Complete drain of quart bottles

[GreeCguy]

Just wondering if I'm the only one who does this. As I'm sure you all know, whenever you do an oil change using quart bottles, there is always a little bit of oil that remains inside the bottle, (maybe a tablespoon full). What I do after an oil change is keep all my bottles and one at a time, I place them upside down with the neck inside a five quart jug. I let them sit there for about a week and allow them to slowly drain completely into the jug. I do this with my bottles, my neighbors bottles and my brothers bottles.

There is a Mom and Pop repair shop down the road from me and for a while, I would stop by on Sunday afternoons on my way home from Church and dig through their dumpster and pull out all the bottles and jugs from their oil changes, (a wide assortment from synthetics to regular dino, all weights as well - though I noticed 10W30 was most popular. I would carry these home and run them through my set up and over time collected literally QUARTS of free, clean, brand new oil. I finally stopped as my wife grew tired of the large bags of oil bottles in the garage. (Though this post is tempting me to return).

Just wondering if anyone does the same thing or am I unique in this habit.

 

[Donald]

I value my time and do not want any old [censored] oil. I will skip this.

 

[Artem]

Dumpster diving for table spoons of left over oil in a bunch of empty oil bottles... Yea, I think you might be the only one doing that but this being BITOG and most of us being oil crazy, I wouldn't be surprised if someone else does the same thing.

I personally do the same thing by draining the leftover oil into one bottle and use as top off later on. I'd get maybe 1/10th of a quart bottle full after draining 5 quarts. It's not much but why throw it away right?

OP, you're crazy but hearing you collect a few quarts worth of oil does sound tempting but I certainly won't go dumpster diving for empty bottles anytime soon. Hahaha.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

I had never thought of it. Not a bad way to collect free oil though. Seems like it would be more time consuming that it's worth.

 

[Recalculating]

I believe you should be the first BITOG recipient for the green thumb dumpster diver award.

My best regards to your wife.

Congratulations!

 

[PandaBear]

I do that with my own oil, 5 mins max for each bottle, but no, I wouldn't do weeks at a time or would I dumpster dive others' oil. I read that my county's waste would crush the oil bottle and then let it drain out before landfill it. (oil soaked bottle is not recyclable)

Heck, even Walmart only drain their bottle for minutes before going into the trash.

 

[wrcsixeight]

When I do use individual quart bottles, I keep them upside down, cap on, for a while after emptying them to get that extra tablespoon or 2 out of them.

That's as far as I'd go.

 

[ABerns]

I save all the quart bottles from my oil changes, drain them for a week each, and use this oil for top off, yes. I even separate the synthetic from the conventional

While I don't dumpster dive, I know there are several members here (or used to be here) who collected empty oil bottles from local shops and did the same thing. Or at least these members claimed at the time to do it...

 

[bepperb]

How many bottles does it take to get a quart?

As in I use 12~13 bottles when I change both my cars, would I get even half a quart from this? If I could, then maybe. If it takes more than that I don't have the space.

 

[REDDOG]

I don't do the dumpster thing but I save bottles (and friends bottles), drain them and use it for top up oil for friends and coworkers. If I didn't find it fun, it wouldn't be worth it, but for some reason I do!

Folks appreciate free top up oil! I wish I had some folks on camera when I tell them they don't owe me anything for topping up there oil! Part of being a good BITOGer. Oh, and it eliminates waste!

 

[GreeCguy]

Well, the way I look at it is this - I enjoy it. To me it seems a huge waste of time to play golf, tennis or spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon sitting inside watching a football game, (and I won't even mention the hours some people waste cheering for teams named after the color of their stockings).

Some people collect stamps, others sew. To me, used stamps are trash and I buy all my clothes at Goodwill. But every drop of oil saved is another penny in my pocket.

I'm beginning to think this was a mistake to post this thread. If this is new news to you guys, that means I'll have competition which means less drops for me. STAY OUT OF THE DUMPSTER - THOSE DROPS ARE MINE!!!

