cleaning ashes out of Ashford 30 without letting the fire go out

[andre marquis]

Hi all,
I just recently switched from a 30 year old stove to the Ashford 30 and have had trouble cleaning the ashes while keeping it burning. There are no directions for doing this in the manual i have.

Could anyone post a VIDEO of them cleaning ashes out of an Ashford 30 without letting the stove burn out?

My understanding is that you have to let the coals get quite low, but not so low that you have to start a new fire.

thank you very much,
andre

 

[begreen]

Personally I don't use this system, but an ash rake will help you move the coals to one side so that the ashes can then be pushed to the ash hole.

 

[Ashful]

I have an Ashford 30, and it was also my first stove with an ash plug system. I really disliked how many hot coals I was removing with my ash, particularly given the pan alignment issue on Ashfords of my vintage (since corrected).

My solution, after fighting between ash and coals for a few months, was to buy a small cast iron grate that drops into the hole after removing the ash plug. Now I can just rake ash across the top of this grate, and it falls thru, while keeping my coals in the firebox. When I'm done, I pull out the grate, and reinstall the plug.

 

[webby3650]

I have an Ashford 30, and it was also my first stove with an ash plug system. I really disliked how many hot coals I was removing with my ash, particularly given the pan alignment issue on Ashfords of my vintage (since corrected).

My solution, after fighting between ash and coals for a few months, was to buy a small cast iron grate that drops into the hole after removing the ash plug. Now I can just rake ash across the top of this grate, and it falls thru, while keeping my coals in the firebox. When I'm done, I pull out the grate, and reinstall the plug.

If they would have left the ashplug the original size like mine then you would be loosing very few coals down the hole. It's was perfectly sized before...

 

[Poindexter]

I can do it by not trying to get all the ash out.

I do have a coals rake. i use the flat side to pull everything forward, then the rake side to push coals to the back, then pull the plug, flat side of coals rake to push from front to drain hole in middle, blah blah...

Mine is an original 30.0.

https://goo.gl/images/hTmUom

 

[Poindexter]

i will say mine runs best with one to two inches of ash in the floor. when it is kinda getting up towards the top of the range its time to take out a drawer or two full while leaving enough ash for about a 1" layer.

 

[andre marquis]

Thank you for your responses, but i am still finding it easier to let the stove burn out completely, then scoop the ashes with a shovel, but i would MUCH rather not let the stove die out. Will anyone post a video (here or on Youtube) of how to remove ashes from the Ashford 30 without letting the stove die out?

thanks,
andre

 

[jetsam]

You could always skip the ash plug and just shovel the ash out. I rake all the coals to one side, clear out the ash from the other, then take all the coals to the opposite side and shovel again, then even out the coals and throw some wood on.

You do need hearth gloves, my little shovel gets far too hot to touch.

Do not store a hot ash bucket in the house or near anything combustible. Plenty of house fires have been caused by an ash bucket, including ones that were outside on the deck/porch.

 

[shoot-straight]

chalk me up as another who shovels out. takes 2 min maybe 1x a week. do i shovel out some coals, sure. not enough to worry though.

getting the plug to seat properly after pulling it is an issue for me- ash collects on the lip its supposed to sit flush on.

 

[begreen]

Ash-hole dumping in a hot firebox has never worked well for me. It's slow work while you are in a hot firebox, it's inefficient, and you risk getting a coal trapped which can prevent a tight seal at the ashtrap. I move the coals over and shovel into a metal container. Then move the coals over to the other side and shovel out again.

Be sure you put the metal ash can on a non-combustible surface! Coals may remain hot for days. I set ours on some bricks on the porch.

 

[Ashful]

I agree with all of the above, except getting the ash plug to seat. Run the end of the tool BK gives you around the perimeter of the ash hole, between bricks and metal lip, to clear debris into the pan. After that, the plug just drops into place. I have to say, it's probably the one thing BK got right in the design of my ash pan system.