Does any one pour used motor oil on there stacked firewood?

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"What we have here…" is a classic conflict of Silent Spring vs. Reality, and a perfect example of an honest question highjacked by sensation and emotion.

The EPA is Satan's child, a good intention that has led American (and the First World) Commerce into hellish shackles (because I'm not aware of any Chinese EPA, or Russian EPA, or South American EPA, or Indonesian/Asian EPA, or an African EPA). Thank you #### Nixon (RINO) for being midwife to this monstrosity.

Citations where made of fouled rivers and water ways: we did not need a FEDERAL Bureaucracy to fix that problem; local government should have AND WOULD HAVE resolved this issue.

Disparaging comments where made about "what Grandad and Daddy used to do": what if they were right? We have replaced too much Common Sense with Intelligencia.

As to the water table being contaminated by pouring used oil on the ground: if this were true, there would be no more asphalt roads, there would be no more tar and chip resurfacing (they just did this across three counties here in Illinoisistan.) But besides that, unless you live in a swamp or a bog (and then you're not drinking the water anyway), your water is coming from HUNDREDS of feet down. Have you ever watched a well drilled and seen the various layers of clay, sand, and gravel and bedrock that come up? God has made a perfect environment, and while we can and do some times foul our own nest, it's never permanent, because the earth is not fragile like us and our opinions: it's constant, and resilient. Where is the persistent oil damage in the gulf? Nature ate it: it lives on carbon and CO2. And before you say "But, but, Chernobyl and Bikini Atoll!" read these and be humbled:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/2413279...al-flourishing-bikini-atoll-atomic-test-site/ (ignore the closing statement ;))

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/04/ff_chernobyl/all/

If a man think's he's something, he needs to be stripped naked and thrown into the woods. Let's see what nature thinks of him.

The question was asked, WhiteSpider gave his answer based on EXPERIANCE not hype, sensation, or hyperbole, and the OP and he were attacked for it. I'm standing with experiance (not saying I'm going to use perfectly good weed killer on fire wood :p), but I'll take experiance over emotion every day of the week and twice on Sunday.
 
I don't own. I rent.

I think you mean rant.

If hydrogen bombs, undersea oil well blowouts, and nuclear meltdowns are OK with you, I can see why you have no problem with a bit of old oil poured on firewood.
 
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I'm standing with experiance (not saying I'm going to use perfectly good weed killer on fire wood :p), but I'll take experiance over emotion every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

I'd like you to have the experience of having your water tested. I hope you avoid the experience of a cancer cluster.
 
I'd like you to have the experience of having your water tested. I hope you avoid the experience of a cancer cluster.

Hyperbole, straw man. Do a little research and you'll find that Erin Brockovich (sp) was a fraud: too narrow of a study.

Don't get me wrong, or confuse my use of facetiousness as callousness, I am an advocate of Good Stewardship, But Good Stewardship starts with commonsense, experience, independent logical thinking, and the ability to adapt with the emergence of proven facts. Group Think Feel Good Sensationalism profits no one, and the planet even less. We cut our noses, to spite our faces.
 
Hyperbole, straw man. Do a little research and you'll find that Erin Brockovich (sp) was a fraud: too narrow of a study.

Don't get me wrong, or confuse my use of facetiousness as callousness, I am an advocate of Good Stewardship, But Good Stewardship starts with commonsense, experience, independent logical thinking, and the ability to adapt with the emergence of proven facts. Group Think Feel Good Sensationalism profits no one, and the planet even less. We cut our noses, to spite our faces.

But would you pour used motor oil on your firewood pile?
 
Hyperbole, straw man. Do a little research and you'll find that Erin Brockovich (sp) was a fraud: too narrow of a study.

Don't get me wrong, or confuse my use of facetiousness as callousness, I am an advocate of Good Stewardship, But Good Stewardship starts with commonsense, experience, independent logical thinking, and the ability to adapt with the emergence of proven facts. Group Think Feel Good Sensationalism profits no one, and the planet even less. We cut our noses, to spite our faces.

