Use fryer oil for bar oil?

  • Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.

    We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.

    We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
Status
Not open for further replies.

n1st

New Member
Jun 3, 2007
121
Enfield, CT
I don't like poluting the property with CS oil so was thinking about using old fryer oil. Anybody tried this?
 
I've been using vegetable oil for about a year now. It seems to be working just fine.
 
Great, a use for that old fryer oil! Thanks.
 
I use straight canola, generic even, out of the kitchen.

works well, flows WAY better than most B&C;oils, I had to turn down the oiler on my 029 to its minimum setting, it was way over oiling!

even in winter temps, and letting it sit over winter, I have had ZERO problems with it.

some folks say it goes bad, gets gooey, lots of things
but in my experience, its been WAY cleaner in every regard than regular bar and chain oil.

I would think that the ONLY drawback of used fryer oil, is that it MIGHT go rancid, or bad after some time sitting ( assuming it has some animal fat or whatever in it)

but it might not, I am not a chemist.

go for it!







N1ST said:
I don't like poluting the property with CS oil so was thinking about using old fryer oil. Anybody tried this?
 
You can use new vegetable oil, don't use used fryer oil. You oil pump and pick up screen will not like the small bits of fired chicken and onion rings. YOU WILL CLOG YOUR OILER.
 
surely he could strain it first?

good point though, I think fresh veggie oil is good, used oil, would probably require more straining, and care, and cleaning than it would be worth ( compared to new oil)


sedanman said:
You can use new vegetable oil, don't use used fryer oil. You oil pump and pick up screen will not like the small bits of fired chicken and onion rings. YOU WILL CLOG YOUR OILER.
 
When it's real cold, I use a lighter hydraulic oil. Been doing this for years. I have at choice of 100, 68, and 32 weight. The 68 weight is the most I use, it is a combo oil that is a gear box oil that can be used in a bath recirculation system. The only reason I have been using this is that it is free. The husky brand oil is a vegetable base, so maybe you will be ok, just filter it pretty good.
 
I switched to veggie oil years ago.

No pollution, flows better, no sticky mess.

I would not use the fryer oil.
 
Plenty was available on the Capitol Beltway yesterday. A tanker full of it crashed and created quite a mess.
 
I'm no expert on this but I have been told that good B&C;oil is relatively high viscosity and will separate the metal to metal surfaces better than lighter weight oils. I guess what they are saying is you will get more bar wear with the lighter viscosity oils. I'm only relating what i have heard.

Personally I recycle my waste engine oil. I filter it through a paper filter and then use it for B&C;oil. It is definitely lighter oil than B&C;oil but seems to work OK. I don't overuse my chain saw so I probably would not know if i get more wear on the bar. I use a cordwood saw for a lot of my firewood cutting.
 
I wouldn't use used crankcase oil either, there is more to oil than viscosity and "cleanliness" there are corrosive by-products of combustion suspended in that used oil. And the topic of this thread was about polluting LESS than clean new bar oil, surely throwing a few quarts of drain oil around on the ground is worse. A good friend of mine is a retired lube engineer ftom Texaco. THe "formula" for bar oil is to take whatever batch of any weight oil that was either surplus or couldn't pass a particular test and add a tackifier agent to it and maybe red dye if the customer specified it.
 
sedanman said:
I wouldn't use used crankcase oil either, there is more to oil than viscosity and "cleanliness" there are corrosive by-products of combustion suspended in that used oil. And the topic of this thread was about polluting LESS than clean new bar oil, surely throwing a few quarts of drain oil around on the ground is worse. A good friend of mine is a retired lube engineer ftom Texaco. THe "formula" for bar oil is to take whatever batch of any weight oil that was either surplus or couldn't pass a particular test and add a tackifier agent to it and maybe red dye if the customer specified it.

Referred to in the lube plants as "slop".
 
I tried putting it thru a coffee filter first, but no luck. Then I put it thru a strainer and that took out anyting visible to the eye. ... I would think that's enough filtering, no? I kinda look forward to cutting with the smell of fried shimp in the air.
 
I'm not saying cooking oil is good or bad, but I go thru lots of used cooking oil processing biodiesel.

The equipment I use to handle the used cooking oil gets a nasty tough to clean gummy residue on it if left on the equipment for any length of time. The only thing that seems to cut it is hot, hot water and some spray degreaser. I wonder what the inside of the oil resevoir and pick up screen will look like with long term use. I'm, sure the lubrication qualities of the cooking oils are adequate. The oil is also pretty aggressive on certian rubbers.

The other issue is gelling. Most cooking oils get really thick and pasty as the temp drops. Canola is pretty good at low temps (around 32 max). I guess it don't matter once the saw warms it up.

Knowing what I know, I'll stick with bar and chain oil and if needed I toss in a little new transmission fluid to thin it down for cold weather. The red tint also tells me it is my winter mix incase I get containers mixed up. KD
 
Good points, thanks.
 
So when you guys say you switched to veggie oil, are you using veggie based b&c;oil(like that available from Husqvarna) or oil intended for deep frying food?
 
this is what I have been using, with great results, NO downsides that I have found yet.



bjorn773 said:
So when you guys say you switched to veggie oil, are you using veggie based b&c;oil(like that available from Husqvarna) or oil intended for deep frying food?
 

Attachments

  • bc-oil.jpg
    bc-oil.jpg
    84 KB · Views: 442
I think having an oil with a tackifier in it would be better for your saw. I know Stihl was making a bio-degradable oil too. I would also tend to think that veggie oil would start to gum things up as the bar and chain started getting hot.
 
This is a great discussion it wouldnt gum up because cooking oils only gum up at cold tempertures. The only thing I would worry about is heat coming to close to the smoke and flash points of the oil. Here is a list of smoke points for standard cooking oils:
Sunflower 390
Sesame Seed 410
Olive 410
Corn 410
Canola 435
Grapeseed 445
Soybean 450
Safflower 450
Peanut 450

It would take alot for this to come to a smoke point even at 390. Has any one ever take temp of bar and chain after a good use. Would this possible splatter on to the exhaust? If the container just says Vegetable oil than it is a mixture of canola and soybean. Or they might make two different oils with the same equipment and it doesn't come out pure enough to classify it. I work in the food service industry and go through 450# of canola oil a week so if any one has any really bad experience then let the forum know if not it will smell like french fries the next time I cut a tree down. I would stay away from an oil that was used to cook meat as that will make it rancid and cause the smoke to lower to unknown level.
 
Those are pretty much the same flash points as the various motor oil blends.
 
Viscosity would be the bigger issue then like all oils they loose viscosity when heated up. Bailey's sell a biodegradable B&C;oil. Just wanted to put that out there any one know what it is made of?
 
the saw stays MUCH cleaner with this oil.

It doest seem to clump up the sawdust like the regular oil did.

and as far as lubricating qualities, as far as I can tell, its not causing any problems.

All my bars, and sprockets are worn out pretty badly already since I bought these saws used/cheap.

I think it actually oils BETTER in my 024, since its oiler was pretty weak with bar oil, MUCH more oil on the bar with canola.

IM sold on it.

Id recommend anyone interested to try it.

I need to go out side and see how it oils tonight when the temp is down around 10 degrees, I will try to do that and post back.
 
It sounds like my 032 will try it first I will post back on it in a few days, but the oiler leaks pretty bad so what ever is in there wont be in there for long. :lol:
 
Maybe it does, canola oils it just fine though.

Pook said:
i thought bar oil had additives in it to help it stick to the bar longer.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.