Burnbox

Check out our Village Message Board for burnbox ideas from Villages

What is a burnbox?
A burnbox is a self-constructed or purchased large metal container with good draft that is used for burning trash. It is used by many Villages.

Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages

• Burnboxes are inexpensive
• No animal attraction if done right
• Reduces volume of burnable waste by about 70-90%
• Reduces weight of wastestream by about 60%
• You can reuse the ash for fill or cover for your non-burned trash.
• If you choose to ship ash out, it will be much cheaper than unburned trash.
• If run right at high temperatures and with separated garbage, the smoke toxicity is comparable to wood fires.

Disadvantages

• The smoke can be quite unhealthy for people to breathe, so burn planning is essential.
• Need to have fairly predictable wind directions, and burnbox preferably placed at least a mile downwind of homes, or well over 2 miles upwind
• Must separate out wastes causing explosions, Styrofoam, black and/or toxic smoke, like aerosol or paint cans, batteries, lamps, rubber and tar products, tires, waste oil, liquid fuels, pressurized containers, large animals, and as much plastic as possible.
• Needs regular (dirty) maintenance
• Still need to deal with ash, scrap metal, appliances, and separated wastes.

Where to start?
For tips on making or buying, installing, and operating a good burnbox call the EPA rural sanitation coordinator (Joe Sarcone at 271-1316). If you want your burnbox to run well and not cause health problems, get advice first. Burnboxes are too easy to mess up otherwise.

Also, ADEC recently put out a helpful publication dealing with incinerators and burnboxes, Burning Garbage in Rural Alaska. Contact: Ed Emswiler, 465-5353, ADEC Solid Waste to request a copy or view it at: http://www.state.ak.us/local/akpages/ENV.CONSERV/
eh/docs/sw/Burning%20Garbage%20Factsheet.pdf

Where can I purchase one?

Tok Welding and Fabrication
Chris Marshall, who runs Tok Welding and Fabrication, has been working with Villages for almost 30 years on wood stoves, and about 10 years on burnboxes. He is familiar with rural Native Villages and he has been designing burnboxes so they are pretty inexpensive, really simple to use, and hard to break.
His phone number is 883-5055, and his website is www.alaskanstoves.com.

Summit Consulting
Summit Consulting has built and installed several burnboxes across the state. Contact David Lancaster at Summit at 563-5675 for more information about their burnboxes and prices. Also check out their website at: www.scsalaska.com.

Crochet Equipment Company Inc
Crochet Equipment Company Inc is located in Louisiana. While the burnunits that Crochet sells are substantially more expensive, they are made for MSW combustion. They include a pollution control treatment chamber, so that less toxic emissions could be expected than other units listed here. These units might be a good choice for communities that have decided they must burn their wastes, but their burnbox has to be sited very close to, or frequently upwind of, the Village.
The City of Sand Point, AK recently purchased a burn unit through Crochet and partial funding for it came from a 2004 Denali Commission Solid Waste Grant. The contact at Crochet is Ronnie Crochet and their phone number is (225) 927-2019. Give them a call to find out more information about their burn units and prices.
(Also if you'd like to contact Sand Point about the burn unit they ordered, call Paul Day at 274 7561).
Since they don't have a website, here's some additional information on Crochet's burners:
Model Designed for Sand Point
Examples of other burn units
More Examples
List of past projects

McPherson Systems, Inc
McPherson Systems, Inc is located in Georgia. They sell a variety of pit and trench burners. Their phone number is (229) 386-2367. Check out their website at: www.mcphersys.com

Air Burners LLC
Air Burners LLC is located in Florida. They sell a variety of air curtain, trench, and pit burners. Their phone number is toll free 1 (888) 566-3900. Check out their website at: www.airburners.com

For a list of more companies that sell burnboxes and incinerators, click here to view Appendix D of DEC's "Burning Garbage and Land Disposal In Rural Alaska" document.

How much do they cost?
Costs of burnboxes will depend on the type and the company making and selling them. Call the companies listed above for a description of their burnboxes and their current costs.

More about burnboxes
Burnboxes are used by many communities in Alaska. The Village of Ekwok recently started using a burnbox that was built in-town for a small amount of money. The burnbox works well and residents are happy with it. Fred “Tom” Harley Jr., a resident of Ekwok, built the burnbox. He is willing to answer questions by phone (464-3359). He is also willing to travel to other Villages to design and build a burnbox. Paying him to build the burnbox would be less expensive than ordering a pre-made burnbox, or one that is designed by a engineering firm. Fred Harley might be more familiar with how YK Delta Villages operate and what is needed for residents to use it properly. On the other hand, if a pre-fabricated burnbox is ordered, the quality and durability could be more reliable. Also, the manufacturer might be in a better position to refund or replace the burnbox if it did not function properly.

The best thing you can do is ask other Villages what their burnbox lessons are. Below are some of the other Villages that have had successful operations - give them a call to ask them about their burnboxes!

