How NOT to do a hydraulic oil change...

[GeoHorn]

We have game cams in areas remote from the houses and move them once in a while so folks don’t get used to where they are. Our non-development neighbors know that because we’ve had to call a couple of them. Like the one that was upset with my father over something and urinated on the corn pile in front of Dad’s deer blind. Had to call him and tell him we didn’t need any more pictures of his shortcomings. Been pretty effective for keeping things orderly on our property. The neighboring undeveloped land I can’t do anything with other than look at it and shake my head.

I know we could put in WiFi repeaters and do something more sophisticated. For now the game cams keep people honest except, like you said, can’t very well aim them at the public road and probably wouldn’t get plate numbers anyway.

The neighboring “ranch” was previously owned by a vacant owner who merely wanted to “flip” it….but hadn’t done his homework… one of my runways blocks public access to that property … he discovered he couldn’t flip it to a developer…. So, To pay the loan interest and taxes on his 570 acres…. he allowed “hunters” onto it. These city-dwellers had no respect for the land and would dump animal carcass/waste out on the roadways…. and my adoptive dog would bring something disgusting “home” occasionally…. so I’d dump it right back into the middle of their “campsite”…..for it to rot and await their return the following weekend.

This led to a “discussion” about their “hunting” habits … (They would auto-feed corn to deer and sit in “blinds” to ambush them. I suggested to them they could go to a cattle feed-lot and shoot Angus over the feed-troughs ….and discover their “hunting” success would provide some Great Eating while they’d not have to put up with deer-guts being returned to their campsite anymore!)

They quit dumping on the roads. (Their slob-hunting killed everything over there including jackrabbits, armadillos, …everything.… you can’t find a living Insect over there ….where a virtual animal-habitat wilderness once existed.)

 

[dirtydeed]

Knew a guy in college that would change his oil... while parked over a storm drain without any oil pan.

what a dk. I believe that he was arrested for selling drugs in wilkes barre after he graduated.

 

[tsp159]

The neighboring “ranch” was previously owned by a vacant owner who merely wanted to “flip” it….but hadn’t done his homework… one of my runways blocks public access to that property … he discovered he couldn’t flip it to a developer…. So, To pay the loan interest and taxes on his 570 acres…. he allowed “hunters” onto it. These city-dwellers had no respect for the land and would dump animal carcass/waste out on the roadways….

I knew this was Texas before I even finished reading. There's so much bad practice going on with leases bringing good money from hunting "bros" that really should stick to hunting big game at the local beer joint.

 

[JimmyJazz]

Maybe it’s a state by state thing, but in NC oil change places and auto parts stores are required to take up to 5 gallons per day per person. No purchase required. No charge allowed. You can take them 5 gallons every day they’re open and they have to keep taking it. When I changed the engine oil and hydraulic fluid in my L, I made a brief tour of local auto parts stores and got rid of all of it in less than an hour. Local O’Reilly’s, when I walk in with a grubby looking bucket they ask if I’m dumping oil, I say yes, they tell me “you know where it is”, and I take it in the back to their waste oil tank.

Been several years since I asked someone who owns a few oil change places but they said they get paid a little bit by the waste oil disposal company. He said it was his understanding the primary use was fuel for steam ship boilers.

Good to know. Thanks

 

[Bee-Positive]

Maybe it’s a state by state thing, but in NC oil change places and auto parts stores are required to take up to 5 gallons per day per person. No purchase required. No charge allowed. You can take them 5 gallons every day they’re open and they have to keep taking it. When I changed the engine oil and hydraulic fluid in my L, I made a brief tour of local auto parts stores and got rid of all of it in less than an hour. Local O’Reilly’s, when I walk in with a grubby looking bucket they ask if I’m dumping oil, I say yes, they tell me “you know where it is”, and I take it in the back to their waste oil tank.

Been several years since I asked someone who owns a few oil change places but they said they get paid a little bit by the waste oil disposal company. He said it was his understanding the primary use was fuel for steam ship boilers.

Same here in NY, anywhere that sells it has to take it, except maybe the grocery store. When I changed my hydraulic fluid I took the used stuff to A-zone. They stopped me at the counter and said they have to "check" it first. The guy says it smells funny you can't dump it (might have tranny fluid in it). I told him what it was and pointed to a jug of T6 on the shelf. Three employees and a manager later they said OK. Last time I'll go there for anything. Never had a problem with Advance Auto or O'Reilly's. Walk in, wave, dump, walk out.

 

[forky]

It's really simple. If they have a fee where you live for waste oils and filters, then there is a problem.
If the political people we vote for are by the people and for the people that vote for them, then they should be aware of fees that harm the environment and don't work, because folks won't pay them.
No different with the tires.
Easy fix really .... and amazing we stand and allow it to happen.
We need to take control of what's happening .... whining won't fix the problem.

 

[ctfjr]

I owned a small commercial building in a nearby city. Some ahole dumped about 150 full / 1/2 full and empty paint cans by the dumpster. He must have thrown them out of a truck bed because they were all dented and several leaked, including a few 5 gallon beauties.
Several had custom Sherwin Williams labels on them from a town 25 miles away. I called the company and explained the situation. Let's be kind and just say they weren't very cooperative.
In the end they had to brought to the paint recycling center. A crappy messy job.

 

[Gb540]

Whats the big deal?

Popular Science said it was OK back in 1963.

"Just putting it back where it came from!" (Actually knew people who thought and did that; they weren't entirely wrong but that's not entirely how it works either...)

For the oil dumped on the OP's property, whoever did this could've gotten it recycled honestly, for free, for less effort and no danger!

 

[The Evil Twin]

It's really simple. If they have a fee where you live for waste oils and filters, then there is a problem.
If the political people we vote for are by the people and for the people that vote for them, then they should be aware of fees that harm the environment and don't work, because folks won't pay them.
No different with the tires.
Easy fix really .... and amazing we stand and allow it to happen.
We need to take control of what's happening .... whining won't fix the problem.

No whining here. That's the way I feel about it. I can almost understand the random tire I find because those are a whopping $3 in this county. The next one over takes them for free. That's where I go to dump all my motorcycle tires. They never ask for ID if you are recycling.
Oil, on the other hand, costs nothing to recycle here.

 

[Mrlunchbox]

We find the random tire or TV along the back side of our property. This takes the cake! Roughly 20 gallons of hydro oil. About 50' from a creek. Fortunately, none of them were leaking. They were all on their side and I righted them to check. I hope those ^#$holes fall on rebar.
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I started my career in municipal drinking water many moons ago. The worst we ever had was two 55gal drums of used motor oil dumped at the edge of one of our reservoirs. Rusted/rotted barrels to boot and beat to hell. Looks like they were literally thrown from a truck. Absolutely sickening.

 

[lugbolt]

see a lot of this stuff. Nobody will take used oil anymore. Parts store will, 5 quarts a day. Can't dispose of it at the dump, nobody else wants it, what is one supposed to do?

It's a struggle for sure-and at work, we have about 400 gallons of it right now, and the people who used to take it, do not anymore. I suspect there is a reason, but didn't ask.

 

[Mrlunchbox]

see a lot of this stuff. Nobody will take used oil anymore. Parts store will, 5 quarts a day. Can't dispose of it at the dump, nobody else wants it, what is one supposed to do?

It's a struggle for sure-and at work, we have about 400 gallons of it right now, and the people who used to take it, do not anymore. I suspect there is a reason, but didn't ask.

What about your local public works? We take it as some gets dumped into a tank to dispose of. But we mostly use it for our waste oil furnaces.

 

[fried1765]

I started my career in municipal drinking water many moons ago. The worst we ever had was two 55gal drums of used motor oil dumped at the edge of one of our reservoirs. Rusted/rotted barrels to boot and beat to hell. Looks like they were literally thrown from a truck. Absolutely sickening.

MANY moons ago (early 70's) I used an oil spreader rig for my 2,000' driveway.
Used a 265 gal heating oil tank, to pick up drain oil from local gas station.
Laid the tank on it's side, welded in a 2 inch threaded pipe nipple, added a "T" + valve, and two 4' x 2"dia. pipe pieces with drilled holes, for spreading.

Used black painted tank, and waited for a warm day, then drove back and forth on my driveway.
Used my 8N with back blade, to mix the driveway sand with the oil.

Repeated applications produced my customized version of a road oiled surface.
Worked great!
Would be frowned on,....if not worse, .....today!

 

[lugbolt]

What about your local public works? We take it as some gets dumped into a tank to dispose of. But we mostly use it for our waste oil furnaces.

they won't take it. Brother works there.

 

[NCL4701]

Back when I was a kid, waste oil was sprayed on dirt (not gravel; dirt) roads by DOT to control dust. Mom always got on us if we rode bicycles on the road before the oil settled in for a couple days because the back wheel would spray an oil stripe on our backs. We were dummies so we usually got in trouble when the oil truck came by.

And yes, we had unimproved (graded, compacted with no rock added) roads, improved (gravel) roads, and paved roads. Used to be a lot of dirt roads here.

 

[GeoHorn]

Rural East Texas was at least 50% oiled dirt roads as I was growing up…and some of those back roads are still in fair condition …having never been paved. I once considered spraying my used motor oils on my own dirt road…. Not sure how that would “fly” these days.

 

[Runs With Scissors]

Just be glad that they didn't dump jugs of "anti-freeze".

Man, you wanna talk about things that are tough to get rid of?

In this area, oil is relatively easy to find a place that takes it, but anti-freeze is an entirely different animal.

 

[tsp159]

A good reason why spraying "used oil" on roads can be fraught with unknown issues.

A little bad juju in the waste oil can lead to a lot of problems.

 

[Countrylife]

Just be glad that they didn't dump jugs of "anti-freeze".

Man, you wanna talk about things that are tough to get rid of?

In this area, oil is relatively easy to find a place that takes it, but anti-freeze is an entirely different animal.

Anit-freeze here is a big problem. Only one place I've heard that will take it, that's the county road works about 30 miles away. Nobody else. And it doesn't evaporate.

As for used oil, all the parts stores that sell oil (including Walmart) will accept used oil. Some of them (like walmart) want you to leave the jug and they'll dump it later. Others, want you to tell them first so they can unlock the storage yard, but none have refused to take it and no cost.

 

[fried1765]

Anit-freeze here is a big problem. Only one place I've heard that will take it, that's the county road works about 30 miles away. Nobody else. And it doesn't evaporate.

As for used oil, all the parts stores that sell oil (including Walmart) will accept used oil. Some of them (like walmart) want you to leave the jug and they'll dump it later. Others, want you to tell them first so they can unlock the storage yard, but none have refused to take it and no cost.

Anti-freeze disposal is simple.
Back into the jug that the new stuff came in (plus a spare jug for the 50/50 mix).
Both jugs into the municipal trash.
They CAN'T refuse it,..... because they don't know it is there!