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Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | I have a new machine shed with a finished shop on the South end. I am looking for suggestions on handling used engine oil.
In the past in the old shed, I caught the oil in various cans or pans and climbed up a short stepladder to pour the oil into one of those palletized shuttle tanks. This worked OK but was quite messy.
Now that I have this nicer shop/shed I'm looking for a clean and easy way to get the oil into the shuttle. I'm thinking about having the shuttle in the unfinished end and having some type of plumbing through the wall to the shop. The shuttle is fairly tall so just putting some type of plumbing through the wall and using gravity won't work too well.
I'm thinking that I would need some type of pump or possibly air pressure to push the oil up and through the wall. I believe I have seen some used oil collection caddies that are quite low so as to slide under trucks etc. but yet can be pressurized with air to move the oil out of the caddy.
I'm looking for any suggestions or pictures if possible. TIA |
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Brazilton KS | We have a 55 gallon barrel with the top cup partially away, leaving the part with the 2) hole.... An expanded metal basket fits in the cutout part of the top providing a place to drain buckets, pans, and filters. The suction pipe on our oil handling pump fits in the 2" bung. The pump is an old oberdorfer gear pump made of bronze which we had laying around for as long as I can remember. The other hose off of the pump goes into the storage tank outside. The barrel sets inside the door of the van box which our heat and air compressors are mounted in. |
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Manteno Illinois 50 miles south of Chicago | look at this web site thespreader.com click on barrel buddy i have one, works slick i put it top of a 90 gal pickup fuel tank. once it is full i call the waste oil company and they come and pump it out for free
Edited by Manteno Mark 3/9/2008 12:07
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| I just catch my oil in an old 5 gallon pail and pour it around the building foundations. It keeps the weeds down, lasts a long time, and is less costly than chemicals used for the same purpose. |
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So. IL | Neighbor had a similar setup for used oil in his previous machine shed. I say previous because it's gone as of this past fall. He was storing used oil in the plastic shuttle totes also. Had a small fire that occurred while welding on a combine header. Had the used oil been in metal tanks he would still have his shed, machinery and tools. Instead it burned to the ground and there wasn't a damn thing that the fire department could do about it by the time they arrived on scene due to the burning oil and intense heat trapped inside the metal building.
If you are going to be storing used motor oil and other flammable liquids in bulk I highly recommend using metal containers and that you give consideration as to how much flammable material exists in a given location at one time.
Note that old gravity fuel storage tanks on a stand can be used for this application. They are relatively cheap at farm auctions.
My neighbor's "cheap" used oil storage system ended up costing over $750K. Fortunately no one was injured and machinery is replaceable.
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Embarrass WI | If you were caught doing that in WI, you would go to jail. I drain ours into a 55 gal steel barrel, when it gets full I trade it for an empty one down by the local mechanic who heats his shop with used oil. |
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Brazilton KS | I'm not sure i understand how one goes about igniting used motor oil.....it's gonna take a lot more then a "small fire" before you can get enough heat to sustain the fire on motor oil. I'm guessing you don't approve of IBC's for hydraulic oil or trifliralin either? We receive both of those products in them....for that matter we receive lots of other oils in smaller, thinner plastic containers. We have a couple hundred gallons of hydraulic and motor oil in the shop at any given time. Everything else stays in cold storage.
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Manteno Illinois 50 miles south of Chicago | You ever sell that farm and they do an environmental study you might have a problem. What was the name of that town that spread used oil on the roads, Love Canal ? |
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East Prairie, MO | No kidding on the environmental study! I have a 17 gallon roll around oil pan with a pump on it and have a hose running inside the shop from a 300 gallon steel tank outside. Hook up the drain pan and pump it out there, when the tank gets pretty full I call a local oil recycler and he comes and pays me $100 to pump out my used oil. |
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68340 | I did the same. Cut down a 55 gal drum to about 6 inches high. Put it on a plate of steel with casters, elect. motor and pump. Have a hyd hose hooked to the unit. Roll it under the machine. Drain. Pump to 500 gal outdoor storage tank. |
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So. IL | At least one of the plastic totes were on the ground. Several more were located in a rack above. The fire melted the side of one of the plastic tote located on the ground (due to cardboard boxes of ?? burning in front of it) thereby spilling used motor oil into the fire which then erupted. Prior to the side of the tote melting the fire was being knocked down with a garden hose and would have been put out. As with many large scale losses no single item created this total loss. Also, had the shop been a seperate building from the machinery storage the loss would have been much less.
I am simply suggesting that the setup that you, I and many others have needs evaluation. If you are comfortable with that much flammable liquid in plastic containers that's certainly your business. If insurer's begin having too many large dollar claims we could eventually be required to meet existing NFPA regulations for storage of flammable liquids in workplaces in order to even get insurance. If that happens most if not all plastic containers with flammable liquids will be gone from farm machine shops and machinery storage areas unless we are willing to put in specialized fire protection and/or containment systems.
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SE Nebraska, Near Misery and Cans Ass! | I have a 25 gal. low profile drain pan on wheels with a cordless drill powered transfer pump that I got from harbor freight for $199 five years ago. One of the best thing s I ever got for shop use. BTW I get $1.00 a gallon for clean used oil in 250 gallon totes. Lots of businesses and farmers with waste oil heaters don't have enough oil. I can use a corded drill if I want to and it has a quick couple hose connection to go to the tote. |
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Brazilton KS | I am assuming that the oil company who supplies us would have to meet NFPA standards, wouldn't they? There is probably 5000-10000 gallons in IBC's and other plastic containers in their warehouse. The same applies to the herbicide distributor. I'm not advocating having fires and I do not take the threat of fire lightly, but this must not be so simple because I do not think using IBC's for combustible liquids is outside the realm of normal practice. |
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| I have not done this yet but the guy that picks up my used oil suggested this says he has seen others do this and works great cut a 30 or 55 barrel down to 10-12 inches high buy a sump pump claim they last a long time and are rather cheap to boot cover the barrel with expanded metal dump used oil in and pump will kick in and pump out when necessary and set filters on top to dispose of when drained just keep an eye on the outside storage tank and don't run that over. Dennis SEND |
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Brazilton KS | I think I might need a new sump pump.....
