Stainless steel 55-gal drums?

[John K Jordan]

Can anyone direct me to the type of source that might sell used or new stainless steel 55-gallon drums? I want to make a burn barrel that will last more than 2 years. Those I cut from standard steel drums degrade rapidly. The local guys that sell used drums don't have stainless. I could buy some stainless sheet and just weld up my own but it would be quicker to buy one.

BTW, I cut air vents near the bottom with a plasma torch and set a grill inside made of welded rebar. The grill lasts forever. The steel barrels burn so well they get red hot on the outside.

JKJ

[Wayne Lomman]

Beer kegs are an option but may be smaller than you want. Cheers

[Jim Koepke]

What would make a stainless steel barrel last any longer if you are creating such a hot fire?

Sorry, I am not up on steels. Just wondering if stainless withstands the heat better. Maybe smaller air intake would make the other barrels last a couple more years.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

John,
I just googled "55 gallon stainless steel drums" and came up with a bunch of sources. But the prices may give you a stroke - $169 to up to $750! Maybe one of those sources is near you.

But I'm wondering the same as Jim - will the stainless take the heat any better, or at least better enough to give you a decent return on the investment? I don't know metals either.

Good luck!
Fred

[John McClanahan]

We use them at work, but I don't know where they came from. Expect $750 or more for stainless, plus shipping. Ours were close to $800 7 years ago.


John

[John K Jordan]

John,
I just googled "55 gallon stainless steel drums" and came up with a bunch of sources. But the prices may give you a stroke - $169 to up to $750! Maybe one of those sources is near you.
But I'm wondering the same as Jim - will the stainless take the heat any better, or at least better enough to give you a decent return on the investment? I don't know metals either.

Thanks.
I had seen new SS drum prices some time back and it was severe sticker shock. I'm looking for a local source for used drums, hopefully beat up and much cheaper. I googled again and this time found a used SS drum much cheaper at Bubba's Barrels - sounds like my kind of place.

Stainless steel is, of course, resistant to oxidation (rusting), I understand due primarily to the chromium added, and is often used in high heat applications. My experience with normal steel drums is the heat will cause scale which will flake off in thin sheets, eventually reducing the thickness until the drum collapses. This happens first around the bottom - the upper 75% is still in good shape. Rain and thermal cycling makes this worse.

Stainless will also oxidize but at much slower rates, depending on the type, and the scale formed is normally very thin and tight on the surface. Most types are resistant to rust from rain water too. I suspect (and hope) a stainless drum will last much longer. It would be an interesting experiment!

I have a variety of stainless sheet metal and considered welding a band around the bottom third of a standard drum. This might support the drum even after the normal steel rusts and flakes away. Another option is to simply weld up a rectangular "barrel" from thick steel plate - it should take a LONG time for 1/4" steel to degrade. The problem might be tipping it over to clean out the ashes due to the weight. Perhaps adding a cleanout panel would work or even leave it open at the bottom and rake out the ashes. However, I don't have enough steel plate that thick on hand though and a new full sheet would be expensive.

JKJ

[Malcolm McLeod]

Never thought much about it, but I'd suspect rust is the primary reason a burn barrel degrades so quickly. The fire removes any and all paint and interior rust prevention coatings. Add the thin gauge metal and it rusts thru in no time.

As alternatives to costly SS drum:
1. Maybe you could get sheet metal shop to roll you a 'sleeve' out of 10ga or even 1/4" plate - then weld or bolt your grate and some short legs (for draft) onto it.
2. Visit your local pipeline/utility construction provider and see if they have a short piece of 24>32" diameter pipe laying in their bone yard. It would also likely be 1/4" or thicker.

Edit: You beat me to it. I should type faster.

[Prashun Patel]

http://usedstainlesssteelbarrels.com/

[Al Launier]

Heat increases the rate of corrosion, so since there is much more carbon content in regular steel cotains, compared to stainless steel (not all SS is carbon free), corrosion will deteriorate the regular steel barrels more quickly with high heat.

