used oil on road

n8terry · Jun 8, 2008

I was talking to a guy a while back about putting used engine oil on gravel road. He was sort of an enviromentalist and commented that he didn't think it was that bad of an idea, especially if it kept the dust down and stopped mud from being carried by vehicles.

Whats you guys thinking on this? Do you have any suggestions on how to control dust?

Thanks for your comments.

Fordfarmer · Jun 8, 2008

sprinkle CaCl pellets along the road... safer than used oil, lasts a l-o-n-g time. Our township used some left-over CaCL solution (road de-icer) on our gravel roads, near intersections last year, and the stuff is still keeping the dust down.

rodgernbama · Jun 8, 2008

They used to put road oil on dirt roads years ago for that purpose. With todays enviromental laws it may not be a goood idea. If there was any runoff and contaminated streams you would be responsible.

JT · Jun 8, 2008

The oil itself is not bad, it is all the dirt, carbon, acids, and other things in the used oil are where the damage lies.

IaGary · Jun 8, 2008

Here in our county it is against the law to put down used oil.

But they do have a road oil that does not have "pcp's" or whatever in it and they will put that down for a fee. There are also Companies that have approved Calcium, Tree sap and glycerin to put down on gravel roads.

Gary

Mark-Mi · Jun 8, 2008

I have seen it in front of farmsteads where it has been applied for 30 years or more gets as hard as asphalt.Works great but can't apply it on the roads around here anymore.Butler Raceway oiled their track I doubt they still do I have not been there in years.Sprint cars would haze the tires and pull the front wheels at the begining of the straightaway.Mark

Anonymous-0 · Jun 8, 2008

If this were 1957 I think you would be good to go. Since its 2008 the county would shut it down in a hearbeat. Its the heavy metals in the oil they don't want on the ground. All the lead from the engine bearings or so they say. And it easily gets in the watersystem. We used to do it when I was a kid. Mainly on the driveways. Not since about the late seventies. I dont even leave those little greaseballs lay on the driveway anymore that fall off the planter and tractors. I go out with a paper towel and grab them up and throw them away. The places that chloride the roads for the county will do your road if you pay them. Our county has done our road twice already this year. The calcium chloride flakes do work too.

buickanddeere · Jun 8, 2008

I always wondered at how many miles you are supposed to change that partcular oil?

Anonymous-0 · Jun 8, 2008

Used oil on the roads is a No--No. Makes the road too slippery for the possums..............

Pitch · Jun 8, 2008

I just drove 14 miles of oiled road. I did wonder what the difference in the oil the town uses and what I may spread on my drive.
This is in the grreat state of NY which is tripping over itself in trying to beat California in stupid restrictions.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 8, 2008

Our county has a dust control program, and I believe their product is a soybean oil based one.

JDemaris · Jun 8, 2008

They used oil to control dust on dirt roads here until the mid-1980s and then had to stop due to EPA regs. Now, many areas here in central and northern New York - they use road-salt instead (calcium chloride). Some areas throw it down in powder form, and other areas have tanker brine trucks.

Gun guru · Jun 8, 2008

My grandfather used to get paid cash for using an old tanker truck filled with waste oil and spraying dirt roads. He sold off his waste oil business in 1980, He stopped oiling roads just in time-before the EPA stopped it.

If you were to spray oil on roads now you might want to get a good attorney for when you are hauled into court. I think it is illegal to spray oil on dirt roads. It does work well for keeping the dust down.

Butch (PA) · Jun 8, 2008

Well what is the stuff they are putting on the dirt roads now? Their signs say "Fresh Oil" Well, pardon me stupidness, what are they using?

Your humble stupidness
Butch

Kentb of SWMO · Jun 8, 2008

Anyone here of TIMES BEACH. This MO town, which NO LONGER exist, because a guy oiled the roads with waste oil which had DIOXIN in it. They tried to hang the guy untill they found out he had oiled some of his own roads with the oil. He DID NOT know of the DIOXIN. This was when they outlawed used oil on roads. Easy way for BIG companies to get rid of VERY bad waste. I forget the company that generted the DIOXIN but they also NO LONGER exist.

