Fuel oil tank burn barrel ideas?

[Mustang71]

I have 7 million ash tree branches from my recent 100 plus ash tree removal. Im buying a 275 gallon oil tank to build a large burn barrel that I can move around with the tractor. Now I have an idea in my head but im open for suggestions. Ive got 10 years of fire wood sitting around now so whats left in the woods needs to be cleared out regardless of size. Theres a lot of large branches and weird shaped pieces.

 

[sean donato]

I have 7 million ash tree branches from my recent 100 plus ash tree removal. Im buying a 275 gallon oil tank to build a large burn barrel that I can move around with the tractor. Now I have an idea in my head but im open for suggestions. Ive got 10 years of fire wood sitting around now so whats left in the woods needs to be cleared out regardless of size. Theres a lot of large branches and weird shaped pieces.

Sounds like quite a few pig roasts are gonna happen at your place

 

[Mustang71]

Sounds like quite a few pig roasts are gonna happen at your place

I wish. Im 1 tossed cigarette away from a California forest fire. Good thing I dont smoke. The guy is selling a pig roaster also. I may try to pick it up for an extra couple dollars. Idk what id do with it lol.

 

[sean donato]

I wish. Im 1 tossed cigarette away from a California forest fire. Good thing I dont smoke. The guy is selling a pig roaster also. I may try to pick it up for an extra couple dollars. Idk what id do with it lol.

I would suggest keeping something around to put out fires as well in this case, and or having a designated burn area that can be wetted down as need be. Be safe whatever you decide. It may also be a good idea to get some sort of expanded steel for over the top to help with fly ash, if a uncontrolled burn is a worry. Best of luck mate.

 

[southpaw]

A 275 gallon tank is not very big to burn a lot of wood in .

Not trying to spoil anything for you but the energy and time it will take to load the thing may be something to consider.

Even if you cut the ends out it still would be hard to load especially when it gets roaring .....you may be walking around without eyebrows also.

I live in a forested section of our state and as long as there is complete ground snow coverage we can open burn , have you checked with the DNR in you area to see what you can do ?

 

[cookies]

build a huge retort from earth and cook a couple tons of charcoal... then sell it by the 55 gallon trash bag full

 

[Mustang71]

A 275 gallon tank is not very big to burn a lot of wood in .

Not trying to spoil anything for you but the energy and time it will take to load the thing may be something to consider.

Even if you cut the ends out it still would be hard to load especially when it gets roaring .....you may be walking around without eyebrows also.

I live in a forested section of our state and as long as there is complete ground snow coverage we can open burn , have you checked with the DNR in you area to see what you can do ?

I usually pile a large pile in my fire pit and light it up when the ground is covered in snow but the fire pit is a long distance from the woods for obvious reasons. Thats y I'm trying to burn in something more contained but a 55 gallon drum is to small. Usually there is an open burn ban after the end of May until the middle of the summer. Theres really not much restriction on open burn and I live in the country where no one is going to complain about an open burn even if its smokey or not wood.

 

[kevin j]

How about rent an actual commercial chipper. chip everything blow it on the ground

 

[Mustang71]

How about rent an actual commercial chipper. chip everything blow it on the ground

Yeah I've thought about it and my dad has suggested it. I think there is more than 1 weekend of work chipping and moving branches to the chipper. Plus I know how to make fire wood and burn wood but I don't know much about chipping. The damn power company sent their tree cutters out finally but they didn't chip anything like they originally said they would. They left me with a huge mess. They stacked the branches in piles and they are all stuck together. Ash tree branches suck.

 

[sb47]

From my personal experience, burn barrels don't work very well for burning. Even with lots of air holes I never could get a complete burn no mater what I was burning. I have better luck just open burning in a big pile. You can dig a trench for burning a lot of material but you'll need an air source.
You'll need a blower and a big steel pipe in the trench to keep air going to it.

 

[Mustang71]

From my personal experience, burn barrels don't work very well for burning. Even with lots of air holes I never could get a complete burn no mater what I was burning. I have better luck just open burning in a big pile. You can dig a trench for burning a lot of material but you'll need an air source.
You'll need a blower and a big steel pipe in the trench to keep air going to it.

This build will be like an old wood burner with the air into the bottom and out the chimney. The classic non epa style wood burner. I dont care for the classic 55 gallon drum burn barrel. It burns slow with a ton of fly ash and smoke.

My issue with the burn pile is if I can get it going I have to baby sit it for 2 days with a leaf blower and poking device to get it all burned. And I dont like to have a large pile burning when its dry out so that eliminates a lot of my time.

If I can build a large pre epa wood stove style wood burner and burn a little at a time that would be cool. I burn my wood furnace every day when its cold and every day in the summer im burning in a little steel wheel fire pit. I like burning stuff and drinking beer and listening to music. Im hoping for the best from this plan lol. The tank is sitting in my driveway at the moment.

