How To Dispense Bulk Oil From A Tote Using A Gravity Drain Pump

Dispensing from a 275 Gallon Tote can be daunting if you’ve never done it before. With the right dispensing attachments, it’s really quite easy!

Many companies opt to buy bulk oil totes and need these dispensers. Whether you’re filling smaller bottles from totes to save money, or if you are using these bulk totes in your manufacturing production, we can provide an easy way for you to dispense out of them.

What Is A Gravity Drain Pump? 

Gravity drain pumps are a non-motorized pump you use to drain oil and other liquids out of totes. Centra Foods has received so many requests from customers over the years that we have created our own Dispensing Hose Attachments that are available for purchase.

This dispensing hose (or pump) is compact and easy to use: the pump contains a 2” camlock on one end which attaches to the tote (with a safety lock to keep the arms down when pumping). It also has a length of tube leading to the ball valve which is used for dispensing and is covered by a dust cap.

The pump takes up very little space in a facility, as you can hang it on a wall hook or even on the side of the tote.

Elevate Your Tote 

To properly use the pump, you will need to make sure you have the tote elevated from the ground. This is what makes it “gravity draining” — having it located higher than where it is dispensed from, which uses the force of gravity to push the oil out of the end of the hose.

You can either stack the tote up on a few pallets or elevate it using a fork lift (temporary) or racking (permanent).

How To Use A Gravity Drain Pump 

Once you have elevated the tote, please follow these next steps:

1. Open the top of the tote to vent it. The reason we suggest doing this is that as the oil is drained out, the pressure of the air outside the tote (and the lack of air inside) can cause the tote to cave in and the oil to drain very slow.
2. Remove the dust cover from the tote’s bottom dispenser, where you will be attaching the 2” camlock. Remove the foil tamper seal before attaching the camlock.
3. Once you have removed the foil, you can attach the 2” camlock to your tote.
4. Make sure the ball valve end (the end of the hose that oil flows out of) is closed before opening/starting the flow of oil from the tote.
5. Pull the yellow handle to open up the tote. Oil will flow into your drain pump.
6. Open the ball valve dispensing end and start filling whatever container you’ve opted for.

How To Remove The Pump From The Tote 

The removal process is pretty basic. You’ll just want to make sure that once you are done filling the container you are using, that you make sure the ball valve (at the end of the hose) is closed.

Once that is done, go ahead and turn the yellow handle to the off position (near where you had attached the camlock). You will want to make sure you have a drip bucket near by for when you remove the camlock. That way you don’t get the leftover oil everywhere.

Once you have taken the drain pump off, you can follow your facility’s cleaning protocol.

In Conclusion 

We hope this information was helpful to you and your team on how to properly use a gravity drain pump. To see the process in full, please feel free to watch our video below on how to use a gravity drain pump: