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Dumping Motor Oil in your yard.. sand filter

5K views 9 replies 9 participants last post by  brian468 
#1 ·
I remember reading, on this site years ago, about someone who had a special sand gravel filter to dump used oil through.

It came up in conversation with some people last week and I am curious now if I had just dreamt it up. I am pretty sure it was xxx who had posted it or posted in the same topic.

Anyone remember this?
 
#5 ·
Okay, something a lot of people don't know....

Dumping old oil isn't particularly good for anything, BUT! Its not the toxic disaster so many think it is...I'm NOT telling anyone to just dump their oil in the back yard, but this is how leaking furnace oil tank sites are dealt with...legally.

If you spill oil and can't recover it, spread a liberal amount of nitrogen-rich fertilizer on it. The nitrogen promotes the growth of microbes which break down hydrocarbons.
 
#6 ·
Just save it and use it to help start camp fires when it rains. A little furnace oil or gas with some oil and phooof you got your camp fire. Light a paper towel and throw it into the fire, stand like 5 feet back or somthing. It's all good. Used motor oil serves a great purpose.
 
#7 ·
I always keep a gallon of used oil for this very purpose,

used as firestarter undiluted requires a propane torch to lite,

Works better than gas or newspaper.

The rest goes to Canadian Tire.

The days of dumping used oil down drains, the yard, ditches, streetdrains or WHY is no longer appropriate in this day and age.

Cheers,
 
#8 ·
Wow.. No I am not planning on dumping oil in my yard...


Someone in my class said they found an article in an old car magazine about building this oil pit in your yard. Several feet deep using layers of sand and gravel. I remembered reading it on this website probably 5-6 years ago.

It was something along with what Blue Coyote said about the nitrogen. You would pour the used oil into this pit and nature would break it down.

Anyway I was just trying to find the original info on it.
 
#9 ·
The "oil pit" your refering to is never meant to have litres of oil poured into it. Like if you change the oil in your car, you cant just dump it into a pit with gravel and sand. However it does work well for small amounts, as in cleaning of parts or slight leakage from parts when removing engine parts.
 
#10 ·
where do you guys live i`ve got a few hundred gallons i`d like to get rid of


but seriously theres lots of uses for it, the house I rent in denver has a waste oil heater in the detached garage, I keep that baby smokin hot 24-7 for free, i`m sure gonna miss it when I move :(
 
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