Made-It-Myself Burn Barrel

Made-It-Myself Burn Barrel FARM HOME Miscellaneous 30-1-18 "It has a lot of capacity and is a lot safer than burning garbage in a 55-gal. drum with an open top," says Tom Strasburger, Gordon, Neb., who converted an old 300-gal. fuel oil tank into an enclosed garbage burner. It has a chimney on top and drafts from the bottom for a fast burn. He started with an old 6-ft. long, 4-ft. dia. tank that could no longer be used because it leaked. He cut a 2 by 4 ft. opening in one side and used the cut-out metal to make a hinged door that latches shut. He cut a hole into one end of the tank and welded a short length of 6-in. dia. pipe inside it. A section of expanded metal was welded over the tank opening inside the pipe to keep chunks of burning ash from flying out of the tank and starting a fire. A metal grid rests on brackets about 10 in. from the bottom of the tank, with room below it for ashes. Four metal pipes welded horizontally across the bottom of the tank help raise it off the ground. Metal loops welded onto the top of the tank make it easy to move with a front-end loader. "I built it for my daughter and son-in-law, Janet and Ken Griffith of Broken Bow, Neb. It has enough capacity that if it's too dry outside to burn, they can store trash inside until it gets damper," says Strasburger. "I welded a thin metal frame onto the outside edges of the door which covers any gaps whenever the door is shut." Welding on a fuel oil tank always brings up safety issues. "It would be dangerous to weld on a fuel oil tank if it had been used recently, but it had been empty for quite a while before I got it. Before I did any welding I flushed it out in case there was any leftover fuel," notes Strasburger. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Tom Strasburger, 6010 State Hwy. 27, Gordon, Neb. 69343 (ph 308 282-0236).

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