Disposal of used oil

Jstpssng · Oct 17, 2005

( Wow, I thought bar oil was more like 90 weight. It sure pours slow and is much stringier than engine oil.
)

Oil sold for saw chains has special addititives to help it stick to the bar, and specifically states "not for engine use."
The viscosity varies, with "SAE30" meant for summer use; in cold weather it's too thick to flow through the oiler, so in winter you change to "SAE20, or SAE10" depending on air temperature.
(Or cut it with diesel.)

LRH · Oct 17, 2005

In the state of GA; it can be a little hard to find a place to dump used oil as there is no requirement for sellers to take used oil. Around here every convience store, drug store, grocery store sells some oil so it would be a nightmare with who knows what in the tanks. I have heard that 1 gal of "dip type" carb cleaner can ruin a 500 gal load of used oil to the point that it has to be shipped to a haz mat center for processing at mucho dollars. For this reason the few that do take used oil are picky about who they let dump and keep a padlock on the tank. Do grocery stores and drug stores in mandatory colection states actually have tanks out back? I have never had to dump oil as I use it to paint fenceposts and thinned some out a with some kero and painted an old barn floor, also painted another barn floor with about 6 gal of nice red ATF on yellow pine, looked very nice and soaks in well.

PS: In GA anyone who sells lead-acid batteries IS required to take them, but of course the logistics of this are much easier as not as many non-automotive type places sell batteries.

Highbeam · Oct 18, 2005

I have never seen oil collection outside or around a grocery store and I have seen oil sold in nearly every grocery store. I would then assume that the rules either do not require mandatory colelction or that there is some exemption for low volume sales or something like that. Auto parts stores and recycle stations are the only place I've seen it collected around here.

penokee · Oct 18, 2005

I use it for Dust Control on my gravel roads. The State, County and Townships have hundreds of miles of Bituminous (Asphalt) roads where the rain, etc, slowly leaches out the oil over time. Can't see where I'm hurting the environment any more then they are. Realize you couldn't do this in heavily populated areas.
penokee /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Highbeam · Oct 18, 2005

I would think the viscosity and relative purity of bitumin would allow it to be much less prone to cause environmental damage than the thinner used engine oil contaminated with all kinds of heavy metals from the engine.

Glass is also a liquid but it pretty much acts like a solid. So the asphalt comparison ain't quite gonna do it in my opinion.

Now oiling roads for dust and weed control has been done for a long time. I think the big thing is to not dump it all in one place. More than once as a kid I was instructed to "spread this oil out over the road".

slowrev · Oct 18, 2005

Technically you can't spread oil on the ground anywhere. 10,000 fine or somesuch. Federal regulations.

Ben

Tom4310 · Oct 18, 2005

I know I am going to anger the "tree huggers" but this is what I do with my used oil. 3/4 oil, 1/4 diesel gets these logging slash piles burning quite well. burnpile

EDIT Changed large inline pic to link please keep inline pics <640x480

LBrown59 · Oct 19, 2005

My next door neighbor is a diesel mechanic.
The garage where he works heats with used oil.
He said they have 2 rooms in the building where they keep 55 gallons drums of it for the oil furnace.

Places like this will take all the free heat they can get.

Highbeam · Oct 19, 2005

Now that's a big picture. Melting snow!

"Technically you can't spread oil on the ground anywhere. 10,000 fine or somesuch. Federal regulations."

It depends on why you are spreading oil. As a part of road construction or maintenance, then it is fine. In my current job we hire a county chip seal crew to resurface a portion of our roads every year. Chip seal is where they squirt out a liquid petroleum (oil) and then spread chip (1/2 minus or so) rock on it. Those kinds of rules are written for dumping hazardous waste in an unofficial manner.

slowrev · Oct 19, 2005

It depends on why you are spreading oil. As a part of road construction or maintenance, then it is fine. In my current job we hire a county chip seal crew to resurface a portion of our roads every year. Chip seal is where they squirt out a liquid petroleum (oil) and then spread chip (1/2 minus or so) rock on it. Those kinds of rules are written for dumping hazardous waste in an unofficial manner.
//

And Dust control is one of those unapproved manners.