Josh Carmack
Full Access Member
Picked up a 1000 gallon tank the other day that was full, had about 350 to 400 gallons of what we thought was gear oil due to the viscosity, and the smell. . It came from my cousin. It was all on his hands after his business partner insisted they take it out of the factory along with all the other equipment and etc they were liquidating. At some point or another a 2 inch valve got opened on the tank and it mixed with all the rainwater and trash that was in the containment ring holding the tank. They figured an ex employee did it as revenge considering they got a "tip" saying they had 2 days to clean up before the EPA came down to inspect. They had to take their trackhoe and clean up two loads of dirt where some farm chemicals were intentionally dumped out on the same grounds. He called me in a panic that day because he believed the threat was a real one and really didn't want an inspector to see the containment ring full of sludge and you name it. It needed to disappear along with all the other drums outside his shop. He said he didn't know what in the heck they were gonna do with all that oil anyway.
Him and his partner had parted ways after 20 years so his partner could start a new business, and my cousin could ramp up his farming efforts. Neither partner retained all of the employees and one was suspect for making the mess, as well as making the calls etc. He asked me if I could handle all the oil, and make it disappear quickly. I knew I could hold all of it and told him yeah. When I showed up that day He told me it was mixed with water because he pumped the entire containment ring back into the tank. He had all of it loaded on a 16' utility trailer that was threatening to collapse under the 10-12,000 or so pounds that was on it. I drained a little off the tank and thought ohh Lord what have I gotten myself into. It was thick, thick, thick, sludgy, and emulsified bad. We both thought it had to be gear oil due to the thickness and smell. I started to balk at taking the tank since it was literally full to the brim and no telling how much ugly was in it. I just knew it was going to be a huge elephant for me settle and to burn off slowly cutting it down with other oils and RUG. I imagined me having to sit on that stuff for a year or more. He was also giving me two drums of transformer oil, a drum of never used gear oil, and a drum of a mystery liquid which I have determined as nail glue, (ask me how I figured that one out) and a drum of never used or lightly used hydraulic oil. I couldn't tell him no on the 1,000 gallon tank for fear of him telling me to get lost. I grudgingly went home and came back with two IBC totes and pumped them full off the tank into the bed of my one ton, hooked to his trailer and off I went tiptoeing down the highway imagining all types of ugly scenarios with a still seriously overloaded trailer and soft sided totes full of oil in my bedl.
The good news;
The two totes I pumped off the trailer to lighten it were almost pure water. Called an old boss, and they allowed me to discharge it into their oil/water separator. Pumped off the "gear oil" into some totes in the barn and it has sat for almost a month. Periodically testing the drains for water. Opened a drain the other day and got a thick gear oil like flow for a second, then a clean fast flow. Figured the tote was ready to pump off for a try.
Decided today to pull a load off the top of the "Gear Oil", and was planning on cutting it 50/50 with diesel and running it. Dropped in the heater and went to work weed eating and cutting grass and forgot my heater once again. Three or four hours later I remembered it when I drove by the barn on the mower and smelled the oil. Jumped off and ran in to turn the heat off. Man have I GOT to automate my heater. When I did so I caught the unique smell of hot hydraulic oil wafting around. If you grew up on a farm, or around equipment you can almost tell most oils by their smell. At least I can anyway. I thought NO WAY, so I dipped a test stick in and it dripped off slightly slower than water would. You got to be kidding me I thought, and went over and checked both totes and came up with hydraulic oil.
My guess is the tank at one time or another had stored some gear oil, and then at the plants closing it was filled with hydraulic oil. As at the very bottom of the totes there is a 1 to 2" layer of thick sludgy wet gear oil with hydraulic oil the rest of the way up. The free water that didn't get pumped into the totes in my truck bed that day had a couple weeks sitting on his trailer before I actually pumped his tank into my totes and gave him his trailer and tank back. I was able to remove most of the remaining free water that that day.
Out of that 1.5 hr long terribly worrying trip creeping home pulling a still seriously overloaded trailer with no brakes on it and a truck that has seen better days netted me this.
350 to 400 gallons of hydraulic oil.
Two drums of transformer oil.
One drum of possibly new hydraulic oil.
