Burn barrel question...

[jyoutz]

I don’t mess with burning trash; too much non combustible stuff in trash that just makes a mess to dispose of afterwards. I do burn very large brush piles in the winter. I wait for about 4-8” of snow, add a little diesel and old motor oil and light it up. I do have to call the county fire department to inform them that I’m burning and cannot do it on no-burn days. Snow cover gets around the no burn days and also the need to babysit the burn pile.

 

[ultrarunner]

Grew up with pine needle incinerator permits at $2 for the year…


I’d collect maybe 60 stuffed grocery bags for my grandmother to incinerate…

About 30 years ago burning banned and leaving the needles encouraged for erosion and to enhance the soil…

Then came several huge Tahoe fires burning for weeks so now needles are again raked for municipal pickup and each parcel pays a fee…

 

[jyoutz]

Grew up with pine needle incinerator permits at $2 for the year…


I’d collect maybe 60 stuffed grocery bags for my grandmother to incinerate…

About 30 years ago burning banned and leaving the needles encouraged for erosion and to enhance the soil…

Then came several huge Tahoe fires burning for weeks so now needles are again raked for municipal pickup and each parcel pays a fee…

Pine needles don’t provide much soil nutrients until they are recycled by fire. The natural recycling of nutrients in western coniferous forests is periodic fire. Otherwise they accumulate and don’t break down in the dry environment. Overtime the annual accumulation builds up and becomes hazardous fuels.

 

[ultrarunner]

Pine needles don’t provide much soil nutrients until they are recycled by fire. The natural recycling of nutrients in western coniferous forests is periodic fire. Otherwise they accumulate and don’t break down in the dry environment. Overtime the annual accumulation builds up and becomes hazardous fuels.

Yep… craziest thing when Tahoe went with the natural forest duff after years of grooming/raking parcels… to bare dirt for fuel reduction.

Then a study came out saying Tahoe clarity suffering from runoff so no more bare dirt.

 

[jyoutz]

Yep… craziest thing when Tahoe went with the natural forest duff after years of grooming/raking parcels… to bare dirt for fuel reduction.

Then a study came out saying Tahoe clarity suffering from runoff so no more bare dirt.

Establishing grass instead of bare dirt is the solution to water quality.

 

[ultrarunner]

Grass is also banned as in a beautiful lawn around the homestead…

Two reasons… outdoor water restrictions and lawn chemicals…

TARP had broad powers and as the lake is in 2 states it’s even more far reaching…

Bears roam free and I have several times had the cabin ransacked by bear(s) and twice propane line at tank busted… yet can’t harm or scare the bears

 

[jyoutz]

Grass is also banned as in a beautiful lawn around the homestead…

Two reasons… outdoor water restrictions and lawn chemicals…

TARP had broad powers and as the lake is in 2 states it’s even more far reaching…

Bears roam free and I have several times had the cabin ransacked by bear(s) and twice propane line at tank busted… yet can’t harm or scare the bears

Native grass is the answer.

 

[MossRoad]

Establishing grass instead of bare dirt is the solution to water quality.

You ever grow grass under pines?

 

[jyoutz]

You ever grow grass under pines?

Ponderosa pine forests in the west a very grassy understory. The same with Longleaf pine forests in the southeast.

Attached is a photo from near the Los Alamos area during a fall cone collection day. And another of me standing by a large tree. Lots of native grasses.

 

[ultrarunner]

Native grass is the answer.

Tahoe really doesn’t have native grass outside meadows with ample water… the soil is basically sand or decomposed granite and forested with ponderosa pine…

 

[jyoutz]

Tahoe really doesn’t have native grass outside meadows with ample water… the soil is basically sand or decomposed granite and forested with ponderosa pine…

Interesting. All of the photos I showed are ponderosa pine forests. I would assume that the grass is suppressed by high stand density and the trees need thinning unless there is a real soil fertility issue.

 

[Sigarms]

But everybody by me that has a burn barrel burns plastic in the barrel. So even though they are illegal they still exist and they still burn plastic.
Eric

Between my wife and I, we print a crapload of paper. Because my wife works in the telecommunications industry, her papers have to be destroyed. Between us, we killed about 2 shredders.

Never burn trash in the barrel. That's what Saturday mornings are for and what my taxes pay for, the "transfer station" unless I'm using the trailer, where I go to the "landfill".

