Something to eat the oil?

[salad]

I had a car with an oil leak. The car served its usefulness and was hauled away but I'm left with an oil patch residue.

My friend has a water compressor and I suppose I could blast away at it but from what I've heard oil and water don't mix. Besides, that water would get into the storm drain. There's enough junk going inside the storm drains I don't want to add my share. Is there something, like an enzyme, I can get at a hardware store that can eat away the oil residue?

Thanks in advance for any advice you can provide.

[Roger Shoaf]

I have had good luck with ordinary laundry detergent. Dampen the area with a little water and then sprinkle with the detergent. Use a stiff brush and scrub. I would not worry too much about the residue going into the storm drain, when the detergent breaks the bonds of the oil, it is well on is way to breaking down, this happens naturally anyway, but the soap hurries the process along.

Think about this, as every car ages, it drips oil and these drops land on the pavement. when it rains, all of this oil, and the oil that is released from the asphalt (oil mixed with crushed rock) is absorbed by the environment where the oil came from in the first place. Naturally existing microbes break down the oil into smaller and smaller bits.

Cleaning a drive way is not the same thing as draining your crankcase in the storm drain.

[Ermalina]

Looks like there are several. "Chomp" claims to be available in places like Sears, common hardware stores. Use "the google"

[Deke]

I also use laundry detergent in boiling hot water to pour over the patch and scrub vigourously with a broom and/or wire brush. .

[HeyBub]

Oil in the storm drains acts like a lubricant. Just like grass clippings provide roughage.

Both are needed for digestive health.

[JB]

I have always taken a different approach on my concrete driveway. Rather than try to wash it away, why not soak it up? I spread a small amount of regular clay kitty litter on the stain, take a brick and grind it hard into the stain. Leave it. After a few days, the stain should be almost complete gone.

Make sure you do this when the driveway is dry and rain is NOT expected for a few days. You can always repeat this if needed.

--Jeff

[Roger Shoaf]

My ex-wife tried kitty litter but she didn't grind it as you suggested. The neighborhood cats left her a surprise on her driveway.

[Norminn]

I got advice to use cat litter from our city haz. waste dept. after a neighbor spilled a quart of oil on sidewalk. I put down the cat letter and left it for several days. There is no sign now that the oil was ever spilled. I probably ground it in a bit to make sure it got into the little pores in the concrete as much as possible.

[JB]

I grind the litter HARD into the concrete with a brick. You are driving the clay dust into the itty-bitty pores of the concrete. Easier for the oil to soak up than by leaving larger clay pebbles ON TOP of the concrete.

--Jeff

[divorcedforever]

Just get your wife to suck the oil up off the ground. Isn't that the reason we marry them? At least they have something useful to do besides bitch and nag.

[Roger Shoaf]

Yes I understood this from your first post, I was just posting a funny story. I think your idea is a good one.