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| I use an old anhydrous amonia 500 gal two wheel trailer tank with suction fittings on the very top. I have a York A/C type compressor, suction side to the tank, powered by a small Honda engine. It will pull the vacuum to about 20 in. at this altitude. Parked outside the shop, I just wheel the drain pan out to it and vacuum out the pan. Oil changes on irrigation power units , I have a valve in the oil pan with 1" cam lock fittings to hook up to the tank and vacuum out the oil. It has served very well for the last 18 years. |
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Dalhart Texas | sageoilvac.com... |
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So. IL | Your oil distributor likely meets NFPA regulations in their storage area. It would be interesting to know their answer if you were to ask. That does not mean that plastic IBC's are approved oil storage containers for just any area though. I would suspect that their storage building is designed and equipped for the application having secondary containment, limited volume piles, separation of piles and quite possibly a fire sprinkler/suppression system equipped with foam. It is unlikely that most farmers have machine shop's that are comparably equipped for storing bulk oils in plastic containers. I also doubt that your oil supplier is allowed to perform "hot work" in the same building where this storage exists.
For what it's worth most plastic IBC totes are designed to be filled once and must be recycled and recertified prior to reuse. In most instances this means that the plastic liner is removed and replaced. The useful life of a metal tank used to collect waste oil far exceeds the designed life of a plastic lined IBC tote.
Don't get the wrong impression. I am not condemning anyone who uses plastic oil containers. I just wanted to expose what I believe is a significant hazard. I would have not thought it such a serious issue if I had not seen the severity of a fire where used oil leaked out of plastic lined IBC containers.
Google found this link to the hazard of plastic IBC's:
http://ifnews.if.fi/en/latest-topics/lessons-from-losses/is-an-oil-fire-threatening-your-company-.html
Edited by Hawken Cougar 3/9/2008 21:28
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Brazilton KS | I sure didn't know that the plastic liners were replaced every fill. They definitely are not in the herbicide business, because I've seen more then just a couple of those filled. Our IBC's and jugs (and drums, for that matter) are not in the hot work area although strictly speaking they are not separated except by about 50' of space. Our used oil storage is not even in the same building as the shop. Now that I think about it, I have seen some fairly volatile substances (methanol and thinner come to mind) in plastic containers. I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with that. I think a much greater concern is the trend of hanging 200 gallons or so of diesel fuel in a plastic tank surrounding the engine on a machine which is an inherent fire hazard to begin with. If our cotton strippers had plastic fuel tanks they certainly would have both been destroyed in the limited amount of time we operated them. |
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So. IL | The SCHÜTZ brand of IBC that I have worked with always have new liners when received:
http://www.schuetz.net/schuetz/en/industrial_packaging/intermediate...
Here is the reconditioning info: http://www.schuetz.net/schuetz/en/industrial_packaging/ticket_servi...
It is possible that the particular product or industry require complete reconditioning each time thus the new liners that I continue to see. I assumed that it was standard practice. Apparently that is not the case: http://www.myerscontainer.com/IBC/IBCReconProcess.htm
On the other hand the Snyder brand of IBC used where I work is cleaned, inspected and reused: http://www.snyderibcs.com/ibc-tanks.htm
I agree about the plastic fuel tanks on farm implements. That's certainly a one and done scenario regarding risk and damage from fire.
Edited by Hawken Cougar 3/10/2008 07:54
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Alma NE | uhh ohh Rich i hope you inspect those ibcs i got you today |
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South Georgia | Plowboy, I don't know about strippers, or where there fuel tanks are, but Deere does use plastic fuel tanks on the pickers, now. The fuel tanks are all the way in the back, sticking out the bottom of the frame, behind the back axle, with probably 30-36" of ground clearance. Not defending the practice, just noting it.
Even with a metal tank, I don't really like having it hanging down there by two straps, with nothing shielding it in case I back into something. Again.
Adrian |
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SE Nebraska, Near Misery and Cans Ass! | What about the plastic tank under any vehicle 24 inches or less frin a 1200 degree converter? |
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Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | Thanks for all the replies. I hadn't really thought of the fire aspect. I'm not terribly concerned since the used oil would be on the opposite side of the dividing wall.
If the used oil caddy had large enough wheels I could roll it across the yard to the old shed where I stored the used oil in the past. |
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Near Intersection of I-35 & I-90 Southern Mn. | This sounds like what I had in mind. Sounds like this was a homemade unit. Could you get a picture for me? I thought there might be some commerical units of a similar style.
Thanks - Ted
Edited by tedbear 3/10/2008 07:56
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Macon, IL | My grandfather used to have two "ramps" that straddled the ditch across the road from the house. When he would change oil in cars and pickup he would just open the plug and let it go down into the grass in the ditch. Did that for 40 years.
They moved to town 15 years ago-I never would have thought grass would grow there but sure enough you can never even tell where that was.
Now take a core sample at 18 inches and you will probably think you are in Saudi Arabia. LOL |
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Suggestions for handling used engine oil
