Hopkins 3qt oil change system

In my best Sophia from Golden Girls:

Picture it.  My back yard, 10:30 pm, after the latest snowmageddon.  My power has been out since 12:30 am. I have about 1 hour sleep in the last 22 hours. Trees have taken down power lines on my street and 95% of the town is out.  I was lucky enough to get a new generator first thing this morning to get my sump pumps going again.  But I have to do an oil change after the first 5-10 hours of use. I'm tired, uncaffeinated, and totally done.  What do I do?

Well, when picking up the generator, the associate handed me something to buy.  I don't know it yet, but I have just gotten something so simple, but life changing.  What was this miracle of modern life?

Hopkins Oil Change System

Its a vacuum pump to draw oil out of small engine and into a container. How can this be so life changing?

Like I said.  Its 10:30. I shuffle out to the garage with my worklight.  Grab the oil and the Hopkins. No tools.  By 10:45, I have everything ready to go.  By 10:55, the oil is changed, I have cleaned up, and restarted the generator after topping off the gas for the night.  I have never had such an easy oil change.  No mess.  Done fast, and I am back to bed.

I know this sounds like a canoe, but it's not.  I just wanted to share how a little plastic jug with a vacuum pump and hose made a not fun chore after a really bad day into something so easy that I am looking forward to changing the oil on my snowblower/lawn mower/tractor.  

My only issue with this style is getting all of the oil out.  Maybe suck as much as I can and then pop the drain for the last little bit....

that being said, this is perfect timing - I just filled my vette with about 10-12 quarts of Mobil1 about 50 miles ago and have to pull the motor (which means removing the oil tank lines which means a lot of expensive slippery stuff comes out. 

I also need to change the oil in the minivan and the Prius so I am going to suck the oil out of the vette using this doodad and put it into the other vehicles!

thanks for the heads up!

I have one with a 3 gallon capacity. They have been using them on boats forever because frequently you can't get to the drain plug. 

Edit, it's 2 gallons, not 3.

The electric / pneumatic version of these pumps are very common in gas stations in Japan. They do exactly what jfryjfry mentioned. Suck out as much as possible and open the drain plug for the last tiny bit. Saves a lot of time and they can spot things like metal shavings, bad sludge, and coolant in the oil before they even drain it fully.