Common sense tells me there is some nasty crap in used motor oil. It goes in clear and comes out black. Common sense tells me not to drink motor oil. Experience shows me that water flows downhill, and into the ground. Experience shows me that oil does the same. God's gift of reason allows me to figure out that if I put oil where water goes, I'll have oil in my water. And that is my independent logical thinking.
 
But would you pour used motor oil on your firewood pile?

I poured mine on the punky wood, household garbage and dead mice in glue traps I had in the burning barrel, and lit it up yesterday evening. It was all gone this morning. I have a 16 foot deep shallow well here, but I don't drink from it. Its basically lake water, and fish and fowl and kids pee in that...View attachment 251106
 
But would you pour used motor oil on your firewood pile?

Well, in light of what Spidey has put forward, I don't think that I would be afraid to try it. If I had some old wood ;). I'm just hoping that what I have will dry before it snaps.

My biggest concern was Mess and flue build up. But Spidey, from his asserted experience, says there's no mess and burn off is no different than without Added Carbon Treatment ;)

I don't see any practical reason to, except to get rid of your used oil. Which if you produce a lot, then waste not want not. Any added BTUs, IMAO, would be negligible and, unless measured and compared precisely, psychological. I don't generate enough to need a way to dispose of it.

As an anecdote, when I was a kid in Central Valley Cali Farm Country, my dad had us pour the oil out behind the shop; it suffocated everything it was poured on directly, but the weeds around the patch where GREEN and HUGE. And the well water was the best I've ever had in my life ;). I look forward to the day I get to go back and see if the memory holds true.
 
Is a 'Crap Load" bigger or smaller then a "Boat Load"?

Ooh, that would be fun. Like the face cord vs. cord vs. rick arguments :hmm3grin2orange:

I did see used motor oil being used in a way I had not heard of before recently and learned it came from my Grandpa. My uncles horses were getting harassed by the flies and he was out of bug dope. Said "this is an old horse logger trick I learned from your Grandpa". Rubbed the horses down with some used oil cut with a little kerosene, the flies left them alone almost immediately.

Got a good conversation going about whether it was safe for the horses, effective, bad for the water, etc.

Oh, and I recycle most of mine, but do save a little for bonfires and coating the inside of the OWB at the end of the season. I know the book says to go buy new oil, but I had 5 quarts of freshly drained Buick crankcase drippins and couldn't resist.
 
:popcorn:



My goodness what a fire storm.
Any of you all's is welcome over to my house. We've just started harvesting from our all organic, never had any kind of spray on it, garden. Picked a 25 pound yellow flesh watermelon today. Tasty.:msp_biggrin:
 
:popcorn:



My goodness what a fire storm.
Any of you all's is welcome over to my house. We've just started harvesting from our all organic, never had any kind of spray on it, garden. Picked a 25 pound yellow flesh watermelon today. Tasty.:msp_biggrin:

The flames might do a number on your garden.
 
Anybody remember Times Beach MO, and what happened after their waste-oil sprayer mixed in some waste from an agent-orange factory? Superfund site.
If you're gonna spread crap, be absolutely sure of source & content.
And ... some posters here seem pretty diffident about longevity of poo in aquifers.
 
I poured mine on the punky wood, household garbage and dead mice in glue traps I had in the burning barrel, and lit it up yesterday evening. It was all gone this morning. I have a 16 foot deep shallow well here, but I don't drink from it. Its basically lake water, and fish and fowl and kids pee in that...View attachment 251106
Where is this place "Gone" that you write of? Is it near "Away"

Matter doesn't go away. Your fire wasn't hot enough to break down all the toxins, likely created some others, and the metals were unchanged. Some went into the air and drifted over your and other's property. Now life processes will concentrate that stuff, and eventually it will enter the food chain. And some will get into the water supply.

We figured this stuff out long ago, but apprently it's still a mystery to some.
 
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