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Disposing of waste oil - Popular Science
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Sawset
Minister of Fire
Old farm equipment must have leaked a lot of oil. The toolshed here (built 1905) had about 3inchs of asphalt where the two bays parked the tractors. I scraped off the top 4inch layer of all of it, and replaced with fresh gravel pit gravel, and buried the rest. Toxic waste dump. Any place in use that's post equine to 1980 probably has one. I just picked up some scrap iron Ibeams etc down at the local surplus center, for a new log splitter build. There was dirt on one, since it had been laying in the weeds for a year along with 100s of other Ibeams. I could smell that smell when I went to sweep it off - dirt and oil. Same dirt and oil smell that was in that old tool shed.
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I imagine even leaky equipment is going to put a lot less into the ground, than any farmer intentionally disposing of all their used oil into the ground. It makes me wonder what's coming up in our drinking water, as I live in an old farm house. Of course, there's something good to be said for 40+ years of dilution, even if the practice was carried as late as 1980.
I've never seen anything concerning on any of our water tests, but have also probably not tested specifically for anything that might be carried in old waste oil.
I've never seen anything concerning on any of our water tests, but have also probably not tested specifically for anything that might be carried in old waste oil.
semipro
Minister of Fire
I saw that on Reddit.
My dad used to apply it along our fence lines to kill the grass.
Sawset
Minister of Fire
Our neighbor would dump drain oil on the driveway to keep the dust down, post 1940s. When I was a kid I always thought their driveway was better somehow. It never broke down in the spring, where our 67 impala would sink to the hubcaps when the frost let out, theirs would not at all. Their well (and windmill) sits in the middle of a u shape driveway. Oh joy. My grandmothers 57 bel air had a fairly large pan underneath in the garage to catch the drippings. It wasn't until the late 80s that recycling finally took hold, urban or otherwise. I can still remember the old ladies ranting at the local township landfill that they had to sort this or that - why can't we just dump it - they were so upset.
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now that you have been drinking it for a while everything inside you moves with ease
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
I bet a lot of old AG equipment used total loss lubrication, so probably quite a bit ended up in/on the ground. In the case of some pollutants dilution can make problems much worse, see PFAS
Yeah, I was thinking the same. I happen to live in an area that's historically nearly 100% Mennonite, and specifically the family that owned this 150 acre property (1773 - 1922) was an exceptionally pious Old Order Mennonite family. I wouldn't be surprised if they never had any mechanized equipment, but I'm less sure about the several owners after. In any case, I think the total loss lubrication systems were more a thing of the late 1800's into very early 1900's, but pretty much retired by the time this farm transferred out of that family's hands.
Getting back to the article, you have to wonder if oil disposal was being argued and politicized at the time, the same way we do today with several environmental issues. Were they just totally unaware of its potential danger, due to newness of the tech and low population density, or was there the same awareness/denial duality we see over our many similar modern issues?
I doubt that. If you pour it on the ground and nothing grows there, its not hard to add 2+2...
Sawset
Minister of Fire
I don't remember ever investigating a place to dispose of drain oil, or batteries, used tires, glass bottles and cans. Low population density had a lot to do with it. There was enough vacant land in a ravine in the back 40 on about every property outside the city limits to take care of the low density needs of a household. Those places are still visible today, barely. If you dig around, the glass ink wells, porcelain bowls and graniteware are still there, but most of the rest has rusted and rotted away. As far as contamination, totally unaware, and this little bit won't hurt would have been the mindset. I don't remember Reds service station down town ever looking like anything but an oily dump inside and out. Using oil to keep the weeds down, and the wrecked leaking cars out back, that's what I remember, and that would have been the place if any that we could have taken used oil.
Waste of good used oil 
they used to spray old oil down on dirt roads to keep the dust down. After a few years it would look like several inches of pavement. Oil is bad but no where near as ba as the used transformer oil with PCBs in it that inevitably got mixed in with it. Squam Lake in NH where on Golden Pond was made has a significant PCB issue as the dirt roads around it were sprayed with PCB contaminated oil.
they used to spray old oil down on dirt roads to keep the dust down. After a few years it would look like several inches of pavement. Oil is bad but no where near as ba as the used transformer oil with PCBs in it that inevitably got mixed in with it. Squam Lake in NH where on Golden Pond was made has a significant PCB issue as the dirt roads around it were sprayed with PCB contaminated oil.
