What do junk yards do with all the gas they get?

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SecondMonkey

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Recently looking for a used gas tank and I realized the first thing all the junk yards do is poke a hole in the tank and drain any gas or whatever else might be in there. What do they do with all that dirty gas? They must accumulate quite a lot, I'm sure somebody probably comes and takes it for them, but then what? Is it re-refined into something?

I'm working on setting up an old low speed diesel engine for power and heat that will run on most any waste fuel I can find...I'm wondering if this might be a source?
 
Most junkyards siphon it out & use it to power the junk wrecker truck that runs around the yard pulling motors, etc. When I was a kid, some of that gas MIGHT have found it's way into my '64 Beetle death trap that I used to drive...
 
I wonder what they do with all the other fluids, like brake, PSF, ATF, gear lube, etc.

There is a scrap yard a few miles from my house that I bet the EPA would love to inspect. It reeks of every kind of automobile fluid you can think of. I'm sure the ground in and around the place is saturated with all sorts of nasty stuff. I say that because the ground inside the scrap yard looks damp even when everywhere else is very dry.
 
Originally Posted By: bullwinkle
Most junkyards siphon it out & use it to power the junk wrecker truck that runs around the yard pulling motors, etc. When I was a kid, some of that gas MIGHT have found it's way into my '64 Beetle death trap that I used to drive...


Sounds quite likely. some things you read are very easy to believe.

As for the other stuff, I bet in the past much of it did go on the ground. Some may have been salvaged to burnt for heat. Some went wherever the part did. If you buy an engine, does it come with old oil? When what is left goes in the furnace to be melted down, do they take the fluids out first?

And yes, I bet the EPA is on them to clean up.
 
I saw a documentary on the discovery channel stating that all gasoline got sent to a recycling facility.

Could it be the same as the place that accepts used oil?

I remember in automotive class, there was a car with such rotten gasoline, that it turned orange, and the teacher put it in the waste oil tank. I guess that the waste oil company took the stuff, but I don't know.
 
Originally Posted By: labman
When what is left goes in the furnace to be melted down, do they take the fluids out first?
I've operated foundry furnaces early in my career. There can't be even a speck of oil or moisture in the metal if you're charging it to a melt! This could cause a tremendous explosion at the foundry, damaging the equipment and building, and could hurt and kill nearby workers.
 
I would guess that a car that was reciently wrecked will get it's gas drained and poured into the owners truck. If he's got a full tank then it goes to the next guy in line and on down untill somebody needs it.
 
Tanks with holes in them do not sell. The salvage tank I bought had gas in it. They take the gas and sell me the tank empty.
 
Hmmm, I'm pretty sure the local yard drains everything because they are located in a flood plain and beside a wildlife reserve. I'm sure the EPA is always breathing down their necks. The gas tank I wanted just had a big hole in the bottom, so did all the others. The engines didn't have any fluids but they were already ruined as part of the clunker program.
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They also take off the tires and stand them on old wheels, not sure why?

Maybe I'll go down there and see if I can get a deal on some old gas...
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The big yard around here "Harry's-u-pull-It", re-sells gasoline by the tank. $15 a tank, last I knew.
 
I'd bet most automotive fluids in wrecking yards just go onto the ground. I can't imagine the highly trained, environmentally sensitive employees of wrecking yard giving two shakes if old gas and oil end up on the ground.....
 
Yeah, they probably dumped it on the ground 20 years ago, but not today. The fines for that anywhere would be astronomical. I'm not even allowed to spray paint in my shop without serious EPA approval.

Plus, the local junkyard must generate hundreds of gallons of fluid a day, I can't see them getting away with dumping all that....
 
One local junk yard, the guy has a heart attack and died last year, put a lot of the 'free gas' in his car and in his farm tank.
I'm also sure the ground around his 'field' is contaminated to some extent with oil spills and such.
 
When I was young, (not too long ago, really) we used to use diesel to mark the lines on sports fields. You'd just take the can out there and very carefully mark the foul lines, for example. It worked very well, keeping the grass from growing for quite a long time. Diesel also "stayed" where it was put, making a nice straight line. It saved us from needing to revisit that activity day after day.
 
Satellite pic of my favorite yard

If they had "too much gas" it wouldn't hurt to run a generator off the stuff. Waste oil furnaces are common here and will burn everything else. My yard hoists cars up on a forklift then they puncture the tank, oil, and trans pans right when they come in. It's sloppy though; they catch gas in a 5 gallon sheetrock mud bucket after a 10 foot drop, it's splashing etc. And what if there's more than 5 gal?

I was a prince though, I sent them a car and hooked up some 3/8 hose to the fuel rail and pumped all the gas that was in it into my own can. I bet they were suprised when they punctured it and got nothing. Maybe they thought I junked the car b/c it stopped running b/c it was out of fuel?? LOL.

Their employees get gas, saw a dude siphoning from a 5 gal bucket into his newish truck. I was glad I didn't see how he started the siphon, probably real rednecky.
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Originally Posted By: Kestas
Originally Posted By: labman
When what is left goes in the furnace to be melted down, do they take the fluids out first?
I've operated foundry furnaces early in my career. There can't be even a speck of oil or moisture in the metal if you're charging it to a melt! This could cause a tremendous explosion at the foundry, damaging the equipment and building, and could hurt and kill nearby workers.


Get's fed into the oxy-fuel burners to enrich the natural gas used to warm up the heat.
 
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
The big yard around here "Harry's-u-pull-It", re-sells gasoline by the tank. $15 a tank, last I knew.


I'm cheap...but not that brave.
 
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