Used oil storage? How do you do it?

[Bib Overalls]

I was staying at a motel and passed one of the maids taking some trash out to the dumpster. On top there was a heavy duty blue 5 gallon plastic jug. I asked for it and she gave it to me. I collect my used oil in it and dump it into the tank at a friend's shop. He uses it to heat with in the winter. I eat breakfast at the cafe next door so hauling it is not much of an inconvenience.

 

[930dreamer]

I save my motor and ****** fluid at the shop in a 30 & 55 gallon drum. I'm thinking of getting one of these 270 gallon totes and going with a waste motor oil heater.

 

[71goldss]

My city's refuse company leaves plastic gal containers for me to fill and leave at the curb for pickup on recycling week, which is every other week. They also leave a small but heavy plastic bag for used oil filter pick up. The most I've ever allowed to build up before putting out for pickup is two gals stored under my workbench.

 

[volaredon]

I worked at a custom app fertilizer place last year and got more jugs than I will ever use, most 2-1/2 gallon ones I get 4-5 jugs filled with oil and take em into the local oil change place and dump em; I take em home and reuse the same ones.

 

[GRX]

OK had to say something as I have recent experience here. Oil, milk, OJ, and most other household liquid containers are HDPE, however i know for a fact milk and OJ containers WILL leak, while windshield washer and (obviously) oil containers don't. I think it has more to do with the how the seams are made than the type of plastic, as all of these (at least the ones i had) have seams across the bottom.

As a side observation, clean oil (at least in appearance) will leak out of these containers when full of dirty oil.

How the seams are made ... that does make sense.

And welcome to the forums wyleb2

 

[Antique Engine]

Walk into your local fire department and tell them you want a few empty foam jugs. They are bombproof 5 gallon jugs with large mouth screw on lids. They'll be real happy to give them to you. We throw away so many of them that its a nuisance and would love to give more of them away to people who want them.

 

[mslisaj]

I have used a 55 gallon drum for years and years. Back in the day a recycler would come and pump it out and pay me for it. Then he would do it for free and that was a good deal. Finally with all the regulations I had to pay him. Now I fill the drum, use my hoist to put it in the back of my pickup and drive the drum to an oil recycler who is about 5 miles from my home. They are delighted to see me, pump the barrel out for free and are so nice about it.

I also have a big funnel that screws into the top bung so it's a very easy system.

Lisa

 

[txz28]

How does an oil product break down an oil product? Pour some gasoline on a piece of Styrofoam and report back here

But seriously, technically speaking, Polyethylene is not just Polyethylene. There is HDPE, LDPE, and PET, just to name a few. But yeah, milk jugs and oil bottles are both generally made from HDPE.

Agreed. I have had distilled water gallons spring magic leaks in the garage or even in the house. (There is absolutely no way they could ever freeze in my part of Texas.) I attribute it to a break down of the polyethylene. Polyethylene is not 100% stable, it will break down in the presence of UV light. I am sure the summer Texas heat does not help. They actually add additives in the compounding process to help prevent degradation.

Milk jugs are made as cheaply as possible. They are made to last a couple of months tops (who wants milk older than a month). Oil jugs, while still made of polyethylene, are made a little thicker, with more additives, and are formulated for that application. They also know they may sit for months to years on the shelf. In a prior job, I was a process engineer at a polyethylene manufacturing plant. They had lots of recipes for various types of polyethylene. The most expensive stuff was made for subsea cables.

Not all steel is the same. It is the same with various blends of polyethylene.

 

[ambenz]

Every township public works garage has a recycle container and are always happy to take your oil or full synthetic oil!!!!
It helps your village or township defray there costs because they sell it to a recycler.
Maybe it will keep our taxes down...I can only hope!

 

[92GreenYJ]

I work in a restaurant and have found that the 5 gallon jugs that vegetable oil comes in (used for deep fryers) works great as a holding tank for used oil between parts store dump runs. Most restaurants chane their fryer oil often, especially busy ones and these jugs usually just get thrown out.