# Do you have more DUST from burning with your wood stove



## fespo (Jan 13, 2012)

Good evening everyone. Dose anyone seem to have more dust then normal from burning your wood stove? My wife says there is more dust then normal. Before eveyone says its from cleaning the ashes, well I have one of the those ash scoops that you fill in side the stove, close and remove. I bring wood in through the window so it not from walking throught the house with wood. Any ideas? Thanks Frank


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## jeff_t (Jan 13, 2012)

I have no furnace running to filter the air. Plus the overall dryness.


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## Hogwildz (Jan 13, 2012)

Since you use a scoop that works inside the stove you should not have that much added dust from the stove. Once in a while, when I leave the blower on high, and scoop the ashes out, especially with an empty ash pail, it will kick up some ash that floats about from dumping into the ash pail. Once there are enough ashes in the pail, I kinda stab the shovel into the ash that is already in there then slide the shovel out from under the ashes I just scooped out and into the pail. Never really get any ash dust flying doing it this way. All in all, I get more dust settling in the house in the summer from the windows being open, then I even come close to from the stove.


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## Blue Vomit (Jan 14, 2012)

I think we do. We have the stove in the east wing, next to the billiard room. The cleaning staff tells me there is more dust in there than the rest of the mansion, but then again, you know how the cleaning staff complains! :cheese:


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## WellSeasoned (Jan 14, 2012)

We have noticed an increase in dust since having the stove installed, but not anything that isn't manageable. Plus the arm loads of wood, saw dust in my pockets, ect,ect,ect.


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## BrotherBart (Jan 14, 2012)

Blue Vomit said:
			
		

> I think we do. We have the stove in the east wing, next to the billiard room. The cleaning staff tells me there is more dust in there than the rest of the mansion, but then again, you know how the cleaning staff complains! :cheese:



My staff blame it on the butler who feeds and cleans the stove.

Yes, we have more dust. Than what I don't know since we have been heating with wood for 30 years.


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## WellSeasoned (Jan 14, 2012)

Backwoods said:
			
		

> We have noticed an increase in dust since having the stove installed, but not anything that isn't manageable. Plus the arm loads of wood, saw dust in my pockets, ect,ect,ect.



Vomit.... Just ask the ground keeper to come in and help out with the dust.


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## SlyFerret (Jan 14, 2012)

I attribute the extra dust to the fact that the furnace fan almost never runs all winter long.  The windows are shut, and the air isn't being filtered.

-SF


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## ohlongarm (Jan 14, 2012)

Run the furnace fans 10 minutes a day it will eliminate most of the dust associated with woodburning.Plus circulated heated air throughout your home.


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## ScotO (Jan 14, 2012)

I agree with SlyFerret but you definately get more dust due to cleaning ashes out of your stove.  Here's what I do, if it is any help to you......I let the coals burn way down, but not all the way out.  I push all of the coals over to one side and remove the ashes on the other side first, then reverse the procedure and do the other side of the stove.  I use a metal bucket and shovel the ashes into it, while holding my shop vac above the bucket (not too close), and I slowly slide the ashes into the bucket so as to not disturb and quell up the small coals that are in the ashes.   Then I remove the ashes to the outside firepit.  It made a huge difference by using that vacuum above the bucket when I am puttin the ashes in, you can see the fly ash getting sucked into the vaccum.  Just make extra certain you DO NOT get any hot coals into the shop vac.  You will know if you do, it will fill the room with smoke INSTANTLY.....They make fireplace sweepers but they are expensive.


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## Backwoods Savage (Jan 14, 2012)

We get no more dust in winter than in summer. As for the ash dust, do it right and you won't have any ash dust. We can't run our furnace either because we sold it over 30 years ago.


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## Dix (Jan 14, 2012)

BrotherBart said:
			
		

> Blue Vomit said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...




My staff blamed it on the cat. Go figure 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			






Honestly, you're saving a manure load of money, who cares about the dust/ash  ;-P


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## savageactor7 (Jan 14, 2012)

Oh yeah lot's of dust, but that's just the nature of the beast.


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## HotCoals (Jan 14, 2012)

I heard that some dust is just your dead skin falling off so if your in the room with the stove...i dunno.lol.


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## lopiliberty (Jan 14, 2012)

I find there is also more dust when the stove is burning so we up our cleaning from every other day in the summer to every day in the winter. Its alot of work to clean a 2,400 sq ft house everyday but its either that or get rid of my liberty and that will never every happen. I find with my liberty every time i open the door I always have some ash to blow out even with the air control open all the way and the bypass open. By the way how are things going with the liberty?


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## Wood Duck (Jan 14, 2012)

I think we get more dust, but it isn't a huge difference or too much dust to tolerate. I dust the tabletops, etc. in the stove room almost every day. It takesmabe two minutes and I get only a little dust, but it helps keep the dust from building up and moving into other rooms. My wife dusts constantly all year long and doesn't say anything about extra dust from the stove so the must not be anything. She would definitely say something if there was more dust.


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## nate379 (Jan 14, 2012)

What exactly are you cleaning everyday?

