Oil spill absorb stuff

AnthonyG

AnthonyG

Well-known member
I found 20 different kinds of granule type stuff but having a brain fart. What did we all & every gas station use in the old days? Like in the ‘60’s & ‘70s?:confused:
 
the stuff has several brand names; speedy-dri, zipzorb, etc. mainly its dry clay granules. (kitty litter)
 
I remember 2 very different types. One was very light colored, very light in weight, and worked extremely well.
The other was darker in color, heavier, and did not absorb nearly as well. It almost seemed like it may have had a clay base.
I do not recall brand names but believe cheaper in price than anything with a kitty name. LOL
 
I bought some kitty litter I thought at the store across the street. I don't know what it was but poured the whole bag on a huge oil spill under a car. Then I had a bigger mess to clean up, it just floated on top of the oil. Back to the store for pkg's of paper towels.
 
I'll go against the crowd on this and say I've had much better than average results with something called "Opti-Sorb" that I got at my local FLAPS. It seems to work much better that the usual stuff and seems like it actually sucks oil out of the floor. I even re-use it. I have a 5 gallon bucket with a hardware cloth screen that I dump the used stuff in. You can use it a couple of times before it gets completely saturated.

For a mundane product, I'm pretty high on the stuff.
 
I used some clay based kitty litter and it worked well. I bought some other kitty litter which was plant based or something but not clay and it was not very good.
 
It also helps, whether your boot or hand, to scrub it on the floor once the liquid is gone. Really cleans the floor well. Tip from my dad. I use cheap clay kitty litter as well.
 
The good stuff is diatomaceous earth. Works 10x better than clay stuff and can be used several times like Denny alluded to. Costs double and well worth it. Good parts stores stock it under various names but they all list Diatomite or Diatomaceous earth somewhere on the bag. Way lighter than clay.
 
We had that good stuff at the shop back in the 70's also bags of sweeping compound. It worked great. Sad to say they went out of business in the mid 70's from economy and retired and sold the farm. Had the oil pigs when I worked for JD.
 
I remember an oil spill product called "Hi Dry". It was clay based. Back in the "day", I worked for an automotive parts jobber. Hi-Dry came in 40lb bags, 1033 to a trailer. After pulling parts orders and loading delivery trucks, the afternoon was spent unloading these bags on at a time, sometimes in 90 degree weather here in the South. The only thing worse was a trailer of anti-freeze or greasy tailpipes and mufflers.
 
Cow town one year, I bought 40 flat trays. The were for stacking glass oil containers for sale. I have them under each old car. If I was to make a mess, I went to my buddy's place.
Clem
 
There have been some pretty amazing technological improvements in all aspects of our lives. There is no reason that "Floor-Dry" should be exempt from that. Try some of the good stuff sometime and you will realize that the $8 a year you've been saving using "the cheapest Kitty Litter" is a sterling example of false economy.

Or continue doing what you're doing; I'm just trying start "AnthonyG" down the right path.
 
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