Re-using oil

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TahoeSteam
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Re-using oil

Post by TahoeSteam » Fri Jan 10, 2020 5:03 am

Curious if anyone has risked re-using their oil from their engines? I know oil is cheap compared to bearings, and most don't use very much in a run, or even a season.

Now that we're using nearly a quart a run or more (we run 4-8hrs at a time regularly) several times a month, I'm wondering about having a recovery system of sorts. Strainer, water separator, then automotive filter?

Thoughts?

It appears to me that this fine little engine is equipped with a sump pump (lower right) that discharges into the stainless oil reservoir up top.
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Last edited by TahoeSteam on Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Lopez Mike
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Re: Re-using oil

Post by Lopez Mike » Fri Jan 10, 2020 12:10 pm

Unless there is some bearing failure in progress, the only thing getting mixed into your used oil should be water. And I can't think of any reason that some water mixed in with the oil would be a problem. If you really want to reuse your oil then just letting it settle ought to do the trick. And maybe throw a magnet in your collection pan.

Given your fuel oil to lube oil consumption ratio (like about a zillion to one!) I wouldn't bother with the hassle. Clearly you have W.I.N. (Winter Idleness Syndrome). I suffer from it occasionally too but have dealt with it by bugging out to Baja until Spring. I seldom think of my boat when leaping from rock to rock on my motorcycle. Got down to 55F last night.
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Re: Re-using oil

Post by Kelly Anderson » Sat Jan 11, 2020 1:26 am

A quart of oil in 4-8 hours seems like an awful lot. I probably use about 2/3 of a cup, if that in a day's running. To each his own!
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Re: Re-using oil

Post by Lopez Mike » Sat Jan 11, 2020 1:32 am

O.K., Wes. Tell Kelly how big the engine is.
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Re: Re-using oil

Post by TahoeSteam » Sat Jan 11, 2020 6:39 am

Haha I like your W.I.N. assessment. Usually winter for us means experimenting or finding solutions to problems that don't exist. Like making something inherently ineffecient into something incrementally less ineffecient (or sometimes orders of magnitude MORE inefficient if it didn't work out). Hard to do much else whilst at home buried under 10' of snow.

I was thinking contaminants like dust, dirt, discarded chewing gum, those Legos your kids leave out and you find with your bare feet at 2am on the way to the bathroom, etc...

We have gallons of used sump oil laying about that is either going to be burnt, brought to a recycling center, or used in an fertilizer experiment :lol:

Kelly, the engine is the one in our 40' boat "Persistance". We regularly run 25 to 50 miles in a day. We've put a few miles on her since we launched her in 2017;

2017- 528mi
2018- 725mi
2019- 812mi
(We have every run we've done recorded on our Lowrance GPS chart/depth Sounder)

We were going to put another 50 miles on her tomorrow, but the old wooden boat moored behind us sank the other day. The county put a boom around the subsequent slick of oil and fuel which encompassed our boat as well. They raised the boat and pumped out all the contaminated water into containers on the shore. The boom was left in place until the boat is removed. That will supposedly happen by next week, according to the marina. :roll:
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