Dawn Dish Soap in the Bilge?

[Lagoon4us]

Is oil mentioned?

Does ths really work? Can anyone confirm this helps in maintaining a clean bilge? Ad if so,how much do you put in?

[captain58sailin]

Like everyone else, I want my bilge to be spotless (no oil) and I do not want to discharge any effluent overboard ever. They make a machine 12 v, I don't remember the name right now, I just know where to buy one at the local hydraulics shop. It removes the oil from the bilge and deposits it into a separate receptacle, and you can program it to run at certain times. Runs about $900.00 USD, which is expensive to some and cheap to others, depending on the odds of having to pay a fine for a discharge. I currently use the same jabsco pump system that I use for changing oil in my engine and run the discharge into a 55 gallon drum and then tote it up to the waste oil receiving station. As far as Dawn or Joy are concerned, it sinks the oil to the bottom and then it eventually rolls up onto the beach, all the little critters on the bottom get a taste before it does. I have observed even the USCG using a dispersant on small sheens emanating from the side of their vessel during a refueling operation. Environmentally, best scenario is never discharge at all, next best is to leave it on the surface so that it can evaporate (Let the flaming begin).

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by captain58sailin

Like everyone else, I want my bilge to be spotless (no oil) and I do not want to discharge any effluent overboard ever. They make a machine 12 v, I don't remember the name right now, I just know where to buy one at the local hydraulics shop. It removes the oil from the bilge and deposits it into a separate receptacle, and you can program it to run at certain times. Runs about $900.00 USD, which is expensive to some and cheap to others, depending on the odds of having to pay a fine for a discharge. I currently use the same jabsco pump system that I use for changing oil in my engine and run the discharge into a 55 gallon drum and then tote it up to the waste oil receiving station. As far as Dawn or Joy are concerned, it sinks the oil to the bottom and then it eventually rolls up onto the beach, all the little critters on the bottom get a taste before it does. I have observed even the USCG using a dispersant on small sheens emanating from the side of their vessel during a refueling operation. Environmentally, best scenario is never discharge at all, next best is to leave it on the surface so that it can evaporate (Let the flaming begin).

"leave it on the surface" I belive this is what caused a river to catch fire once upon a time..lol

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by zeehag

science is not absolute, nor is it merely numerical. it is a series of WATCHED events leading up to a formed OPINION that is accepted as a science over time and more observation(watching).

scientific method includes watching--they call it observation. any SCIENTIST knows this.


oh, but i am only an rn of highest technological expertise, so i wouldnt know science if it hit me in my face....rodlmao....

Hysterical. Science is numerical and absolute within carefully stated limits or it is not science. It is generally when folks extrapolate what they think they know beyond those limits that they get in trouble... which you are doing.

My company recycles oily water mixtures, including a great deal of the Horizon oil, so let me explain this more simply.

Most oil floats, but not all. Asphalt (an oil fraction) for example, sinks. Many crudes contain enough asphalt-type components that given some time, the gasoline fractions evaporate and what remains sinks; it would have done this with or without surfactants if not cleaned up very quickly. Additionally, many crudes attract enough other solids and dirt to weight them down and cause them to sink. Surfactants can increase this action.

Will this happen with diesel and motor oil? No. Will some portion sink? Yes. As a result of the oil washing around in the bilge it will absorb some grit and dirt (rust, sand, soil, tar, carbon black) and if you mix this with soap some portion will separate and sink, but it will be a small portion.

That said, if you clean the bilge with soap, dispose of the waste properly.

[captain58sailin]

Of course if you venture into extremes you can catch the river on fire. Would suggest a much higher volume than would be found in an ordinary bilge, unless you happen to be a tanker barge.

[zboss]

I am surprised that bilge pumps are not required to have oil seperators.

Vetus Bilge Water/Oil Separator Filter

[fryewe]

Originally Posted by zboss

I am surprised that bilge pumps are not required to have oil seperators.

Vetus Bilge Water/Oil Separator Filter

Well...the turd police gave me the encouragement to remove my holding tank and install a composting toilet. If the oil police require an oil separating bilge system I'll just have to take the bilge pump out and start using a bucket there too.

[hellosailor]

Oil separators? Let's see, oil floats on water, must weigh a bit less, maybe 7 pounds per gallon? And that separator can retain 0.7 pounds, or 10% of a gallon? So it might hold four ounces of oil. Either it is a very good solution for a fairly clean bilge, or a terribly expensive one that needs constant filter changes for some others.

Time and money.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

Time and money.

True, time and money. I'm just sayin' surprised they are not required.

[sabray]

Best practice is to have absorbent pads around the sump or covering the sump. Keeps out all the crap out of the pump as a bonus. Using dispersant is not a best practice. Wet dry vac the bilge is best practice. Using dish detergent for an oil spill is last resort and illegal in the us without approval. Having pads around the fuel fill while filling fill is best practice. Better spend your time with some nice cheap prevention then use dish detergent to hide your scew up.

[DeborahLee]

Yea Dawn stock went up when BP started buying it by the drum instead of the bottle. I like to put a little in my raw water filter for a quick check for cooling water flow.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by DeborahLee

Yea Dawn stock went up when BP started buying it by the drum instead of the bottle. I like to put a little in my raw water filter for a quick check for cooling water flow.

Dawn is used to (relatively) safely remove oil from birds and other critters, not to clean up oil spills.

[sabray]

If you can't see it it didn't happen. The temperature on my iPhone is okay and the oil slick vanished.cool what change are you talking about everything still looks the same.

[zeehag]

thru allmy oil loss woes we repetitively hand wiped after the absorbant oil engine dydies sopped up all the oil--we sent the absorbant pads to the oil recyclers--yes they even have those in mexico.... go figger.

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by sabray

If you can't see it it didn't happen. The temperature on my iPhone is okay and the oil slick vanished.cool what change are you talking about everything still looks the same.

Not sure to whom or about what you are responding but if you are implying that dispersing the oil into the water column makes everything go away, that is incredibly wrong. Out of sight, out of mind isn't a very good environmental policy...