Looking for ash cleaning Techniques

[n1st]

Can someone with wood stove experience kindly share techniques for ash cleaning with me? My stove has a ash hatch on the bottom of the stove. Let's say I start my first fire the morning of Oct 1 and want to keep it going 7/24 as much as possible. I'm hoping I don't have to let the fire go out completely to clean out the ash. Is this possible? Do I let the coals almost all go out, then move the few live coals away from the ash dump hole and shovel the ash towards the dump hole? How much ash should I let accumulate before clean out?

 

[senorFrog]

I plan on giving this a shot this year...

(broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/tips/ashfetish.htm)

Many people don't like ash pans, myself included. They are messy and you really have to stay on top of them. Once they overfill you have a big mess on your hands when you try to empty it. Some here have posted that they just let their ash pans fill up for the season, and scoop ash out from the firebox daily. I don't like this because of the dust it raises. No matter how careful I am, I always seem to spill.

Last year this is what I did: Put on your gloves. VERY IMPORTANT! I'd separate the coals from the ash as best I could with a small shovel by agitating the coals and ash on top of the grate. Push any ash from the corners of the stove onto the grate too. Most of the ash would fall into the ash pan below. Use your shovel to push it through if you have to. You can use a Koal Keeper ( koalkeeper.com ) to separate the cosl from the ash. They work okay. Not great, but acceptable. I'd then close the door. Open the ash pan door and give some small back and forth motions to help even out the ash. Otherwise, it will tend to mound up and could spill out of the pan, big mess. Slowly remove the ash pan from the stove. I have one of those flat cheap tinfoil turkey trays nearby which lasted all last season. I have molded it slightly so the edges overlap the ash pan. I put this on top of the ash pan. The reason I do this is because I often get hit with blast of wind when going out the door. I bring the ash pan outside and empty into a five gallon galvanized trash can I bought at Ace. The lid of the trash can goes back on and the handle locks the it tight. I keep this outside and about ten feet sway from the house. When I get back inside I cleanup the little ash that may have spilled with a Ryobi dustbuster I got at the depot.

I might not seem like a big deal but it get's old over a long winter season.

Hopefully, The Ash Trap will work out better. I don't intend to just let the ash pan fill up. I'll have a local welder make a solid "grate" to replace the factory one.

 

[junksta]

You just about have it right. Stove burns best with a good thick layer of ash, just rake your coals out of the way and dump a few ashes once a day, if you get a few small coals in the ash drawer it won't hurt. My ash drawer gets emptied about every two weeks or so.

 

[colsmith]

If you search you will find that this topic has been addresses here previously. We ignore our ash pan because it is kind of a pain to use. Instead we just aim to clean most of the ashes out about once a week. We pick some day when we are going to be away for many hours, such that the fire and coals will be mostly burned out when we get home. If there are a lot of hot coals, we push them to one side and scoop around them, then push them back the other way to the already scooped side of the stove. Fine to leave some ashes in anyway, don't have to do an excellent job of getting everything out during the heating season, since a layer of ash is good. The important thing is to have a sturdy, non-flammable ash container with a cover.

 

[mortimer]

Shop Vac if everything is out. Otherwise pour into a metal container. Lowes had a mini galvanized garbage can last yesr. About four gallons with lid for about $15.

 

[Mike Wilson]

Scott,

So long as your stove has a low SWR, you should have no problem with ash. If your stove is not tuned well the SWR will get too high, and your ash levels will increase to the point where there won't be any heat coming from the stove. At that point, I recommend using an MFJ tuner with a Ten Tec Argonaut to obtain decent results. If that doesn't improve the heat output of the stove to ash ratio, then your only recourse will be to bite the bullet, realize that life's way too short for QRP, and buy a Titan III to get a decent signal.

Good luck.

de Mike

 

[n6crv]

Mike Wilson, the cheaper way would be just to find a SB200 and fire it up. The 572b's are not that bad to replace. At a 1kw it will put out good heat.
Don

 

[backpack09]

Scott,

So long as your stove has a low SWR, you should have no problem with ash. If your stove is not tuned well the SWR to get too high, your ash levels will increase to the point where there won't be any heat coming from the stove. At that point, I recommend using an MFJ tuner with a Ten Tec Argonaut to obtain decent results. If that doesn't improve the heat out put of the stove to warmth ratio, then your only recourse will be to bite the bullet, realize that life's way too short for QRP, and buy a Titan III to get a decent signal.

Good luck.

de Mike

ahhh, Right.

Those of you who de-ash weekly, are you 24/7 burners or night/weekenders?

 

[Mike Wilson]

Mike Wilson, the cheaper way would be just to find a SB200 and fire it up. The 572b's are not that bad to replace. At a 1kw it will put out good heat.
Don

I had one of those, usually got 700 out or so, also had an SB220, but Scott seems like a Ten Tec guy, so I figured I'd stick with the motif. Personally, I run an FL-2100B, same as the 200, just smoother tuning... oh, and it matches all the rest of the 101F line I have... Doesn't go with the 1000MP or the 900 though, but it works.

My kingdom for a 1K remote autotuner though...

-- Mike

 

[EatenByLimestone]

I let the ash sit in the fire box as long as possible. It insulates and creates thermal mass. Then I rake it into the ash drawer in the pedistal where it sits for a week to cool and provide a little more thermal mass. Then it goes into a galvanized trash can by the back door. It has a tight fitting lid.

Matt

 

[burntime]

With the insert I take a few shovel fulls out every 3 days or so. Rare that the stove is completely cool and can get all of it out. Maybe 3 times a winter I let it die completely. Move slowly and put it in a covered container so when you carry it out it is not getting whisked everywhere.

 

[n1st]

Thanks for the good tips everyone, (and the ham humor). The wife doesn't like cleaning up the dust and still remembers it from when we burned wood long ago, so keeping the dust down is the primary cleaning goal. I'll have to see how much dust I stir up by shoveling... may need to use a vac.

 

[Gooserider]

Just remember that vacs are DANGEROUS unless the stove is COMPLETELY out - if you suck up even a little ember, the airflow through the vac can turn it into a blaze, which will lead to the rapid discovery that lint and vac bags are flamable, and vacs make nice flamethowers.... :bug: :red:

I won't allow a vac near my ashes unless they have been out for at least a week, preferably longer!

Gooserider

 

[senorFrog]

Excellent point. A vac and live embers are the perfect storm for a rapid fire.

Vacs just don't work too well in picking up the larger stuff that's mixed in with the ash. They clog easily. Unless you get super expensive hepa ash vac, you'll be pumping that dust all over your house. If you watch the sweeps they tend to scoop out as much as they can, then use the vac for the rest.

 

[iamnicetoeveryone]

hey, I just read about an ash removal tool here it is https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/4742/, it is called Ash Trap. I hope this helps.