It's that time of summer where haying season is about to start for us and i need to take my tote tanks and transfer pump I use for picking up used oil off my flatbed truck so given that I figured I would do a trip to my local shops I get used oil from and see what they had before I pulled everything off for hay hauling.

First place I stopped by had some but was already claimed by another guy. No problem.

Second place had 1000 gallons two days ago for me but lost my phone number and couldn't remember my last name so they let another guy take it but they did say to hit them up around October and they will likely have another 1000 I can take.

Last stop for the day was a place I never went to before but was recommended by the other guys. Sure enough, they had 400 gallons ready to go! As I was transferring their used oil the manager came out and asked me if I wanted anymore so of course, I said, "yes I will take anything you got!

He told me to meet him at their bulk station on the edge of town when I was done and there should be at least 8- 10 barrels I could take and maybe more.

So I roll up and he gets there about 5 minutes later. He shows me their bulk barrel collection and says that at leat 8 or 10 of them are full or nearly full and many others have odds amount in.Then asks if I take old diesel fuel as well. I said sure! I take anything that burns!

Great! He says. The EPA just made them recondition their whole bulk tank system (~$50K job) and they had around 200 gallons of stuff they pumped out of the bottom of the tanks and lines they were not allowed to resell.
Around 100 - 150 of it was red died with a bit of clear road fuel mixed in in barrels and the rest was, around the same mix, that had been dumped into an old tote tank that had around 50 gallons of used oil in it.

All said and done I ended up with between 2o0 and 250 gallons of mixed diesel with ~ 50 gallons of used oil blended in now. I'm figuring I will run it through a 10-micron filter and it should make for good mystery mix tractor diesel fuel!

On top of it all that they have a pile of mixed scrap metal sitting on site they want gone too before their next EPA follow up visit.

I was told I could have anything I wanted or the whole pile. One item is a ~18" wide by ~20' long heavy stainless steel conveyor frame that probably weighs several hundred pounds. Plus there are also several large commercial air conditioning compressors of which from my scrapping experience I would say have around 10 - 20 pounds of copper in each.

Also, there is several hundred pounds of aluminum and a good ton or better of heavy cast and misc iron framing and piping too including a bunch of heavy brass valves and fittings that came off their bulk tank rebuild job!

It was a good day. Granted for a business (or someone like HP) none of this even adds up to decent walking around money so that's probably why it was given to some poor schmuck like me. They can get it to disappear out the back door no questions asked saving them the expense of paying to get rid of it plus filing paperwork to say where it went.

 

I'm jealous.

 

It's that time of summer where haying season is about to start for us and i need to take my tote tanks and transfer pump I use for picking up used oil off my flatbed truck so given that I figured I would do a trip to my local shops I get used oil from and see what they had before I pulled everything off for hay hauling.

First place I stopped by had some but was already claimed by another guy. No problem.

Second place had 1000 gallons two days ago for me but lost my phone number and couldn't remember my last name so they let another guy take it but they did say to hit them up around October and they will likely have another 1000 I can take.

Last stop for the day was a place I never went to before but was recommended by the other guys. Sure enough, they had 400 gallons ready to go! As I was transferring their used oil the manager came out and asked me if I wanted anymore so of course, I said, "yes I will take anything you got!

He told me to meet him at their bulk station on the edge of town when I was done and there should be at least 8- 10 barrels I could take and maybe more.

So I roll up and he gets there about 5 minutes later. He shows me their bulk barrel collection and says that at leat 8 or 10 of them are full or nearly full and many others have odds amount in.Then asks if I take old diesel fuel as well. I said sure! I take anything that burns!

Great! He says. The EPA just made them recondition their whole bulk tank system (~$50K job) and they had around 200 gallons of stuff they pumped out of the bottom of the tanks and lines they were not allowed to resell.
Around 100 - 150 of it was red died with a bit of clear road fuel mixed in in barrels and the rest was, around the same mix, that had been dumped into an old tote tank that had around 50 gallons of used oil in it.

All said and done I ended up with between 2o0 and 250 gallons of mixed diesel with ~ 50 gallons of used oil blended in now. I'm figuring I will run it through a 10-micron filter and it should make for good mystery mix tractor diesel fuel!

On top of it all that they have a pile of mixed scrap metal sitting on site they want gone too before their next EPA follow up visit.

I was told I could have anything I wanted or the whole pile. One item is a ~18" wide by ~20' long heavy stainless steel conveyor frame that probably weighs several hundred pounds. Plus there are also several large commercial air conditioning compressors of which from my scrapping experience I would say have around 10 - 20 pounds of copper in each.

Also, there is several hundred pounds of aluminum and a good ton or better of heavy cast and misc iron framing and piping too including a bunch of heavy brass valves and fittings that came off their bulk tank rebuild job!

It was a good day. Granted for a business (or someone like HP) none of this even adds up to decent walking around money so that's probably why it was given to some poor schmuck like me. They can get it to disappear out the back door no questions asked saving them the expense of paying to get rid of it plus filing paperwork to say where it went.

Our maintenance team loves guys like you. Actually, loved guys like you. Now the global procurement team has decided we want one scrapper to handle all of our recyclables across the country.

 

...so that's probably why it was given to some poor schmuck like me.

So, all tolled, how many dollars in scrap metal do you think you got? And am I correct that you make diesel fuel from the oil?

 

I am guessing at present local prices maybe between $40 and $600 worth but there is a good deal of the heavy iron and other items I plan to keep so all said and done I might make half that for a good day or two's work.

No, I don't turn the used oil into diesel fuel. I mostly burn it in my boiler for winter heat for the house but I do have a small 7 HP single cylinder Petter diesel that I have done some minor pump modifications to so that it can run on used oil if it's hot or at normal temps if I mix it with about 20% E85 fuel to thin it out.

I'm figuring that the volume of good usable diesel fuel I got should be able to make a good 500-gallon batch of oil/diesel mix that will run the little diesel just fine or will work as a 50/50 blend on top of the normal diesel we run the farm tractors on.

 

a bunch of heavy brass valves and fittings

I think I got about $12 for a (yellow) brass valve about the size of a cantaloupe.

 

That's about what those are. Most of the old plumbing was 2" and 3" lines.

 

I did the last of my used oil pick ups today. Got another ~550 gallons which now puts me at over 100% capacity (2000 gallon tank is full!) for what I need for winter heat next year.

Looks like I will have to work on getting my big 3000-gallon tank cleaned up and usable now being as my sources implied I could be looking at acquiring another 1000 - 2000 gallons by winter.

Sort of thinking I may pour a dedicated pad for bulk tanks this fall and set this 3000-gallon tank on end and see if I can get a second one to sit next to it as well.

 

Sort of thinking I may pour a dedicated pad for bulk tanks this fall and set this 3000-gallon tank on

Saving about $5000 on fuel costs can pay for quite a lot of concrete.

 

Yep. that's been pondered on already.

Around here right now concrete is running about $100 a yard so a 6' x 12' x 6" thick pour with six 4 foot deep 12" dia pilings would run me about $150.

 

Yep. that's been pondered on already.

Around here right now concrete is running about $100 a yard so a 6' x 12' x 6" thick pour with six 4 foot deep 12" dia pilings would run me about $150.

Same here but we also add $3 per mile round trip.

 

I have a 2 cu foot mixer so a 1.5-yard pour by hand is not out of the question either. Maybe $60 in cement and a few hours time to do it that way.

 

I tried concrete...once...and I'm going to have to be a lot younger than I am now before I try it again!
That stuff is un-cooperative, heavy, and refuses to take a break when I need to rest.