How do you dispose of your used coolant?

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Originally Posted By: ps49556n
If you have city water, down the toilet is fine...if you have a septic system, DO NOT dispose in toilet.


Just curious, why can't a septic system handle it? I have an aerobic system, which of course uses bugs to break down the waste, so would EG not be good for it?
 
Originally Posted By: Texas Aggie
Originally Posted By: ps49556n
If you have city water, down the toilet is fine...if you have a septic system, DO NOT dispose in toilet.


Just curious, why can't a septic system handle it? I have an aerobic system, which of course uses bugs to break down the waste, so would EG not be good for it?


I don't think the ethylene glycol would be a problem in a septic tank. It's the metals and ihhibitor chemicals that might not break down in a septic tank whereas the city treats the sewer before dumping back into a river or whatever. That's my guess.
 
I use it for weed killer too.
Really it works.
I don't make drinkable puddles when applying it however.
And it will kill desirable plants as well.

Propylene Glycol (Sierra brand antifreeze) is used as a food additive.
 
Originally Posted By: mechanicx
Originally Posted By: Texas Aggie
Originally Posted By: ps49556n
If you have city water, down the toilet is fine...if you have a septic system, DO NOT dispose in toilet.


Just curious, why can't a septic system handle it? I have an aerobic system, which of course uses bugs to break down the waste, so would EG not be good for it?


I don't think the ethylene glycol would be a problem in a septic tank. It's the metals and ihhibitor chemicals that might not break down in a septic tank whereas the city treats the sewer before dumping back into a river or whatever. That's my guess.



you got it!
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Honestly, you would have do be dumping ALOT of used, filthy coolant into you septic tank before it caused serous damage but why take any chances?
 
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Humans need air, water, food, and shelter to survive. We are the only species on the planet I know of that destroys the things we need to survive for convenience and money......Why not just take the time to dispose of it properly?
 
My municiple say pour it down the toilet if you don't do too much at a time, so that's what we did.

Cancer? It is toxic to human but not cancer.

Metal? Almost none as long as you don't drink it directly.
 
Some poor kids going to read this thread and start dumping his wast coolant in the nearby lot and end up getting busted by the DEQ,
lol.gif
 
Originally Posted By: rewote500
Humans need air, water, food, and shelter to survive. We are the only species on the planet I know of that destroys the things we need to survive for convenience and money......Why not just take the time to dispose of it properly?


Because if many are in my situation there's not anywhere to take it! I've searched EPA and my local county and there's not anywhere to take it. A couple of shops are listed but when you call they say they won't take it or they don't have anyone pick it up, so what do you think they really do with it then?

Basically, until it's declared a hazardous waste this is what it will be. I'm with you, I hate not being able to properly dispose but I'm not going to pay a huge fee (my only option) to dispose of it. Some of the nearest options were 2 hours away, that's effective
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Many people have the attitude that if you take it somewhere ("dispose of it properly"), it's magically better for the environment. As if it will be transformed into sunbeams and flowers.

It's not worth re-processing diluted antifreeze with random contaminants. It's likely that the collection point just filters out the solids, separates the oil and pours the rest into the sanitary sewer. Or perhaps they just skip the first two steps.


We should learn from California about how not to be "environmentalists". It's as easy there as anywhere else to buy everything for oil and fluid changes. Go to any auto parts store or Walmart and you'll see a steady stream of customers buying oil and filters. But try to drop off used oil and you'll find it's very difficult. You need to find a qualified manager, fill out a form out a form and show ID (!). All triggered by a mis-guided effort to "dispose of properly", without further thought on what that means in practice. It's obvious that the vast majority of people just toss the used oil in the garbage because the hassle.
 
Originally Posted By: djb

We should learn from California about how not to be "environmentalists". It's as easy there as anywhere else to buy everything for oil and fluid changes. Go to any auto parts store or Walmart and you'll see a steady stream of customers buying oil and filters. But try to drop off used oil and you'll find it's very difficult. You need to find a qualified manager, fill out a form out a form and show ID (!).

Where did you see this? I live in California and have no problem disposing my used oil. I have three options:
1- Call up, and the city will send someone over to pick it up.
2- Take it to Autozone, Pep Boys, etc. and drop it off, no questions asked.
3- Drop it off at the Hazardous Waste Collection Center, they do ask for name and address (no ID).
 
Put it in a marked container and leave it at their doorstep after hours.....or just dump it down the pooper like I do.
 
Originally Posted By: Gradient

Where did you see this? I live in California and have no problem disposing my used oil. I have three options:
1- Call up, and the city will send someone over to pick it up.
2- Take it to Autozone, Pep Boys, etc. and drop it off, no questions asked.
3- Drop it off at the Hazardous Waste Collection Center, they do ask for name and address (no ID).


I changed the oil and ATF for a friend in Oakland. I tried a few times to dispose of the oil properly. The Autozone where I had bought the oil first said the manager was out, and later said they couldn't find the form. The form required name, address and matching ID.

That was approximately repeated at the Walmart close to the Oakland airport where I had bought the ATF. They needed to page a manager, which took over 10 minutes. When one showed up, there was a similar sheet requiring name, address, etc. That almost worked, except they couldn't find the key to the locked oil disposal area. My friend finally disposed of the oil on the way back after dropping me off at the airport.

I later checked with a Kragen. They required the same info (address, etc) but would accept a signature, not an matching ID.

I considered the whole thing absurd. I could understand requiring a receipt showing I had bought oil there. But not making it essentially impossible for me to responsibly dispose of the used oil.
 
I think it was easier when those shops (in San Diego) started the service but they soon found people were abusing it by dumping other chemicals - according to what they told me at Kragen, late 90's. I used the city's monthly hazmat events after that and had no trouble.
 
Originally Posted By: JT1
Fill my neighbors dog dish with it!
It won't take much. lol. What do you do with the remainder? :)

Honestly, that's how a neighbors dog died we think....he was changing his coolant, backed away for a minute or two to grab the jug of clean coolant, and around the corner comes his dog to "lap up" the coolant from his drain pan.....about a week or two later the dog was found asleep and never woke up. The dog didn't drink much of it, but it was a hot summer day, they let the dog run around in the front yard, and apparantly was thirsty....but he drunk the wrong Kool-aid
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There is a bittering agent added to modern antifreeze that makes it unappealing to drink.

Some bittering agents that work on humans are ineffective on other animals, so it's possible that it doesn't work as intended.
 
Originally Posted By: ahoier
Originally Posted By: JT1
Fill my neighbors dog dish with it!
It won't take much. lol. What do you do with the remainder? :)

Honestly, that's how a neighbors dog died we think....he was changing his coolant, backed away for a minute or two to grab the jug of clean coolant, and around the corner comes his dog to "lap up" the coolant from his drain pan.....about a week or two later the dog was found asleep and never woke up. The dog didn't drink much of it, but it was a hot summer day, they let the dog run around in the front yard, and apparantly was thirsty....but he drunk the wrong Kool-aid
frown.gif



Reminds me of a joke I heard on Hee Haw once. A man was working on his car and had spilled some gasoline on the ground that his dog lapped up. The dog ran around the front yard in circles until he just keeled over. A neighbor said, "my gosh your dog just died". The owner said "no, he just ran out of gas". Classic entertainment!!
 
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