Kent

showcrop · Jun 8, 2008

Our town just settled with the EPA for $6,000 because we used to pay a small properly insured company to haul our waste oil away from the town landfill some of it was sprayed onto roads.

504-2 · Jun 8, 2008

Around here we use tree sap an outfit in southern IA sells it. If used moter oil wont hurt anything, pour 5 qt. down your well. The oil the county uses is liquid asphalt probably RC but could be LC

ldj · Jun 8, 2008

Quote "If used moter oil wont hurt anything, pour 5 qt. down your well."

There is a lot of things around your, mine, or anyone's house that won't "hurt anything". I wouldn't pour 5 quarts of it down my well

Dale(MO) · Jun 8, 2008

Darn, you beat me to the Times Beach story. I can't for the life of me remember the guy's name that spread the oil. He was from the Cuba/Rosati area, owns a classic car/truck place along I-44. Mainly wrong place, wrong time for him - he and his dad had been doing it for years. After all the hoopla, he kind of faded into the sunset. Gave the state a reason to take over the little burg of Times Beach. They set up an incinerator and dug out about a tenth of the top foot of dirt (were supposed to go down 2-4 feet) and "burned" the bad stuff out of it. Then they put it back and planted cheat and weeds on it.
Strangest thing - about 10-12 years after the buyout, the govt. decided that a mistake had been made; the Dioxin was actually harmless, but a precident had already been set. Luckily, the state found the time and tax money to make Times Beach a state park for all the yuppies to ride their bikes and rented horses in. Makes me happy to be a self-employed taxpayer.
Just remembered his name - Russell Bliss. Now, if I can remember my own name...
Dale(MO)

Mark - IN. · Jun 8, 2008

I don't suppose is legal anymore. I used to do it. Neighbors used to do it. I still know of areas where the folks still do it. Packs like asphalt, keeps the dust down nearing and in front of homes. A few years back the county chip and sealed my road because some guy down at the other end with about a 100 acres got them to. They say he's related to someone that matters. I wish he hadn't done that, but what's done is done. Used to be that no one that didn't live down here didn't come down here, and in the winters we all just chipped in and back bladed the snow off to the sides. Now cars and trucks and stuff of folks that don't live down or around here come blasting through here, and folks that no one knows come up to the house knocking at the door trying to sell ya something that you'd have bought in town if ya wanted it. I wish that guy didn't do that.

Mark

Dale(MO) · Jun 8, 2008

That is liquid asphalt. The problem with used motor oil isn't the oil itself - it's the heavy metals from the engine that make it bad. Chrome from piston rings is the biggest problem - can lead to TCE contamination. We had a piston ring factory here in my town for years, and a landfill made up of a very large sinkhole. Now, we have (supposedly) groundwater contamination of TCE. I don't know how true - or serious - it really is. I drilled water wells for several years around here, and know from several dye tests being run at the old landfill which way the water table runs - right through town heading WNW. Oddly enough, the DNR is studying several wells around the immediate area, but not the ones in town.
I'm sure it's a problem, but I don't think anyone really knows how bad. Only time will tell.

Dale(MO)

buickanddeere · Jun 8, 2008

Lets not mix-up Dioxins which are a nasty aggressive poisonous organic chemical. With PCB"s which are no more dangerous than ordinary mineral oil/baby oil Vaseline.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polychlorinated_dibenzodioxins

Dale(MO) · Jun 9, 2008

Not trying to mix the two, but the govt. did declare that there was nothing harmful at Times Beach - long after it was all gone. I don't know that it really contained Dioxin or not, but it made for bad enough mojo to cause a regional - if not nationwide - scare, at the time. It also helped bolster the power of the EPA.
Like I said before -it set a real precident for the future.

Dale(MO)

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