Help me design a DIY Oil Extractor

[Joelk]

I want to modify my oil drain tank so that it will also function as an Oil Extractor.

I have an 18 Gallon Steel Drain Tank. It has a large ball valve on the top of it, that the funnel inserts through. In normal use, when emptying the tank you remove the funnel and close the ball valve to seal up the tank. You then apply air pressure to a fitting at the top of the tank and it forces oil out of a drain line.

I want to reverse the process and apply vacuum (I have a couple different vacuum pumps I could use) where I normally apply air pressure and an extraction tube where the drain line normally attaches.

I would like to install a "vacuum relief valve"(it currently has an air pressure relief valve). The tank is fairly heavy walled steel, so I am not concerned with collapsing the tank from too much vacuum, but I am concerned that 30 inches of vacuum may collapse the extraction tube.

Do they make reasonably priced "vacuum relief valves?" If so, where can I get one, and what vacuum level would you recommend?

I am also seeking suggestions on what to use for the extraction tubes.

 

[Joelk]

I have found vacuum relief valves.

Any suggestions on what to use for extraction tubes?

 

[rsanter]

Go to HF and buy the air powered AC vac unit, it's cheap
That will create the vaccume in the tank when you attach vie a port on the top.
Attach a hose at another port at the top, that's what will **** up the oil

Bob

 

[theknurl]

you could just drain the oil like you should.......

instead of leaving all the **** in the bottom

 

[Joelk]

I already have one of the HF Vacuum Pumps and an Electric Powered Vacuum Pump so creating vacuum should not be an issue.

One of the vehicles I have is a boat with an inboard motor and it is very difficult and/or messy to drain the oil out of it.

I would also like to be able to evacuate trans fluid, power steering fluid etc. with it.

Many reviews I have read indicate that the evacuation pumps got virtually all of the oil out of their pans and when they pulled the drain plug after evacuating from above, virtually no oil drained out from below.

I will test it for myself to see how well it works, but if it works as well as some say I will probably evacuate from above on vehicles were the oil filter can be accessed from above.

Any suggestions on what to use for extraction tubes.

 

[Outlawmws]

For your boat, rig a valve into the drain plug port, run that somewhere handy for the vac pump, and you can have both Vac evacuation AND fully drain it. When the vac pump starts sucking air, close the valve...

 

[Danglerb]

Vacuum evacuator is real handy, but key to it being useful is that that its needs to be emptied really thoroughly, which means in practice some kind of polypropylene that oil and stuff won't leave a heavy film on.

You don't see many shops without a mityvac evacuator these days.

 

[Hencini]

you could just drain the oil like you should.......

instead of leaving all the **** in the bottom

If you have a lot of **** in your oil, you should probably address the issues that are causing it.

 

[Farmall450]

If you have a lot of **** in your oil, you should probably address the issues that are causing it.

+1, and this will require taking the pan off, so you can clean out the ****.

 

[Joelk]

If you read reviews on oil extractors you will find that most people report that the extractors get the vast majority of oil out.

Just getting to the drain plug on the boat is PITA. I will be quite content to **** 99% of the oil out with an extractor.

I have a MityVac and use if frequently, but it does not have much capacity.

If I am concerned about, an engine issue I will drain the oil into a container where I can examine it, but the majority of the time, when I drain the oil, it goes through the funnel and into the tank without me ever scrutinizing it. This will be no different if I extract it.

I would prefer that people would spend less time trying to convince me that I don't want an oil extractor and help by answering my question.

Any suggestions on what to use for extraction tubes?

 

[Treeman]

Joelk, the Mityvac container is made of polyethylene plastic and I "think" the stiff tubing is polyethylene also. It is available bulk at my local Ace Hardware.

BUT, I cannot confirm this anywhere. I think it is only good to about 170 degrees F, so keep that in mind. I have read of the OEM Mityvac tubing breaking off in the oil pan in a few rare occasions.

Just giving you a lead. Please confirm for yourself. Best of luck.

 

[OccupantRJ]

A vacuum relief valve is called a vacuum breaker.

 

[Joelk]

I have built an extractor that I think will work very well and thought I would post about it here, in case anyone wants to duplicate it.

Instead of using my oil drain tank I am using a Garden Sprayer Tank. I bought it at a yard sale and it had a bad pump, so I got it for almost nothing.

I took the pump mechanism out and filled the cavity with spray foam insulation which seals very well..

I drilled two 1/2" holes near the top of the tank and installed tire valve stems in the holes. (I drilled the center of the valve stems out to get better flow)

I attached one of the valve stems to a vacuum brake bleeder(works off of air pressure) from Harbor Freight and connected the other to some translucent tubing I had left over from a Refrigerator Ice Maker install(it is perfect size to fit into the dipstick tubes that I have tried it on)

I have not yet tried it on oil, but it ***** water out of a bucket very effectively.

I have ordered a vacuum breaker, but don't have it yet. The tank seems very tough, but I'm not sure I want to expose it to full vacuum(the brake bleeder pulls about 29") so I will wait until I install the vacuum breaker before I try it on oil.