I dust, sweep floors, etc every 2-3 weeks and everyone says I keep the house way too clean!



			
				lopiliberty said:
			
		

> I find there is also more dust when the stove is burning so we up our cleaning from every other day in the summer to every day in the winter. Its alot of work to clean a 2,400 sq ft house everyday but its either that or get rid of my liberty and that will never every happen. I find with my liberty every time i open the door I always have some ash to blow out even with the air control open all the way and the bypass open. By the way how are things going with the liberty?


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## Green Energy (Jan 14, 2012)

I get the usual wood dust/residue in the staging area where the splits sit before they are loaded into the stove.  But I have noticed significantly less dust on the bookshelves than I used to get with my old CDW.  A couple things that may contribute to this reduction (not complete elimination) is that I now have my stove discharge directly going up an insulated flue liner verses my old stove was just a 4 foot pipe going into a 9" x 9" exterior chimney.  So my draft is much more positive which must keep keeps the ash in the stove better.

The other thing that may contribute to less dust in the house is that the old stove was a cat stove verse the current stove is a EPA non-cat stove w secondary burn tubes.  The cat stove choked the air flow in the cat resulting in the lower, slower burn.  The new stove has a hotter faster burn with probably more air moving into the stove, at least at the beginning and middle of the cycle.

Then again, it might be a sign of old age that I don't notice the dust as much.


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## Beer Belly (Jan 14, 2012)

More dust....yes, gives the Wife something to do :coolsmile:


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## Battleaxe (Jan 14, 2012)

I think the bulk of the dust comes from cleaning the stove out. You have to be careful to scoop the ashes out carefully and not throw the shovels full of ash into your ash bucket too hard or there will be ashes kicking up and settling into the room. Just a tiny bit of patience putting your ashes into the bucket makes a huge difference. There will always be a small amount of ash that gets into the room adding to the dust.
Another consideration is that with the stove running your central heating system won't run as much, so the filter on your heating system won't catch as much dust. It's a good idea to run the fan on your heating system periodically to catch dust in the filter, add moisture if you have a central humidifier attached (Aprilaire), and keep water pipes from freezing in the far reaches of the house.


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## woodgeek (Jan 14, 2012)

Stoves pull in a lot of outside air, and dust with it.  Any OAK devotees want to comment?


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## dafattkidd (Jan 14, 2012)

We have more dust in the house from the stove.  Not a big deal.  My wife complains about it a little, but not much at all.  The benefits of wood heat warmth and the savings in oil far outweigh the crumbles of dirt dragged in from the wood, the dust from the ash on the furniture, the occasional random spider and the whiffs of smoke in the house.  (Just to clarify, I do not have an OAK)


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## hardwood715 (Jan 14, 2012)

Battleax hit on to something, My situation where the pipes are in the attached garage and basement, I have heat duct there from my furnace, but when I burn wood the hot air rises , so the garage and basement get no heat at all..not good in the North East, hmm run fan mode on furnace? I heard there is something that will periodically turn fan on!


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## burleymike (Jan 14, 2012)

Do we have more dust during burning season, maybe?  During the summer the sun is at a different angle so the light hits  the the front half of the house differently and it appears to be pretty clean even after a week.  During the summer the A/C is running frequently so the filter is catching some of the dust.  The back half of the house stays equally dusty year around, the back side is north facing so the sunlight stays pretty consistent year around.

In the winter we have to dust every 3 days because you can see a thick layer on the couch and the furniture while the sun is out.  When the sun starts getting low in the afternoon you can then see it all floating in the air.  After dark when the lights are on in the front room you don't see the dust anymore.  Even if I run the blower on the furnace all day there is still quite a bit in the air.
The only big difference when we are burning I see some black flecks in the dust.  I theorize that the stove is so hot some of the dust gets charred as the blower pushes the dusty air over the hot firebox.


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## HotCoals (Jan 14, 2012)

I wonder if those room air filter deals really work?


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## JBinKC (Jan 14, 2012)

I would say its worse and the biggest drawback to wood burning especially if you use a fan to move air. I think the problem could be mitigated some from the stove design. I can say with my stove I wished it had a side door with a higher lip and/or andirons . It it is pretty much guaranteed when opening  door  of a Castine or a narrow profile stove or dumping  the tiny ashpan some ash is going to dump out. I have a cordless hand vac with a hepa filter nearby which helps on the mess but if you have a situation where a log rolled forward you have to leave the mess until it safe to clean up


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## branchburner (Jan 14, 2012)

JBinKC said:
			
		

> especially if you use a fan to move air



That's what I attribute the extra dust to - the fans stirring it up. I think it the summer, more of it settles onto the floors and gets vacuumed. In the winter, the fans keep more aloft and it settles on furniture, mantle, etc.


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## burleymike (Jan 15, 2012)

We have a ceiling fan and it certainly does distribute the dust around.  I am going to build a filter out of a box fan and a 20x20x1 pleated furnace filter.  I have heard they work well so I will give it a shot.  

To be honest I don't think my house is more dusty that any other in this dusty farming community.  A lot of our friends don't heat with wood and they seem to have just as much.


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