Burn Barrel design

[oosik]

I drill four holes - 1 1/2 inch - in my 55 gallon drum. One dead center in the bottom for water drainage and three - evenly spaced around the barrel about one foot up from the bottom. The barrel sits off the ground on three fire bricks.

 

[turnkey4099]

One that will burn like a blow torch. Cut BOTH ends out of the barrel, set on a grid of angle iron, old steel posts, scrap iron, whatever. No more scooping half burned ashes out of a barrel, just shovel the fully burned ashes out from under the barrel. A cold chisel and heavy hammer work fast to remove the barrel ends.

Draw back? Due to the fantastic burn neither the screp iron bars nor the barrel last very long, two or three years at most.

I even built a concrete block surround for the barrel with a built in ledge to hold the grill. Then the next year the state banned burn barrels and wouild pay a bounty for tips on people using them. Hasn't been used since.

 

[Eric Salop]

My rimfire ventilated barrel is used to remove stumps,,,

http://i1104.photobucket.com/albums/h332/sweetmk22/Summer 2015/20151011_193159_zpstlglhlsm.jpg

Some 44 Mag may also have been used in the ventilation process... :laughing:
:thumbsup:

That is a great barrel burner pic CADplans. It may also go some way to explaining why we had that ammo shortage. :laughing:


Back in the day when our public environmental departments didn't object to us burning anything as long as we did it well, this hole arrangement was officially rated as about the best for it's high internal temperature and combustion rate.

 

[CADplans]

That is a great barrel burner pic CADplans. It may also go some way to explaining why we had that ammo shortage. :laughing:

Flames are interesting to photograph,,,
here is a pic of my "rocket stove" flames,,,

I saw the YouTube video about rocket stoves,,, I had to build one,,,

Another pic of the burn barrel, taking out a stump,

As you can see,,, there is almost no smoke when using the burn barrel,,
The stump is burning about as hard as you could expect a stump to burn,,, no smoke,,

 

[Wagtail]

Ta, Eric!

Fortunately we don't have any environmental department or [bloody] greens group restricting the use of burn barrels here in rural Tassie. I did check with the Tasmanian Fire Service website and, for the most part, at the moment we can burn whenever it's safe [low to calm wind] to do so as it's Spring here and fairly damp... they would appreciate a ring to let them know that you're burning so that the local Fire Brigade doesn't get called out on a false alarm. A burn permit [free of cost] is required when things dry out around the State and, especially during the Summer, there's no burning during an extreme fire alert.

For a place with the cleanest breathable air in the world (I'm not making that up) we have very relaxed burning laws and wood-heaters are very common.

If I get another barrel, I'll try out CADplans stump-burner on a few back-paddock stumps.

 

[MF283]

We always went out with a brick of .22 rimfire and a semi-auto (to save time), and had fun while punching the holes.

Yep, that's how mine works.

 

[WoodChuckDad]

In the past I tried a drill. It is very time consuming and dulls the drill bit quickly. I resorted to the pick-axe. The down side is that you tend to dent the barrel with the pick axe. I have thought about blasting it with some 12 gauge buckshot. I found that placing a generous amount of holes on the lower half to he barrel was quite effective.

 

[jack707]

That's the way I did it punch 22 holes thru barrel also use a step drill bit to help. I have the same barrel since late 2014!

 

[k0ua]

If you don't want the sharp edges of the .22 exit holes fill the barrel first with old newspapers or wood or something for the bullets to hit so that they just penetrate one side. There is no easier and quicker way to punch a lot of small holes than a firearm. If you fill it with firewood, you can use your 9mm or your .45 if you want bigger holes.

 

[techman]

I changed my methods with some advantage. I cut 4 slots at 90 deg, from the bottom up about 8-10". I then use a pry bar and bend one edge in and the other edge out, opening the slot to about an inch and a half wire, to give an angled path for the air. Do this to all four slots, bending in the same direction. That's it. When burning you get a swirling of the combustion air coming in. It seems to burn much better and I do not get clumps of partially burned stuff on the bottom any more. It's also quick to do (although not as fast as the gun method.

Paul