Acceptable price for WMO

[paulfarber]

I put an ad on Craigslist to buy used motor oil.. 55gallon min.

I got 3 hits right away for 50, 55, and 160 gallons. I offered the guy with 3 55gallon drums $0.50 gallon ($28 a barrel) which I consider a fair price.

So far no reply.

To low?

I have no problem paying for WMO as long as its clean and in a drum.

Anyone else have luck at buying oil? What price did you pay?

 

[Jimma]

May be a little low considering empty used barrels sell for $15 in my area. You could make him an offer with the barrels or offer to return them if close enough to you.

 

[stampy]

Agreed a good piece of the cost is in the barrel, I wouldn't bite on offering a higher price just yet. You may be able to talk to some local shops that are willing to give it away (along with their used transmission fluid if you provide the barrel)

 

[panshark]

one tip might to put 50cents, negotiable. You'll definitely jump at the chance to pay for some honey-colored lube that may have been deemed "contaminated", but you want to be able to go down if you've got some wicked milky swirls in black or brown oil, that you know contains moisture or antifreeze. That way also, you look like you're not going to be a tool to deal with, complete with an attitude that you're "doing them a favor." maybe throw in your ad that you're open to establish a casual business relationship that may put cash in their pocket when they have more black gold.

 

[davidkroberts]

with diesel running 4.00 a gallon I would be thinking somewhere in the 1.00 +/- a gallon territory. you would be getting 265 gallons for 265 dollars..... Even if you cut it with 50 gallons of gas you would be getting a GREAT deal. I think 50 cents is actually a fair price but just not enough to make anyone go to any trouble to move it.

 

[Blood_of_Tyrants]

WMO is selling for more than $1 a gallon to recyclers who buy it from garages. If you can get it for half that, you are getting a deal.

 

[wreckerman893]

I agree with Dave....if it was good, water free oil I would go a buck a gallon.

Bear in mind you are up the cold part of the county......a lot of people use WMO in place of heating old to warm a shop or barn. I don't know what home heating oil (kerosene??) is selling for up there but I bet it's a lot more than a buck a gallon.

Just my two centavos worth.

 

[porkysplace]

Around here the recyclers are paying $ 1.00 + the bigger the quanity the more money.

 

[Billy Bobbed]

Can you put a sign out saying you take WMO.I didnt know if it was against the law.

 

[ralbelt]

I usually pay $40.00 to have 160 gallons pumped out, about 10% gas. I would gladly sell it for .50 gal.

 

[paulfarber]

I kinda figured I might have to pay for a barrel, also.... and my ad did say I needed the barrel.

I only made an offer (and I did say it was negotiable) and I have two others I have yet to call.

I can see paying $1 a gallon... I know that I am getting a deal at the price.

In 2 months I already burned 60 gallons on trips and at 'pump prices'

Thanks for all the feedback.

 

[midcounty]

Contact local farmers and dyi guys. That's what I have done, and accumulated 400 plus gallons so far with a few hundred more gallons to go get. That was all come and get it for free deals.

 

[cbvet]

Around here it's free, but it may not always be worth the trouble from some places.
I've gotten barrels that were 1/3 mud, water, & sludge. It takes an awful lot of filtering. Guys will dump ANY liquid in there, including anti freeze.
I let those sit for a year without moving, pump out the top half or so, then burn up the rest if I can.
My best source is a place that services propane forklifts. That oil stays pretty clean & the barrels are kept inside.
Steel or plastic barrels are $10. Sometimes I just leave them a barrel & see what I get. Sometimes I leave a piece of plywood & a concrete block to cover it if it has to stay outside.
I've had some luck recovering old home heating oil once I offered a little commission to the contractors replacing the systems.
A lot of repair shops, especially farm shops, use their WMO for heating. But the heaters can be a real PITA.

 

[paulfarber]

I really don't want to get into the 'free oil' stuff because as mentioned, but could easily cost more to filter the mud, dead mice etc than simply pay a decent price and get good oil (well.. better).

I looked into water testers and they run $200... I was hoping to find a cheap way to get a water % from oil... that way I can tell right there if its worth $1/gallon (which I am happy to pay).

 

[goldwing2000]

I pay 15 to 40 cents a gallon, depending on the quality and the fluid. The recylers around me are paying 17 cents a gallon or so. I would never pay $1.00 a gallon for waste oil in this area. The only time I even paid 40 cents was for almost-virgin WVO from an agricultural test lab.

Also, I picked up three 275-gallon totes for transporting (one was $50, the other two were only $25). I'm still working on a good method for pumping.

 

[wreckerman893]

Can you put a sign out saying you take WMO.I didnt know if it was against the law.

When I hauled HAZ-MAT waste oil was considered Non-Haz and did not need to be placarded or on a HAZ-MAT manifest.

But the EPA is getting stupider every day.

There might be an issue if you had a large quantity on board.

 

[m16ty]

Can you put a sign out saying you take WMO.I didnt know if it was against the law.

I don't think it would be illegal but not very wise IMO. Seems it would attract the environmental types to wonder what you've got going on. Next thing you know, EPA is poking around taking soil samples.

I just don't think the environmental authorities would look highly on somebody stockpiling WMO at their residence. Not that it's illegal but I'd say they would watch closely what was going on if you have a sign in front of your house.

 

[TexAndy]

You can still get it free if you ask around.

I stopped at an oilfield supply place nearby for some fittings, told the guy what I was doing with the stuff, and he took me out and back and offered to trade me 100 gallons for a couple of cases of beer.

While that's not free, that's still only about $30 for 100 gallons.

 

[USAFSS-ColdWarrior]

Subscribed, but not revealing my sources....

I don't want to ruin a good thing here - - -

There are enough great thoughts above to keep your money IN YOUR wallet.

Supplying your own barrel or tote goes a long way toward getting wmo for FREE.

Tactics from the book "How To Win Friends And Influence People" also pay HUGE dividends.

 

[panshark]

a cheap way to get an estimate of water presence may be to draft a bit off the bottom. Have a small pipe with a latex glove rubber-banded on one end (the top, dry end). dip the pipe "straight down" into the barrel, try to get the open end all the way to the bottom (where water will settle) and take the glove off. The pipe will fill up from the very bottom. Replace glove on the top/dry end. Pull the pipe "straight up" out of the barrel.

If the pipe is full of green stuff, you might want to walk away. If it's black, you'll want to determine how much is just oily water. This is where it might get a little weird: take your spoon and lighter out of your pocket, put a little bit of your liquid into the spoon, and try to cook it. (it helps if you don't look like a druggy to the guy you're trying to get the oil from) Use one of those long grill lighters, you don't want to catch your hand on fire with WMO.

I haven't tried out this crazy project yet, but I would imagine that if you get a lot of steam off your sample, you've got some water. If you've got smoke or fire, you've got black gold.