My "new"(1988) boat that I bought this year, DOES NOT HAVE A DRAIN PLUG. The factory installed a sealed tube leading to where the drain plug would normally be on the oil pan and the Service Manual Specifies Evacuating the engine oil through the tube.

 

[enrare]

I have built an extractor that I think will work very well and thought I would post about it here, in case anyone wants to duplicate it.

Instead of using my oil drain tank I am using a Garden Sprayer Tank. I bought it at a yard sale and it had a bad pump, so I got it for almost nothing.

I took the pump mechanism out and filled the cavity with spray foam insulation which seals very well..

I drilled two 1/2" holes near the top of the tank and installed tire valve stems in the holes. (I drilled the center of the valve stems out to get better flow)

I attached one of the valve stems to a vacuum brake bleeder(works off of air pressure) from Harbor Freight and connected the other to some translucent tubing I had left over from a Refrigerator Ice Maker install(it is perfect size to fit into the dipstick tubes that I have tried it on)

I have not yet tried it on oil, but it ***** water out of a bucket very effectively.

I have ordered a vacuum breaker, but don't have it yet. The tank seems very tough, but I'm not sure I want to expose it to full vacuum(the brake bleeder pulls about 29") so I will wait until I install the vacuum breaker before I try it on oil.

My "new"(1988) boat that I bought this year, DOES NOT HAVE A DRAIN PLUG. The factory installed a sealed tube leading to where the drain plug would normally be on the oil pan and the Service Manual Specifies Evacuating the engine oil through the tube.

Bringing an old thread back. Was hoping original poster could post some pics of his DIY oil extractor. I'm looking for small extractor options to use for little things like power steering and brake master cylider fluid removal. I've been using the turkey baster method and recently tried a suction gun from Napa, but these methods are a bit messy with fluid dripping and dribbling from the baster or suction gun when full and transferring to my oil drain container. Since storage space is very limited in my garage was looking for something smaller than the common MityVac units. So far this small Liquivac unit looks about perfect size http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200338119_200338119

 

[rslaback]

Bringing an old thread back. Was hoping original poster could post some pics of his DIY oil extractor. I'm looking for small extractor options to use for little things like power steering and brake master cylider fluid removal. I've been using the turkey baster method and recently tried a suction gun from Napa, but these methods are a bit messy with fluid dripping and dribbling from the baster or suction gun when full and transferring to my oil drain container. Since storage space is very limited in my garage was looking for something smaller than the common MityVac units. So far this small Liquivac unit looks about perfect size http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200338119_200338119

If you can swing it, I would go with an air operated version. The problem with the pump style is that as soon as it isn't pulling a full tube of liquid it ***** air and your vacuum is gone. In a pneumatic system it keeps pulling the small remainders and you end up with a more thoroughly evacuated system. I have this one and it works well for me.

 

[redmondjp]

You guys must have a lot of free time to reinvent the wheel!

The solution has already been invented. It's called a Mityvac Fluid Evacuator (don't get the 'plus' model which allows you to pump the fluid back out - it has a flaky 2-way valve on it). You just pump the handle several times, and it builds up enough vacuum inside to **** out up to a couple gallons of fluid after you walk away from it. It's one of the best tool investments that I've ever made (use it mostly for transmission fluid changes).

 

[Felixcsa]

I've got examine suggest which the evacuation knocks out bought virtually all of the gas from their griddles then when these people yanked this strain plug following evacuating previously mentioned.

 

[404]

For the tube going into the dipstick hole brake line might work. Another source of thin wall small diameter tube is old telescoping radio antennas. Break one off an old boom box, not a car.
Some dipstick holes get smaller a little ways down. Can be frustrating. There is also stiff black nylon? tube in small diameters that is used for pnumatic HVAC control in big buildings.. But finding some of that is probably hard to do.

For the flexible part of the hose I use old air hose or clear vinyl hose, what ever I can find.

That steel tank is unlikely to collapse under vacuum. My opinion is the valve is not needed.

 

[Crown Imperial]

Why don't you just get a 12V scavenging pump?
Any particular reason why you have to evacuate the oil with a vacuum pump?

 

[404]

Why don't you just get a 12V scavenging pump?
Any particular reason why you have to evacuate the oil with a vacuum pump?

The oil and the junk in it do not pass thru the pump this way, and it is an excuse to collect more vacuum pumps.

 

[william.m.hamilton2]

Not an expert- but when the CG went to a stupid FLOCS system for several of our small boats with a mandated $1500 pneumatic pump that . eghed too much and had to be 4' from the port to work- I built a 5 gallon bucket, bolted a large 12V transfer pump on top and it worked like a champ. A sister ship, one of thier engineers built similar using three small pumps bolted around the top of the bucket running in series.

An alternative to the manual mighty vac would be an AC&R oil pump. Go ahead and get the big one thta looks like an old school tire pump- it will take far less effort.

Using vacuum is a neat idea- but has a fair amount of problems in real world application that may be a pain- the second your suction side hits air, almost all your vaccum will disappear, next is reciever vessel cleaning, number three is absolute seals of the whole system.

I hope your plans work out- i always love seeing someone else accomplih something i would have scrapped in my on mind before starting! Best of luck and share your finished project!