Air Conditioning compressors

I was wondering whats the easiest way to drain the oil from an ac compressor. I tried to open one today and decided I would be better off selling for motor price. My local yard will accept these as motor price as long as all the oil is drained.

drill a hole in it and let it drain into a bucket.

I can usually stand it on edge and let it drain out of one of the lines.

I don't have a drill bit for metal but now I have a reason to go out and buy a few. What do you guys do with the oil once you have it removed?

Originally Posted by TheSheenyMan

I was wondering whats the easiest way to drain the oil from an ac compressor. I tried to open one today and decided I would be better off selling for motor price. My local yard will accept these as motor price as long as all the oil is drained.

When I cut the tubing lines off a compressor, I cut the short one with the crimp & weld on its end & quickly position the compressor/container so the oil sprays out into the container.
The pressure inside the compressor pushes out the oil as a oil, then as a oil/foam spray.

If you have just the compressor, position it so the oil flows out of one tube. Once you have the oil, recycle it, most of our garages have a oil recycling drum you can put the car engine oil into.
Yesterday I read here that it can be used, or converted into diesol fuel, sorta like how some people can change used fat into diesol fuel.

I know its a real pain as the oils messy & because theres a few 'one way' valves inside the compressor that will stop all of the oil comming out. Then when you shift it, more oil comes out...

I'd be looking at cutting them apart to get the 2Lbs Copper wire & 'heavy iron' price for most of the internals.
Some of the internal parts have Ali in them & so you have to seperate those parts out, or get the lower price of 'contaminated iron' for the whole thing.

I see you're in Boise. Depending on how many compressors you get and how often, we might be able to make it worthwhile for both of us. I have a plasma torch so they're easy to open.

eesakiwi: I didn't get to cut the lines, some mexicans were releasing the gas and cutting out the radiators. Lucky for me, they left the compressors, the wiring, low grade boards and the big electric motors for the fans.

Freon Joe:my yard pays .18 cents per pound as long as I have all the oil drained out.

Idaho Scrapper: I'm in Island Park now but I'm actually going to be in Boise in a few days to start school. This is a one time deal for me. I found them outside a hotel and the owner said I could have them.

I only have a reciprocating saw and 4 1/2 inch grinder as far as cutting goes and those cutting discs are fragile. To make matters more difficult, I busted my vise grip last week. I think right now its too much of a pain to cut them open and process the windings considering I have 21 compressors. Each of them roughly weigh in at 20 lbs.