Building a 275 gal pig cooker. HELP! please

I got a 275 gallon pig cooker and have welded legs, cut vents, and cut the thing in half. i am ready to go ahead with the final touches, but i have heard from some bbqer's that using an old oil drum can be harmful. does anyone have any information for me? I am stuck until i get this resolved. i thought that i might just light a few really hot fires in it to burn out the oil. any thoughts?

from a previous post:

Posted - 03/23/2004 : 17:58:53
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I had no problems with the oil residue. The first thing you want to do is cut a hole in the tank and make sure you clean out the sludge that will surely be in the bottom of the tank. Then throw a load of wood into it (I used pallets). Then start a nice big fire with the pallets and let the fire burn down. Then use the ash, some water and a stiff broom to wash it out. There was no problem with the welds or with any aftertaste. But mind you you will need to season it like a cast iron skillet. Smoke and crisco until you get a nice black coating on the inside.

The reason folks say they can be harmful is some drums have a protective coating sprayed on the inside of them to protect them from rusting or corroding, or if the drum stored any type of toxic chemicals in the past its probably not a good idea to use it to smoke meat on.

KC's right. The older home fuel oil tanks are usually not coated.

A lot of people convert 55gal oil drums into grills and barBq's with no problem. Personally for the larger barbQ's/smokers I prefer lpg tanks, whichever your using be careful when cutting as the fumes can be EXPLOSIVE!