# Anyone use Fireplace Ash/Embers for melting snow?



## leftyscott (Dec 8, 2013)

My gravel driveway has a sharp turn up a hill that gets every vehicle stuck except my 4X4.  Dumped 4 ash cans worth of embers on the snow last night.  Will deposit another 3 when it gets light out.  Anybody do this?


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## semipro (Dec 8, 2013)

Ash yes, embers no.
A thin layer of ash is well known for giving traction where you had little before.   Looks like we'll need some today where we live.
Dumping live embers is primarily known for starting fires.


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## Ehouse (Dec 8, 2013)

semipro said:


> Ash yes, embers no.
> A thin layer of ash is well known for giving traction where you had little before.   Looks like we'll need some today where we live.
> Dumping live embers is primarily know for starting fires.




Ash pan:  Ingenious device for removal of brush from around out buildings (including the neighbors').  Most effective when dumped out of sight behind barn or shed.  The related ash can is an excellent wooden deck remover when placed just outside back door just before bed time.


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## firefighterjake (Dec 9, 2013)

Like Semipro . . . embers, no . . . ash, yes.

In fact I scattered the entire contents of the 5 gallon pail on my ice and snow-covered driveway this weekend for traction and melting (the gray ash helps melt the snow and ice quicker.)


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## Backwoods Savage (Dec 9, 2013)

For sure ash. Dirty snow and ice melts faster than the clean stuff. So, sand works well too and isn't so bad if you or someone else tracks it into the house.


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## UncleJoe (Dec 9, 2013)

Another yes. Every couple days I spread the ashes around our stone drive. The ash, being darker, will absorb the suns heat a little better and help to melt the snow quicker.


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## midwestcoast (Dec 9, 2013)

That is all we ever did with our ashes growing up. We had a rather long & steep gravel road as driveway that doubled as a busy snowmobile route. Sleds pack the snow hard & icy. Ashes do work pretty well. No as good as a load of sand or salt.


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## Beer Belly (Dec 10, 2013)

Ehouse said:


> The related ash can is an excellent wooden deck remover when placed just outside back door just before bed time.


I had a friend actually do this....emptied out his stove, and left the Ash can on his back deck (ground level), when he looked out on his deck the next afternoon, his Ash can had burned a hole thru his deck, and was sitting on the ground....very lucky man in my books....


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## BrotherBart (Dec 10, 2013)

Like this?


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## fbelec (Dec 10, 2013)

now is a good time to see about this. since i have not done this nor do i know anyone personally that has i'll ask this. if you spread out the ash on your walkway how bad is it when you come in from outside how's the floor look after walking across it?


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## BrotherBart (Dec 10, 2013)

Ehouse said:


> Ash pan:  Ingenious device for removal of brush from around out buildings (including the neighbors').  Most effective when dumped out of sight behind barn or shed.  The related ash can is an excellent wooden deck remover when placed just outside back door just before bed time.



Kid that worked for me told me his mom burned their house down putting the ash can on the deck. And in the county south of us the county presented the guy that tossed the ashes into the woods with a $20,000 bill for the firefighting.


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## fbelec (Dec 10, 2013)

B B that looks like a nice outdoor bucket heater.


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## BrotherBart (Dec 10, 2013)

fbelec said:


> now is a good time to see about this. since i have not done this nor do i know anyone personally that has i'll ask this. if you spread out the ash on your walkway how bad is it when you come in from outside how's the floor look after walking across it?



Exactly the reason I don't do that stuff.


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## fbelec (Dec 10, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> Kid that worked for me told me his mom burned their house down putting the ash can on the deck. And in the county south of us the county presented the guy that tossed the ashes into the woods with a $20,000 bill for the firefighting.



$20,000 dollars and here's your sign.


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## BrotherBart (Dec 10, 2013)

A member five years ago made that pic. He lives in the city now and can't burn wood. He took the ashes out and later went out and couldn't find his ash bucket. Finally found it and posted that pic. I love that pic.


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## Ehouse (Dec 11, 2013)

BrotherBart said:


> A member five years ago made that pic. He lives in the city now and can't burn wood. He took the ashes out and later went out and couldn't find his ash bucket. Finally found it and posted that pic. I love that pic.




Hmmmm...... maybe a replacment for my power auger for ice fishing?


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## firefighterjake (Dec 11, 2013)

fbelec said:


> now is a good time to see about this. since i have not done this nor do i know anyone personally that has i'll ask this. if you spread out the ash on your walkway how bad is it when you come in from outside how's the floor look after walking across it?


 

I've never noticed a problem . . . then again my driveway is gravel . . . and to get inside I walk through the garage. By the time I get to the mudroom (where we tend to take off our foot wear) there is little to anything on the shoes/boots/sneakers, etc.


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## JustWood (Dec 12, 2013)

Daily. IThe road by my house is a pretty good grade.
Throw them on the road daily to help get people whoa'd down before they round the curve at the bottom.


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## muncybob (Dec 12, 2013)

Ehouse said:


> Hmmmm...... maybe a replacment for my power auger for ice fishing?


 
Better remember to attach a chain to it!
Our lane is fairly steep and ash gets spread on a regualr basis this time of year.


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## flyingcow (Dec 12, 2013)

firefighterjake said:


> I've never noticed a problem . . . then again my driveway is gravel . . . and to get inside I walk through the garage. By the time I get to the mudroom (where we tend to take off our foot wear) there is little to anything on the shoes/boots/sneakers, etc.




When did the people in Unity start wearing shoes? You guys are getting a bit uppity. Next you're gonna tell me that you have indoor plumbing that you don't need to lug water to.


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## firefighterjake (Dec 13, 2013)

flyingcow said:


> When did the people in Unity start wearing shoes? You guys are getting a bit uppity. Next you're gonna tell me that you have indoor plumbing that you don't need to lug water to.


 

HehHeh . . . this coming from a guy in The County? 

True story . . . first place I lived in after college was a camp across the road from my parents. Had electricity, but no running water. I didn't really mind at first until that one night in January during a snowstorm when I was sicker than a dog . . . was retching my guts out (among other things) in the side yard as the snow fell on me. About then I decided that running water and having a toilet might be a good thing.

I think this sort of thing runs in the family though. Until three years or so ago my sister and her husband were living in a cabin in Girdwood, Alaska . . . no running water there either. At first they had an outhouse and then graduated to a composting toilet. As for water she would stop along the Turnagain Highway and stock up on water every so often. They also had no central heat and barely any insulation in the camp. When they moved to an actual home in Wasilla she said having running water and being able to come home to a warm house were truly the best things about the home.


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