Learned an important lesson regarding "cold" ashes...

[Ashful]

So.. all my ashes for the season go straight into a 31 gallon galvanized trash can outside. Then over the summer (starting several weeks after my last fire) I scatter them in the yard/woods.

Good system! But I fill my galvanized trash can (might be about 25-30 gal?) can every 3rd or 4th week. I'd have a fleet of them, if I waited until summer to empty!

 

[gthomas785]

Good system! But I fill my galvanized trash can (might be about 25-30 gal?) can every 3rd or 4th week. I'd have a fleet of them, if I waited until summer to empty!

Wow what kind of wood are you burning? I think I can fit 4-5 cords worth of ashes (mostly from oak) in my 1 garbage can.

 

[Ashful]

Wow what kind of wood are you burning? I think I can fit 4-5 cords worth of ashes (mostly from oak) in my 1 garbage can.

It varies by year, but most of the last decade has been almost exclusively red oak. This year it's been a lot of white oak, walnut and ash. Looking at the inventory, there's a lot more ash and hickory in my future.

I basically fill the pan on each of the Ashford 30's once per week, and empty it into my galvanized can just prior to the following week's clean-out. I'm just guessing that I empty that can every 4th week, but it may be less now that I think about it, maybe more like 3x per year. Also, I'm not sure what size the can is, but I guess I could go measure it later.

 

[yooperdave]

Way back in the 60's and 70's, before many of you were even a gleam in your Dad's eye, having a fire in the garbage truck seemed to be a common occurrence in a nearby town. They ended up not collecting ashes unless thesy were packed in a taped up paper garbage bag.

Seemed to solve some of the problems that way and the garbage trucks didn't have to set new land speed records to the dump!

Just curious-whats the price of one of those new plastic bins nowadays?

 

[FPX Dude]

I went with adrenaline instead of caffeine, spent the next day sledding.

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Keep brag'n all you want, I luv it, and keep sending those pix!

 

[Ashful]

They ended up not collecting ashes unless thesy were packed in a taped up paper garbage bag.

Good solution. If there's a live coal in there, the paper bag will let you know it, PDQ!

 

[j7art2]

Way back in the 60's and 70's, before many of you were even a gleam in your Dad's eye, having a fire in the garbage truck seemed to be a common occurrence in a nearby town. They ended up not collecting ashes unless thesy were packed in a taped up paper garbage bag.

Seemed to solve some of the problems that way and the garbage trucks didn't have to set new land speed records to the dump!

Just curious-whats the price of one of those new plastic bins nowadays?

My dad paid $50 for his big blue bin (60 gallon or so?) when his got stolen and had to be replaced in the next county over. I expect the actual cost is probably more around $100. The similar ones to what I have at Walmart are $83, but the plastic imo isn't as good.

I actually got lucky and they marked it under a damaged/cracked bin and I didn't have to pay a dime. I just have to drag the 100lb melted mess to the curb so the truck can take it away. Apparently I get one free one a year under the contract in case of breaking. Trucks drop them occasionally, and when it's -20, they can crack pretty quick.

The bonus was I also convinced them after 10 years of not having one (and them claiming I did) to bring me a recycle bin of the same size. I've been wanting to recycle, but kept going round and round with them, and taking it to the recycling center manually (40 minutes away) just wasn't feasible for me.

 

[thewoodlands]

Apparently 3-4 day old ashes sitting outside in the cold ash bin (sitting in the snow) can still be flammable when dumped into the trash. Dumped the bin, went to the store and came home to a literal dumpster fire.

Normally the ashes go into the garden or somewhere on the lawn, but I had ran a creosote sweeper in this batch and assumed I'd be more than fine being that they were so old. I'm glad it wasn't worse.

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I always put them in a galvanized trash can, I always leave a trash can full of one or two year old ashes just off the driveway in the winter, I use them on the part of the driveway coming in from the road, the rest of the driveway gets sand.

 

[Ashful]

I always put them in a galvanized trash can, I always leave a trash can full of one or two year old ashes just off the driveway in the winter, I use them on the part of the driveway coming in from the road, the rest of the driveway gets sand.

Holy crap! And here I get irritated when I drive thru a puddle, and my car gets a little water on it!

 

[yooperdave]

I always put them in a galvanized trash can, I always leave a trash can full of one or two year old ashes just off the driveway in the winter, I use them on the part of the driveway coming in from the road, the rest of the driveway gets sand.

Ashes are excellent for traction on an icy road. Better than sand IMO. Just one more use of all the work put into firewooding!

 

[thewoodlands]

Ashes are excellent for traction on an icy road. Better than sand IMO. Just one more use of all the work put into firewooding!

They do work pretty darn good, once we get more snow and they get frozen in, once the sun gets stronger the areas with ash will melt first.