Burning wood with paint on it

[raptorfan85]

I work at a garage door company and can get as many wooden door panels as I want for free. Some of them are painted though, if I burn them in the arch is it going to have any negative affects on the pan or anything? It's hard to just watch them thrown into the dumpster when I'm over here cutting and splitting wood. I plan on building a bigger wood burning arch this year so the more free wood I can get the better.

[Pibster]

I burn a lot of pallets, they are dry and burn hot. I'm guessing those door panels will burn nicely. I wouldn't worry about the paint.

[raptorfan85]

They definitely burn hot. Usually made from cedar, hemlock or poplar and dry as a bone.

[Haynes Forest Products]

I fire my arch with plant material that has been rotting under ground for billions of years. Its harmful to most wildlife but can be cleaned off baby ducks with Dawn detergent. Now it leaves a smelly oily film on everything it touches. what goes into the arch doesn't appear to contaminate the food in the pans. I wonder what California would think about that.

I have seen an entire garage thrown thru the doors of an evaporator and couldn't smell a thing.

[raptorfan85]

I fire my arch with plant material that has been rotting under ground for billions of years. Its harmful to most wildlife but can be cleaned off baby ducks with Dawn detergent. Now it leavers a smelly oily film on everything it touches. what goes into the arch doesn't appear to contaminate the food in the pans. I wonder what California would think about that.

I have seen an entire garage thrown thru the doors of an evaporator and couldn't smell a thing.

I like your style lol. I wont be burning the whole garage but I get the idea. Looks like plenty of free wood for me.

[johnallin]

Open fire? or closed arch in a sugar house with smoke carried away through a stack may make a difference.
My two years on a half pint outdoors produced a "smoky" flavored syrup. Once we built the sugar house that went away.
If you're not inside, you risk your syrup being exposed to burning paint - which, if old enough - pre 1975 - will contain lead.

[Haynes Forest Products]

Now here is my disclaimer I DON'T and wouldn't use waste oil!! I'm not the one that burned the garage with roofing and all but it made a heck of a fire and burned without a smell. I also know a guy that starts his fire using feed bags filled with old tubing and that works real well. He also thru a few in one time during the day and boiled the pans over. That was funny also. Any time you can walk out the door of someone else's misfortune and go home to your own shack is a good day.

[raptorfan85]

It will be in a shack with stack up above the peak of the roof. Definitely wouldn't do it on an open pit outside. I never considered the lead paint part of it. We get very few doors that last that long but I will probably toss any that are questionable. Things I wouldn't have thought of, thanks.

[Michael Greer]

When burning old painted wood anywhere, be aware of the lead paint. Some goes up the chimney, creating a hazard for your neighbors, but most falls down with the ashes. The ash will be heavy, and may even be slightly molten, and this is lead...pounds and pounds of it. Anywhere you throw that stuff will be polluted forever. The soil, the plants, the groundwater are at risk for you and whoever comes after. If you burn such stuff, do the right thing with the ash.