Has anyone used biodegradable synthetic engine oil?

[LongHairedTractor]

I recently had oil leak on my farm. I'm trying to grow the cleanest food possible, and it kills me to know that there is a risk of toxic oil leaking on my crops.

I recently discovered that there exists biodegradable, green, synthetic 10w-30 engine oil.

Has anyone used this before? Is there any risk in using it? Would I be able to transition to it by simply doing an oil change?

THANKS!

 

[Daren Todd]

The big thing is to make sure it's rated for Diesel engines or you could be doing more harm then good.

There are quite a few manufactures making biodegradable oils these days. I use a biodegradable hydraulic oil at work for my hydraulic submersibles. It is biodegradable, non toxic but not fit for consumption.

I haven't had any experience with biodegradable engine oil. But that's a good question for my oil supplier


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Bulldog]

I never even heard of anything like that before. I did the old google thing and found several oils that had "green" in their name. One was made from re-refined used engine oil. The other said it was made from beef fat.

Neither one sounds very good to me but what do I know.

 

[RCW]

Neither one sounds very good to me but what do I know.

I'm with Bulldog on this one.

Not sure what/where some kind of synthetic "biodegradable" engine oil might come from.

I know bio-diesel can be a maintenance concern.

Don't think I would ever want to beta-test engine oil in my tractor. If it doesn't work, what are you left with? A boat anchor in the shape of a Kubota engine.

 

[al m]

Bio degradable or not,the oil will still carry heavy metals,toxins,carcinogens etc from the wear and combustion process in your engine,can't imagine it being much better for your land than petroleum based engine oil once it has been used

 

[Tooljunkie]

The veggie based hydraulic oil is hard on hydraulic systems. Pumps wear quick and it destroys seals.

As mentioned, the stuff that makes oil black is whats the most harmful.
Buddy asked environmental guy about people pouring oil on roads for dust control. Said its fine as long as it was new oil.

 

[skeets]

I think that if you really want the cleanest stuff you can grow,, my friend your going to have to go back a horse no matter what they leak it wont harm anything.. Im not being a smart arse here just that what ever little bit you might drop or leak is not going to have any great impact on what your growing

 

[bxray]

May have to make a tractor diaper!

Ray

 

[hodge]

Bio degradable or not,the oil will still carry heavy metals,toxins,carcinogens etc from the wear and combustion process in your engine,can't imagine it being much better for your land than petroleum based engine oil once it has been used

Excellent point.

 

[chim]

I'd imagine trashing a tractor engine would be tougher on the environment than the tiny risk of an oil leak. If the unthinkable happened and the tractor barfed its oil on the ground, it could be gathered up unless it happened during a creek crossing.

I firmly believe we should be responsible and care for the earth. We do face a problem in knowing how best to do that. Some of the things being foisted on us in the name of saving the planet do just the opposite. Some things are downright fraud. There was a recent story on a "zero carbon footprint electric car". It seems they don't count all the energy and pollution required to go from mining the ore through disposal of the old batteries. Then, because of the laws of nature, someone somewhere is either burning something or creating nuclear waste to send electrons to the house to charge the batteries. There are losses at every step of energy transformation. If the power plant burns natural gas, the burners aren't 100% efficient, the heat transfer, conversion to steam, generators, transformers and all the components between the gas pipe and the electrical outlet used for charging the batteries lose some of the power. I'm convinced it would be a lot less harmful to the environment to have an efficient engine in the car and do the burning right there in the vehicle.

 

[RCW]

I firmly believe we should be responsible and care for the earth.

I agree 100%.

My only issue with a biodegradable motor oil is that if there is such a thing, I'm guessing it's untested. Kinda like the early days of bio-diesel.

 

[bxray]

Yes I agree.

Electric cars do have an exhaust pipe!
The Tesla car is a liar!

The power plant is where it was moved to.

So unless you charge your battery by wind, hydro or solar (solar panel manufacturing creates pollution)
So If You are using a nuke or coal plant!
Your foot print is big!

The average line loss in a transformer is 5%.
There can be 5-7 of them!
And the miles of wire!

Ray

 

[Tooljunkie]

There is no such thing as zero carbon footprint anything-that is manufactured.
The tooling to build the machines, the materials to build a building.

The process to build the batteries for an electric car alone has a bigger footprint than what it takes to build a full size pickup.

 

[RCW]

The process to build the batteries for an electric car alone has a bigger footprint than what it takes to build a full size pickup.

We have some windmill farms nearby - 10 or 12 years old.

I hear the tax credits for their establishment are up, and the normal maintenance/rebuilding process cost more than the energy they produced in their 10-12 year production life.

Developers are looking to walk away - and let somebody else figure out what to do with 40 300-foot windmills that don't run anymore.

Is that "green"? Only the money is.....

 

[Kurtee]

We have some windmill farms nearby - 10 or 12 years old.

I hear the tax credits for their establishment are up, and the normal maintenance/rebuilding process cost more than the energy they produced in their 10-12 year production life.

Developers are looking to walk away - and let somebody else figure out what to do with 40 300-foot windmills that don't run anymore.

Is that "green"? Only the money is.....

can you say politics? Politics is like wood ticks only bigger

 

[08quadram]

They are putting up wind mills as fast as they can here in Iowa. Most of the time they sit idle. Not to mention the issues they cause. They nave been shown to cause sleep problems for whoever is near, noise, bird killing, ice chunks the size of a refrigerator flying off. They are in no way economical or cost effective. But hey, it makes people feel good about themselves more than caring for the environment. Politics. Same for carbon tax credits. Just a way to make money.

Mike