IBC Totes -- Firewood system upgrade!

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"They" want you to use a respirator and a hazmat suit to hang drywall or handle other inert items. You end up looking like a cowboy after OSHA. As a kid, I had to cut asbestos board with a skilsaw. I had to get in an attic filled with black mold, and knock down the plaster, lath, mold and all. I sprayed DDT, chlorinated hydrocarbon replacements for DDT, (much worse) and a myriad of other ag chem, including glyphosate. We used carbon tetrachloride to clean stuff, washed parts in gasoline, welded plastic with Methyl Ethyl Ketone. All without safety equipment. We rode in cars and trucks without seatbelts. We rode to town and back standing in the back of the truck. We sat 4 across the truck seats. We drove tricycle tractors in hilly country. Yes, I rolled one, with witnesses. Some folks flew airplanes. We swam in the muddy Mississippi and watched turds float by, and water moccasins in the trees. We hiked in hills where rattlesnakes were known to be. We burned leaves, trash, and used burning tires to fight frost damage. I had to drive trucks with sketchy single circuit brakes that you always had to pump before you'd get any brake. I hand cranked tractors and other engines. Somehow we survived. I have all my appendages and never had a broken bone.

The human animal is much more resilient than "experts" give us credit for being. Yes, if you do something all the time, use appropriate safety equipment. If you know you are particularly vulnerable to something, use the appropriate safety equipment. But use some of that now almost extinct commodity, common sense.

Yes, I am approaching geezerdom, but not there yet. I am not afraid to use an IBC, including cutting up the liner and sending it to recycle. But I will still be pitching firewood multiple times because I don't have equipment now to move an IBC or other container. Cutting and splitting and pitching, and stacking firewood is better exercise than any gym. Those of us who can are very lucky to be able to work out in the best gym there is. God's country.
HMMM...... Here's a medal.

But common sense says take appropriate precautions, not fly in the face of convention, or disregard experience and science, just because you dislike regulation for the sake of the greater good, because, omg, its inconvenient for you.
 
Let me just add one more.

Just about everything anyone can put in an IBC can be safely neutralized and the container can be re-used without harm. Do the research. For all the folks here talking about cutting the plastic tank and recycling it, I find it hard to belive you can't find a use for it. Probably make a damn fine cover for a log splitter, or a puch mower, or even, storing firewood in it? Spiltter turds? Kindling?
 
If used outside that plastic tank is going to get brittle and crack eventually. The tanks are big but you are not covering a log splitter with them unless you make side cutouts. Plus if you live in wind country you will have to find a way to anchor them down otherwise they are tumbling across the barren cropland.

I was given 8 of them for free and was going to make raised garden beds. That is alot of soil and the effort to cut them up etc. I sold them for $10 a piece. But I can see cutting the top off and using to hold something.
 
Let me just add one more.

Just about everything anyone can put in an IBC can be safely neutralized and the container can be re-used without harm. Do the research. For all the folks here talking about cutting the plastic tank and recycling it, I find it hard to belive you can't find a use for it. Probably make a damn fine cover for a log splitter, or a puch mower, or even, storing firewood in it? Spiltter turds? Kindling?

I agree that containers can safely be cleaned and reused.

But it is important, especially with some concentrated residues, that it be handled safely.

We have a food processing factory nearby and acid for cleaning the internals of equipment comes in 300 gallon totes.

It seems to be the equivalent of battery acid and will foam, heat up and steam when dripped on cement.
 
This is what you said
It can matter a whole lot what was in the container. Offering generic advice that all totes are equally safe is not only poor advice, it is dangerous advice.

Ever run across a tote that contained Vydate? It is widely used.

https://s3-us-west-1.amazonaws.com/...nt_Vydate_L1p_InsecticideNematicide_Label.pdf
Well there you go.

Must be safe.

What don't your read what PPE is required?
So if you read page #38 in the product information booklet why did you post the above comments?
 
This is what you said


So if you read page #38 in the product information booklet why did you post the above comments?

Because they are true.

A 300 gallon tote with a gallon or even any residue of Vydate is a very hazardous tote for the not educated in the ways of pesticide handling person.

Vydate has been known when used as a nematacide to knock operators off of tractors and kill them.

I've applied it as a nematacide for the control of foliar nematodes and am quite familiar.
 
Because they are true.

A 300 gallon tote with a gallon or even any residue of Vydate is a very hazardous tote for the not educated in the ways of pesticide handling person.

Vydate has been known when used as a nematacide to knock operators off of tractors and kill them.

