If there is one item that can quickly build up in any auto shop storage area, it is used oil filters.  At almost every service that you carry out on a vehicle, it is necessary to remove and replace the oil filter; meaning that your stock of used ones can build up very quickly indeed – unless you get an oil filter crusher.

Unfortunately, because of the design of a modern auto oil filter, it is not possible to recycle them, and cleaning them is impractical thanks to the one way valves and complex filtration systems that they are designed with, however, none of this will prove to be a significant problem for you with an oil filter crusher.

The average auto workshop will end up with hundreds of oil filters every year, and all of them are filled with sludge and used oil from engines.  For this reason, they are viewed as contaminated waste by the EPA. This means that there are many tough regulations about their disposal.  Finding a company that can repurpose used and contaminated oil filters can be a tough process, and once you have found one, the prices that you will have to pay per unit for disposal might have you scratching your head.

Of course, the best answer to getting rid of old used oil filters is to decontaminate them yourself, and then send them off to a regular metal recycling station where you actually get paid for the scrap value of the metal, rather than having to pay a fee for every unit.  This is where an oil filter crusher can save the day.

Essentially, an oil filter crusher is a device that squeezes all of the engine sludge, grunge, and oil out of the old filter under high pressure, and flattens the old filter at the same time.  This means that rather than having a stack of bulky oil filters sitting in the back of your workshop waiting to be disposed of, you end up with a neat pile of clean scrap metal, and an easy to manage container of used oil that can be disposed of cheaply and conveniently and comply with the EPA disposal guidelines.

Modern oil filter crushers such as the John Dow DOWAFC100-94 connect quickly and simply to your existing air supply, and are designed specifically to be able to smash open oil filters and crush up to 95% of the sludge and used engine oil out of the unit.  This waste oil is separated from the metal, and placed in a large capacity bucket, to await proper disposal.  The John Dow DOWAFC100-94 oil filter crusher is an incredibly compact and easy to use machine.  It is able to remove 75% of the volume of a used oil filter when it crushes it, features a simple to use “close and go” system to operate, and can stand in less than 4 square feet of space.  Because it only needs to be connected to an air hose, you can place the oil filter crusher practically anywhere in your workshop, and only get it out when required.