How to get rid of used motor oil??
My mechanic has about 20 drums of used motor oil and wants to get rid of if. Now this stuff has all kinds of stuff mixed in it, hydraulic fluid and maybe some antifreeze. He can't find anyone that wants it. Can this stuff be cleaned up and used in diesel engines? Does anyone want to come to MS and pick this stuff up? I have not checked with local EPA people because it could possibly bite him, if you know what I mean. He wants to get rid of it and I am looking for a cheap way out for him. Thanks, Tom
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Local Machine shop? 0 -
Use it as bar oil for your chainsaw. Or you can use it as a chaser for some disgusting liquor you have to get rid of somehow and can't stand to throw out. 0 -
earth911.org that should have a place listed in your area 0 -
Here is a portion of a post I wrote last year about oil recycling which will give you an idea of the technical aspects of the process:
A kilogram of waste oil yeilds about 39,000 BTUs so it is a viable fuel for heating, or for use as a so called bunker fuel. However, waste oil represents a valuable resource: About 3 billion gallons of lubricating oils are sold each year in the United States, slightly less than half of which is engine lubricating oil. When my first wife and I were engineers working for Union Oil 25 years ago and during the second oil crunch, there was a huge push to develope improved methods for the reuse of used motor oils since the technology had advanced very little since the days of WWII. Although marketing would have you believe otherwise, motor oils do not physically "wear out", instead they become contaminated with water, certain combustion byproducts (lead was a bad one back in the old pre unleaded gasoline days) and even common dirt if you have a bad seal at the air cleaner or your rings were worn. The earliest effective method used to "clean" used oil was the acid-clay technology where the oil was heated to a temperature high enough to remove any water present, specific acids were added to nuetralize contaminets and then the oil was "Scrubbed" through clay to further clean it. I remember that Thrifty Drug Stores used to sell this reused oil for much less than "virgin" engine oil along with refurbished spark plugs (which worked great).
The probelm with the clay-acid method was that it only yielded around 50% useable oil from the waste oil and a better method had to be developed. This was vaccum distillation process and in a nut shell the waste oil was re-refined back into it fractions in a special distillation tower. Since waste motor oils are not crude oils the waste oil will not generate frations other than lubricating oil (and a few lighter fractions) so the process does not mandate the same high heat as the distillation of crude. You get yields of as much as 80% useable oil from vacuum distillation and you need only about one third the energy to re-refine a gallon of lubricating oil from waste oil vs. crude oil so you save on both ends. Once the oil has ben re-refined the additive package is restored and it can be packaged and marketed. There were some municipal agencies as well as fleets who used this re-refined oil and while I never heard of any problems, when the oil market collapsed in the mid 1980's the interest in reusing waste oil droppped off to near zero and has remained at a very low level up until a few years ago when crude oil prices began to move up.0 -
Some small metal fabrication shops will take it as well.
If they cast metal parts, they use a sand/oil mix to pack their custom molds with.0 -
As a couple of folks have mentioned, our local Chevrolet dealer burns it for heat in the Winter. 0 -
Tccox: wanna be a hero to your mechanic? Just go down the road to the very next garage, ask them who removes their old oil, and come back to your mechanic with the information.
Sounds like he doesn't want to pay the oil removal fees. And he's whining. Best, Joe0 -
I usually dump mine in my neighbor's pond. His fish all died but it sure keeps the mosquito population down! 0 -
Buy a waste oil heater and heat the shop for the next few years. They're cheap right now, no one is using them, prices go up after September. 0 -
WOW, do any of you guys (AJ & Givette) ever read what is posted before replying?? AJ, you have told me twice to have him burn it. I previously replied he cannot burn it all. Also it is contaminated with anitfreeze, hydraulic oil, brake fluid and whatever else he drained out of cars, truck, whatever. This has been going on for YEARS before we (he)knew anything about recycling.
Givette, he is not whining. I was simply trying to find a LEGAL way for hinm to dispose of this stuff. Normal practice has been to just drop off drums of the stuff aling the road, sort of like the mafia does with bodies up north.
Some of the older drums are starting to get a little rusty and I would hate to see it burst and get into a drainage ditch about 20 feet away. It might could cause him some grief.