Some Alaska Villages with successful burnbox operations

Village	Contact Information
Sand Point	Paul Day, City Manager (907) 274-7561 Sand Point operates a Summit Burnbox and is looking at purchasing a new burncage from Crochet Equipment.
Chefornak	Oscar Wassillie (907) 867-8306 Chefornak purchased a burnbox from Tok Welding
Selawik	Raven Sheldon purchased a burnbox from Tok Welding (907) 484-2006
Levelock	Levelock built their own burnbox from a fuel tank and other locally available materials. Ask for Hans or Shirley (907) 287-3067
Takotna	Bill Joiner was looking into designing and building their own burnbox (907) 273-1821
Aleknagik	Alice Chythlook (907) 842 4407
Ekwok	Fred “Tom” Harley, Jr. (He built the Ekwok burnbox and can help design, build it, and/or answer operation questions.) If Tom isn't there, ask for Lorraine King (907) 464-3359
Manley	Chuck Parker (907) 672-3869
Beaver	Arlene Pitka (907) 628-6126
Dot Lake	Bill Miller (907) 883-4227 or 882-2695
Tanacross	Roy Denny or Jerry Isaac (907) 883-5024
Elim	Elim built their own burnbox from local materials. Ask for Janelle. (907) 890-3737
Minto	Ronnie Silas (907) 798-7399

What do you need for a successful burnbox operation?
The thoughts of people who have run good burnbox programs are:

1. Start with a good design
2. Operate it correctly
3. Maintain it regularly

Burnbox Design
Burnboxes made on-site are usually constructed from whatever is available on-site — like used fuel storage tanks, old septic tanks, old truck beds, etc. They generally consist of a body and a chimney pipe that vents the smoke. Although there are some design drawings being shared around the Villages, most burnboxes are improvised based upon the availability of materials. One of the best designs now being used is in Manley. They have a pre-fabricated burnbox.

Some designs work better, and burn more efficiently, than others. A critical factor is to have good draft properties. Burnboxes are generally designed so that air can be pulled in underneath the wastes through body vents (or puncture holes). The chimney and burnbox body should be well sealed/welded except where air should vent. Another consideration is that it should be easy to empty out ash. Many burnboxes are designed so that they can be tipped over, and the ash can spill out into the landfill.

A vent screen should prevent large ash particles from escaping and starting fires. Also placing a small fireproof mesh bag at the end of the pipe, so that fine particles are trapped, improves air quality. A last consideration that is often overlooked is that the burnbox should be sized so that it can store enough garbage on days when the wind or weather is unfavorable to burn. But it shouldn’t be too big, or it can be difficult for the burnbox to heat up.

If the money is available to do so, the best advice to ensure a good design is to order a pre-made burnbox or get someone experienced in making and installing burnboxes to come to your Village to do the work. Again, Fred Harley, Jr. in Ekwok has experience in building a burnbox on-site.

Burnbox Operation

Photo source: DEC

We have asked people with good operations what they do. The primary considerations for good operation are to:

• Make certain that either the operator or the households separate out plastics, rubber (including tires) combustibles, and other hazardous wastes so that these materials do not get into the burnbox. While plastics will not hurt the burnbox, they produce toxic smoke. Some hazardous wastes will not hurt the burnbox, but can be hazardous to the operator when handling them, and/or will also produce toxic smoke.
• Keep up a regular schedule of burning. Allowing the burnbox to get too full will produce an inefficient burn, and wastes can get piled up outside and create a unattractive nuisance and health hazard. If the burnbox is used daily, it will stay warm inside, and the next day's burn will be more efficient and faster.
• Burn any animal carcass immediately. Any clinic wastes should also be burned immediately.
• If your burnbox is located so that smoke is smelled in the Village on certain windy days, don't burn on these days and wait until the wind direction or speed is more favorable.
• Wet down the ash once it is deposited in the monofill, so that it doesn't scatter and create poor air quality.
  
  CLICK BELOW on the otter to read a burnbox operation and maintenance guide by Tok Welding and Fabrication.

Burnbox Maintenance
The main considerations in conducting good maintenance are to:

• Rust-proof the burnbox. Still, always check for signs of rusting, and repair as necessary before holes become apparent and affect the burn performance.
• Periodically clean out the burnbox well to check for signs of structural damage.
• Clean out the chimney pipe/vent regularly so that it does not get clogged. If you have a fine mesh bag connected to your vent outlet, make sure that it does not get full.
• Keep any movable parts, such as hinged doors, well-lubed so that they do not get stuck.

How Far Is Far Enough To Site Your Burnbox?
A Year 2000 Health Study looked briefly at how far a solid waste facility should be sited from houses, so that people weren’t bothered by its odors. The Table below lists how many people were bothered, and at what distance their houses were from their dump. Taking into account the usual wind direction, and other factors, it turned out that the more frequently wastes were burned, the longer the minimum distance was that people had to live to not be bothered by dump odors/smoke.

Looking at the last row, even if you locate your facility 8,000 ft away, if you plan on burning wastes frequently, you could still expect about 20 percent of residents to be bothered a lot. You also need to think about how bad the smoke is. The thing is, the second Village (shown in the second row) only burned their wastes every few weeks. But when they burned, there was a lot of waste buildup, and the burn would last for a couple of days with heavy black smoke. So even though it didn’t happen often, 70 percent of residents were bothered at least a little by the dump. When you burn regularly, there is less smoke, the fire can be more controlled, and you can be more careful about what you’re burning because you can pick out big plastics and batteries.

These results are for uncontrolled, unseparated waste burning. While the results probably would be similar for burnboxes, it is likely they would be different for an EPA Regulation-compliant incinerator. If run properly, EPA-compliant incinerators produce odors that are much less noticeable (more importantly, the emissions are generally not harmful). Of course…incinerators are very, very expensive and are hard to run in a small community!

Percent of residents who were living at a given distance from their Village dump, or further, and who were bothered by dump odors/smoke.

Is the New Location Right?
Worksheet to determine the appropriateness of a potential facility location (click on the image below for a printable version):

Related links on burning wastes
Click here for more informaiton on burning wastes