A pump and special drain plug are a slick way to remove engine oil
Wanting to end the occasional spills that happen during oil changes, Tom Easson, co-owner of Nova Scotia, Canada-based Eassons Transportation Group, hit upon a solution: Swap out the drain plug for one with a check valve, hook up to a pump and suck out the oil. In the process he discovered speed.
The usual way to drain truck oil is to unscrew the drain plug and dribble 40 litres (42.3 US quarts) of oil into a drain pan for 10 to 15 minutes. It is effective, but sometimes messy. Easson came up with a solution: First, he bought some special drain plugs and a diaphragm pump from Ormac Industrial Supplies in Sussex, New Brunswick (not to be confused with Brunswick, Maine).
The brass drain plugs are a product of Winnipeg, Manitoba-based No-Spill Systems Canada. The materials are sourced in the United States, the drain plugs manufactured in Toronto, and for US customers, the sister company is No-Spill Systems USA, in Pembina, North Dakota.
When a tractor rolls into a service bay in their Coldbrook, Nova Scotia shop
He then mounted the pump on an old reefer tank, added some hoses and couplings, and set the assembly on a welded-up cart on wheels. When a tractor rolls into a service bay in their Coldbrook, Nova Scotia shop, a mechanic fetches the cart, connects a hose to the No-Spill drain plug, and turns on the pump. In about a minute, less than the time it takes to fetch a new oil filter, the old oil is in the tank. New oil is waiting in bulk tanks. “We have hose reels for new engine oil so we can select the amount to add,” Easson notes.
As well, he says, “We put on a t-fitting so we can suck out oil from the tractor into the tank, and then from the tank to a large storage tank for our used oil furnace.”
The company has outfitted about 200 of their 330 tractors with the No-Spill drain plugs.
Although the speed is a nice bonus, Easson is well-satisfied with having solved the original problem. “For me it was more about the drain pans and how we handle the mess. It was as much about an easy and quick way to transfer oil without spillage.”