Anyway, I do appreciate all replies. Some were pretty good. Thanks, Tom0 -
the garage down the street takes it from me...don;t care what they do with it as long as it's out of my garage. 0 -
With all the trash he has mixed in with the old oil he is going to have to pay to have it disposed of. Tell him to start keeping three drums going - one for oil only, one for antifreeze only, and one for the other stuff. Old oil with antifreeze, transmission fluid, or brake fluid in it does not work well in waste oil furnaces. And they cannot recycle the old oil with a mixture of contaminents in it. 0 -
41 nut and all others. He NOW knows this and NOTHING goes into the oil drum but OIL. He is just an old shadetree mechanic and this recycling stuff just sort of snuck up on him. Yes, I can remember when we just dumped this stuff on the gravel road to keep the dust down. In fact. we still have some roads here that could use a good oiling. I guess we could just haul it to Biloxi, dump it, and blame it on the hurricane!! Tom 0 -
Contaminated oil. Can't sell it. Gotta pay someone to take it off the premises. That's all I'm gettin at. And I think your mechanic friend knows it, too.
Perhaps "whining" is a little strong. I apologize. Scratch it, and use "upset" instead. If that's too strong, use "concerned". Aw, shucks...use whatever fits the scenario. I'm easy to please. Best, Joe0 -
heres a site, may look into autozone, and yes autozone does take commericail oil. so they should be able to handle that unless he wants to cut the middle man and have someone come get it for him directly http://www.recycleoil.org/ third one down on the right, just type in city, state/ zipcode
if he can get a company called safety kleen out there they will take it, old gas and oil and all, mixed or not mixed. you pay them a fee not monthly just when they come out. they even give new/old oil drums to replace the one(s) they take, just call and tell them how many they need to get.0 -
Givette, how about "he don't give a slimet". I saw the barrells behind his shop and asked what was in them. He told me. I said I will see how to get rid of the stuff. That was the reason for my original question, how to get rid of this stuff. I can easily get rid of it, just dump it. Ain't no big thing around here. Tom 0 -
Hope you are kidding about dumping it. Joker5656 has posted a solution to the problem. Hope your mechanic bud appreciates your getting involved like this. Best, Joe 0 -
Bottle it,paste a label on it,and sell it as "fire ant" deterrent!
Can always list ingredients as "trade secret"!
Dunno how well used oil would work on em but overage 2-stroke mix is a killer!
Allen0 -
He can do the right thing and pay (perhaps) to have it disposed of properly. Probably it should go through an incinerator if it's that badly contaminated.
Or he can just dump it in a local stream, contaminating the waters where people fish and swim and having all sorts of God knows what leech into the local water supply. When arrested, he should be sure to talk about all these foolish, ridiculous liberal environmental regulations that are hurting hard-working, patriotic Americans.
My buddy in one of his first jobs as a lawyer represented a coal company that, when faced with disposal costs for about 100 tons of toxic coal dust, decided the best course of action would be to dump it in several local streams and rivers. Lo and behold, when pretty much every fish for 30 miles downstream went belly up and miles and miles of pristine trout steams were ruined, people took offense. My buddy said the coal company guy went on and on about what a PITA this all was, never once mentioning that perhaps he should have done the right thing and disposed of it properly.0 -
I mix my old oil (when I change my oil myself) with a bit of diesel and use it to help start my fires in my burn barrels when I burn my trash. I burn 90% of my trash as I don't have trash service and if I don't burn it I have to haul it off.
Useing the oil and diesel mix makes it more like an insinerator to make sure everything is fully reduced to ashes.0 -
Buy this truck: 
It will run on gasoline, tranny fluid, brake fluid, diesel, gear oil, jet fuel, kersone....you name it....it will run on it. Antifreeze won't stop it from running. You could pee in the fuel tank and it will run on it.
Best dang truck America ever made. Multi-Fuel engine.0 -
quote:Originally posted by ObiWan
Buy this truck:
It will run on gasoline, tranny fluid, brake fluid, diesel, gear oil, jet fuel, kersone....you name it....it will run on it. Antifreeze won't stop it from running. You could pee in the fuel tank and it will run on it.
Best dang truck America ever made. Multi-Fuel engine.
If I remember right the Army has done away with the old Multifuel engines now.
They were great engines but lacking in the power department as the had to lower the compression ratio to accomidate running on fuels like gasoline.0
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