uses for used motor oil?

[schweizer]

I use waste motor oil (WMO) in a Listeroid 6/1 stationary diesel engine (1920's technology, 600 rpm, 5 inch piston, 800 lbs, and only 6 hp). Start and stop on red diesel, then switch to WMO when hot. Carbon deposits will form on the injector which needs to be cleaned every so often, but that's easy to do. I let the WMO sit in 55 gal drums for >6mos to settle out as many particulates as possible, then it gets thinned with about 20% diesel. After that I heat it in a 40 gal old water heater tank, then centrifuge it at 8000 rpm. Great free fuel! Time will tell how long the engine lasts...

Marcus

 

[Diamondpilot]

We cut 150 cords a year firewood and i have always just used new 15/40 in saws , I worked for some large forestry and logging crews and 15/40 is all they used too wether company workers or self employed that supply saws .

Why use 15W40 when its twice as much?:confused2: Around here the cheapest 15W40 oil I can get, (Rotella, Dello 400, or Mobil Delvac) runs $12 per gallon. I can buy bar oil all day long at Menards or Rural King for $5.99 per gallon.

Chris

 

[Diamondpilot]

I use waste motor oil (WMO) in a Listeroid 6/1 stationary diesel engine (1920's technology, 600 rpm, 5 inch piston, 800 lbs, and only 6 hp). Start and stop on red diesel, then switch to WMO when hot. Carbon deposits will form on the injector which needs to be cleaned every so often, but that's easy to do. I let the WMO sit in 55 gal drums for >6mos to settle out as many particulates as possible, then it gets thinned with about 20% diesel. After that I heat it in a 40 gal old water heater tank, then centrifuge it at 8000 rpm. Great free fuel! Time will tell how long the engine lasts...

Marcus

Does not sound free to me. Sounds like a lot of equipment is needed and work to get something usable. How much fuel do you use per year in this engine and what is your time worth?

I looked into bio diesel a few years back. Just was not worth it in the long run. Kind of a false economy when I considered my time and setup cost.

Chris

 

[rsewill]

After that I heat it in a 40 gal old water heater tank, then centrifuge it at 8000 rpm.
Marcus

Centrifuge? Must be quite the centrifuge! Do you get much waste product from centrifuging your oil?

 

[schweizer]

Sounds like a lot of equipment is needed and work to get something usable. How much fuel do you use per year in this engine and what is your time worth?

Yeah, it's probably more trouble than what it's worth for most people, including me. Now that it's running, There's actually not much time involved. We're off-the-grid and this time of year the generator provides us w/ over half our power, so it's running a few hours/day. Burning a gallon a day probably saves me $100/month of diesel. The centrifuge was about $500 w/ gear pump & motor. The old water heater tank was free. WMO is free from friends.

You can get the little centrifuges at: PA Biodiesel Supply : Waste Vegetable Oil Cleaning : Biodiesel Centrifuge : Motor Oil : Water Removal : WVO Filtering : Dewatering Centrifuge : WMO Filtration Units
They're not as good as the much larger ones, but cost a small fraction of the price, and this is an experiment anyway.

If you think about burning WMO in an engine, you'll need to have either a primitive old engine, something without EFI, or dilute it quite a bit. Here's my Listeroid engine: Listeroid 1

Marcus

 

[Tollster]

I use it as Bar oil as well with no issues, the bark alone has more dirt than any cup of oil from my truck.

I also use it on green wood piles,pine and hemlock, diesel, oil,and the leaf blower will get any pile to consume itself...fairly quick I might add.

 

[SHORT KID]

I had a mechanic friend that worked for Roadway Express, their engines were piped right into the fuel tanks. the oil was metered and every so many miles they just added oil to the engine. The filters were changed at normal intervals and all was well. They saved money and time that way and always had clean oil and no disposal.

 

[KubotainNH]

I would not put used motor oil in a chain saw. My FIL did this for a couple seasons and then the pump stopped drawing oil. I took the saw apart and found the lube oil hose was like goo, I assume from the contaminates in the used oil. I have burned some in my house oil furnace. I filtered and mixed it with normal fuel with no issues. The furnace filter and blower nozzle get replaced fairly often as maintenance and haven't seen any issues. Actually, I'm way overdue to replace them as it is and it's still fine.

 

[Bud Soda]

Just out of curiosity, what would the benefit be?

Maybe top cylinder lube I guess.

 

[fairwelder]

I pour my used motor oil on my sandy road. Helps settle the sand and control dust