01 / The challenge
Used oil was leaving through eight drums.
The customer drained used hydraulic oil from construction machinery into eight separate storage drums for collection by an oil recycling company. An older rotary hand pump made the transfers slow and labour-intensive. The workshop handled both ISO VG 32 and ISO VG 46 oils.
Filtertechnik visited the site to assess the transfer problem. The survey identified a wider opportunity: clean, test and reuse suitable oil. That required equipment which could collect oil at the machine, move around the workshop and return conditioned fluid after servicing.
02 / The approach
Specify the complete recovery and refill process.
Take the unit to the machine
The portable unit could move with the oil drums to each machine and then through the workshop. A 10 m power cable supported the required reach, while a flow meter recorded the volume recovered from each tank.
Filter the recovered hydraulic oil
Filtertechnik modified a DFC-3000 with dual 14-inch filter housings, absolute-rated Schroeder elements and water-removal capability. The stated 10 µm absolute figure describes the filter rating; it is not a measured oil-cleanliness result.
Return conditioned oil after servicing
A dispensing nozzle allowed the same unit to refill machinery with the conditioned fluid. Recovery, filtration and refilling were addressed together in the equipment specification.
03 / The documented outcome
A route back to the machine for suitable oil.
Filtertechnik reports that the system enabled oil recovery and reuse, reduced new-oil purchases and waste-oil disposal, and removed the need to manually lift and transport oil around the site. These are the partner's qualitative outcomes for this customer.
The case does not publish recovered litres, transfer times, before-and-after particle or water measurements, or financial savings. Its useful evidence is the equipment configuration and the reported change in oil handling. It does not establish a recovery rate or a payback period for another workshop.
04 / Applying the findings
Decide which oil can return before buying the equipment.
For another workshop, the first question is whether the recovered oil remains suitable for the machine. Record the oil product, grade, source machine and service history. Assess lubricant condition separately from contamination, then agree treatment and acceptance criteria against the equipment's requirements.
The handling specification matters too. Establish how drums will be identified, where oil will be sampled, what access the unit needs and how approved oil will be returned. The flow meter in this case tracked recovered volume; it did not measure oil quality.
Our guide to recovering or replacing contaminated hydraulic oil explains the condition checks and cost comparison. The hydraulic oil filtration service covers assessment and treatment selection.