Burning Barrels

my brothers neighbor was burning out some old building scrap and trash this sumer, he had a barrel with no bottom set on 4 solid blocks, the barrel packed full and a 10 foot iron pipe with one end under the barrel and the other beside his lawn chair, connected to his leaf blower set on low.
the barrel was a sight to see, it looked like a jet engine on its end.
he didnt have to much left at the end of the day the intense forge like heat incinderated anything he tossed in the barrel.
I tried it, it blew stuff all over out the side of the barrel and everywhere.
I asked him whay I did wrong he showed me he has an ELBOW and a 1 foot pipe on the barrel end, with the 1 foot pipe on the elbow pointed up in the center of the barrel.
apperently the idea wasnt to force air in the bottom but to get the TOP of the barrel buring so hard it sucked air in the bottom between the ground and the barrel.

yes youll have a 6 foot circle of baked dirt inder the barrel but it worls reallt well! wet lumber wire anything, it fires it to a n ash.

Proud to be a hick!
I use a burn barrel wisely & release gasses thru composting. Truly the lesser of available evils.
As has been stated before, shutting a blind eye to waste once it is removed by a 'service' is doing the world no good either.
Our local landfill is full. We have a county landfill tax that pays to have our crap removed to someone elses backyard.
Seems like we could send this skopelia to a nuke reactor or something, afterall it is made up of atomic matter too.
Ya'll were very courteous to the TROLL. I realize mythical/fictional trolls don't read much, if any, but someone needs to educate themselves.

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Many municipal areas use incineraters (sp) and if yours does then that is probably where you should be taking your trash. The reason is that they have pollution controls in the smokestacks and burn at ultra high heats that surely are reached by few if any backyard burning apparatus.

It is very hard to eliminate all plastic, even when you just burn paper. The reason for this is that so many paper products have very light coatings of plastic or incorporate plastic in their manufacture to make them more durable. This doesn't even include obvious minor sources of plastic like the little windows in envelope mailers like bills.

The backyard burning of plastics (particularly PVC type but all have some) is now considered by the EPA to be one of THE KEY sources of Dioxin pollution. For those not familiar (which included me before this thread prompted me to do some reading) Dioxin is a bioaccumulative pollutant. That basically means that it builds up in the body over time. The example I read was that it settles in the grass, cows eat the grass and some comes out in there milk, but most just gets stored up in their fat, as humans drink the milk and eat dairy products and beef it can then build up in us.

Sorry for the little lecture, but I felt bound to look up the info once I saw the rude comments calling people hicks above. I don't disagree that use of a burn barrel is probably not called for in many parts of the country that have good incinerators or recycling programs, but I do disagree strongly with the attitude. To come in and make blanket statements and call people names is bad manners and conduct unbecoming an adult. To those trying to make a decision I hope the above information is helpful and would direct you to the websites of the EPA and burnbarrel.org where I got my information.

Thanx
John

Twenty years ago, when I was in the Air Force stationed in W. Germany, we had to destroy old/excess classified material completely. The paper products were run through a pulverizing shredder and the plastic products (such as mylar tape) had to be burned. The military used a burner "cage" to effect complete and total incineration of classified plastic materials.

Envision a hand-rotated cylindrical cage like those used to mix up sweepstakes entries. The military's burner cage had a wire mesh screen around it, a door on the side for loading, and a turning handle on each end so that the operator can always be up wind. We would load it with classified material, douse the material with lighter fluid, ignite it, and begin rotating the cage until everything had turned into a pile of ash underneath the cage. It was a very effective device.

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Some very useful information on this thread. I like the washing machine tub idea. I will be using that one. I have two old washers waiting to be hauled off right now. I know everyone has an opinion, but, it is not always profitable to voice those opinions. Especially when one does not live the life of the other. Different circumstances call for different actions. Personally, I think burning is the best way to dispose of trash.

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"You burn your trash. Well, I bet that is something to be proud of. No wonder the air in this country is bad. You really are a hick."

chas- yes i do. and i am a hick(thats why i moved here- thought id fit right in!)

there is a good way and a bad way to burn trash. to start a cool low fire in an upright barrel and to toss a huge plastic bag of trash on it to smolder for 30 minutes is not the way to do it. it creates misery for all the nighbors, including me and is probably toxic.
on the other hand trash burned fast is cleaner. i cannot vouch for the absence of dioxins in a hot fire- but certainly the fumes are absent and for a time, when alternative disposal options were being looked at for trash in the late 80s and early 90s for lower michigan, certainly burnign trash in incinerators was looked at.the big all inclusive ones met with great opposition, and with good reason, as it is very hard to burn everything that is thrown out in high enough heat to destroy every possible chemical reaction oand compond that could form. however, the large disposal companies were looking at very high heat incineration to selectively destroy certain combustible hazardous chemicasl on a batch by batch basis.
dioxin is a complex double sided chemical with combustible sections to its structure. i believe it can be easily destroyed by very hot very controlled combustion.
can this be done at home? dont know. however- not only do i burn, i take trash in to a dumpster. i can burn pickup loads of most trash and end up with abot enough non- combustibles to fill a cooking pot. even withthe glass and tin cans there is so little left over. done right i cant imagine it being anything but a benefit compared to filling up and having to site another landfill in your county.
but therse a lot of stuff i send on to landfill- bulky and stuff that i know i cant burn clean.
comfortably numbs system is about the best you willl ever achive- its really very quick to use a blower it speeds up that process takes 1/10th the time and the barrel glows absolutely red hot. a blower in the end of a long metal stove pipe stuck under an upright barrel is not as good as his system but gives an idea of the potential.

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Hmm.. I wonder if it would work to use the drum off of an old dryer that way?

yes chas and we also dump crankcase oil on the side of the road, pour old antifreeze in public sweres and sh1t on the side of the road.

your car pukes more crap than a burnbarrel

I cant remember the site but there was a guy that had a turbocharger connected to his burning barrel ,the hot exhaust gases would drive the turbo ,that in turn compresses air to be blown back into the bottom .Complete incineration ,requires 16 or 14ga (thick) metal barrel .

If your'e going to use a washing machine for a burning barrel ,just take the sides off ,leave the guts intact ,I bet the spin cycle would be a cool show .

You could leave the water hooked up for fire control .

Disclaimer :This procedure should only be attempted with a 'yearlabanister' type of washing machine .

Don't care for calling people hicks, but burn barrels, which I grew up with, are an atrocious idea. I agree that properly sited and run incinerators will work, and do not see ANY burning at our area landfills. But for most stuff, there is a far better idea. Reduce consumption. And what you consume, look for compostable as much as possible. For example, get your laundry detergent in boxes, not bottles. Or better yet, make soap. If you have no legal alternative to burning, burn quick and hot. But if you can avoid it, please do so. That stuff you put into the atmosphere and let blow away is the stuff someone else will breathe. So yeah, I'd rather see your garbage buried in a properly run landfill than breathe it. But better yet, I'd rather see us eliminate it as much as possible.

yeah yeah

Thanks for the great ideas for my new burn barrel guys-

I'm a proud hick who lives in an area just slopping over with hicks just so I don't have to live near the likes of you. I'm gonna build an extra smoky fire just for you tomorrow. I hope you choke on it.

F off and F your ignorant holier than thou attitude.