How to Make a Burn Barrel – Burn Trash Safely

Love them or hate them, burn barrels are a part of Country Living. With the cost of dropping off trash at local dumps going up, more and more people are returning to using burn barrels. People sometimes complain about the smoke and the smell of a burning barrel of trash. This post how to make a burn barrel for your country property, or for emergency trash disposal anywhere, that burns cleanly and efficiently.

What is a burn barrel?

A burn barrel is a metal 55 gallon open head drum, modified to burn household trash safely and cleanly.  Basically, it’s a personal incinerator.  If you don’t have one and are thinking of making one, please check local ordinances.

How do I make a burn barrel?

Materials needed:

• 55 gallon, open head (open on one end) drum made of steel
• handgun or drill for making air holes
• 2 concrete blocks
• metal grate or heavy fencing section to cover barrel opening
• piece of sheet metal to cover barrel opening

Choose a location for your barrel that is down the prevailing wind of your home and free of trees and other combustible materials. Some locals will dig up the sod under their barrels and fill in with sand…nice, but not necessary.

Place air holes in your metal drum for air to enter during the burning process. How you put holes in the drum is up to you. Some people use a drill, others use a handgun.

• Drill 3 or 4 holes in the BOTTOM of the drum to allow any rainwater to run ou
• Drill several holes in the sides of the drum (less than 20)

Don’t drill too many or your barrel will rust out faster or fail in the event of an aerosol can exploding inside the drum.

Once the holes are in place, set the barrel, open end up, onto some concrete blocks.  Make sure the edges of the barrel are on the blocks but there is an airspace directly under the barrel. This is done to permit airflow and help with drainage.

When the barrel is in use, the opening should be covered by a burn cover.  A burn cover is a metal grate, fencing or hardware cloth that will trap burning materials in the barrel.  This limits the risk of combustible material escaping the barrel.

When not in use, the barrel should be covered by the sheet metal rain cover. A cover will stop the contents inside the barrel from getting wet and make for an easier burn, if you have trash waiting to burn. It will also keep the barrel from rusting as quickly.

What can I burn in a burn barrel?

Households produce trash. It’s a fact of life. The efficiency of how well your barrel will operate begins in your kitchen.

DON’T BURN:

• Recyclables
• Food scraps

DO BURN:

• Non-recyclable plastic
• food wrappers
• paper and cardboard not suited for recycling (waxy or coated with food waste)

Separate out any recyclables and use your local recycle centers. Separate out your food scraps and feed them to your animals or throw them in your composting bin (EVERYONE should have one!)  Other items can be thrown into the trashcan as usual. When the bag is full, take it out to the burn barrel!

How do I use a burn barrel?

This is where a lot of folks screw up, the results of which lead to smoky, stinky operation of burn barrels that irritate neighbors and are just plain nasty.

Place your bag of trash into the burn barrel. Burn your trash ONE bag at a time!!!! If you fill your burn barrel with too much trash, it will not burn completely and will smolder instead of burn. If you have more then one bag of trash, you can either light the first one and wait for it to burn down then insert the next bag or, as most locals do, have another barrel with a rain cover, and insert the second bag into the second barrel and cover to burn at a later time.

Editor’s Note:  Growing up on the farm, we never used an accelerant for lighting trash fires.  We always set aside some dry newspaper and used that to start the fire.  While CJ Harrington did provide instructions for using an accelerant, I can’t share those due to liability concerns.  If you can get a charcoal grill or campfire started, you should be able to start a trash fire.  If you need fire starting tips, visit Camp Fire Dude.

Note:  Common Sense Homesteading and CJ Harrington assume no liability for burn barrel use.  Please be careful.

At this point, your trash is burning, smoke is (hopefully) blowing away from your house, and you still have eyebrows!!!

What do I do with the ashes and unburned contents in the barrel?

After using your barrel for awhile, you will have a build up of ash and small unburned/unburnable items in your barrel. What do you do with it? Locals will wait until the barrel is about ½ full of ash. Then, they will empty the burn barrel into a large, heavy-duty trash bag and take it to the local dump. Seems silly to take the “leftovers” from a burn barrel to the dump? Not really. When you consider the money saved by burning many bags of trash in your barrel, or the space you are saving in a landfill, it makes sense.

Other Burn Barrel Considerations

For safety, don’t burn on windy days. Place your trash in your barrel and put the rain cover on and wait for a calm day.

Make DANG SURE there are NO aerosol cans in your trash! They WILL explode in your barrel! If your barrel has too many holes in it or is badly rusted, this could cause the barrel to fail, sending flaming trash everywhere!

Watch your weather. If it’s been hot and dry, there might be a fire ban in effect. Then, you will want to take your trash to the dump until the ban is lifted.

Be considerate of your neighbors! Burning your trash during the evening, when people are eating dinner or enjoying sitting out on their deck, is NOT advised! In this case, try to burn your trash during the day when the neighbors are at work.  Some locals will come together and arrange a time to burn. That way, no one is hanging clothes out on the line, having a party in the yard or has windows open when the neighbor lights up his burn barrel.

If You’re Going to Burn, Burn Safely

Love them or hate them, burn barrels are a part of country life. With the cost of disposing trash rising, people are looking for ways to make ends meet. More and more people are returning to the traditions they grew up with and going back to using burn barrels. Look in backyards, behind garages…. you will still see them. You can be assured, they are still being used.

This is a guest post by my friend, CJ Harrington, who is busy building his homestead with his lovely wife up in northern Wisconsin.

BR>
Common Sense Homesteading is

about using common sense to be more self-reliant, with an emphasis on home
food production.