Filtering small amount of Ethylene Glycol from 55 gallon drum of WMO

[mankypro]

I have a guy who runs a garage that is willing to give me 55 gallon drums of WMO on a regular basis - like one a month. Issue is that he has one drum currently, he says has about 3 gallons of antifreeze in it. Can I just toss in a trash pump, hit the bottom and suck out the ethylene glycol till i see oil and proceed with my filtering? Or is this drum of oil just not worth dealing with?

 

[hheynow]

Slap a band heater on the drum until the mix is at about 150*F then let it cool slowly. Once down to room temp the coolant will have dropped to the bottom of the drum. To check for coolant free dry oil, heat up an iron skillet and pour in a tablespoon. After heating awhile if bubbles appear it still has moisture. Better yet keep the drum in full sun. A few hot and cold cycles should help in the separation.

 

[sassyrel]

or--put a spout in the 3/4 *********--lift the barrel, and set it off horizontal--so you can drain the antifreeze out--it wont mix with the oil--done this more than once--when i asked some bozos not to---just drain till the antifreeze stops--then tip the barrel back closer to horizontal--and drain all the rest of the oil out--then take the drum back to him---

 

[mankypro]

then take the drum back to him---

Good idea, 'cept I get to keep the drums which will make building my filtering apparatus cheaper....

 

[Devilish]

I haven't made one of these yet but my plan is to get a empty water cooler bottle and mount (by method to be determined) a clear plastic hose with a shut off valve(probably a ball valve) at the end of the hose. a hole would be drilled on the bottom of the bottle so a funnel can be used and can be sealed by a rubber plug that similar to a cork plug. This all would be held off the ground by some sort of stand. Since you would already be taking the oil from the top area of the drum, you could then put the bottom stuff into the jug and let settle for a bit then drain off the antifreeze, water, etc. that won't mix with the oil. You could use other types of bottles such as a white plastic utility fuel can or a restaurant shortening container, but the water bottle is truely clear for seeing the contaminents and the plastic is pretty thick.

 

[milner351]

I have an old fuel oil tank that I put my WMO in for my waste oil furnace.

Every once in a while, I drain off the water / condensation / coolant that may have ended up in the oil I get from several sources (mostly friends doing oil changes at home) I get usually less than a quart of water from the bottom of the tank - using the drain port of the tank and a ball valve - it is very obvious when the water stops flowing and the oil starts -- the water being less viscous comes out much faster, once oil starts to flow it flows much much slower.

I don't know how to compare a waste oil furnaces contaminant resistance compared to a diesel engines - but I can tell you that this method of gravity separation and periodic draining has been sufficient to keep my waste oil furnace very happy for several winters now, with minimal maintenance.