Hi,
I occasionally need to burn items which are not easily shreddable or transferable to a skip. Could anyone advise on the best solution to have a decent sized fire to burn waste items like paper in the back yard which is safe and easy to clean?
I am considering some kind of metal container which would withstand the heat and be easy to hose down. Would this be suitable and do you have any advice where such an item could be bought?
Any ideas or suggestions much appeciated.
Thanks,
Alex
An oil drum cut in half, dig a decent size hole in a corner of the garden?
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
buy a proper incinerator from B&Q for about £15 ?
I have an oil drum with the top cut out and air-holes cut in the lower sides. It incinerates things very well, you can get a real inferno going inside it.
Funny thing is I have no idea where it came from, think it must have been at the house when we moved in.
As it's getting rather tired does anyone know where you can get oil drums easily?
Henry
Just nip down to Hemel Hempstead, with your wicket-keeping gloves....
I was going to say that they have some lovely large ones, and they burn stuff a treat...
Scrap yard.
-- Sir Benjamin Middlethwaite
Ask at any industrial place that is likely to use lubricants in significant quantites e.g. machine shop, coastal marine store, .
They do have a second hand value, the oil companies used to buy them back (refundable deposit,)
The grease ones were best as they had a removable lid.
If you live anywhere near Stockport I've got one you can have. It'll need dragging out of the hedge and I've no idea what was in it.
Malcolm
Check when it's dark for a luminous green glow around the edges and for signs of localised scorching. A Geiger counter may be useful as well.
If signs are that the item is active - take it. You'll probably be able to self-start fires inside it without using a match!!!!
-- Adrian C
If you go with the oil drum suggestion (and yes, with the top cut out and air holes in the bottom they make *great* burners) but do be careful if you have to cut the lid out.
I just got a new oil drum to replace the old one which had the bottom rusted out. By the label on the new drum, it had contained white spirit.
The thought of running an angle grinder round the lid with the lovely white spirit fumes contained inside was just a little bit scarey.
Fill the empty drum with water to about 50mm from the lid, then cut it.
Good luck! Someone
ebay is cool for getting those. In fact ebay is cool for almos everything!
-- Cordless Crazy
An oil drum is OK, as people have suggested. Cut the top out with a hammer and chisel (held at an angle), don't cut continually around the top, leave little "connections" every so often, cut these last. Similarly, cut a hole in the bottom, about 8" in diameter. Set the drum up on bricks and you've got a furnace! You mah have to shovel ash out from underneath else the draught won't go up the hole in the bottom. Ash flying up may be a problem when you're using it. Be very careful if it's windy, you do not want a huge lick of flame to blow onto you. After use, turn it upside down or ash in the bottom will rot it really quickly.
I've often thought that a cylinder of stainless about 18" in diameter and a bit shorter than an oil drum would be very good. The wire backet sort of garden incinerators are very inferior - with the oil drum method above, you get a sort of jet engine effect, and stuff put in just disappears! I would not put any holes in the sides, they just spoil the draught.
Too much effort safely producing a good result with an angle grinder - use a hammer and a nice sharp chisel.
How about a powered nibbler? Would they be up to the job?
Henry
Probably... it's still quick and easy to bash the lid off with a chisel, though.
Thanks for the advice. When tipping the ash out, would it be safe to leave it on the lawn or soil? Or would the ash have an adverse effect on the garden?
Depends on what it is... I've sometimes scraped up old ash with a shovel and put it in the bin (cold!), there's not much volume, considering how much one can seem to put in! I wouldn't worry about ash from timber, paper, etc. - some ashes contain useful plant nutrients - but I wouldn't dig in or scatter ash from burnt plastic waste, heavily printed paper or whatnot... maybe u.r.gardening might know more (if someone here doesn't!).
Beware with some timber in case it's treated, for example tanalised. The ash will be potentially quite toxic if it is.
I think ash from untreated timber or paper would be fine, quite good fertiliser in fact.
Henry
We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold. I remember "Henry" saying something like:
Use a jigsaw. Works for me.
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