Hydraulic Fluid

[Shaun Bowler]

Yesterday we had a lage hydraulic spill on an asphalt street. We tried three different absorbants. None of them worked well, and the worst was rice hulls, the best was sand. Does anyone know what works best?

 

[treeclimber165]

Sand is good in a pinch, usually readily available if you have nothing but a shovel. If you have to go out to clean up a spill, the kitty litter stuff followed by Dawn dish detergent works about as well as anything. Since asphalt is petroleum based, you will never get all of the stain up.

 

[sonny]

we carried a bucket of kitty litter on every bucket truck

 

[Jumper]

Spills

When we had a spill of diesel out of a generator that had been overfilled in Deemeber and the hot weather in July set in with predictable results.,when I was in the Army; the civy enviro contractor showed up with kitty litter-not the clumping kind. They also spread out a few berms, and then presented me with a $1500 bill for their service.

Wood chips are OK as well, especially if they are small and dried, sort of like sawdust.

It is important you do something around here, because if it can be shown you did not demonstrate "due diligence", even after the fact, the feds can and will come after you as an individual usually under the clean water act.

 

[Dave]

Seems you guys are all worked up over nothing - several (10?) years ago a City of Providence garbage truck lost about thirty gallons of hydraulic fluid in the street. The city's spin on it was that since the spill was not motor oil (which is bad), but merely hydraulic "fluid" (which is good? ) no loss, no foul. Wouldn't want to be a private contractor and try the same bs.

 

[Dave]

BTW- kitty litter gets my vote. (unscented)