Still fairly new to the wood stove game. I still have the Summers Heat made by Englander. We love the wood heat in the house. But cleaning the ash is terrible. I normally use a metal ash bucket and scoop out the loading door after the fire and coals have died down quite a bit, but it still makes a mess with a ton of ash going into the air. I make sure to turn off any fans and make sure there is no movement in the house but it is still a mess. However it does have a "dog" hole with ash pan that I have never used. I do not know how. Do I leave the cover off so ash can naturally fall in? Or do I hook it with my poker, lift it out of the way shovel it to the hole? The instructions aren't to clear for this rookie. Please help and save .e from another mess! Thanks.
School me on cleaning ash with active burn
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I had a stove like yours, a Summers Heat. I just scooped it out.
The plug in the brick should stay in and be fully seated at all times during a burn. If you decide to use it, pull the plug and rake the ashes and coals into the hole and it should fall into the bin that is inserted in the pedistal base. Plug the hole and reload. Take the ash pan out and dispose of it safely so there is not a bucket of smoldering coals in your house letting off carbon monoxide.
CHECK ALIGNMENT FIRST.
MY ASH PAN DID NOT SIT COMPLETELY UNDER THE PLUG. The first & last time I tried using it I raked the ashes and coals into the pedistal. Half of it went in the pan and half laid on the bottom of the pedistal, then I had to clean the hot coals off the floor of the inside of the pedistal. The hole on mine was lined up with the edge of the bin, so anything that fell through fell on the side wall of the bin and either went in or out of the bin.
So, I just scooped. Stoves are kinda just messy.
![[Hearth.com] School me on cleaning ash with active burn](https://www.hearth.com/talk/attachments/img_2402-webp.334676/ "[Hearth.com] School me on cleaning ash with active burn")
The plug in the brick should stay in and be fully seated at all times during a burn. If you decide to use it, pull the plug and rake the ashes and coals into the hole and it should fall into the bin that is inserted in the pedistal base. Plug the hole and reload. Take the ash pan out and dispose of it safely so there is not a bucket of smoldering coals in your house letting off carbon monoxide.
CHECK ALIGNMENT FIRST.
MY ASH PAN DID NOT SIT COMPLETELY UNDER THE PLUG. The first & last time I tried using it I raked the ashes and coals into the pedistal. Half of it went in the pan and half laid on the bottom of the pedistal, then I had to clean the hot coals off the floor of the inside of the pedistal. The hole on mine was lined up with the edge of the bin, so anything that fell through fell on the side wall of the bin and either went in or out of the bin.
So, I just scooped. Stoves are kinda just messy.
I guess I never thought to check the pan for alignment issues! That would suck! I hate scooping it from the front and try to do it when the wife isn’t home so she doesn’t see my mess! 😬
There really isn't a way of avoiding a bit of a mess when you heat with wood.
Or you scoop ashes while you still produce heat in the stove. Anything flying will then get sucked in andnup the flue.due to the draft. That's what I do.
I do that too and it definitely helps, but between wood coming in and ashes going out there isn't really a way as far as I've found in my 30 years of heating with wood to fully eliminate the mess.
The ashes depend on your draft.
Wood coming in, yes. My Dyson works - luckily that debris doesn't fly around.
Wood coming in, yes. My Dyson works - luckily that debris doesn't fly around.
Ctwoodtick
Minister of Fire
I wouldn’t be scooping ash when fire is rip roaring.
For years now I have used an ash vac and try to vac up the cooler ash on the side (embers will destroy the vacuum filter). I used to scoop out ashes too. I found it to be extremely messy with especially warmer ash wanting to float into the room.
For years now I have used an ash vac and try to vac up the cooler ash on the side (embers will destroy the vacuum filter). I used to scoop out ashes too. I found it to be extremely messy with especially warmer ash wanting to float into the room.
![[Hearth.com] School me on cleaning ash with active burn](/talk/data/attachments/334/334717-3214a4294abada7b00cacca0543786bd.jpg?hash=4oDQBeouco)
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
Depends too much on how much I burn, what I burn, and what the forecast is.