I've applied it as a nematacide for the control of foliar nematodes and am quite familiar.
Did you read what I posted? What are the handling procedures for cleaning and disposal of empty containers?
 
So you failed to read what I wrote and you failed to read the manufacturers directions for safe disposal. I guess I am not sure what you are trying to say then.

I'm saying that chemical residue in totes can be quite dangerous especially to those not familiar with the safe handling of chemicals.

Also bear in mind that not all plastic tote tank liners are going to end up in the landfill. People use these tanks for many things.

People need to know what the residue is inside of ISB totes so that they can do the research and put them to use safely.

Aren't you at this very moment in the hospital suffering from serious bacon grease burns?

You didn't think that something as simple as cooking could go so wrong so fast.

It's the same way with chemicals.
 
The standard safe handing and proper disposal of the vast majority of agricultural containers is the same. I posted a link to a extension publication in post #45. If you look at post #53 it was in reference to oil, coolant, and agricultural chemicals. The standard is triple rinsing. If you read the product booklet for the chemical Vydate you will see the standard disposal in the manufacturers booklet is triple rinse and dispose of the container. This is what I talked about in ,#53 but for some reason you thought that was bad advice. I have never mentioned acids at all I find it hard to believe that any container that had acid in it is not placared. It should be done in such a way that it could not easily removed.

If you are worried about what it contained do not use that tote.
 
We almost get a face cord in ours. 2 rows @16" then full the space in between with wood. Were selling mixed wood, maple and popple for 50-60$ a tote. I agree on what's actually in those. My dad gets them from his old work, some of the chemicals are very dangerous and caustic. Not all dangerous chemicals have a dangerous smell so always proceed with caution. We cut the top and bottoms off the plastic bladder and use them to cover the tote.
 
We almost get a face cord in ours. 2 rows @16" then full the space in between with wood. Were selling mixed wood, maple and popple for 50-60$ a tote. I agree on what's actually in those. My dad gets them from his old work, some of the chemicals are very dangerous and caustic. Not all dangerous chemicals have a dangerous smell so always proceed with caution. We cut the top and bottoms off the plastic bladder and use them to cover the tote.

Yeah I have been trying to figure out how much they can hold and I figured around a 1/3 of a full cord. It seems to be the popular answer. So do you think your prices would change if you were selling hardwood in them say oak or something? No offense, that does not seem like a lot of money. Do you deliver the tote to the customer or just unload them into a truck or trailer then deliver?

I have been trying to figure this out. I thought maybe it would possible for me to deliver the totes in the future but I think you would have to charge too much. It is not really viable in my mind to charge for the amount of firewood you are going to get in a tote and then have to put a deposit down on the tote. You may not have to do that if you can easily get them free or something.

Do not get me wrong I love firewood but if I am going to sell some of my access I want to find a way to not handle it a dozen times before I either burn it or sell it lol. Just thinking out loud here.
 
Yea they would be more if it was all oak or ash as that's what is sold in the area. A lot of guys don't want to burn popple but it burns good just not as long as oak would. The wood was on site that we cleared to build on. It's load your own. There's guys selling oak for 80 a facecord with honor system on bringing back the tote. We have wood in totes for ourselves and to sell in. We will see how it goes, we haven't sold any yet a lot of guys interested might not sell any who knows.
 
Yea they would be more if it was all oak or ash as that's what is sold in the area. A lot of guys don't want to burn popple but it burns good just not as long as oak would. The wood was on site that we cleared to build on. It's load your own. There's guys selling oak for 80 a facecord with honor system on bringing back the tote. We have wood in totes for ourselves and to sell in. We will see how it goes, we haven't sold any yet a lot of guys interested might not sell any who knows.

If you happen to remember I would love to hear how it goes regardless. If you remember and you have the time shoot me a message sometime, I would really appreciate it.
 
We almost get a face cord in ours. 2 rows @16" then full the space in between with wood. Were selling mixed wood, maple and popple for 50-60$ a tote. I agree on what's actually in those. My dad gets them from his old work, some of the chemicals are very dangerous and caustic. Not all dangerous chemicals have a dangerous smell so always proceed with caution. We cut the top and bottoms off the plastic bladder and use them to cover the tote.
I can't imagine getting 1/3 cord into a tote. I've stacked a 4 x 8' row into a 8' full sized truck bed with a truck box (6 foot plus usable) and call it a pickup load.

Solid sides would work better for covers.
You mentioned before, what's popple?
 
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