Burn Barrel

[M5farms]

I used to work for the DEQ Air Quality Division. We got a request from a farmer to do a controlled burn, which was acceptable under the regs at the time. He got permission; only thing, there just "happened" to be a cache of old automobile tires in the mix. You could see the black column of smoke for 30 miles.

only way to get it hot enough to burn up big wood, most around here is done when its very damp outside so you need the heat to get it rolling

 

[KYErik]

I have found than an old water heater and a large well pressure tank lasts a lot longer than a 55 gallon drum.

 

[crash325]

Here is my former stove that at 1 time I cooked on the top. Now used as a burn barrel. Sort of messy around it, but clean up is on the way. :laughing: At 1 time the stove parts were off an expensive wood stove. Temp control on door.

 

[N80]

So I pulled my old wood stove out of the woods. I'll try to post a picture below. It worked great for cardboard and paper, of course. No ash and stuff blowing around or sitting on the ground. However, I put a bag of actual kitchen garbage in there along with a little diesel and it did not work at all. Still lots of un-burned stuff in there. I threw in a small lighter knot and a little more diesel and that pretty much did the trick. So for burning dry stuff like cardboard etc, it will be handy but not as a serious form of garbage disposal.

 

[GLyford]

View attachment 510213

That looks like what we used to call an "Ashley" or "Franklin" stove growing up...

 

[CajunRider]

Currently I don't have one but I used to have one made out of brick with 2 bottom vents and 2 side vents. That pit would burn anything I could stack in it practically. Once in a while I'd sweep out the ashes and that was all the care it needed.

 

[Oaktree]

We dump for free here. Metal items, cardboard, glass, paper, lumber and styrofoam all free.
Fridges, Stoves and freezers you have to pay for. As well as mattresses,couches, chairs and tables.

In my town cardboard, newspaper, metal, glass and types 1 & 2 plastic are free. They used to take other types of plastic, but apparently there's not much market for it...the town has to pay to get someone to take it, so now it's considered trash). Household trash is pay-per-bag (ie-everything has to be in special town trash bags). Tires, freon-containing appliances, electronics have fees, "demolition" (which includes old furniture, mattresses, etc. as well as actual construction debris) is charged by the truckload, pricing for partial loads at the discretion of the dump attendant. Hazardous waste, motor oil, paint, etc. are not accepted.

As far as burn barrels go, I think they're prohibited by the state but the law doesn't seem to be very strictly enforced.

 

[N80]

When I was at Eglin AFB in Florida, 25 years ago, the county contracted with a single private trash collector and you were billed on your water utility bill. It was a county-wide monopoly. Subsequently they were unreliable, expensive, extremely messy and wouldn't take anything but basic kitchen trash. There was one dump in the county and it was ridiculously expensive and inconvenient. There were no public green boxes. No 'convenience centers'. The AFB had most of the land in the county and most of it was woodland and was referred to as the 'reservation'. It was literally covered in trash, mattresses and old appliances because no one (including the locals who were often fairly poor) had anywhere to get rid of their trash. Bad government is not hard to recognize.

I'll admit that while I was there we had a broken toilet. My wife refused my plan to make into a planter and put it in the front yard. I broke it into pieces and sunk them in a beaver pond.

 

[TomSeller]

Currently I don't have one but I used to have one made out of brick with 2 bottom vents and 2 side vents. That pit would burn anything I could stack in it practically. Once in a while I'd sweep out the ashes and that was all the care it needed.

I like it. You didn't have a burn barrel, you had a brick barbecue. There can't be any regs against a barbecue. Al least I hope that the libs haven't banned them yet.

 

[CajunRider]

I like it. You didn't have a burn barrel, you had a brick barbecue. There can't be any regs against a barbecue. Al least I hope that the libs haven't banned them yet.

I never thought of it that way but yes I can modify it for both purposes. I can put in a slide in tray for coal when I want or take it out and turn it into a burn pit. I've been meaning to build a large one that I can turn a full size pig on it any way. I can put in slide gates to control air flow & temperature and Cochon de l'ait here we go. The only caveat is that I can't burn nasty stuff in there but that's OK. I don't do that any way.