What do you use to wipe up oil with?

[paulri]

In "how to change oil" videos, I see some guys using a towel. But I would think that a disposable paper towel would be best--I mean, cleaning an oily towel and then rinsing it out would put oil in the dirty water that the local sewage company gets, which is bad, right? The local household hazardous waste will at least accept oily paper towels so they are disposed of properly.

So what do you folks recommend--a towel, generic paper towels, or a dedicated product?

 

[Pop_Rivit]

I just buy the cheapest paper towels in the store and use them in the shop. The floor is epoxy coated so anything that gets spilled just wipes up. Sometimes the go in the trash, other times I'll toss them on the burn pile.

 

[bdcardinal]

I got a big thing of those Scott shop towels from Costco. If it is on the ground I use that to mop up as much as possible, then hit it with brake cleaner.

 

[supton]

We buy towels by the large grab-bag; I don't do that much work so as to buy special cheapo ones, so I just use the same Bounty select-a-size that the wife buys for the house. I toss into the trash and the transfer station sends it to... last I knew, a landfill.

 

[Kawiguy454]

A 8$ paper towel dispenser and Costco paper towels. On floor Oil-dry or kitty litter. Sprinkle on let it absorb and sweep away.

 

[paulri]

Normal paper towels seem to have lots of frizzy little bits that look like they might easily come off if the towel was rubbed against a hard surface. Do you folks clean off the mounting area where you screw on the oil filter with a normal paper towel? If so, I guess you aren't worried that little fiber bits will enter the oil?

Wait a second---paper isn't iron or sand, so I guess that wouldn't be a big deal, even if it did enter the oil. Sorry if I'm overthinking this, I'd rather not do anything to hurt the engine, that's all.

 

[69GTX]

If you're in one of the town/municipalities that have Waste to Energy burn plants it makes no difference that you through it away. Any used oil on the rag is eliminated in an 1900-2000 deg F combustor. Now being compacted in a landfill is not so environmentally friendly. That's were the bulk of the USA household waste goes to. I use whatever I can find, paper towels, rags, and newspapers. They all end up at a MWC and are burned.

 

[Virtus_Probi]

I really like the blue shop paper towels, they absorb oil well and I don't worry about them shredding under hard use like kitchen paper towels.

 

[umungus1122]

I put all oil oil soaked rags/ paper towels/ oil filters into the coal furnace.

 

[JC1]

Originally Posted By: paulri
Do you folks clean off the mounting area where you screw on the oil filter with a normal paper towel? If so, I guess you aren't worried that little fiber bits will enter the oil?



I leave that oily area alone. I just wipe off whatever oil drips down onto anywhere below that area that I can see or access.

Paper towels are the fastest and easiest thing for me.

 

[CharlieBauer]

Originally Posted By: Virtus_Probi
I really like the blue shop paper towels, they absorb oil well and I don't worry about them shredding under hard use like kitchen paper towels.


That's what I use. They do a better job of getting all the oil off of surfaces.

 

[paulri]

Just called the local trash service and in fact, paper towels would get taken to the local landfill.

OK I'll use the blue shop towels, they seem to be getting a good rep here, and I'll take them to household hazardous waste with my used oil.

 

[brave sir robin]

Kittens work the best

Oh wai.......t I meant kitty litter works the best.

 

[RooflessVW]

Accept no substitutes.

 

[Nick1994]

I use regular paper towels. I usually keep a couple folded up between the air cleaner box and the fuse box. Thousands of miles later they're still there.

 

[fdcg27]

+1 to all of the paper towel users.
These will get up virtually all of the oil on a smooth floor, like the garage and will get up enough of it on the rough finished concrete of the driveway that the rain takes care of the rest.
Motor oil is biodegradable, so a tiny amount of oil washing off of your driveway into the grass will do no harm.
As long as you aren't dumping drain oil into a local stream, you aren't doing any harm and far worse things go into landfills than oil-soaked paper towels.

 

[69GTX]

Last I knew used motor was a significant carcinogen. Even new oil can be if one is exposed in specific manners. If dumping a few ounces of used motor oil were no big deal we'd all be getting rid of our 6 quart oil changes in the front yard....3 oz per day. Ask your town officials if they think it's ok. You can't even take quantities of rags soaked with used motor oil to an MWC without declaring it as "special waste" and pay a much higher tipping fee to get rid of it. I live 200 yds from a large lake. I wouldn't appreciate my neighbors dribbling their motor oil on to their grass. It's bad enough that about 10-20% of them use toxic chemicals on their lawns...which eventually end up in the drinking water wells and/or lake. I can't think of any worse things making it into our landfills (that many households routinely toss out) than used motor oil. A tiny amount of oil can contaminate millions of gallons of fresh water.

 

[Panzerman]

Many towns and municipalities used to use used motor oil to keep dust down and dump it by the tanker load on the fairgrounds near my parents house. I used to flange used oil on our dirt alley by the house growing up to keep dust down. Usually 55 gallon or more. It never killed the grass or trees and the nearby swamp has no shortage of frogs. I think this oil thing is way over thought. Seriously. I watched hundreds gallons of oil be dumped on the bare ground in PA with no ramifications, so you can see my doubts on the worry about oily rags going to a landfill.

 

[WillsYoda]

I have spilled a lot of used motor oil on the cement garage floor and it wipes up as if it never happened. First I use cheap paper towels. Then I spray it down with OIL EATER spray, which works wonders. Then I wipe it down with paper towels again. The floor looks brand new after that, and my wife never knows I spilled even if she looks right at it.

 

[paulri]

At this point I'd love to hear folks discuss Panzerman's point about "no ramifications" of oil being spilled onto the ground. Does anyone here have any expertise in chemical/hazardous waste, that can weigh in on this? I tried googling, but all the results I saw were talking about massive oil spills (like the Exxon Valdez), which are of a different order of magnitude from what we are talking about here.