Sources for steel drums

rswyan · Jan 15, 2005

Wow - thanks everyone for the all the responses.

Some really good ideas on sources.

rswyan · Jan 15, 2005

( I had one of these kits about fifteen years ago in my shop and used standard steel drums (with sealed top/bottom, two bungs in top) )

Glenn,

How did you like it ? Did you find the bungs useful for additional draft or did you just leave them closed ?

( looking over the instructions at the link you provided they seem to be referring to this type drum. )

Yes they do - I think probably because of liability reasons - if the band clamp securing the lid were to break while there was a fire in the stove it could be real ugly, I'd imagine.

Here's the reason I want open head drums: I intend to weld the 30 gallon to the inside center of the lid of the 55 and have the 30 gallon drum become the firebox so to speak, and the 55 be the outer wall of the stove. I plan to partially fill the space between the two drums with sand to act as a sort of 'firebrick' or thermal retainer. An open head drum just makes it easier to do. Once I get the 30 welded onto the 55's lid and installed in the 55, I'll probably weld the lid for the 55 onto the 55 itself as well.

rswyan · Jan 15, 2005

( My only question would be that they are not especially heavy guage steel; I imagine they'd burn through fairly quickly if they got hot enough. )

Yup - these type of stoves are very easy to over fire - you don't want to build a huge fire in one. On the otherhand because the walls are very thin they output heat very quickly and do not require a huge fire to heat the mass of the stove.

( Also, the paint will burn off almost immediately and if there is any moisture, they will rust very quickly. We use steel barrels as trash burning containers, and they usually last a couple of months, but that's outdoors. )

Probably true on the paint, and yeah I expect the life of a drum would probably not be more than 5 years or so due to rust out (even in an enclosed shed) and that's with me pulling the stove pipe every spring to prevent moisture from coming in thru the chimney. That's why I would have like to come up with some stainless drums /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif

Glenn9643 · Jan 15, 2005

It was OK but nothing to brag about. I left the bungs in and tried to regulate the airflow with the dampers in the door. I found that it was difficult if not impossible to shut down the air and slow the fire, but it did heat quickly and knock the chill off in the shop.
It seems to me that your approach with the smaller drum as your firebox will make it somewhat slower to heat up. No more trouble than they are to assemble, and as cheap as used drums are I believe that I'd just fabricate me a grate to hold my wood off the bottom of the drum and plan on redoing it in a few years.

JD3130 · Jan 15, 2005

Don't think the drum inside of a drum ( if I under stood correctly) is going to be worth the extra work. I heated my shop 32 x 40 with one of those double drum heaters for about 12 winters before I decide to put in central because I needed the space. I made the kit myself. drums come in two thickness. I used the heavy ones. I put a layer of fire brick in the bottom of the barrel and up the side as high as they stay up without falling.and across the back, I didn't mortar them, just put them in dry. I had the damper in the stove pipe. and a small one in the back near the bottom and a large about 4" in the door. I made a grate out of 3/4 in bar stock with enough room so I could rake the ashes out. I put a fire gasket around the door. I had total control over the air flow. As I found out the hard way when I first was learning how to used it. I shut down a roaring fire too quick, and she blew the stove pipes off. I had her red lots of times, but that set of drums lasted the whole 12 years. I applied stove black very often, new pipes every season. The last two years I added an oil drip to it. I put a pile of lava rocks in the back and adj the oil to just dip on the rocks. I would start a fire and turn on the oil. I got the used oil free. Make a lot of smoke and soot. I should have add air pressure to the oil to get a hotter burn. But I used a lot less wood.
good luck.

GATC35 · Jan 15, 2005

There is a place in Fairburn, Georgia that sells any size type barrel you could dream of. Plastic, steel, stainless steel, 30 gallon 55 gallon and some real odd sizes. I don't remeber the name of the place but I have it written down at work and could get it for you on Tuesday. The prices are real reasonable, of course your only problem would be shipping it. If you want more info. shoot me a PM.

garry · Jan 15, 2005

Matalics Recycling in Wooster sels them for $3.00 each.

Soundguy · Jan 16, 2005

Lotsa feed stores sell them.( bulk molasses leftovers). I've seen then at honey packers, as well as other industrial/packers.. like salsa companies. Oil companies have a ton of them.. for that fact.. construction companies usually have dozens seting in their shop yard.. ( we do.. )

Soundguy

billbill1 · Jan 16, 2005

A friend had one of the barrel stoves and he would fill the bottom with sand for the wood to burn on, it made the barrel last 10X longer than burning on the metal. Maybe 6" to 8" of sand. It is unreal how much heat these stoves put out, you can also weld a 6" pipe through the top barrel and use a fan to move the air through, this works well too.

Donman · Jan 16, 2005

I have used the double barrel stove set-up for many years in my shop with excellent results. One thing that I did when installing the stove was to cut the chimney pipe hole near the front side of the top barrel at a 2-3 o-clock position so the hot smoke from the bottom barrel has to travel a longer path and then down a bit before exiting to the chimney pipe. I am always amazed at how fast this stove throws heat after start-up-especially when I throw ripped up cardboard in for the initial start/heatup. This is mainly due to the fairly thin steel of the barrels and the large surface area. They throw a lot of heat but also go thru a lot of fuel.