Recycling Hydraulic oil with water in it..(Tutoria

First drain the oil into 1 gallon milk jugs and let it set for an hour or more. The water will not separate. From what I've been told, there are additives to suspend the water so it doesnt separate and cause corrosion. However, there may be a "soap" that settles to the bottom. Not sure why this happens, but it does and doesnt seem to be very abnormal for oil in this condition.

This was the end of a jug after syphoning. Now you need to syphon yours. Syphoning wont be easy since oil is alot more viscous then water or gas. Luckily I had this old oil changer pump (pretty much a joke for its real application) laying around and decided to use that. works great, a little slow but alot faster then syphoning. Leave as much oil in the bottom as there is "soap" to help prevent sucking any soap into the other container.

Now here is where we boil the water out of the oil. The key here is to not burn the oil. I used a single element portable stove and did it in the garage which has decent ventilation. Don't do this inside, unless u like the smell of cooking hydraulic oil!! Turn the burner on about 1/3 of the way and wait for it to get hot. Then slowly increase the temp until you see bubbles. A thermometer comes in handy about now. I used a candy thermometer and kept the oil below 250 F. If you get it to hot it will burn the oil and make the whole process pointless. Boil the oil until it becomes clearer and the bubbles stop. This process takes a while, so its kinda nice to have other stuff to work on.


Now is the best time to filter the oil, when its hot, so it's thinner and takes less time to filter. I used 2 coffee filters to filter out any sediments.

Here is the final product. It is a little dark, but not bad. It seems to be the right vicosity. I'm sure its better then leaving it in the way it was.
I did all of this with a fairly small boiling pan, so that is why the jug isnt very full. It would be alot easier with a largr pot, but I dont have anything else that I dont eat out of =)
Now I'm sure alot of you will say this is stupid, just buy new oil. But not only am I saving money, I'm saving having to dispose of the old oil. This is far from a restored tractor, if it was, It'd have all new fluids in it =) and a big hole in my wallet and tears in my eyes =)
Hope this helps someone, and if it doesnt, I still had fun doing it and posting this =)

Here's an idea that may make your process easier. Take a plastic container, cut a hole in the bottom and install a PVC bulk-head fitting (get from plumbing supply store). Bush down from the bulk head fitting to a 1/2" nipple. Push on a short section of 1/2" clear tubing. Put a nipple on a PVC ball valve and attach to the other end of the clear tubing. You have just made what laboratory folks call a separatory funnel but in a much larger configuration. Build a little wood stand for the plastic container to give you enough room to get pans under the valve. You will see the layer change in the clear plastic section. This enables you to have a visible cut-off point for opening and closing the valve to draining out each layer. Best oil/water separator possible for stuff like this.

Again, your heating idea is right on my man for getting the oil totally water free.

Glenn

scotty

Wheres the metal Bandaide box?

This could turn into a new game.

LOL

Gary

You're KIDDING, right????

People say you can get oil at walmart, but I've been to 3 of them, and all they have is 1 cup bottles of jack fluid.

When I changed the oil in my car, I filter the used oil and run it in my s-10. It hasnt got a whole lotta life left in it, with its tapered cylinder and falling apart bed. I guess some people would call that stupid, but why put new oil in it just to burn it off.

I'm trying to do the best I can. Other people in my situation probably wouldnt even touch the oil, but I'm at least doing something about it.

You are very correct that what you have done is better than to continue to run the milk in the system. And since it has run the emulsion (water/oil) a little damage may have been done but if the hydraulic system works, great!

You might look for hydraulic oil at farm stores or feed mills to get a better price.

What kind of tractor are you using this in?

For your S-10, you might consider using litmus paper to test the ph of the used oil. You can adjust the ph and help the S-10 along. You also might consider buying single weight motor oil for your car if that is practical since multi weight oils are basically the light weight with polymers to get the higher viscosity at high temperature. When the oil is well used, the basic oil does not break down, it just gets dirty, but the polymers break down so if you are using 10w40 in your car it is like putting 10w in your S-10.

Again, congratulations treebark treebark.