Intro and seeking used oil drums for small shop

[CRXPilot]

Hi,
I'm from dry, flat west Texas and run a little one man auto repair shop. Call it a brain block but I can't seem to find a source for cheap or free oil drums to store waste oil or coolant. Anyone know of a good source for drums?

Thanks for the resource,
CRXPilot

 

[mrsilv04]

We have a local farm supply store that sells clean, used, empty 55 gallon drums, for $20 everyday.

Have you checked local farm supply stores?

 

[Oldmoparguy1]

Pretty hard to find free drums these days. If you were around oil refinerys, or a seaport, maybe. Have you checked Cragslist?

 

[gman2304]

If you have a trucking company, heavy truck repair shop, or truck stop near you, they usually buy oil in 30 or 55 gallon drums. Ask and they'll probably give you a couple. I got my 30 gallon open top Rotella drums from a local trucking company for free.

 

[otis24]

What do you plan to do with the used oil? If you have enough, some places like Safety Kleen will pick it up for free. Perhaps they will provide the barrels to get you started. Is this just a home shop for your personal use or will you have some type of oil change/repair business that generates sufficient amounts of used oil?

 

[CRXPilot]

Originally Posted By: otis24
What do you plan to do with the used oil? If you have enough, some places like Safety Kleen will pick it up for free. Perhaps they will provide the barrels to get you started. Is this just a home shop for your personal use or will you have some type of oil change/repair business that generates sufficient amounts of used oil?


I'm a small business and have about 15 gallons already from 1 month in business. I have worked for a garage that had a recovery service but wasn't sure what the threshold was to get started. Great suggestions so far. Keep them coming!

 

[dubie2003]

Call around to a few specialty oil companies in your area, the ones that deliver gas and oil to job sites. They should have some one hand. I can get re-furbished ones for 25 in my area so the 'scrap' ones would be cheaper since they are not cleaned nor have a fresh coat of paint.

Call around and see what happens.

Also, I know it probably isn't legal but you could bring the used oil into AutoZone or Advanced or etc... and dispose of it for free. Yes, I said probably not legal due to you having a business but a lot better then the alternative of letting it pile up in barrels out back and eventually leaking.

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: CRXPilot
Hi,
I'm from dry, flat west Texas and run a little one man auto repair shop. Call it a brain block but I can't seem to find a source for cheap or free oil drums to store waste oil or coolant. Anyone know of a good source for drums?

Thanks for the resource,
CRXPilot


How cold is it in winter in Texas? If you need heat in the winter months, maybe you need to get a Waste oil heater. Price might be a deterrent.

https://www.cleanburn.com/clean-burn-products/recycling-center/

If that's not an option long term, then look on Craigslist for containers.

 

[Kruse]

My local oil supplier gives away 30 and 55 gallon drums. Matter-of-fact, I picked two of them up in the last week.
He had about a dozen 55 gallon drums and 5-6 30 gallon drums waiting to be hauled away. He did tell me that I couldn't have the plastic ones, however.

 

[otis24]

I think about 200 gallons is the minimum that most recyclers will pick up. But that may vary. If you aren't out of the way on their route, they may take smaller amounts.