Oil Filter Drain Tool

Story Behind the Invention

Every mechanic knows the routine: drain the crankcase, pull the filter, toss it in the waste bin. What most people don’t realize and what Keith Nelson did is that a used oil filter is never truly empty. Inside the filter housing are multiple internal chambers packed with oil-soaked media. When the filter is removed from the engine, gravity pulls some of that oil down and out but not all of it. The chambers seal it in. The only way to release what’s left is to break the sidewall.

Keith set out to build the tool that does exactly that.

The Oil Filter Drain Tool is a handheld device engineered to punch through the sidewall of a used oil filter, releasing the oil trapped in every internal chamber. Once punctured, the filter is placed on the tool’s integrated draining rack, which holds it securely in position while the remaining oil flows out completely. The result is a filter that is genuinely drained not just mostly drained.

The implications are straightforward. For the home mechanic, it means less mess and a cleaner, safer way to handle used filters before disposal. For the shop, it means compliance with waste oil best practices and a reduction in the oil that ends up locked inside landfill-bound filters. For the environment, it means the oil that should be reclaimed actually gets reclaimed.

Keith built a simple tool that solves a problem every person who changes their own oil has dealt with most of them just didn’t know there was a better way. Now there is.