Daddy M Dawg
ArboristSite Member
I spilled some Stihl bar and chain oil on my driveway. Any ideas on what will remove the darker area on the concrete so it'll match the rest of it again.
Spilled oil on concrete... what removes it?
- Thread starter Daddy M Dawg
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forestryworks
Addicted to ArboristSite
burn it?
concrete may spall though.
concrete may spall though.
rngrchad
Addicted to ArboristSite
nothing
A little gas scrub it around and some kitty litter or floor dry and dry sack concrete spread on it will get the color back if it still doesnt suit you after it dries.
I do this for a living. (make messes that is)
Kansas
PatrickIreland
ArboristSite Guru
Biological (enzyme) washing powder will eat it all up. Damp it down, scrub in a pile of powder into a slurry, keep damp for a few days, it'll eat it all.
You'll end up doing the whole drive with the stuff - brings it up like new.
I was changing the oil on my mum's car (hey, it's worth it for a good steak and she's 63!), spilt half a gallon.
Used the bio washing powder, and it came up so clean I had to do the rest of the drive as well, to avoid it looking like a huge clean spot.
Now I change oil over a drain in the road instead. Not scrubbing up a slurry to clean a driveway that size again - and the waterworks can deal with it.
You'll end up doing the whole drive with the stuff - brings it up like new.
I was changing the oil on my mum's car (hey, it's worth it for a good steak and she's 63!), spilt half a gallon.
Used the bio washing powder, and it came up so clean I had to do the rest of the drive as well, to avoid it looking like a huge clean spot.
Now I change oil over a drain in the road instead. Not scrubbing up a slurry to clean a driveway that size again - and the waterworks can deal with it.
Lakeside53
Stihl Wrenching
Purple Cleaner, or, for an aggressive clean, lye... (draino) - be careful with lye.. it burns...
Pressure washer. EngineBrite (or similar product). Lots of hot soap + water. Enzyme stuff. Time.
diesel then brake cleaner then water
tbuggle
ArboristSite Operative
a few more spills will make that one sorta go away.
i do all my oil work in the grass/gravel/whatehaveya.
i do all my oil work in the grass/gravel/whatehaveya.
tomtrees58
Addicted to ArboristSite
brake clean tom trees
willsaw4beer
Addicted to ArboristSite
+1 Any cleaner that is a very strong base. I have some Blue Gold parts cleaner I mix up that gets stuff CLEAN, it's a pretty strong base.
Lakeside53
Stihl Wrenching
That just dissolves the oil... then what? Once it evaporates, the oil is back... or spread around.
ehgauss
ArboristSite Operative
In the US, most road drains discharge directly into the nearest river or creek. Dumping oil into a road drain where it could get into the rivers and creeks could get you very unpopular and a lot poorer if they figured out where it came from.
CentaurG2
Addicted to ArboristSite
Shoot the spot with break clean, carb clean, petrol or any other kind of solvent. Then immediately apply “speedy dry” or pure clay cat litter and work it in with your foot. Nice twisting motion with a worn down sole like you were trying to put out a cigarette. Once the litter is ground into a fine powder, sweep it up and you can burn it in your wood stove or pitch it. If a spot still remains on the concrete, repeat as necessary. Will clean up oils on cement slicker than snot. Do not try this in an unventilated area as the dust is kinda bad for the lungs.
PatrickIreland
ArboristSite Guru
Over here they discharge to the water treatment works, where they have oil skimmers to take it off the top - and recycle it into the nasty cheap engine oil you buy for £5 a gallon to flush out your engine. I designed one of them - the stuff gets taken away very efficiently.
The worst problem is used condoms that have been flushed - some poor sap is meant to go down and rake them out of the grilles, then lift them, every week.
They don't though - they shut off the water, light a fire with kerosene and driftwood, burn it clean for half an hour, then open up the water gates again. Who wants to be handling hundreds of used rubbers?
Paul001
Addicted to ArboristSite
I was thinking the same thing. Pull that in PA or NY and watch DEC climb out from the drain...
In NY anything over 1 tablespoon, not reported, can result in 10K worth of fines. When we did work at one of the Federal facilities on Long Island, we use to park our trucks on top of tarps...just to make sure we were not contributing to the local DEC retirement fund.
A 90 lbs. jack hammer will remove that stain with the added benefit of making your saws appear to be extremely lite too.
J.Walker
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Guy's this is a job for saw dust. Nice dry stuff from a table saw. Cover is spill, let it soak in. Remove the old and add more. The dark area will turn lighter.
excess650
Addicted to ArboristSite
Absolutely! Clean up the majority of the oil, and the rest wil dissipate on its own. I've spilled and dripped oil on concrete on numerous occasions, and it doesn't take a lot of time for it to be absorbed and seemingly disappear. If you're a real :censored
riss,you might want to scrub with Castrol Super Clean or some other strong detergent.
rngrchad
Addicted to ArboristSite
Hmm I must be doing something wrong. Carb Cleaner didn't work, brake clean didn't work, gasoline lit on fire didn't work. A pressure washer was the best, I just eroded the concrete with it lol. I'm not sure if my oil stain has just absorbed into the cement further down than usual. I also have hydraulic fluid spilled there all the time too. Maybe that's the difference?!?
