My collection barrels

[Clay]

This is what i am using to collect vegi oil.
It works great, grease thieves can't put a suction hose through the metal grate unless its a very small hose. The valve on bottom is a locking valve. Now of course a thief could take the whole barrel but would likely spill oil everywhere since the lid does not seal to prevent sloshing. Nothing is thief proof but the locking valve is mainly to prevent an accidental opening of the valve by anyone whom might want to see what comes out when they open it.

The lids are balanced when open so they will stay open while the cooks pump there grease but even a slight breeze will shut the lid keeping out rain water.
Its an easy target for the Cooks to hit therefor the barrel stays clean.




the stand is built to the height to allow me to put a cubie under the valve.
The restaurants keep their empty cubies for me to refill once a month when i go collect.
I paid 25 bucks for the lid, 3 bucks for the hing and chain and 16 bucks for the locking ball valve and i think 9 bucks for 4 sq. ft. of expanded metal. Welded it up and painted it. The stand didn't cost me anything as i had some 2x4 lumber already laying around.



I have 5 of these barrels made up with 4 of them in service, one is an extra in case i need it. I collect once a month as it takes my sources that long to fill a barrel. I do have another source that puts the oil in cubies for me and i collect 3-4 cubies a week every Thursday from them. So thats about 250 ish gal. a month i collect.

[Clay]

One more pic

[triplemoutdoors]

Nice set up Clay!

[simone0414]

Very nice Clay. I like it. Looks very similar to what I would like to set up.

Couple questions: Where did you get the metal grate? What kind of locking device do you have on the valve? Did you buy a valve with a locking device on it or did you make a lock for it? Either way exactly how does it work? How far is the valve from the bottom of the barrel? Looks like it is qute low. Are you concerned that you may be draining from too low in the barrel?

[Clay]

Originally Posted by simone0414

Very nice Clay. I like it. Looks very similar to what I would like to set up.

Couple questions: Where did you get the metal grate? What kind of locking device do you have on the valve? Did you buy a valve with a locking device on it or did you make a lock for it? Either way exactly how does it work? How far is the valve from the bottom of the barrel? Looks like it is qute low. Are you concerned that you may be draining from too low in the barrel?

The grate is common expanded metal purchased anywhere that sells metal stock.
The locking valves I bought from Mcmasters but it's easy enough (and cheaper) to weld a lock point and drill a hole in the valve handle to lock it shut.
The valve is about 3" up off the bottom. I am not concerned about what I get out of the barrel. For one, I have explained to the cooks that I can't have anything in this barrel but oil. This is not to be mistaken as a settling barrel, I take whatever is in it and deal with it accordingly. Don't make it to hard for the cooks, that's the name of the game here. The lids are balanced so that the slightest breath of wind will shut them, keeping rain water out if they fail to close it. IF I begin to drain a barrel, I can tell if a large amount of water is coming out and I can discard that first cubie.

[skyskijason]

Some of my places complain about drum being too high - do your places have people tall and strong enough to get it in your 'elevated' drums or do you have something for them to stand on?

When I was collecting less, I considered something similar, but planned to run a hose up to cubie height. This would've limited capacity - however I never let a drum get FULL back then anyway! Just putting the bung higher means NOT removing the nasty. At least at 3" or so up from bottom, you can still tip the drum on its side and dump it ALL out the top every once in awhile. (I do this with plain, open-top drums every so often anyway - right into renderers dumpster...) Any lower than 3" and the crumbs will plug up your valve - not CLOSING when ya want it to could be bad!!!

I didn't see any pics of your grate(s) painted. Every time they pour oil in, a thin layer of poly will form on that rusty steel. Eventually closing up the gaps in your expanded metal. Some of the more experienced guys I've met bolted the grate down and welded nuts on the bottom. You could even weld a dozen 'fake' bolts from the top giving the illusion of Ft. Knox... Even the theifs don't wanna get their hands dirty wrestling with those NASTY bolts!!

Don't worry, I learned a long time ago its easy to be a critic!!!

[Clay]

Originally Posted by skyskijason

I didn't see any pics of your grate(s) painted. Every time they pour oil in, a thin layer of poly will form on that rusty steel. Eventually closing up the gaps in your expanded metal. Some of the more experienced guys I've met bolted the grate down and welded nuts on the bottom. You could even weld a dozen 'fake' bolts from the top giving the illusion of Ft. Knox... Even the theifs don't wanna get their hands dirty wrestling with those NASTY bolts!!

Don't worry, I learned a long time ago its easy to be a critic!!!

No poly issues whatsoever ever. But when I get a couple years of experience under my belt I'm sure I'll say "dam Jason told me this would happen".
But actually these barrel pics are not finished product. They all got a good coat of black spray paint... Not the grates though.
There has been probably close to 1000 gal poured into them and no issues with the grate.
The restaurants use there grease "dolly" which they would use with the renderers vat and it works fine with my elevated barrels.

[skyskijason]

Originally Posted by Clay

when I get a couple years of experience under my belt I'm sure I'll say "dam Jason told me this would happen".

...............

[Mr.Weigand]

Its nice to see how the pros do it! Thanks for posting pics.

[BurninClean]

Nice set up, looks like you put a lot of work into it to make it.