Filtering waste motor oil for reuse

[100Acre]

Has anybody ever done anything like this? I know that the deuce and a half; the military trucks, at least with the older ones, they could run on waste motor oil, because they’re true multi fuel engines, but it had to be filtered from what I understand. I’m wondering is, has anybody ever tried to filter waste motor oil either for the purpose of turning it back into usable oil for fuel or for burning in something like a waste oil burner? My interest is obviously for using it towards some type of fuel source. I have a garage here in town that I can collect a 50 gallon barrel of oil as often as I want. Has anybody ever used any type of centrifuge or made their own Used oil filter system?

 

[Admin]

 

[Tramguage1]

Build you a waste oil drip heater, many youtube vedios out there.
I have a smug pot( like the ones used in the orchards in Florida) heater I use outside in the winter

 

[Remington]

Has anybody ever used any type of centrifuge or made their own Used oil filter system?

Servicing fuel oil furnace’s for a long time not so much anymore, I have serviced as soon as this last winter a waist oil burner/furnace. All types can be and are messy. They need to be filtered/screened and preferably with a type of oil filter also to be changed regularly in order to get any type of long lasting sustained burn. Waist oil of any type likes to clog up the nozzle or drip if the flow isnt correct and u must monitor it oftin, also never leave them unattended cuz catastrophic issues can occur.

I made 2 oil gravity drips for wood stoves to save on wood and to use my old waist oil. At my old camp and my pole barn. I will tell you filtering it to get any type of the tiniest debris out of it was a b**** and time consuming. We almost went up in flames at the the camp. The coals went out on us, and it wasnt checked in the 15 min intervals we Were on and there was 2” of oil in the bottom of the stove happened also in my barn when i walked into the house one time but not as bad. The most anying was the clogging up of the drip. Time consuming and at times rebuilding the drip. Took both of them out after a few yrs of service.

Bottom line advice from an old service tech, if u want a waist oil burner, get one that is made strictly for it. But keep in mind still the up keep and the parts are at a premium.

 

[RedorDead]

Back in the 80’s the farm I worked at used a commercial built system to filter used motor oil and blend it back into the diesel fuel bulk tank. It didn’t really make economic sense so after a year or two we got rid of it.

Older diesels could burn a lot of stuff, I’ve seen videos of them running on straight vegetable oil. Newer ones not so much.

I have a fair amount of experience running and maintaining industrial boilers. Bigger ones can manage dirtier less refined fuels. As the burner size goes down, the problems resulting from inconsistent, dirty or less refined fuels grows exponentially. Burning waste in a burner sized to homeowner energy needs would be a big maintenance hassle I expect.

 

[HondaTech]

I filter mine back into ground where it came from

 

[JenElio]

I use my used oil to soak fire wood in 🤷‍♂️ makes for a longer bon fire 🔥....also use it to help aid in the removal of trees/stumps etc...

 

[Backwoods]

My used oil helps me run bigger tires with no lift

 

[Mopower58]

They make waste oil heaters that use waste oil. When I had my shop there was a company that paid me for the waste oil. I kept it in 3 55 gallon drums, when they were full, call and they would pick it up in less than a week. Asphalt companies use a lot of it.

 

[Vikes79]

If you go with a wood stove with a waste oil drip, make sure you only use a small supply tank ( like less than 1/2 gallon) such that you have to knowingly top it off.

It will eliminate much of the risk of flooding the combustion chamber and also make cleaning the drip pipe way easier by simply running a wire down the tube periodically.

Also I’d advise having the diameter of the tube be such that it limits the flow vs trying to do it all with a valve. You might have to tinker with some copper tubing and flared ends to get it right. If you can get it to the point that your ball valve is some version of 1/2 or full open, that’s a win. In my view you want to have the valve a good distance from the fire box.

In this setup, most around here just pass it through a simple screen.

 

[Remington]

If you go with a wood stove with a waste oil drip, make sure you only use a small supply tank ( like less than 1/2 gallon) such that you have to knowingly top it off.

It will eliminate much of the risk of flooding the combustion chamber and also make cleaning the drip pipe way easier by simply running a wire down the tube periodically.

Also I’d advise having the diameter of the tube be such that it limits the flow vs trying to do it all with a valve. You might have to tinker with some copper tubing and flared ends to get it right. If you can get it to the point that your ball valve is some version of 1/2 or full open, that’s a win. In my view you want to have the valve a good distance from the fire box.

In this setup, most around here just pass it through a simple screen.

Same set up i had for years.
Key is to stay on top of it (NoMo) but it gets old after a while.
Also noticed more clogging with synthetic style oils

 

[Lloydtheredneck]

i was a waste oil heater tech for 2 years. did a ton of retrofitting and building and design of systems. its free heat. alot of the complaints are based on a lack of knowledge. they can be temperamental but usually its from lack of service, they need attention like every 500 hrs to run flawlessly. but as far as filtering for re use that would be fine but its the additive packages you are after. if you can clean up used oil find a source for the additives then you can definitely run it again. theres alot of big companies that do that.

 

[Remington]

i was a waste oil heater tech for 2 years.

Just 2 yrs? What do u do now?

 

[Lloydtheredneck]

Just 2 yrs? What do u do now?

ive done alot of things over the years. trucks are my jam, trucking. buying/selling/fixing/driving all of the above. fleet management , fleet maintenance consulting. 99-06 chevy suburbans/tahoes/pickups are my hobby . along with being a honda fanboy !

 

[Remington]

ive done alot of things over the years. trucks are my jam, trucking. buying/selling/fixing/driving all of the above. fleet management , fleet maintenance consulting. 99-06 chevy suburbans/tahoes/pickups are my hobby . along with being a honda fanboy !

Gotcha! Was just curious if you were a fellow long time certified HVAC tech and just did oil for a short time?
I did oil for my first 6 yrs now mostly other HVAC and Generators the last 17. Im the only oil guy now but dont get many of those calls anymore. Its a dying trade. Nice to be the go too guy of the shop tho cuz they dont really train for it anymore.

 

[Lloydtheredneck]

Gotcha! Was just curious if you were a fellow long time certified HVAC tech and just did oil for a short time?
I did oil for my first 6 yrs now mostly other HVAC and Generators the last 17. Im the only oil guy now but dont get many of those calls anymore. Its a dying trade. Nice to be the go too guy of the shop tho cuz they dont really train for it anymore.

oh yea, i still do it on the side. usually do a few ac change outs in the summer for friends and neighbors. summertime i did attic ac exclusively, miserable dang work. it really is dying, i called up to the guys i used to work for to buy a new heater they told me they stopped production for good. wtf! i sourced a buderus boiler and retrofitted it with a waste oil burner. reznor used to make them and i happened upon a brand new boiler for 200$ spent about a grand in parts , now free heat!

 

[Remington]

summertime i did attic ac exclusively, miserable dang work.

We wont touch an attic AC after 11am in the summer. Very dangerous temps for a tech

 

[Lloydtheredneck]

We wont touch an attic AC after 11am in the summer. Very dangerous temps for a tech

we ran in 2 man teams, start early in the morning set the outside unit and run the line set get the air handler up and hooked up and fire it up while we ran all the ducting. air conditioned the attic lol. same thing on change outs rush to get it running then do the rest leisurely. i agree tho the stuff is miserable. hot, insulation everywhere ugh .