What is an oil filter crusher?
The oil cap
Engine oil's jobs
One of the jobs engine oil is designed to do is clean. It does this in a couple of ways. The first is chemically. Additives in the oil act as detergents cleaning away carbon deposits that accumulate as left over by products from the combustion process. The second way oil cleans is by carrying any detritus from the engine out of the engine block, through the sump and then through the oil filter where it is removed. Even small contaminants can cause damage in the engine, acting as an abrasive agent when it is caught between the piston and the cylinder wall. Wearing away at the engine like this increased the cubic capacity of the engine and therefore causes oil pressure to drop. A dangerous viscous circle as lower oil pressure can lead to less effective lubrication and cleaning and therefore more wear.
Why oil needs changing
After a while two things happen to the oil and the filter. The additives in the oil get used up. Meaning there are no cleaning agents left in the oil. This is bad and needs to be remedied. This is why an oil change is needed. Second, the oil filter becomes saturated with debris. If the filter becomes blocked they a release valve allows the oil to flow unfiltered around the engine. This is a bad situation, but not as bad an running an engine without out oil, as would be the case if the filter was blocked and no oil could flow. Another problem with oil that has past its use by date is it becomes saturated with chemicals and particles and has no capacity to carry anymore, meaning these elements are left in the core of the engine and do not even get transported to the filter (regardless of whether the filter is blocked or not they don’t even get a chance to be filtered.)
Oil engine crushers
During an oil change the filter should always be removed. It is with the spent filter that the oil crusher is concerned. An oil filter crusher is not a piece of equipment you are likely to buy for home use. Oil filter crushers are not cheap. They are designed to do exactly what it says on the box, crush oil filters. Why bother? Simple, the filter contains a lot of waste oil. Oil that can and should be recycled. When the filter is crushed the waste oil is released and can be captured. As you can see they are really only for workshop use. The price is one issue with home use as they can cost hundreds or even thousands of pounds for a device depending on the size of the crushing chamber.
A crusher can be mounted on the wall of on a heavy duty stand and is driven by pneumatic pressure. Motorcycle oil can be drained from a filter in these devices too, as well as that of cars and trucks from petrol of diesel engines but it depends on the size of the chamber. An OBERG oil crusher is a popular brand.