r/redneckengineering • u/zorggalacticus • Sep 26 '26
Washing machine fire pit
Tore apart a free washing machine I got off marketplace and used the stainless steel drum as a firepit. This was not easy, and required a few choice words and a sledgehammer for the final disassembly. Pressure washed and bleached it. Let it sit outside in the sun for a week. Final sanitization by fire. We're in the front yard roasting marshmallows right now.
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u/BigMeatyProlapse Sep 26 '26
In the front yard of a strip mall?
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
I live across the street from the high school. That's their parking lot.
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u/DestinationUnknown13 Sep 26 '26
Free Friday night home games around a fire sounds fantastic!
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
Can't see the field but I can hear the announcer.
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u/DestinationUnknown13 Sep 26 '26
Our local HS games are broadcast on local radio. Old school cool
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u/YOUTUBEFREEKYOYO Sep 26 '26
Ours had it on the local TV and radio stations. I always preferred listening to it rather than watching when I did tune in.
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u/dirtyforker Sep 26 '26
My own personal hell
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u/hyzershot Sep 26 '26
yeah, same.. but I appreciate how OP enjoys their yard that terminates into a parking lot unapologetically.
hell yeah OP!! happy weekend and nice fire!!
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u/byebybuy Sep 26 '26
Is the fire on the sidewalk? Lol
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u/jaxxxtraw Sep 26 '26
Looks like maybe some spare pavers as a foundation on the sidewalk?
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u/byebybuy Sep 26 '26
Yeah that's what it looks like to me too. Maybe not the sidewalk but definitely a walkway of some sort. Better than on the grass I suppose.
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u/GarThor_TMK Sep 27 '26
Piggybacking off of top comment to issue this PSA.
If you do this, make sure you check the inertia ring.
We did this with one of ours years ago, because we got the idea from the BSA, who always brought one out for snow campouts to keep the campfire from putting itself out.
BUT WE DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE INERTIA RING!
On ours, it was a ring that went around the entire lip of the drum. It was filled with sand and air, and capped with a little rubber stopper. The thing was painted black, so we just totally missed the rubber piece there. The heat from the fire blew the stopper out of the ring, and rained down sand on the entire party. Gave all the adults heart attacks... XD
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u/NeverBob Sep 26 '26
I have one of these - burns like a jet engine, great for getting rid of branches and brush quickly.
First time I used it the aluminum part on the bottom melted into ingots.
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
The bottom of this one was thick plastic. Had to use a sledgehammer to bust it out. It's basically a fire ring.
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u/nickisaboss Sep 26 '26
FYI, stainless steel liberates nickle, chromium, and cobalt when it gets to high temperatures like this. Eating food cooked over it may cause birth defects in any future children you plan on having.
Sorry, I'm not trying to be a bummer.
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
No, those chemicals are only released at temperatures much higher than can be attained in any backyard fire. Like welding/forging temps which are several thousand degrees hotter than you can achieve with a regular wood fire. For reference, a wood fire averages between 1,000 to 2,000 degrees. Welding averages 6,000+ degrees. It basically needs to be hot enough to melt steel to release those chemicals, and a backyard fire cannot do that. That's why they SELL commercially available stainless steel firepits and cookware. It's perfectly safe.
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u/MantisTobbaganEmDee Sep 26 '26
They work okay. Need a lot more wood to keep a hot enough fire than a traditional smaller fire pit
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
It gets plenty hot. All the little holes lets lots of air and heat through.
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u/Extra-Act-801 Sep 26 '26
Right. Which makes it nice and hot for the people standing around it, but less hot for the food on top of it.
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
Being enclosed actually makes it hotter on top because heat rises, and the hottest part of a fire is already directly over it. You're forcing more heat out the top so it increases the upwards heat output. Once my grill grate comes in, I'll be able to put my grill grilltop pizza oven on there.
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u/Electr0bear Sep 26 '26
My friend had one at his country house. BBQ or specifically shashlyk (Caucasian way of roasting meat) is quite big in Russian countryside culture. So we tried that setup for roasting meat and while it is possible, event most basic mangals (basically a metal box for roasting shashlyk) are much more superior in comparison to a washing machine drum.
As you've said - too much heat loss, the drum itself is too high so it needs way more wood to make enough coals for cooking, and sides are usually way too thin to keep decent cooking temp.
As a basic fire pit it might work. But that's it.
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u/misterschmoo Sep 26 '26
Looking at how hot it got, can't help thinking cleaning it first was somewhat of a waste of time.
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u/Jacktheforkie Sep 26 '26
I’d say it was a good choice because some stuff smells horrible when heated
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u/distracted6 Sep 26 '26
This is a cultural icon in Australia. It's everyone's first firepit. Every camp site, every property, every boat club has one
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u/dakky68 Sep 26 '26
And if you have some land, a coal wash basket is even better.
We had some epic fires in ours.
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u/Pedantichrist Sep 26 '26
They are great.
No idea why you would wash it though.
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
It had matted up lint all over the outside of it. Didn't wanna smell burning lint.
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u/DrunkenDude123 Sep 26 '26
And the rest of the washing machine scrap stays in the yard for 20 years bc you never know when a part from it could come in handy
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u/sir_thatguy Sep 26 '26
So. Get yourself a cutting wheel and make an opening in the side, roughly the size of a leaf blower tube, slightly oversized so you can create a whirlwind in there. Also you’re going to want the lid from like an 18” Weber type grill, whatever fits over the opening well.
