What Do You Do With Your Waste Oil?

[Bob50]

There is a little known law in my state that says if a business sells motor or hydraulic oil, they must also accept used oil for recycling. The law is never enforced.

My tractors generate around 15 gallons of motor & hydraulic oil per year. When I bring the used stuff to the place where I bought the new oil and ask them to take it, they look at me like I had two heads. No one will accept it. Sure, I use some for lubing machinery but there is always a whole lot left over.

Years ago, when I bought my first tractor, the dealer heated his building with waste oil. He had a tank beside the building where customers could leave their used oil. He eventually had to take it out because people were dumping all sorts of crap in it. Used anti freeze was the biggest problem since it caused damage to his burner.

When I worked for the local telephone company, I made friends with the truck mechanic. He let me dump my oil in his recycle tank which was collected monthly by a recycling company.

Now that I'm retired and have several tractors, the problem is worse than ever. I'm storing my used oil in an old 275 gallon fuel oil tank but it's almost full.

Considering the cost of new oil these days, there must be a market for the used stuff. I don't generate enough to warrant spending big bucks on a waste oil heater. I'm curious what others here do with their used tractor oil??

I go to autozone, or advance auto, and they take it for free.. I think people take it for waste oil furnaces

 

[ultrarunner]

My understanding is it has some value. I’m not sure what they do with it but I think it was Valvoline was advertising there was a “green oil” that was using some percentage of recycled oil.

Value fluctuated... flooring company with small fleet was given 55 gallon drum by recycler and was paid $8 when full... said it was great.

After a few years of success he called and was told they no longer pay and now charge $25 plus Hazmat Fee... I think the drum is still there in the warehouse!

 

[jerrybob]

I save mine and use it to seal the wood on my trailers. It is excellent for that, and it has a nice color too. I power wash them a couple times a year and re-seal, usually once in the spring and once in late summer or early fall. I just grab an old mop and slop it on there. Keeps the wood from splitting.

You could stain a deck with it and it would look just like a reddish brown wood stain. Doesn't look bad at all.

Ditto...great sealer for trailers.....anything left over.....our local PUD (power company) uses it to heat their shop.

 

[ericm979]

I don't get much used oil but use it for bar lubricating oil in a chainsaw.

Used motor oil has heavy metals and other somewhat toxic compounds which you're spraying around the environment. It's lousy as a bar lube since it lacks the "tackifiers" that make bar lube stick to the bar. Your chains and bars will wear faster. And it makes a mess of the saw.

Recycling it is the best way to deal with used oil. Real bar lube is $7/gallon at TSC when its on sale.

 

[sixdogs]

A local business buys mine for 50 cents a gallon to power their waste oil furnace.

Before that I used to take it to Tractor Supply and Advance Auto. This worked but some employees used to mildly hassle guys for doing it.

 

[Yanmar J]

Walmart, they take a maximum of 4 gallons at a time though. Usually stick four gallons in the wife's van once twice a month and have her drop it off. They also take batteries.

I also wipe down my hand tools (shovels, rakes, axes), vice, anything else. Keep a gallon jug by the door of the garage and put it on a shop rag as needed. Go through maybe a gallon or two a year that way.

Some states claim used oil/hydraulic fluid is cancer causing. Of course now day EVERYTHING is cancer causing.

 

[bunchgrass]

Used motor oil has heavy metals and other somewhat toxic compounds which you're spraying around the environment. It's lousy as a bar lube since it lacks the "tackifiers" that make bar lube stick to the bar. Your chains and bars will wear faster. And it makes a mess of the saw.

Recycling it is the best way to deal with used oil. Real bar lube is $7/gallon at TSC when its on sale.

If you want to go really green, they sell a sort of veg based bar oil what has mushroom spores in it to seed the chips etc left behind. Not sure if it's still available.

 

[Jstpssng]

I tried it as B&C oil once but didn't like the mess that it made of my saw.

 

[Oaktree]

Used motor oil has heavy metals and other somewhat toxic compounds which you're spraying around the environment. It's lousy as a bar lube since it lacks the "tackifiers" that make bar lube stick to the bar. Your chains and bars will wear faster. And it makes a mess of the saw.

Recycling it is the best way to deal with used oil. Real bar lube is $7/gallon at TSC when its on sale.

Yeah, I made that mistake many years ago trying to be cheap. The sediment in the oil clogged all the passages in the saw, and didn't lubricate worth squat. At least it wasn't an expensive mistake, but it was a PITA to clean all the gunk out of the saw.

 

[number two]

About 15 years ago,when oil was $150/barrel and diesel was $5/gallon,shops were paying a buck or more for waste oil for their furnaces.

The way oil prices seem to be heading,it may become valuable again!