Complain about your oil drain pan

[SOUTHBAYeric]

I have finally made it to my final class in college as a design student. For our last class we are all required to choose a problem to research and solve. The problem I have chosen is oil drain pans. It would be great if I could get a list of complaints and perhaps ideas about how to go about designing a better pan that is easier to use and less prone to spills.

Thank a lot,

Eric

[c.d.iesel]

you might also study the 'improved'' designs

that have been in the market for decades

already?

no splash, self contained, carring handle, plastic,

pouring guide plate, ...........

the real solution study should be how to despose

of the waste oil ?

heaters that burn waste oil, filtering, storage,

it's a subject that is been on many inventors minds

also for decades

I Hate Plastic drain pans!!!!!Plastic SUCKS!

I've seen more descusto tossed out plastic pans

in shops, even still containing the putrid

drainings. you can not easily clean out a plastic catch pan.

Metal pans are keepers.

my favorite, Two Thumbs UP pan for 40 years

of draining is the metal pan like this.

Easy to wipe clean, easy to use, large capacity,

When not in use, looks nice hanging in the kitchen along with

the 'other' cooking kettles !

Numero UNO

[BillWilliams]

1. falls into the drain pan

2. have to use new crush washer

3. oil gets on my hand

4. they all should be magnetized to catch metal particles

[Mike_R]

slow to catch & drain flow. Over tops and makes a mess.

[Napes]

Re: #1 in Bill's post. Once I break the drain plug loose with a rachet, I put the 19mm socket, with a socket magnet in the bottom, on a 6" socket extension and screw it out. This keeps you out of the oil flow, retains the plug, and makes little or no mess on your hands. Of course, you can also use nitrile gloves if you're oil sensitive (mentally or physically).

Bob Napier

[Mike87]

Not short enough to fit under lowered cars without jacking, overflow (not draining fast enough), splattering all over the floor, loose the drain plug in them.

That is enough for now.

Good luck with the design project.

Mike

[Guest Anonymous]

I have finally made it to my final class in college as a design student. For our last class we are all required to choose a problem to research and solve. The problem I have chosen is oil drain pans. It would be great if I could get a list of complaints and perhaps ideas about how to go about designing a better pan that is easier to use and less prone to spills.

Thank a lot,

Eric

Do those who list their gripes and better design plans get college credit too?

lol

[Harv]

I really like the ones that have the built in pan and replaceable plugs/ caps. I would make one that uses common milk jug or coolant jug caps so that when the guys at the parts store loose your cap you can find a new one.

Drain oil into pan, replace plug. Take relatively clean oil to recycler. No need to clean the inside of the drain pan.

John

[nbcbird]

I have an old Sears self-contained, plastic pan and my main complaint is that oil can drain faster (out of the engine) than the container can allow (like MikeR's comment). So I have to temporarily reinstall the drain plug to keep oil from overflowing.

[jgerry2002]

The cheap ones from Autozone/Pepboys with the air-vent/drain cap and the place to hold a used filter to let it leak out work fine.

The only tricky part is removing the drain plug. The extension trick works fine though.

No mess, no fuss, quick cleanup.

[SteveJ]

Hi eric,

Congrats on making it so far!

I have a Wedco oil drain pan. The big round one (model W76) that has a handle on one end and a drain spout on the other. Works well, but here are my issues-

I usually stand the pan on end to drain it into a recycle jug. There is no way to balance the large pan.

Ocassionally, the recycle jug will tip. Trying to hold the pan with both hands and stabilize the jug with your feet. Doesn't always work.

After draining and setting the pan on the floor, the spout will drip. I have fashioned a plastic cap, but it should be threaded for a more positive seal.

Sometimes, dropping the drain plug or crush washer into the pan is a hassle.

When I drain the oil with the front of the car up on ramps, the wind will sometimes blow the last trickle of oil away from the pan and onto the ground. I have had to use a cardboard wind block on gusty days.

I think my biggest beef is that while my Wedco pan is great, it is not part of a system. It would be nice if the drain pan would connect and drain into the recycle jugs that are provided by many cities. (My town provides plastic milk jugs with special labels.

Good luck!

[PatAllen]

it would be nice if we could suck the oil from the top instead of crawling under the car...

just thinking out of the box

[tony2002]

I'd like some sort of drain pan that you can return to the waste oil without having to use the pan as a middle man so so speak. As in, you buy a half doz quarts of oil in a shrink wrap or plastic bladder, and the outer container will have some kind of lid or something like that. This way it can go right from oil drain, to recycling facility.

[02tom]

The pan should have two gloves attached, like a sand blast cabinet, so you can undo the drain and not get oil down your arm.

And then there's the filter and draining it. Do they make a can opener so you can drain all the oil from the filter (before you remove it would be ideal so it doesn't run down the engine block)?

The pan is never big enough to catch all the drips, and then you have to pour the oil from the pan to other containers to take it to be recycled. More drips. I hate latex gloves. I hate mosquitoes, too, especially while changing oil. You'd think all the used oil on my skin at some point would start to be a repellent from slapping at the mosquitoes, but no.... Ok, I'm probably getting side tracked...

(If you really want to hear me complain, ask me about changing out a transmission on dirt floor in the middle of winter)

[Scott Sislane]

The plastic job I have (below), has a flat/squared lip to pour the oil out. The oil doesn't stay in a narrow stream & makes a mess usually. Ends up on the sides of the bottle I'm emptying into. If it had a nicely formed shape like a gravy boat does, it would be much easier to empty.

And I don't want a fancy drain pan. No reason this affordable, simple, low cost pan couldn't have a better formed spout.

I can't throw it out because that would unfriendly to the earth.