A drum of new gear oil.
Half a drum of nail glue. (After realizing it was a water based chemical and was blood red. I guessed it was nail glue. All of this oil came from a nail plant in TN that my sister used to work in. Called her over one day and she looked at it and confirmed it's identity.)
Cousin called me and asked if he could trade me back out of the new gear oil for a drum of WMO. A few days after I took it he realized he had a corn header that could use the gear oil and wants to trade more oil in place of it.
Him and his partner had parted ways after 20 years so his partner could start a new business, and my cousin could ramp up his farming efforts. Neither partner retained all of the employees and one was suspect for making the mess, as well as making the calls etc. He asked me if I could handle all the oil, and make it disappear quickly. I knew I could hold all of it and told him yeah. When I showed up that day He told me it was mixed with water because he pumped the entire containment ring back into the tank. He had all of it loaded on a 16' utility trailer that was threatening to collapse under the 10-12,000 or so pounds that was on it. I drained a little off the tank and thought ohh Lord what have I gotten myself into. It was thick, thick, thick, sludgy, and emulsified bad. We both thought it had to be gear oil due to the thickness and smell. I started to balk at taking the tank since it was literally full to the brim and no telling how much ugly was in it. I just knew it was going to be a huge elephant for me settle and to burn off slowly cutting it down with other oils and RUG. I imagined me having to sit on that stuff for a year or more. He was also giving me two drums of transformer oil, a drum of never used gear oil, and a drum of a mystery liquid which I have determined as nail glue, (ask me how I figured that one out) and a drum of never used or lightly used hydraulic oil. I couldn't tell him no on the 1,000 gallon tank for fear of him telling me to get lost. I grudgingly went home and came back with two IBC totes and pumped them full off the tank into the bed of my one ton, hooked to his trailer and off I went tiptoeing down the highway imagining all types of ugly scenarios with a still seriously overloaded trailer and soft sided totes full of oil in my bedl.
The good news;
The two totes I pumped off the trailer to lighten it were almost pure water. Called an old boss, and they allowed me to discharge it into their oil/water separator. Pumped off the "gear oil" into some totes in the barn and it has sat for almost a month. Periodically testing the drains for water. Opened a drain the other day and got a thick gear oil like flow for a second, then a clean fast flow. Figured the tote was ready to pump off for a try.
Decided today to pull a load off the top of the "Gear Oil", and was planning on cutting it 50/50 with diesel and running it. Dropped in the heater and went to work weed eating and cutting grass and forgot my heater once again. Three or four hours later I remembered it when I drove by the barn on the mower and smelled the oil. Jumped off and ran in to turn the heat off. Man have I GOT to automate my heater. When I did so I caught the unique smell of hot hydraulic oil wafting around. If you grew up on a farm, or around equipment you can almost tell most oils by their smell. At least I can anyway. I thought NO WAY, so I dipped a test stick in and it dripped off slightly slower than water would. You got to be kidding me I thought, and went over and checked both totes and came up with hydraulic oil.
My guess is the tank at one time or another had stored some gear oil, and then at the plants closing it was filled with hydraulic oil. As at the very bottom of the totes there is a 1 to 2" layer of thick sludgy wet gear oil with hydraulic oil the rest of the way up. The free water that didn't get pumped into the totes in my truck bed that day had a couple weeks sitting on his trailer before I actually pumped his tank into my totes and gave him his trailer and tank back. I was able to remove most of the remaining free water that that day.
Out of that 1.5 hr long terribly worrying trip creeping home pulling a still seriously overloaded trailer with no brakes on it and a truck that has seen better days netted me this.
350 to 400 gallons of hydraulic oil.
Two drums of transformer oil.
One drum of possibly new hydraulic oil.
A drum of new gear oil.
Half a drum of nail glue. (After realizing it was a water based chemical and was blood red. I guessed it was nail glue. All of this oil came from a nail plant in TN that my sister used to work in. Called her over one day and she looked at it and confirmed it's identity.)
Cousin called me and asked if he could trade me back out of the new gear oil for a drum of WMO. A few days after I took it he realized he had a corn header that could use the gear oil and wants to trade more oil in place of it.
