55 gallon drum ideas

[def38]

Just so you know, barrel burning is illegal in many states. It produces dioxins which are the most toxic chemicals known to science (remember Love Canal?). Burning plastic bottles, paper and cardboard produces these dioxins in dangerous levels. Take your trash to a waste facility equipped to deal with it safely. Your neighbors will thank you.

 

[PILOON]

Piloon---Do you cut the bottoms out?

No. just the tops, but do drill a few small holes for water drainage.
I always try to have crushed stone under the burn barrel as some soils tend to catch fire and or smolder.

While at first I simply used a small axe and carefully chopped my way around (actually worked well) I later used my jigsaw with fine toothed blades, much neater.

 

[PILOON]

Just so you know, barrel burning is illegal in many states. It produces dioxins which are the most toxic chemicals known to science (remember Love Canal?). Burning plastic bottles, paper and cardboard produces these dioxins in dangerous levels. Take your trash to a waste facility equipped to deal with it safely. Your neighbors will thank you.

In my case I burn mostly branches, twigs and leaves as well as sawdust and wood trimmings from my shop.
The city trash pickup gets the rest.

 

[def38]

In my case I burn mostly branches, twigs and leaves as well as sawdust and wood trimmings from my shop.
The city trash pickup gets the rest.

Burning yard waste is different. Little if any really dangerous toxic smoke results. But, around here, many burn everything they can't eat, drink or smoke; like PET soda bottles, PE milk jugs, diapers, oil soaked rags, cardboard and other stuff that emits toxic smoke.

 

[Jstpssng]

Please start a thread on that... my wife's biggest bane along with bugs! We have a modest victory garden but she insists on organic... which I commend but it is frustrating fighting chickweeds and soil bugs!

Mine is a work in progress, and I can't find the website where I got the idea. The concept is to use steam to raise the soil temp to 180" and hold it there for 20(?) minutes. Here 55 Gallon Drum Steam Boiler Sterilizer - Let's Grow Mushrooms is a better way than what I was trying to do; I may try a variation of this.

 

[Jstpssng]

This is the best thing I've used one for; an evaporator for the spring maple syrup season. :licking:

 

[MossRoad]

You could make yourself a rock trommel...

 

[NewfieDan]

Made a composter out of a plastic 55g drum. Mounted it between 2 A-frame brackets. Cut an access hole, and made a cover for the hole out of some sheet metal. Had some 1" pipe and made an axle and handle to keep the compost aerated. Lastly drilled some 1\2" holes for air to get in and let water out. Worked great until it became too small for the amount of yard waste.

 

[TractorGuy]

They make dandy shop heaters with a double drum kit.

 

[dragoneggs]

They make dandy shop heaters with a double drum kit.

View attachment 545759

link?

 

[MossRoad]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/US-Stove...75035&wl11=online&wl12=26958646&wl13=&veh=sem

 

[dragoneggs]

https://www.walmart.com/ip/US-Stove...75035&wl11=online&wl12=26958646&wl13=&veh=sem

What exactly are you getting for 39 bucks?

 

[Wagtail]

What exactly are you getting for 39 bucks?

Just the 'add on' or top barrel kit (barrel & heat resistant paint not included)

The bottom kit is US$50 (barrel & heat resistant paint not included)

Neither includes a flue from what I can see. Still, it looks like a spiffy project for a well ventilated space.

 

[Jstpssng]

You also can get them at Northern Tool. I've never seen the two barrel stove work, but regular barrel stoves used to be popular. They are very inefficient heaters and the barrels don't tend to last very long; but if you have a lot of junk wood and want to heat your work area cheaply they are a good way to go.

 

[3Lfarms]

My grandfather and I built a really good one about 30 years ago. The trick is to start with two of the heavy 55 gallon drums. We looked for quite awhile back then to find them. The heavy wall drums weigh about 2-3 times what a regular steel drum weighs and the ones we used were galvanized if I remember correctly. When finished, we set it up outside and built the biggest fire we could in it (supplemented with some diesel fuel) to burn off everything that would burn off.
What made this stove work well was we cut 4 and half inch round holes in the top and bottom of the upper drum and inserted seven 4” (schedule 80 I think) heavy wall pipes and welded them in to seal the drum back up.
Then once installed in the shop, put a squirrel fan blower behind it to blow air through the tubes in the barrel. Basically it was a drum sized version of one of these.

This stove was installed in a 5000 sqft shop with 16’ to the bottom of the open rafters, so the exposed flue inside the shop was over 20’ with another 6’ exposed on the roof so it still drafted very well.
It mostly burned scraps and sawdust from the table saw but when it was below freezing, a wheelbarrow full of fire wood would bring it up to 60 degrees in the shop in a couple hours. It was not hard to get that bottom barrel glowing, so the fans were almost necessary to keep it from warping. I don’t know how well the thin barrels would last with that kind of heat.

 

[Retired LE]

You also can get them at Northern Tool. I've never seen the two barrel stove work, but regular barrel stoves used to be popular. They are very inefficient heaters and the barrels don't tend to last very long; but if you have a lot of junk wood and want to heat your work area cheaply they are a good way to go.

Many years ago, I used a two barrel stove setup in a two bedroom house with attached garage and it heated the entire house. This was during the winter with snow on the ground.

I lined the bottom barrel with sand and a layer of fire brick to prevent burn through and a steel fire grate to keep the logs elevated. That contraption saved me a lot of money on heating oil - which is what the house was set up with at the time.

 

[sixdogs]

Many years ago, I used a two barrel stove setup in a two bedroom house with attached garage and it heated the entire house. This was during the winter with snow on the ground.

I lined the bottom barrel with sand and a layer of fire brick to prevent burn through and a steel fire grate to keep the logs elevated. That contraption saved me a lot of money on heating oil - which is what the house was set up with at the time.

I was in a shop with a barrel stove years ago and they had thin fire brick on the bottom that went partway up the side. Lots of fires in it and I don't recall the barrel ever burning out. That stove really threw the heat.

 

[Jstpssng]

I was in a shop with a barrel stove years ago and they had thin fire brick on the bottom that went partway up the side. Lots of fires in it and I don't recall the barrel ever burning out. That stove really threw the heat.

Many years ago, I used a two barrel stove setup in a two bedroom house with attached garage and it heated the entire house. This was during the winter with snow on the ground.

I lined the bottom barrel with sand and a layer of fire brick to prevent burn through and a steel fire grate to keep the logs elevated. That contraption saved me a lot of money on heating oil - which is what the house was set up with at the time.

Lining them does help. Most of the units I had ever seen were just the barrels. There also might have been some old engine oil burned also, perhaps even dirty oily rags when they were past their useful stage.

 

[TractorGuy]

They make dandy shop heaters with a double drum kit.

View attachment 545759

link?

Drum Kits

Double Barrel Adaptor Kits Note: These often picture the main drum kit but are just the legs and flange adapters to stack a second drum.

Built one and used it in my shop for years then donated it to a hunting camp. At the camp we bent a piece of expanded metal to make a flat surface on the top. We would place a venison roast on top in a baking bag in a pot in the morning and it would be just right by lunch.

Edit: Just saw the Walmart link MossRoad posted and it looks to be better pricing. His link is for the stack kit but the drum kit also came up in the suggestions at top. You need BOTH pieces to make a stacked drum heater. Drum + Stack Kit

 

[sixdogs]

I also saw one with a blower on it like 3Lfarms mentioned and that really helped get more heat out. This too was a firebrick lined stove and I recall it was a heavy barrel. Never burned out that I was aware of. Seems to me the thin firebrick lining was standard procedure for barrel stoves.