Can I burn old oil filters?

sixdogs · Mar 28, 2011

This did not search well the so if old news I'll delete.

My summer project is to cancel trash pickup, recycle everything I can and burn the harmless remainers. Bury the vegetable stuff.
I'm no green weenie, just tired of paying for a guy to pick up a half shopping bag of trash each week.

One of the problem issues is old oil filters and what to do with them.
I wouldn't want to spill old oil on the ground but figure to stand up the drained filter in my burnable trash and light the pile.
Seems the pile burns, the oil and media burns and I can put the remainder metal can in with my metal trash.

Is this a good idea??

schoolsout · Mar 28, 2011

is there a dump nearby? They should have oil disposal containers.

tcartwri · Mar 28, 2011

Most retailers are required to take them back, as well as your waste oil, for free.

sixdogs · Mar 28, 2011

schoolsout said:
is there a dump nearby? They should have oil disposal containers.

No--none--zero of anything like that in my part of Ohio.
It's all landfill and picked up by contract refuse trucks.
Some townships recycle the basice for two hours one day per month.

gerard · Mar 28, 2011

If you burn them in a fire, all the residual oil and the inner paper filter will burn to ash, leaving a chunk of recyclable metal no different than an old soup can. Crush it in a vise afterward and you can just colect them for a long time before making a dump run.

D7E · Mar 29, 2011

Just leave them upturned for a while to drain and throw then in the scrap bin with all the other metal , never had a complaint yet !

Ken Pike · Mar 29, 2011

They work great in the wood stove in my shop.

jonyyuma · Mar 29, 2011

You should be aware of the contaminates that are in used diesel oil, before burning the filters. we have to drain and crush ours before recycling them.

JerryK · Mar 29, 2011

I drain as much oil out of them that I can, then place them upside down in my wood stove out in the barn, on top of a well established fire. After they are completely burnt out, I remove them and let them cool in a old aluminum milk pail for a day or so. Then they go in the trash. Not a very good thing to do if you have neighbors close and when the wind is going their way, so plan accordingly. [ no sirens or flashing lights yet...!!! ]