What to do with 5 gallons of used UHF?

Inferno said:
Can it be burned in a traditional oil furnace?
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Yes, and that's where mine will go.

500 gallon tank and we have been doing this for years.

Out heater tech is always amazed how clean our filter is, then dumbfounded when I tell him I do this.

Short of used motor oil (Heavy metals) he says there's not much difference between this and diesel/heating oil.

The one thing he says not to use is Kerosene as it will not lubricate the high pressure pump in the burner, but even 50 gallons of K1 in a 500 gallon tank of oil wont matter much.
 
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Trans Hydraulic and Gear Lube has an obnoxious odor and I wouldn't use it for general lube. Used motor oil is a bit better. I have taken my used motor oil to a garage in a nearby town where he uses it to heat his shop when I have a sufficient amount to justify the gasoline burned while transporting.

Filtering used gear lube is a fruitless task. Any filter fine enough to remove particles of concern will lengthen the process beyond measure. due to the viscosity of the oil. This brings to mind a story going back to my first professional gig as a chemist in an analytical lab. An older chemist working there decided to salvage the used fryer oil from the local Turners club. He set up a vacuum filtration system in one of the fume hoods and proceeded to filter the oil. After a week with little progress, the lab manager killed the project.

I also have an accumulation of used oil from the deep fryer. We eat a fair amount of fish and I change the oil after three or four sessions. Oils from the fish mix with the vegetable oil giving it a fishy odor and flour from the coating forms a roux necessitating the change. I have a collection oil going back a decade waiting for some way of recycling.

One way that I have used it is to supplement our wood burning central heating. I mix the oil with wood shavings from my planer and jointer in a suitable container. The oil will eventually completely into the wood shavings, leaving a relatively dry mixture. Strangely enough, the wood shavings also absorb the volatiles so the fishy odor disappears. The mixture makes a great fire starter and it can supplement the the wood fuel in larger quantities.
 
RJSakowski said:
Filtering used gear lube is a fruitless task. Any filter fine enough to remove particles of concern will lengthen the process beyond measure. due to the viscosity of the oil.
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I made a setup using a large funnel, commercial coffee filters and a wire basket.

Fill it and let it sit. After a few gallons it would plug up the filter and it got replaced.

This was passive so time was not an issue really. I would just check it whenever I went by.
 
I use it for chainsaw bar oil on the wood processor. Throws it more than real bar oil but it over lubricates anyway.

Greg
 
FYI, no way I would put it in a machine. o_O
Just wondering about rust prevention (maybe dunk seldom used stuff in it) or cutting fluid or something else I hadn't thought of.
 
Hydraulic oil in my view is nothing like engine oil. No combustion byproducts to fowl the oil, no fuel dilution. I have over 8000hrs on my backhoe, and have never changed the hydraulic system oil, just filters. Have added oil when I've had a hose break, or replaced cylinder seals, and packings, but that's it. I would filter it and reuse, but each to their own. Mike
 
One place in Alaska had a oil furnace that they used all the used oil from oil changes, etc. They even had a press that would press the excess oil out of filters into their tank. The place had over 20 bays for working on cars and the only heat was from that heater with fans moving it around. Some times it would even be a little to hot in there. I would say they had about a 250 gal tank inside and another 500 gal tank outside that was used to fill up the small one when needed, and if the small one did get full it would pump it into the large one. Only time I saw that was during the summer. Was a neat setup, kit used high pressure and had filter system set up that filtered the oil. They were picky about one thing, If you could smell gas in it then they would not take it.
 
I listed mine on Craigslist for free. I had about 6 people who contacted me within a few hours! People who burn waste oil in waste oil heaters would be happy to get it. Where I lived before the town garage used it for heating their repair facility and where happy to get it along with used ATF and motor oil. Never used gasoline!
 
Along the sames lines, a skid steer of mine had some water in the hydraulic oil. You can tell because
the oil becomes a emulsion and is somewhat whitish. I drained it out into containers and let it sit in
a warm place quietly for almost a year. After that amount of time, the water had time to separate to the bottom
so I decanted off the oil and saved it for reuse in the machine.

Like others, I find lots of uses for used hydraulic oil. Some gets used to lube my band saw sawmill blade. My oiler
cans generally have used ISO68 in them. I have used it as bar oil if nothing else is handy on occasion. I see no point
in discarding something that still has utility to me.
 
I would hazard a guess it would be okay to use a quenching oil. That said I have a issue with saving stuff I should let go. Proceed at your own peril
 
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