Diesel Fuel

Sep 15, 2013
708
Catalina 270 Baltimore
I would like to thank Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard in Annapolis for accepting my pint of diesel fuel for recycling. Every year I clean my Racor fuel filter and replace the element and every year I go through the same distasteful exercise of trying to find someplace that will recycle the pint or so of diesel that is left over. I am sure TOS rules prohibit me from naming the numerous marinas in the Baltimore harbor area that refused to accept it even after I offered to pay them. Jabin's is a huge operation and they did not have to do this. Hat's off to some good folks. Also I got to watch the Blue Angels practice as a bonus.
 
Mar 26, 2011
3,961
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
Actually, it is quite confusing, since the Maryland Environmental Service, which runs many of the collection sites in Maryland, specifically allows diesel fuel in the used oil tanks. I am aware of this because I helped develop the rules and used to run the engineering department for the recycler who has had the contract for most of the last 20 years.

Sound like the folks just didn't want it because ever since the price of oil dropped, they are getting charged for used oil collection.

http://www.menv.com/pages/recycling/oilantifreeze.html
 
Oct 9, 2008
1,742
Bristol 29.9 Dana Point
Jabins did the same for me when I needed it. Really nice people.
They also helped in many ways when I was prepping the boat for shipping to CA. The yard owner personally made sure that everything was correct, and even stayed late prior to their Christmas party to ensure I got loaded on the hauler.
Now I've got onsite recycling here in the harbor. Which is fabulous.
 
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May 24, 2004
7,213
CC 30 South Florida
A pint? Can't you burn the darn thing. Put it in an old pot and set it on an BBQ Grill and after most of the water evaporates light it up. I believe it is quite legal to burn diesel, after all it is it's intended use.
 
Mar 26, 2011
3,961
Corsair F-24 MK I Deale, MD
A pint? Can't you burn the darn thing. Put it in an old pot and set it on an BBQ Grill and after most of the water evaporates light it up. I believe it is quite legal to burn diesel, after all it is it's intended use.
If you were using it as a fuel. Burning it in a pot is incineration, which is a completely different matter.

Simply take it to an MES site when you take your used oil. Easy, free, environmentally correct, and legal.
 
Sep 15, 2013
708
Catalina 270 Baltimore
Thinwater. Apparently the rules you helped write never made it to the field. There are many places in the state that accept motor oil but none accept diesel. I know. I called all of them. I also contacted my city councilman, my state delegate and even the governor back in 2014. The letter I got from O'Malley's MDE director was fluffy and so absent of substance it would have made a hit on the Daily show. I'll send it to you via PM for entertainment value if you want to see it. My delegate tried but could not locate a single location in central MD that would accept diesel. The official story from the state is diesel can be mixed with motor oil but that is not correct. Not a single state or county recycling location would accept diesel. That leaves us at the mercy of the marinas who are not required to accept fuel from do it yourselfers. When I found one that would take my fuel I felt is was worth an acknowledgement.
 
Sep 15, 2013
708
Catalina 270 Baltimore
Benny. When I lived in Florida we used to dump it in the bonfire. I can't do that where I live now. I would be on the evening news.
 
May 24, 2004
7,213
CC 30 South Florida
Thinwater, no preaching please. Disposing of motor oil is not free unless you walk or ride a bicycle. It is not easy when you get to the collection point and you have to come back because the tank was full as the recycler had not picked it up. It sounded like Bawlmer had to take the pint to Annapolis because Marinas in the Baltimore Harbor would not accept it. That's quite a distance.
 
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May 24, 2004
7,213
CC 30 South Florida
Benny. When I lived in Florida we used to dump it in the bonfire. I can't do that where I live now. I would be on the evening news.
At least you were responsible enough to burn it. I do not have a problem with oil disposal but do have a Mexican chimney that could come into use if needed. It is ridiculous when they require you to burn fuel in order to dispose of a little diesel fuel.
 

DougM

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Jul 24, 2005
2,242
Beneteau 323 Manistee, MI
I guess that I am fortunate to have a yard that accepts the old diesel fuel. Being in the north country, the yard workshop uses oil heat. They collect the small amounts of old fuel and heat with it in the winter.
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Thinwater knows what he is talking about, you don't need to ask permission to manage your small quantity waste diesel in Maryland, you simply dump it in the yard waste-oil tank. The rule is the same in Virginia. It is easy if you suck it out of the filter with your oil change extractor.
 

SFS

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Aug 18, 2015
2,092
Currently Boatless Okinawa
And it's not at all uncommon for the folks who are bound by environmental regulations regarding hazardous waste to not understand the rules. I've worked for the two largest environmental protection agencies in the world, and haz waste regs are outrageously convoluted and nonsensical. Gunni has the right idea, and thinwater has given you written proof that the State of Maryland accepts diesel in their used oil collection program. The fact that the employees at collection sites tell you they don't accept it simply means they are not doing their job, and at the risk of sounding political (which I am not), I would argue that if your state representative can't "enlighten" the program participants with a single phone call, then he/she is not doing their job either.
 
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Nov 6, 2006
10,212
Hunter 34 Mandeville Louisiana
My grandpa took the drainings from the tractor filter/separators and sprayed it inside the doors and fenders of his old pickup truck. yes the truck had a certain odor about it (!) but it never rusted out even though it lived about half of its life parked only a few feet from the high tide line on a Gulf of Mexico beach.
 
May 24, 2004
7,213
CC 30 South Florida
Guys go ahead and burn two gallons of gasoline to be able to take a pint of diesel fuel to the collection center. It apparently makes sense to someone.
 

Gunni

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Mar 16, 2010
5,937
Beneteau 411 Oceanis Annapolis
Bert Jabins, like all working boatyards in Maryland has an waste oil collection container on site. Might burn some shoe leather walking over to it. :)
 
Sep 15, 2013
708
Catalina 270 Baltimore
I did the math and I actually did burn 2 gallons of gas to properly get rid of a pint of diesel. As far as the previous posts regarding Maryland laws go I do not doubt that diesel fuel collection is codified somewhere. The problem is that information is either not disseminated or disregarded at the site level. At least we have some boat yards in MD that get this and allow proper disposal at their facilities.
 

tjar

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Aug 8, 2011
166
Hunter Legend 35.5 Tacoma, WA
I'm with Ken. Why can't you just run it through a filter screen and dump it back into the tank? I have a jug ready and was planning to do just that.
 
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