[Ted Calver]

Maybe you can find a piece of 2' diameter culvert. It's very heavy gauge and should last a long time.

[John McClanahan]

John, look for an industrial acid supplier in your area. They may have a source for worn out or damaged barrels.

[John K Jordan]

Good ol' Bubba had just what I needed out back, not pretty but 16 ga stainless and the price was right.

346773

Thanks everyone, for suggestions. I'll get out the plasma cutter and transform one of these into a hot sculpture.

JKJ

[Jerrimy Snook]

Around here they use washing machine tubs for fire pits.

[mark kosse]

24" pipe only runs about 50.00 a foot. It's lasted 20 years on my BBQ pit.

i live in the country and just burn in a pile, early while dew is on the ground and for the very same reason your looking to replace a steel barrel. No barrel at all. Just throw some sticks on top to keep floating paper down.

[John K Jordan]

24" pipe only runs about 50.00 a foot. It's lasted 20 years on my BBQ pit.
i live in the country and just burn in a pile, early while dew is on the ground and for the very same reason your looking to replace a steel barrel. No barrel at all. Just throw some sticks on top to keep floating paper down.

I do burn limbs and logs in a pile on a cleared area away from the trees but I prefer to burn cardboard and feed sacks in a barrel close to the shop and barn. I'm afraid of the flying sparks since I have woods all around and through the property so I put a piece of screening on top the barrel. (One yayhoo down over the hill set the woods on fire once and I spent a couple of hours cutting fire breaks with the tractor until the big boys got there. The guy was also burning without a permit so I suspect his total bill and fine was thousands of dollars.)

BTW, a screened cover also satisfies the regs here and lets me burn at any time without getting a county burn permit. The forestry guys here are real serious about fire and permits, especially now with everything so dry. I don't know what it's like elsewhere, but we are supposed to have everything cold when unattended so a pile like the one below takes all day to burn and half the night to put out the coals. Usually I can't get them all out so I bury the remaining coals under a layer of dirt with the bobcat until the next morning.

346798

I mentioned in another post that I did find stainless steel 55-gal drums today. $50 for 16 gauge, scratched and dented but fine for the burn barrel.

I told the guy I was going to cut vents near the bottom with a plasma cutter and he said his method with a 45 was louder but more fun.

JKJ

[Frederick Skelly]

I told the guy I was going to cut vents near the bottom with a plasma cutter and he said his method with a 45 was louder but more fun.

JKJ

Bubba's Barrells sounds like an interesting place John, with Bubba himself as part of the interesting!:D

[Scott Brader]

Bubba's Barrels is a place that caters to my other passion - smoking meat! Their sister site Big Poppa's sell kits for making your own Ugly Drum Smoker from a 55 gallon drum. They're a pretty awesome place, but be careful, you'll soon find yourself hooked on another hobby that chews up time like you wouldn't believe. My son once told me that, of all of the hobbies I have ever taken up, smoking meat is by far his favorite!

Scott

[Pat Barry]

Good ol' Bubba had just what I needed out back, not pretty but 16 ga stainless and the price was right.

346773

Thanks everyone, for suggestions. I'll get out the plasma cutter and transform one of these into a hot sculpture.

JKJ
One of them looks pre-rusted.

[John K Jordan]

One of them looks pre-rusted.
Yes, some mild surface corrosion. The other one is the same but they had polished with abrasive wheels. Many grades of stainless will oxidize but compared to mild steel the layer is very thin and can even act to help protect the metal under it.

I cut vents in that one today and although I knew it was 16 gauge I was surprised at how thick it is compared to the steel barrel it replaced. We'll see how it holds up. We gave it a proper christening a few minutes ago:

346831

I cut most of the bottom out too except for an outer ring to support the legs on the rebar grate.

JKJ