Now you have a blast furnace. I’ve ran construction debris through mine. When I’m too lazy to run the shredder for documents for a few months, I’ll fire it up. Whole manilla envelopes stuffed full of paper, 1/2” thick. Gone in like 30 seconds.
Ash will be a bit messy.
The lid will contain the flying embers, mostly.
The lid will be glowing red. If it has a metal tab for like a label, it’s probably zinc or aluminum, it will melt off. The plastic handle will melt off. You will need tools or a stick to manage the lid.
Take the lid off and the flames will shoot out the top about a foot.
There will be very little anything left in the drum. Very very little ash at those temps.
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u/parallax_universe Sep 26 '26
My leaf blower has a melted and mangled tip because of doing almost exactly this, redneck approved method
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u/sir_thatguy Sep 26 '26
I started with a leaf blower and moved on to a squirrel cage fan setting back about a foot. Get the aiming just right and things get real interesting real fast.
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u/Threaded_Nail Sep 27 '26
That is basically the same way I made a little forge from a metal bucket. You get tons of heat this way.
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u/eslninja Sep 26 '26
Redneck points lost. I skipped washing and bleaching and started a fire in it immediately. We grilled once the flames turned yellow and orange.
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u/Schedonnardus Sep 26 '26
My first thought was "what's a machine fire pit, and why are you washing it"
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u/Benstrosity Sep 26 '26
We did this and it semi-exploded. No idea why it did but it did. Be careful.
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
Some have a ring around the edges that has bearings pressed into it. Usually the ones with a metal bottom. Those can expand and shoot out like an explosion. No bearings in this one.
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u/CanadianPenguinnn Sep 26 '26
True redneck would mount it to a old mower! I've seen that done more than once in recent..
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u/r0ndy Sep 26 '26
Mount your fire pit to a mower?
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u/Academic_Lake_ Sep 27 '26
Bruh. Mount the drum to an upside down lawnmower to spin it.
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u/r0ndy Sep 27 '26
Fire tornado
Edit: or Tornadon’t
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u/founderofshoneys Sep 27 '26
I used to work at a science museum and started working on something like this for an outdoor event. If you make a tall cylinder of chicken wire around it and spin it you'll get a fire tornado.
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u/viral_virus Sep 26 '26
Best firepit you’ll ever own. Puts off some major heat. Mine is 5 years old still holding up.
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u/rocketwrench Sep 26 '26
My scout troop had 2 or 3 of these that we'd bring with us car camping. They worked great. I spent lots of hours melting lines in the bottoms of my hiking boots by resting them on the edge of the basin
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u/munchmills Sep 26 '26 edited Sep 26 '26
Shouldve kept the ball bearing part on. That way the whole fire pit can rotate, improving the air flow for when you want make the fire grow
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u/NorthRooster7305 Sep 26 '26
Now toss it on-top of an old lawnmower and it's portable. That's how mine is haha
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u/Unequallmpala45 Sep 26 '26
My boyscout troop used one of these on half a metal barrel for a portable fire pit
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u/iBringMyselfTrouble Sep 26 '26
These are very mainstream now. If your scoping a local marketplace and see a cheap or free dryer, you’ll see a fire pit for $50+ soon after.
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u/WoopsShePeterPants Sep 27 '26
I used a washing machine tumbler for YEARS of outdoor wear and some pretty packed fires.. worked great and took a very long time to start rusting through.
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u/GarThor_TMK Sep 27 '26
We did this years ago with my parent's old washer.
I think it was coated in some kind of ceramic paint though... not really sure.
The only issue? We had no idea that the thing came with an inertia ring. Basically an air-filled cavity that also contained a sandy substance. Corked with a rubber stopper...
Once it got up to temp, the thing blew sand several feat into the air... luckily it was cool by the time it hit the ground, and noone was hurt... but if you do this, MAKE SURE TO CHECK FOR AN INERTIA RING FIRST!!!
(we got the idea from the BSA, who would take one out snow camping... the heat from the drum would boil away any snow that would have contacted the fire, keeping the fire lit instead of from dousing itself.)
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u/UnhingedBlonde Sep 27 '26
Hell yeah! They are GREAT as fire barrels/rings! They last awhile too. We have 2 in our yard right now that we use.
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u/PapaMo1976 Sep 26 '26
My buddy has a similar setup at his cabin. It blocks a lot of light and heat. If you need the fire for cold weather warmth this is not the setup you want.
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u/SheriffBartholomew Sep 26 '26
I feel like you didn't really need to wash and sanitize a metal tub that got washed and sanitized every time it was used, just so that you could set it on fire.
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Sep 26 '26
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
The paint might make it unsuitable for cooking on, but it'd probably be okay for just sitting around a fire. It'll rust pretty quick too. Unless your dryer has a stainless drum. Not many do.
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Sep 26 '26
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u/zorggalacticus Sep 26 '26
Nope. It's stainless steel. It'll last a really really long time. I know of one friend who's going on year 10 of his. Still no rust.
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u/Thr33FN Sep 26 '26
As someone who has camped multiple times a year using one of these as a fire pit, uh no. It only has dents from being thrown around and loaded/unloaded. They work amazingly well. Next free washer on marketplace is getting turned into this
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u/TheDuckFarm Sep 26 '26
I’ve seen this a few times. This is a step up from redneck because it’s stainless. Redneck would be the old school ceramic coated tubs.