 

[sb47]

I start with a big pile and as it burns down I keep pushing more on with the tractor. Most farmers and ranchers open burn then grade the ashes out after. Thats the way I do it.

 

[sb47]

This build will be like an old wood burner with the air into the bottom and out the chimney. The classic non epa style wood burner. I dont care for the classic 55 gallon drum burn barrel. It burns slow with a ton of fly ash and smoke.

My issue with the burn pile is if I can get it going I have to baby sit it for 2 days with a leaf blower and poking device to get it all burned. And I dont like to have a large pile burning when its dry out so that eliminates a lot of my time.

If I can build a large pre epa wood stove style wood burner and burn a little at a time that would be cool. I burn my wood furnace every day when its cold and every day in the summer im burning in a little steel wheel fire pit. I like burning stuff and drinking beer and listening to music. Im hoping for the best from this plan lol. The tank is sitting in my driveway at the moment.

Burn smaller piles.

 

[Mustang71]

I start with a big pile and as it burns down I keep pushing more on with the tractor. Most farmers and ranchers open burn then grade the ashes out after. Thats the way I do it.

I'm like 100 percent wooded 5 acres here with about 2 turned to ash branches. I dont really have an "open" area to safely do all of that. I still have a lot of standing dead ash that I'm not cutting any time soon. Im slowly clearing my new treeless areas but its not ready for an open burn and half of it has power lines above it.

 

[southpaw]

To bad you don't live by me as I have a steel 530 gallon underground storage tank sitting out back that I would trade you for a case of Guinness stout

Do I think that size would even accomplish what you want to do , hard to say until you try different things and find out firsthand

I composted all tree tops and brush for over 20 years and had a landscaping outfit dump all their clippings out here for years , use to own a backhoe so flipping the pile a couple times a year helped break things down good ......now have all the black dirt I will ever need

Utility companies are generally good about things so call and ask if they can send out an operator with a broom attachment on a bobcat to chop that cluster of limbs up , if they were trimming for their power lines I am sure they would cooperate with you on a simple request like that

 

[sb47]

I'm like 100 percent wooded 5 acres here with about 2 turned to ash branches. I dont really have an "open" area to safely do all of that. I still have a lot of standing dead ash that I'm not cutting any time soon. Im slowly clearing my new treeless areas but its not ready for an open burn and half of it has power lines above it.

Can you have small fires? What I'm gettin at instead of dragging everything to one spot, you might have small fires spread over more area. You could work 2 or 3 fires at a time and by the time you pile more brush on a fire one of the other ones will have burned down and need feeding again. That way your not burning huge fires, just several small ones. Open burning will burn faster then barrel burning. I get that you wanna keep things safe. Try both and see what works better for ya.

 

[Mustang71]

Can you have small fires? What I'm gettin at instead of dragging everything to one spot, you might have small fires spread over more area. You could work 2 or 3 fires at a time and by the time you pile more brush on a fire one of the other ones will have burned down and need feeding again. That way your not burning huge fires, just several small ones. Open burning will burn faster then barrel burning. I get that you wanna keep things safe. Try both and see what works better for ya.

I thought about building a couple small fire pits in different areas. The areas that I have cleared. Im flying by the seat of my pants here, as I have been since I had over 100 ash trees die around my house. If I can small burn in the oil tank and large burn in my fire pit it will help but there's hundreds of square feet of branches and tops on the ground in certain spots that I can't chance an open burn of any type. Most of it is on the wind side of my house. Next to my property is a large open field and the wind blows really well through it. A dozer would be my best option but im not sure what price that brings.

 

[southpaw]

Well dozer is a solution for many things especially the stumps you going to wrestle with

I bought a cheap backhoe 25 years ago and did all my dirty work with it on my property , then I wound up doing tons of backhoe work for the next 15 years
enough to pay for the machine several times over .......ripped out my share of stumps with that machine but that is not really a great machine for doing that chore as it hard on them and no where as fast as a dozer to rip stumps , used old backhoes are fairly cheap but they can be high maintenance , fun machines to play around making money and spending money to fix them , you can come out ahead though

Congrats on becoming a landowner and enjoy all the challenges that await you , you drink beer so everything will work out and be ok .

 

[Del_]

 

[sb47]

I thought about building a couple small fire pits in different areas. The areas that I have cleared. Im flying by the seat of my pants here, as I have been since I had over 100 ash trees die around my house. If I can small burn in the oil tank and large burn in my fire pit it will help but there's hundreds of square feet of branches and tops on the ground in certain spots that I can't chance an open burn of any type. Most of it is on the wind side of my house. Next to my property is a large open field and the wind blows really well through it. A dozer would be my best option but im not sure what price that brings.

Depending on your budget. Might look into hydro ax. They can grind and mulch stumps and everything else, then just let the chips decay where they are.