Picking up oil

Pickup and transporting the oil home

Once you’ve scored a supply of oil from a restaurant, you’ll need a system to pickup the oil efficiently and with no mess. Build your oil pickup system and then practice in your garage with some used oil before you go to the restaurant. Here is a list of the components and key concepts to consider:

Pumps

One option to pump oil from the restaurants 55 gallon drums or oil dumpsters is a Fill-Rite model# FR 1604. This is a portable gear oil pump with a 7 GPM output. (Figure 1). You can find them at Harbor Freight or Northern Tools.

To pump clean oil into my vehicle I prefer the Fill-Rite #1602. (Figure 2). The output is up to 3.5 gallons.

Check Valve

When you first start the pump up, it quickly builds up heat until the pump is able to draw the fluid up out of the barrel. The heat that is created will kill a pump over time. After pumping hundred of gallons of WVO I came up with a solution. Install a low pressure Check Valve on the Suction side of the pump. (Figure 3). The Check Valve will keep WVO in the lines so the pump is always primed. This will greatly extend the life of your pump and will speed up the pickup of your oil. I use about 6 feet of 7/8” OD x 5/8” ID vinyl tubing between the pump and the Check Valve. If you need a longer length remember it is better to add more vinyl tubing on the pressure side vs. the suction side of the pump.

Suction Strainer

I made the mistake of thinking I had such clean oil that I didn’t need a Suction Strainer on the end of my check valve. I found out the hard way that my Check Valve was getting gummed up with junk from the WVO barrel and I had to discard the Check Valve as it was too difficult to clean. Don’t make the same mistake. On the end of the Check Valve, I install a 30 Micron Suction Strainer (Part # 9812K43) to filter out the larger particles (Figure 3). This will produce cleaner oil and protect your investment in your oil pickup system.

Containers for WVO

Use a container that has a wide mouth (2” is ideal) and vent to aid in pouring. The 5 gallon Hedpak® Carboys are ideal. You can buy them online at B100Supply or pick up used ones for free at a car wash.

WVO Sucker Collection System

I’ve recently have begun using Dana Linscott’s WVO Sucker Collection System and the performance is amazing! If you are starting out I recommend you skip the oil pump all together and go with this system from the beginning. Simple in design and very effective, you use a tank designed to take pressure or vacuum. Install a 20 foot 1” ID vacuum hose with a ball valve on the end. At the end of the ball valve I slight modified his design and use a 90 degree fitting (McMaster’s Part # 44605K136) with a coupling (McMaster’s Part #’s 5596K63, 5596K131) and then a 4 foot 1” ID plastic pipe to insert into the grease barrel. The way the system operates is you draw a vacuum on the tank in your garage until it is 28Hg or better. Disconnect the vacuum pump, drive to the restaurant and then insert the end of the hose into the WVO barrel and open the ball valve. The vacuum sucks the oil up into the tank. It only takes me about 5 minutes to suck up 30 gallons of WVO. The process is hands off once you insert the end of the hose into the barrel and secure it with a clamp at the proper height. No drips and a lot less effort than using pumps and containers. I use refrigerator compressors purchased on eBay to draw the vacuum on the tank. The tank I use is a 36 gallon Sears Captive Air Tank I also purchased on eBay. You can also find both of these items at the local landfill. The Captive Air Tank is more common in rural areas where ground pumping is more common. Once the bladder inside has a hole in it is shot for residential use but the tank is still useful for a WVO sucker. Credit for this solution goes to Dana Linscott, the inventor, and he has really done the renewable fuel community a favor by making his plans available for free. Figure 5 shows my WVO Sucker system in the back of my Suburban at one of the restaurants I service. Figure 6 shows the optional manifold I made back in my garage with two refrigerator compressors. One refrigerator compressor is used to draw the vacuum on the tank and the other is used to create pressure to force the oil out of the tank once I get home to transfer the oil to my home filtering system. A detailed schematic is available here to make your own.

Cleanup

In case of spills, always bring a bottle of Simple Green and a roll of paper towels. We also pack a box of latex gloves to keep our hands clean. In case of spills in the garage, I always have a 50 lb. bag of Oil Absorber available from most auto parts stores. To scrub your garage floor clean, try SWAB concrete cleaner.