Yes, when our house was raised they spilled a fair amount of oil filling their equipment with hydraulic fluid. Nothing grew on that spot for at least 10 yrs.
The worst offenders are the ones who poured their dirty oil down old, unused well casings. Great for local aquifers.
Sawset
Minister of Fire
Why were you not more choosey about your contractors? The excavator we hire here, in 2023, is well known as someone who cares and does excellent work. I've worked on enough construction projects in the past where the excavators were, uhm, I wouldn't have them near my place then or now. Put yourself back in 1963. Were things different for you then? Were you around then?
This was a one-time deal in 2006, not that that matters. It's not like something we would hire for multiple jobs. There are only two outfits that can do the work of house lifting (6 ft) in the region, not your ordinary excavator of which there are several locally to choose from. These specialists are booked up 6-9 months in advance. I chose the largest contractor with the most experience. The other one could not do the job that year. Yes, it could be that the other firm would have been more careful, or not. I wasn't present when this happened so I have no way of knowing if it was an accident or just carelessness.
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Highbeam
Minister of Fire
It's just recycling it back into the ground where it came from right?
Lots of folks still spray the whole underbody of their cars with oil don't they? We're seeing more salt associated corrosion from road salting and it's really shameful how that salt destroys otherwise good vehicles.
Lots of folks still spray the whole underbody of their cars with oil don't they? We're seeing more salt associated corrosion from road salting and it's really shameful how that salt destroys otherwise good vehicles.
You know we get a lot of ice in the Philly area. Others get more snow, but no one knows ice like those of us in the mid-Atlantic region.
Once every few years, we'll get an early ice storm, before the townships are ready with their equipment. We get that rare treat of trying to drive on ice with no treatment, something I'd guess many haven't done in decades. It's not for the faint of heart, and definitely not something for the masses.
I know you were being facetious, but does anyone really still use plain old used oil for undercarriage treatment? Thought most today use products specifically designed to hang around a bit longer than that.
Highbeam
Minister of Fire
I'm sure there's still somebody doing it. I never have. I did buy a can of fluid film but have yet to use it.
I remember digging a hole and filling it with gravel to dump waste oil in after reading an article in a magazine years ago. Pretty common practice even today for many people.
Folks and industries used to do a lot of stupid harmful stuff before they knew better and some still do as the dirty way is far more profitable. That is where society is supposed to step in using the best science possible and pass regulations to stop the dirty way. I grew up in the sixties and seventies where sewers dumped directly into rivers with zero treatment and power plants had zero emission controls, it took awhile but society figured it out. Now we need to the same with carbon, its pretty well proven that the fossil industry figured out the problem 30 years ago but decided it was more profitable to deny the science then to deal with the results.
Long term decisions to clean up are hard and expensive, for many they would rather just support politicians that outright ignore the problem in the short term.
Long term decisions to clean up are hard and expensive, for many they would rather just support politicians that outright ignore the problem in the short term.
It's actually still fairly common here. Some of my vehicles oil themselves pretty well
SpaceBus
Minister of Fire
Are you serious about the recycling comment? Sometimes humor doesn't translate well online
Sawset
Minister of Fire
I have popular mechanics magazines from the 20s, and several bird digests from the 40s (yah birdies). Lots of lovely ideas on how too's and DDT. Dilution was the solution, my little bit won't matter, where else are you going to go with it. Think of the equipment at the time. Babbit, bronze and wood bearings, flat link chains, cork gaskets, with other materials barely above raw iron. There was oil all over and everywhere. Rural electrification, the very first thing to run electric to were lights, the vacuum pump for the milkers, and an outlet for a cloths washer, that's it, a couple screw in fuses and knob and tube. And in 1963, the kids coming up had parents and grandparents soaking in all of this. It's a stretch to apply todays values to what was then, they have no bearing whatsoever. Today, huh, deeply rural areas are still there, or close to it. Urban areas have enjoyed utility and opportunity. I remember in college in the 80's talking about growing up on the farm, how I could scrape frost off my bedroom walls in the dead of winter, and other wonderful things. I was talking to money, they couldn't relate.
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