The main byproduct is acrolein which is caused by the overheating or burning of fats and oils. This chemical is present in grilled foods, especially fatty ones, cooked over flame as well as anything fried. We eat trace amounts daily in most baked, fried, or grilled foods. It is present in French fries, potato chips, cereals, your grilled burger, and much more. The burning of biodiesel and such is likely to release the same stuff. I don’t think it is a persistent toxin like the hexavalent chromium and arsenic released by burning treated lumber. Unless there is something I have missed, I don’t think this is a huge deal as long as it is vented properly. Auto exhaust is toxic as well and we deal with it daily. Of course sitting in a closed garage with a running car is not good either.
I have looked at the vent stack outside while doing this and there is no smoke. It is just clear vapor. The same cannot usually be said while I am burning wood although a good hot fire.
Either way, I am down to only 6 gallons left and plan to hang onto it unless I really need a quick hot fire. I am back to burning all wood for now with the stainless insert I made removed. I was out in the shed and realized I only had two boxes remaining. Each box contains 6x 64 ounce jugs of the stuff.
Possibly found another use, twisted my ankle the other day and was supposed to ice it.
Had a bunch of hand sanitizer, put about 2 cups of hand sanitizer into a gallon zip lock bag, put that into another gallon zip lock bag and put it into the freezer.
12 hours later it’s not frozen solid, very flexible and wraps around ankle very well, stayed more than cold enough for the 20 minutes I used it.
That makes sense. I wonder what the heat capacity of this is and how long it will stay cold compared to regular ice or an ice pack. This goes back to my original idea about using it as a window deicer which didn’t work due to the glycerin smearing.
My unlimited supply of this has basically dried up for now but I did manage to score another 2-3x full boxes of these jugs.
Not sure how long it will stay cold, but it was cold enough for the 15 - 20 minutes I had it applied. I think if you added some water to it, maybe 50/50 it might get slushy and last longer.
If you are picking up surplus stuff swing on by and I’ll load you up. The dump and recycling center are still under Covid restrictions and they love it. I’ve got 15 gallons of used oil, a couple printers, lots of wood scraps, and other nice stuff free. Want old paint?
I always haul away untreated wood scrap for kindling if people have them. My city is out of restrictions and it is like normal here but you need to make an appt to get hazardous stuff like motor oil recycled. Most parts stores here accept that and I think it is state law. You can get rid of up to 15-20 quarts a day per location so just load up and take it to all the parts stores, wal-mart, etc. By law they have to take it if they sell it. There is also a scrap value to used oil for recycling and burners that run on it so it has value. I would never pay to get rid of that.
Antifreeze is a different deal. NO one wants that but the city will take it for free if you make an appointment. This can be very inconvenient and I always try to have a good load of the stuff before taking it in so I plan to change the coolant in a couple cars and then take it in all at once.
They take used batteries of any kind ranging from disposable alkalines to automotive batteries. This also includes lithium and others common in electronics. No appointment is needed for this but they do want an appointment for fluorescent bulbs which is really obnoxious. I take them in as soon as I can so they don’t build up when I haul normal recycling like plastic and glass as well as batteries in. They always balk about me not having an appointment but I tell them I don’t have time to make an appointment for a single bulb or two and they usually take it when I tell them it is a choice between them taking it and it going in the trash. I once had a box of these collected up and several got broken inside my house. I opened all the doors and windows, ran outside several times, holding my breath, then got all the cats out as well for several hours. I am not stockpiling these things anymore because of that situation. I am am replacing with LED as ballasts go out but I have a few still working and a decent stockpile of good bulbs that were also given to me so figure I will run through these before recycling them. Once the bulbs run out I will go all LED no matter if the ballasts are still working.
As for the IT stuff like printers, laptops, and towers, I can take that all day long and get it properly recycled.
Old paint would be a hazmat appointment in my city like coolant. Sometimes thrift stores will take this if it is still good but just a color you no longer want.
In NJ, the folks on the state level will accept all latex-based paints, and they are then mixed in order to be re-dispensed at zero cost to consumers, even though most folks are not aware of this program.
Municipal governments tend to grab this recycled latex paint, and it is widely used in various local structures. The resulting color is essentially a very bland beige, but if this is not offensive to a consumer, they can get it at no cost from the state staff, as long as the supply hasn’t already been depleted by municipal governments.
My county recently ditched a ton of surplus and called on various local businesses to haul it off. I was contacted for the IT/electronics side of things while property management companies were called for all the paint and other construction materials. It was just a free for all of everyone taking this stuff.
There were extra car and van seats from jail transport and work vans, etc. People were really happy to get those. I got most of the IT type stuff donated to the local schools and a really cool but older and EXPENSIVE map scanner donated to the local university. I got a few furniture pieces for myself and girlfriend. This stuff was all going to go into the dumpster if not taken. The only thing I felt bad about hauling off as scrap was a nice floor model copier/scanner that worked fine but weighed like 400lbs. The county officials just needed it gone and since my truck was there and a lot of the crap just going straight to the scrap yard, they had me back up on the courthouse steps and into my truck it went. I simply didn’t have the means to handle and store this large item so it went straight to the scrap yard. They were in a hurry to have it gone, otherwise I would have tried to find it a home and have someone pick it up. I was really happy to see the map scanner go to a good home though. This thing weighed like 400lbs as well and had a solid steel frame. I would have disassembled it and stored it if it came to that as this was a real gem.
I got a couple nice color laser printers that only needed minor work as well. Ones with more serious issues went off to scrap.
One thing that amazes me is how some people are in such a hurry to get rid of good valuable equipment while others are dead set on hanging onto junk. I figure anything worthwhile shouldn’t just go into the trash with all the rising prices and supply shortages these days.
As for automotive fluids, I know used oil has all kinds of uses when recycled but not sure about coolant. I know that stuff takes a lot of natural gas to manufacture so maybe it can be recycled for some other purpose or an industrial coolant in equipment??? Mine is a mix of all different colors so I don’t know how easy that is to recycle.
I was just kinda kidding. Yeah I have to make an appointment instead of just driving up like usual and everything pre-paid. I don’t have any hazardous bulbs anymore-either all LEDs or standard.
Paint is a hassle though. Sorting is a big issue. Sherwin Williams will take some but not much but all has to be in the original containers. It’ll be a Summer project. I might just end up dumping likes together and putting it out to dry instead. Then it can be just thrown in the trash. I have lots of spray cans though with some brand new, some old ones without nozzles etc. Makes me tired thinking about it.