 

[Fleetmon]

I don't dumpster-dive for other peoples old oil containers but I've always drained my own oil containers (oil droplets) into a five quart oil container and that oil is what I use for my oil squirt cans and other things when I need just a bit of oil for this or that.

It is amazing how much oil you can collect over time - our 528i took 7 quarts, and the new 535d takes 7-1/2 and we have several tractors and pieces of OPE that all generate new oil droplets - I've got almost two full quarts from collecting oil this way. However, with our commute mileage, it's not unusual for me to change oil every 6 or 7 weeks so I use quite a bit of oil.

 

[mongo161]

IMO...it's a good practice.....not to waste the resource.

No dumpster diving for me!

However, I drain the quart bottles and jugs by using a large funnel that drains the oil into a 5 quart Jug. Just let the empty containers do their thing by draining all the oil from the empties.

I do use this as a top off and yes....the oil is of different brands and weights.

Also a quick rinse with MMO of each empty, after draining the oil, is added to an empty quart container of some very nice fortified MMO for top offs towards the end of the OCI period.

 

[REDDOG]

bepperb,

I'd say I get an oz or two from a 5 qt and maybe .5 oz from a qt bottle, estimate. I just drain them as I get them so they are not laying around. I probably average a qt a month, lol.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I leave mine laying out in the sun for awhile,then pour the remaining bit into the engine.

 

[REDDOG]

GreeCguy,

Not a mistake! Good to know I'm not the only one out there! I kind of figured there would be others out there! Its a fun, productive hobby!

 

[Quattro Pete]

Wow... talk about OCD at a whole other level.

 

[tightwad]

After an oil change, I set the bottles on the narrow side and let the left over oil drain toward the cap. I get a teaspoon or so out of each one. Free oil for the lawnmower. But dumpster diving for empty bottles is a little much, even for the ol' tightwad.

 

[GreeCguy]

Originally Posted By: bepperb
How many bottles does it take to get a quart?

As in I use 12~13 bottles when I change both my cars, would I get even half a quart from this? If I could, then maybe. If it takes more than that I don't have the space.


To be honest, I've never kept track of how many bottles it takes to make a quart. But let's say there's 1/2 oz in each bottle on average, (some more, but very few less). Therfore, the easy math would be 64 bottles to equal a full quart.

But keep this in mind as well. Us Bitog types don't do the quickie oil change. Typically we probably pour the oil in the motor and then allow the bottle to sit there for a few minutes and allow as much as possible to drain into the motor. Compare that to a business which advertises "Oil change 15 minutes or less." My guess would be the bottle never even touches the motor but is simply opened, dumped into the motor via a funnel and then tossed in the trash barrel - so naturally there is going to be a little more leftover oil in these bottles. I swear on occasion, I've gotten more than an ounce out of a quart bottle and several ounces out of the 5 quart jugs. When I was hot and heavy doing this, I had several large cardboard boxes I kept the "to be drained" bottles in and a dozen jugs on my work bench, each with a bottle draining into the jugs. Sometimes, I would do a "quickie" dump into one jug and thats when the quarts added up.

To make this work, you have to have a ready supply of bottles and jugs, (mine was right down the road on my way home, I didn't even have to drive out of the way). You have to have a lot of patience and enjoy watching those drops add up. And finally, you have to have a very patient and loving wife who understands why you're compelled to do this. Flowers work as does candy. But be sure she doesn't watch any of those reality shows about hoarding as she'll start asking questions and before you know it, your boxes of bottles are on the curb. By the way, those long grabby things that you see old men using to pick up cans on the side of the road really well when grabbing bottles and jugs from the dumpster.

As a side note, if you're tempted to dumpster dive for anything, be sure you are not in the dumpster when the garbage man comes. Being compressed by huge trash compactor would be very bad, very bad indeed.

 

[getnpsi]

If i see one on the ground at autozone or at a gas station ill pick it up and toss it in the trunk. Ill pick up soda cans for recycling payout before tossed oil bottles or additive bottles though.

A GREAT call for leaving your bottles in the sun to thin out for ease of pour.

Along the same lines @home if you microwave a brown hersheys bottle 15 seconds thats two more bowls of ice cream, or one extra glass of chocolate milk...