What do you do with used oil filters?

[RalphVa]

I've burned mine. Putting them in a wood stove is the best idea for getting heat value and getting rid of the oil. You'll end up with just a little bit of scrap metal that can be recycled.

Ralph

 

[zmoz]

I toss mine in the trash...The trash is sold per lb and then BURNED...I am saving someone money!!!

That is a good point, a good portion of our trash gets burned before they bury it. They make electricity out of it and sell it for a premium. You're just donating fuel to them when you throw out an oil filter! (I'll bet they have a magnet for pulling out the leftover metal too)

The majority of the waste oil that you "recycle" gets burned, either in shop heaters, or very often large ships will have more than one type of fuel onboard - something clean for when they're in controlled waters, something like dirty used oil for when they're out to sea where there are no regulations. The market for re-refined motor oil is tiny...and I can't blame people. No thanks...

 

[Diamondpilot]

Gee, we're back to 1955 again!

Just like a 8N....

Chris

 

[dstig1]

You can recycle them in Minn, but it doesn't appear to be the case in Wis. Minn state law requires all places that do oil changes to accept oil and filters from the DIY crowd. Wis doesn't so it is harder to find places that will. But I live on the border, so I just drop them off in Minn. So I just save them and turn them in when I take a batch of oil in. Some places will charge you a buck each, but I found a place that doesn't so I go there. Nobody charges for the oil.

 

[WH401]

The county landfill recycles them.

 

[clemsonfor]

Gee, we're back to 1955 again!

I was thinking the same thing. NOt as far back as the 50's, but the old 1980 mercedes 300D (deisel) had a paper element type filter in it. You just pulled off two 12mm nuts and pulled the top of and pulled out the paper element and replaced an oring on that cover and bolted it back on. No crawling under the vehicle and hand in percarious manners , then to tight so you have to go get a filter wrench to take it off.

 

[lostcause]

I think most of this used oil is burned as a fuel and not truly recycled as you may think. I guess it still costs too much to re-refine it.

it's probably not as common down your way, but up here a lot of garages have waste oil burners in them. since you have to heat your shop in the winter months, it ends up being a lot cheaper for some of them to go that route than pay $2.50-$3.50 for heating oil. i'm not talking just automobile repair shops either - there are a lot of people who own garages to support their own trucks and heavy equipment and they generate a lot of waste oil each year. some of them will even buy waste oil. i remember a a few years ago a friend with a small shop mentioning that he sold the waste oil from customer's cars at $0.50/gal.

 

[Depmandog]

If you call your oil "waste oil" then it IS hazardous waste. If you call your oil "used oil" then it IS NOT a hazardous waste. Used oil can be burned as fuel or sold.... It's a commodity. Waste oil has to be treated as hazardous waste, you can't legally store or transport without proper licenses...AND it costs a fortune to dispose.

All you small shop owners, make sure your oil storage drums say used oil, otherwise you could be in trouble if the wrong people see it.

I know it's crazy...

 

[Gale Hawkins]

They are just scrap metal if one could figure out how to remove the media.

Any good low cost ideas on how to cut the can off of the filter base?:thumbsup:

 

[doall]

saws all. big tubing cutter. band saw. dremmel.

 

[EE_Bota]

They are just scrap metal if one could figure out how to remove the media.

Any good low cost ideas on how to cut the can off of the filter base?:thumbsup:

There is not much point (IMO) to mention a specific one, since everyone varies in their filter usage (quantitiy and size) but I searched "oil filter cutter" in a popular search engine, and many possibilities come up, some costing as little as the mid $30's. Apparently air craft people are big into it, they like to open their filters to see what debris is accumulated.

At work, I cut open filters with a band saw. Let me tell ya....that's a dicey thing to do. They crush, spin, deform, have sharp edges, and one has to be very careful to count fingers when the job is over. I'm against using that method, and when I feel like it must be done, I do it myself. I may beg work to buy us one of the cutters.

Edit: Using a saw to open them defeats the purpose to some extent, since it becomes a trick to decide whether the metal in the filter was collected or deposited by the cutting process.

 

[Diamondpilot]

Yep, we use cutters all the time in the aircraft world. Each and every filter is cut open in our shop to check for things that should not be there. The cutter we have is expensive but works well.

Chris

 

[California]

re burning in a woodstove or a burn barrel: Do the filters ever explode when burned?

 

[clemsonfor]

re burning in a woodstove or a burn barrel: Do the filters ever explode when burned?

no cali, they are open on the end so they dont have pressure buildup. You know theres that hole that they spinon with, that does not allow them to blowup. Every filter i have ever seen a logger have where they threw in screw on fuel filter as wel as oil filters they all were intack just black or rusty from a rain.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I burn mine just fine in the burn pile wouldn't want to put them in the wood stove unless it was the one in the shop when I wasn't gonna be around for a while. Stoves all leak some and those fumes can't be good for you or maybe I am just paranoid.

Rick

 

[Gale Hawkins]

Some use old motor oil, transmission oil, etc to heat with and fumes are not a problem it seems but your cloths may smell. I agree a shop stove is where I would burn filters and not upset the wife with a drop of oil or the smell.

 

[tungularafishcamp]

I was talking about burning them in the wood stove, a waste oil heater is a altogether different animal and while a lot of shops in town are heated by them don't know of anyone heating their house with waste oil, at least around here.
Rick


oops I meant used motor oil heater

 

[puckgrinder85]

Well here in wisconsin i believe the law is changing in the new year (2011). We can no longer dispose of filters in the dump (for us shops anyway). Our oil distributor sells us a drum to fill with used filters. Its about 35$ per 55 gal drum and we can get about 300 filters in a drum. Its not a bad price, but we still have to drain them. Trust me, letting them sit open end down does NOT drain the filter at all. You really need to puncture the top (domed) part and tip it upside down. We do this with all our filters and we can fill a 35 gal drum in a few weeks just from oil coming from filters, we do not do a ****load of oil changes either. At least not as much as our local quick lube which has said they do something like 50+ oil changes daily. This is just from experience with handling them. Crushers will remove about the same amount of oil. Yes they do squeeze the oil out but there are still tons of small spaces for the oil to lay. Gravity works just as well. And yes the element only filters are returning in full force. Lots of newer cars are using this for whatever reason, a green one possibly? Our landfill just layed in a new area for trash and it took them a few weeks straight of hauling in large amounts clay, what a nightmare of a mess on the roads. If you pulled on the side of the road they were hauling on, you instant had about 50lbs of clay on your tires and what a pain to remove.

 

[lostcause]

And yes the element only filters are returning in full force. Lots of newer cars are using this for whatever reason, a green one possibly?

if i had to guess, i'd think that he jump in metal prices over the last several years is as much the factor as anything else. figure how many million oil filters are made per year, and even at pennies each, it all adds up. i've worked for fairly large companies before, and they will ask about something as mundane as whether we can save a couple seconds by doing something. they see those couple seconds repeated millions of times, adding up to thousands of hours and tens of thousands of dollars over time.

not to be cynical, but i'm sure that any manufacturer will brag up any "green" side effects, though i fully believe that cost drives it.

 

[puckgrinder85]

Oh im sure it is i agree, however you still need to make some sort of filter housing on the engine, metal here or there. Seems as though it takes more metal to design something into and engine build rather than a simple sping on filter though.