 

[Sigarms]

As for old barrels, I used mine until the bottom rotted out. Then I crush it with the tractor and put it in the trash.

I'm kind of a stupid guy.

My first action was take a sledge hammer to crush it. Figure it wouldn't take long. Then I found our what's left of a old burn barrel is still pretty strong.

Then common sense kicked in after reevaluating the the barrels strength and how much ground I was covering with the sledgehammer

My bottoms never really rot out, but the lower section does. I can accumulate so many papers that I'll take a sleeves worth and soak it in kerosene, and that will keep the fire going to burn the rest I need to throw in there. Have a 60" X 1/2" pipe nipple that I use to "stir the pot" to keep the fire going. I'm figuring it's those soaked papers that's killing the bottom of the barrel after a couple of years.
I'm thinking it may just be quicker to take it out to back gully area where I use to hunt and let nature take it's course now that they are downsized.

 

[Sigarms]

In your situation it might be best to "shoot, shovel & shut up" so to speak.
Good luck. And please, let us know how that permit from the Fire Marshal works out, or not.

Good advice which I'll take.

Out of sheer curiosity I do however feel like calling the fire marshal just to see exactly how he determines what is burned in the barrel along with what kind of fee is associated with such "testing" and a label. I'd never actually do it, but a phone call is free info...

 

[Thomas]

May 1st thru December 1st need burning permit even for burn barrel bbq pit not unless least 2" snow on the ground.
Paper old rags very little plastic goes in burn barrel.

When burn barrel has not life it's flatten taking to dump replace with new 55 gallon barrel about years...just keep it simple.

 

[Oaktree]

I gave up using 55 gal drums & old garbage cans as burn barrels since they never lasted more than a couple of years. When they rotted out, I took them into the woods and let nature finish them off. Now, after nearly 20 years, there is nothing left.

Yeah, I just use them until they pretty much disintegrate (5-6 years or so), then just dump what's left in the metal pile at the transfer station.

Never burn trash in the barrel. That's what Saturday mornings are for and what my taxes pay for, the "transfer station"

Agreed. For me it's strictly paper and the occasional styrofoam tray that meat comes on at the supermarket.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I will stop burning paper when I no longer receive credit card applications, etc. in the mail. My cardboard from cereal boxes to corrugated goes to recycle. Plastic also. Foam boxes/packaging in the garbage to be picked up by our garbageman.

My county only restricts when the fire danger is high. I like to tell people that we have the right to carry and the right to burn.

Back when horse grain came in paper sacks, I was boarding so I had a lot of empty bags. I cut an opening into a 275 gallon oil tank, hinged the plate and set the tank on it's end with some holes drilled into the lower area for air. I drilled a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage and a couple of holes in the top for exhaust. It was kind of like a blast furnace the first time I used it as the oil residue burned off.

 

[ponytug]

Interesting. All of the photos I showed are ponderosa pine forests. I would assume that the grass is suppressed by high stand density and the trees need thinning unless there is a real soil fertility issue.

Around Tahoe, there is. In much of the basin, the granite is not far below the surface of mostly decomposed granite and sand. That said, the fires have have opened up the forest in areas where the fire was not too intense. Since the soils are all granitic, Lake Tahoe has no effective buffering in the water making it more susceptible to overgrowth from nitrogen and phosphate, much of it coming from septic fields and lawns. The soil erosion gives algae more particles to grow on, exacerbating the clarity problems. Hence the ban on lawns for fertilizer reasons, though a lake drainage wide tertiary sewage would not be all bad either, or at least required aerobic septic systems, but both of those are very pricey, and pricey, respectively.

All the best,

Peter

 

[Sigarms]

My county only restricts when the fire danger is high. I like to tell people that we have the right to carry and the right to burn.

I'm not smart, but I'd like to think I have some common sense. The issue is that not a lot of people have common sense when burning or using a firearm LOL

I've got a LARGE burn pile out back that has been out there for at least a couple of years. A couple of guys with the local fire department go to church with me. I'll have the fire department come out and tell me what they recommend. As I told the guys at church, I'm not going to be the guy to make national news.

When you think about some of the fires started intentionally or by a lack of common sense, and the damages those fires can cause, it does make common sense to actually ask.

 

[QRTRHRS]

I have concrete pavers under and around my burn barrel. I only burn after it rains but if I think there is any risk then I standby until it's done. I also place an old piece of wire woven fencing over the barrel to minimize sparks.