Using charcoal isn’t very environmentally friendly, but modern BBQ’s aren’t designed for wood. If your washer is beyond repair, or a friend is getting rid of theirs, remove the drum before its recycled (its easy, just unscrew from the back). Stand it on a stone surface, add a mesh over the top and you have a perfect wood barbeque, or firepit. The holes that used to let water through are great for letting oxygen to the fire, and as the wood burns, the ash falls through them
Categories: reuse competition
wouldnt that encourage people to buy wood when they run out, or when they havent got any? This will cost the enviroment more tree’s. I would be encouraging others to use twigs, sticks, dry leaves from the garden , even old newspapers and an old or broken wooden cabnet or wooden household furniture that is also good enough to burn when they are chopped in small enough peices.
I love this barbeque idea – it’s brilliant! It just shows you what hidden gems there are lurking amongst the old things we might have sent off for recycling.
I’ve got no problem with people buying and burning wood – it’s as carbon neutral as any other bio-fuel, you can get plenty from your own garden if you’ve got a hedge or a couple of large shrubs that need attacking every year, and it’s considerably better than burning coal or peat briquettes or (heaven forbid!!) using a patio heater. We don’t get enough summer (in Britain at any rate) so I recon the odd barbeque to help us enjoy the weather shouldn’t be something to feel massively guilty about.
I made a barbecue out of a terracotta pot. All I did was fill it with stones and about 1/4 charcoal and place the grill from my old broken barbecue on top. It worked really well.
Love the idea! My neighbour is redoing his kitchen and his washer has been sitting outside for a few days. I will ask whether or not its useable as I may “vulture” it
Congrats at being shortlisted
My latest outdoor experiment is a beer barrel woodburner to keep the greenhouse warm. Its been more work than the washer firepit, but my brother’s on a welding apprenticeship so it was a good project for him. Holes in the bottom, a square cut out of the front and replaced with a bendy mesh cover, and an enlarged hole in the top to slot a flue on. Looks fantastic, burns really well. A great use for faulty barrels not in use anymore. We found ours dumped in a field.
Yes, I’ve been getting into quite a bit of outdoor cooking with my kotlich and solar oven…. The further I can get from the kitchen on a nice sunny day, the better. TS PS: Am also keen to give a haybox a proper crack of the whip…
Hi Sarah, delighted to see your idea shortlisted for the reuse competition. It’s a great way to reuse a big piece of steel instead of dumping it! Enjoy your barbecues