Filling a cistern

newbury · Sep 1, 2021

Burning things can be FUN!
and it will get the rats and snakes out.

civilian · Sep 1, 2021

Do you have a backhoe with a hydraulic thumb or mini ex with thumb? Reach in with bucket and thumb, pull some wood out to see what else is down there. Then decide what to do. But is the ground strong enough to support your backhoe? Old bomb shelter? Keep us posted if you find anything. Jon

jigs_n_fixtures · Sep 1, 2021

Ideally you need to get to the bottom, to punch a hole in it so it is free draining.

As to getting air in so it can burn, a vent pipe hooked to a blower is a good idea. Get it as far in as you can, and then work it in further as the fire Burns things out of the way. I’d also recommend a 50/50 mix of diesel and gasoline as an accelerant to get it started burning. Shouldn’t take a lot, but. I’m fairly sure it will take some.

RalphVa · Sep 1, 2021

You've a start on kugelkultur for that little area. Just finish filling it in and grow some good stuff there.

Number15 · Sep 2, 2021

Gonna try and light it today. I figure I have about 10% chance of it catching. It's been wet here lately.

Egon · Sep 2, 2021

To do it properly consider bringing in a large hoe, about twenty foot depth, and dig it out.

Number15 · Sep 2, 2021

well I used a lot of petroleum products and as predicted it would not light. It was fun watching the flame front in the bowl of the cistern.

As for punching a hole in it, with the amount of rain we have been getting this thing should be full. Initially I had an idea to fill it and float the wood out. I quickly saw that it would not be possible to do that, for a few reasons.