In a cold stretch I burn more so I scoop more often. If I burn maple I scoop more than for oak, and that is more than pine.
If there is a forecast cold stretch I tend to empty out the box to have more space
I think the better characterization is how much ashes I take.
A bucket dia 10" gets about 4-5" full. Generally. Unless the forecast makes me want to max space.
In a cold stretch I burn more so I scoop more often. If I burn maple I scoop more than for oak, and that is more than pine.
If there is a forecast cold stretch I tend to empty out the box to have more space
I think the better characterization is how much ashes I take.
A bucket dia 10" gets about 4-5" full. Generally. Unless the forecast makes me want to max space.
Yes that’s what makes the mess! It’s the warm ash that floats into the air when i dump my scoop into the bucket! Fire down, coals are cooling but warm ash still floats into the air and gets over everything. This is what I’m trying to lessen or eliminate as much as possible.
MongoMongoson
Feeling the Heat
If you can find an ash receptacle that fits partially inside the firebox opening, it will help a lot when scooping hot ash. We use a small metal bucket with lid. I place the bucket opening inside the firebox as much as I can when I deposit hot ashes in it. As stoveliker said, the ash dust is then sucked into the stove and presumably out the chimney.
If I try to deposit ashes with embers in the bucket outside of the stove opening, it doesn't matter how gentle I am. A lot of dust is produced. Some goes up the flue, but a lot does not.
If I try to deposit ashes with embers in the bucket outside of the stove opening, it doesn't matter how gentle I am. A lot of dust is produced. Some goes up the flue, but a lot does not.
Woody5506
Minister of Fire
I may get flamed for this one but let the stove burn out and go cold before you clean out. Use an ash bucket and scoop, and shop vac at the top of the bucket to act as a dust collector. This eliminates all mess for me. Pretty dangerous method though if the stove is warm with the possibility of sucking up an ember but it's easy to avoid by keeping the vac hose a proper distance above the bucket.
Clean outs in my opinion are just far easier and safer with a cold stove, as inconvenient as it may be to let it go cold.
Clean outs in my opinion are just far easier and safer with a cold stove, as inconvenient as it may be to let it go cold.
That is how I have been doing it! But it has been rather cold for a good stretch here and hate to play catch up right now with the house temps!
This is how I do it. I repurposed a stainless dog water bowl that fits inside the door. Cuts back on the mess a lot. Most of the fly ash goes up the pipe or settles inside the stove.
EbS-P
Minister of Fire
I do like my ash pan. Just poke around a bit with a pice of kindling each time I load. Not to much. Just keeping it away from the doghouse air and the door lip. Shake the pan down every other day. Dump it once a week. Zero I mean absolutely nothing get in the house.
Only problem is that when you let the stove go out there can be embers buried in the ash for a week or more after the stove goes cold.
I have the same stove. Rarely use the ash pan. I use a coal sifter to separate the ash & small embers from the bigger coals, put the ash to the left & coals to the right, burn a partial load on the coals. When this is winding down the embers in the ash are pretty well burned out, however depending on how hot the box is the ash can be glowing orange. If the ash isn't glowing I scoop it out. If it is glowing I crack the door to cool the ash down, stir the ash up, close to a crack, stir the ash, etc until there's no embers or glowing ash. It's tough to remove any ash when heat demand is high.
As for "fly ash" when you dump into the pail, try gently placing it in instead of dumping it. I put my ash pail right in front of the stove on the right, get a scoop, put it over the pail, gently lower it in tilting the pail a little if it's completely empty. Those first few scoops can make a lot of fly ash if just dropped. Once there's some ash in the pail it cushions the next scoops somewhat, but if you drop it too hard both the new scoop and what's in the pail can fly.
As for "fly ash" when you dump into the pail, try gently placing it in instead of dumping it. I put my ash pail right in front of the stove on the right, get a scoop, put it over the pail, gently lower it in tilting the pail a little if it's completely empty. Those first few scoops can make a lot of fly ash if just dropped. Once there's some ash in the pail it cushions the next scoops somewhat, but if you drop it too hard both the new scoop and what's in the pail can fly.
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