Burn Barrel that works

[RSKY]

A few years ago somebody on this forum from Australia or Tasmania posted on how to set up a burn barrel properly. I had always cut horizontal slots around the bottom of mine and hoped for the best. So I got a couple barrels last year and following posted instructions I cut six vertical slots between each ridge in the barrels making eighteen slots total. Then took a prybar and sledgehammer and opened the slots slightly so the air would enter in a clockwise direction.

It works.

We are cleaning out my mother's house and I have two barrels set up in the back yard. We work there two or three days a week and both barrels burn constantly. Mom was a child of the Great Depression. Her father died when she was eight and within months the family went from well-to-do to nearly starving. So her mindset was to not throw anything away EVER. I start with a few chunks of wood in the bottom with some paper and a cup or so of kerosene. Within minutes the flames are swirling out the top. Burnt some old throw rugs yesterday and flames come out of the barrels higher than my head.

Hats off to the guy who posted the instructions and WHY DIDN'T I FIGURE THAT OUT YEARS AGO!!

RSKY

 

[Bill Groom]

Yes sir, I burn holes with oxy acetyline between every ridge, every 90*, and it works like a charm.

 

[DIYOrangeDave]

A few years ago somebody on this forum from Australia or Tasmania posted on how to set up a burn barrel properly. I had always cut horizontal slots around the bottom of mine and hoped for the best. So I got a couple barrels last year and following posted instructions I cut six vertical slots between each ridge in the barrels making eighteen slots total. Then took a prybar and sledgehammer and opened the slots slightly so the air would enter in a clockwise direction.

It works.

We are cleaning out my mother's house and I have two barrels set up in the back yard. We work there two or three days a week and both barrels burn constantly. Mom was a child of the Great Depression. Her father died when she was eight and within months the family went from well-to-do to nearly starving. So her mindset was to not throw anything away EVER. I start with a few chunks of wood in the bottom with some paper and a cup or so of kerosene. Within minutes the flames are swirling out the top. Burnt some old throw rugs yesterday and flames come out of the barrels higher than my head.

Hats off to the guy who posted the instructions and WHY DIDN'T I FIGURE THAT OUT YEARS AGO!!

RSKY

Pictures of your barrels, please.

 

[oldballs]

Last burn barrels that i've had just had some holes poked with a pickaxe....no particular precision. Seemed to work OK for me. But maybe there is more science to it than I'm aware of.

Cheers,
Mike

 

[turnkey4099]

My Ta Ma Hal of burn barrels was a concrete block enclosure with angle irong bars holding up a barrel with BOTH ends cut out. Ashes fell through the angle iron grate to just be shoveled out. fill with burnables, light off from underneath and stand back.

Drabacks? A barrel would burn out to scrap in 2 seasons, Angle iron grate would only only last 3 seasons.

But then the state banned burn barrels and paid a bounty for reporting anyone using them. Block enclosure is still there.

 

[PILOON]

I made me a real pretty burn barrel.
I used a 1.5 inch hole and drilled 4 holes nicely spaced at the bottom and another 4 just below the first ridge but staggered between the lower ones.
Used my jig saw to neatly cut the top off.
Works like a charm all while looking good.
Heck I even painted the last with some stove paint I had left over.

LOL, on earlier ones simply used my small axe to puncture holes and cut the top off.
While crude it did the job.

To get another year usage, I tip mine over to dump the ashes out periodically as wet ashes sure rust out the bottom rapidly.
To comply with local fire regulations I have a mesh screen that act like a spark arrester that I cap the barrel while burning. Actually I salvaged a screen that came from a deck style fire pit as it was just the right size.
Also for between usages I made a crude lid of sorts to prevent rain from soaking the interior.

LOL, my last one is almost like a piece of garden art.

 

[RSKY]

Here are pictures.

 

[RSKY]

 

[Wagtail]

A few years ago somebody on this forum from Australia or Tasmania posted on how to set up a burn barrel properly. I had always cut horizontal slots around the bottom of mine and hoped for the best. So I got a couple barrels last year and following posted instructions I cut six vertical slots between each ridge in the barrels making eighteen slots total. Then took a prybar and sledgehammer and opened the slots slightly so the air would enter in a clockwise direction.

It works.

We are cleaning out my mother's house and I have two barrels set up in the back yard. We work there two or three days a week and both barrels burn constantly. Mom was a child of the Great Depression. Her father died when she was eight and within months the family went from well-to-do to nearly starving. So her mindset was to not throw anything away EVER. I start with a few chunks of wood in the bottom with some paper and a cup or so of kerosene. Within minutes the flames are swirling out the top. Burnt some old throw rugs yesterday and flames come out of the barrels higher than my head.

Hats off to the guy who posted the instructions and WHY DIDN'T I FIGURE THAT OUT YEARS AGO!!

RSKY

Yep, that was me.

 

[RSKY]

Now that is strange. I posted the pictures in the normal way from my Iphone and look what I got. Anyway, you can see the flames swirling out the top. It works great until the barrel is full and the vents covered. Sometimes the flames spew out of the vents and you have to be careful. The hotter it gets the more air is sucked in and the more it swirls. I burned three trash bags full of my dad's polyester clothing (he died in 1982) and by the time I could walk back to the house and get another bag the last one would be mostly gone. These barrels had been lit at 9:00 in the morning and the pictures taken about 4:00 in the afternoon. Bags of papers, old clothes, cut up boards, anything burnable had been put in.

RSKY

 

[RSKY]

Yep, that was me.

Well your idea works. Saved me from having to rent a dumpster or carry all that crap to a landfill.

Thank you.

RSKY

 

[oosik]

I cut four - 2" holes around the bottom of my barrel. Barrel sits up on four bricks - evenly spaced around the barrel. This eliminates the chance of a "hot barrel bottom" starting a grass fire. When the barrel fire goes out - I have a barrel lid for on top. No chance of sparks floating anywhere.

 

[gstrom99]

Those slots are more functional than the .44 magnum holes I put in mine.

 

[nbking]

For many years we had an old washer drum, already has the holes and works great

 

[PILOON]

Actually a burn barrel works on the same principle as rocket stoves.

I recall once when as a group we wanted to have a lobster fest.
My solution was 6 cinder blocks and a 5 gal metal pail that was suitably pierced and loaded with dry wood, twigs etc.
Friends were amazed to see how fast that water was boiling.

Otherwise said, I had made a large rocket stove or small burn barrel.

 

[WM75Guy]

Yep, that was me.

Just wondering, do you open the slots counterclockwise down under?

 

[Wagtail]

Just wondering, do you open the slots counterclockwise down under?

Clockwise. I used 3 vents equidistance in the middle.

 

[JasperFrank]

In Lane County Oregon, you can be fined for burning anything a Burn Barrel. Its just straight out illegal in the entire county. Doesn't matter much to me as you can build and burn just about as big an open burn pile as you want.

 

[Dragonpharm]

It is fun and somewhat useful to use a leaf blower to speed up the fire. I might have to try making a new burn barrel with fancier vents. Current barrel was vented by shooting it. My daughter enjoyed helping at least. I'd rather build one like my parents had. They built a burn pit out of cinder blocks and had a metal grate to keep burning cardboard etc from blowing out.

 

[Boss 302]

That barrel seems to be getting plenty of air, burning like a champ.