thing to do, as its basically free oil.
i got 4 extra ounces out of my kendall nitro gt 70wt oil, with only 4 bottles used. i wonder how many gallons of good oil are thrown away ach year by people in a hurry? well this seems like a good answer.

btw, thats straight 70 wt oil, non api approved, actually no one has approved it for anything. i use it in my sandrail.
 -
 
That's a good idea. It also should help keep oil out of landfills / less oil contamination in recycled plastic. I think I saw something like what you describe at the rebuild shop in a Popular Science magazine from the '60s. The only thing might be contamination of the oil with dirt, but careful design of the oil collection system and capping any unused openings should take care of that.
 
I too am cheap. I mean ecologically concerned.
I tried several homemade devises and always had contamination problems. I now use a thing I got at Wal-mart called a Ketchup Saver. It will even attach Mobil 1 sized threads to regular oil bottle sized threads.

All for about .79 cents US.
 
Warm oil pours so much better. Leave those bottles on the hot engine while draining old oil, or in the sun, and the new oil empties the bottle easier. Be patient and most of the oil will drain into your engine.



4 ounces saved is good free topoff oil for most cars minimal oil burnage.
 -


[ April 01, 2003, 11:50 PM: Message edited by: BOBISTHEOILGUY ]
 
A contemporary of my dad worked in a small town Nebraska service station in his early twenties. He said on a visit that at that time, whenever he did an oil change on customers' cars, he tipped the empty container to drain its last milliliters into a large clean bottle, the whole contrivance draped with an oily shop cloth. By the time his own oil change rolled around, he usually had enough "reclaimed" oil to give his old Durant a free oil change.
grin.gif
 
I saw a gizmo at harbor Freight a few months ago- a tray that would hold 4 or 5 1qt oil bottles upside down, with a slanted bottom, oil drained out the low end. Made to mount on the wall, I think it even had threads on the drain to screw on a catch bottle. IIRC, cost ~$10. Nope, I was too cheap to buy that- I'll have to look for that ketchup saver!
grin.gif
 
I just bought the ketchup saver at Wal-Mart and it works great even for the large AMSOIL bottles. I started saving the oil after every change and you would be surprised how much you can collect. Especially since I do the entire families vehicles, in-laws my parents and sisters cars. Since we all use the same oil it really adds up.

The fact that the ketchup saver locks the two bottles together there isn't any chance of dirt getting in or dust for that matter. Sure it is slow with only being able to do one bottle at a time but that is ok I have plenty of time on my hands if it saves me a few pennies.

I have been known to collect a bag full of the ketchup packets you get at the fast food resturants and once got so many that I actually filled a 16oz ketchup bottle with them.
grin.gif
 
quote:

he tipped the empty container to drain its last milliliters into a large clean bottle,

When I worked in the trade the oil rack out on the island had a catch basin for the oil can drippings (remember when they were REAL cans?) to drain into. The cans layed on two runners and they sat there until three or four cans were inserted into the opening ..the next one added pushed the first one into the trash basket below.

The head gas jockey used it for his farm equipment. It was mostly the top two grades of Uniflo (exxon) since most people added that at the island ...a little ATF maybe. On a good day it would yield a couple of quarts.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top