"Ignoramus14057" wrote in
message ...
I bought a very large geat cutting machine for scrap. This machine is
sitting in a pit full of oil. I spoke to the person who maintained
it
and he says that the oil is only lube oil and NOT cutting oil.

I have a oil fired furnace Clean Burn CB2800. I burn all my oil,
mostly used hydraulic oil, in it to save on natural gas costs. The
instruction to the furnace says "DO NOT USE CUTTING OIL". I am not
sure why exactly, either the furnace will be damaged or due to
environmental regulations.

Someone else from the company said that cutting oil "might" be in
it.

How can I tell? Is smell a good enough indicator? Is there any easy
test that I can subject the oil to?

I am talking at least a ton of oil if not several tons. And I need
all
that oil if I can burn it.

Thanks

The simple test for sulfur is to heat the oil and see if it tarnishes
polished copper. I don't know how to detect other cutting oil
additives, that test is for fuel or lubricating oil.
http://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/nbs...cpaperT177.pdf
See pages 8 and 9.

Chemistry has moved to more sensitive and accurate testing with
instruments, so the simple and accessible methods are in old books.
You might find more by searching for the "copper mirror" test with a
newer computer than mine.

Another simple test is to burn a small quantity and look for a solid
residue of ash from additives. You could compare the result to the
residues or lack of them from known samples of hydraulic, motor and
cutting oils.

But I can't tell you if the oil is safe or legal to burn.