Those who burn all day, when do you shovel ash?

[staplebox]

Burn 24/7 - Biobricks from 8-5p M-F - otherwise hardwood.
I clean it out every 2-4 days or when the coals start clogging the secondary tubes.
Always in the morning.
Flick the coals from side to side with a regular shovel and aim for the dust.
5 gallon galvanized garbage bucket with a lid from Ace

 

[RonB]

As of late, I have been taking a little ash out every morning (someone else's tip). The front 1/3 of the firebox burns down first and finest. This is the ash I remove. Also, I occasionally will move the coals from side to side and scrape the finer ash from underneath. Do it in cycle with the stove-any time it is cool enough and they are fine.

 

[crazy_dan]

I'm having a hard time understanding daily cleanings. I mean is the stove getting hot enough to reduce coals properly? I burn 24/7 and don't need to clean out for 2 weeks (this with a really small 1.6 cu ft firebox). It works better with some ash in the bottom of the firebox anyway...
For a bucket try a medium-sized metal trash can (10 gallons or so). Leave it on the hearth for a few hours after cleaning out (to cool), don't have to empty it but every couple of months.
regards, rick

It's not that we have to it is just part of our routine.

 

[velvetfoot]

I used the KoalKeeper (meshed shovel) this morning on a good bed of coals that I really didn't need to use it on. It worked fine. A little time consuming with all those coals, but you wouldn't really use it ordinarily with all those coals. One purpose of the shovel, per the mfr, is to get the hot coals together, I guess if there aren't that many, to start another fire.

 

[Wolves-Lower]

I clean some ash out every morning before load.
I find if I don't, then my heat output becomes less.
I just use a shovel and an old popcorn tin.

 

[begreen]

I just push some ash thru the grates when the ash gets high enough to be annoying at the front of the stove. Usually emptying the ash pan a couple times a week now.

 

[swestall]

I shovel mine every morning just kick the glowing stuff to one side shovel ash kick glowing stuff to other side shovel ash then I always get some glowing stuff in the coal hod I use as an ash can so I spread the coals around toss in some Small stuff then I take my coal hod full of ash and little coals and dump it in the burning barrel outside. usually when I get back in the small stuff is caught and then I fill er up with more wood.

Since I am burning 24/7 cleaning the ashes is definately a problem. The only redeeming quality of the VC stoves is that they have an exceptional ash removal system.

So, I decided to try to use your suggestion with the Mansfield. I pushed the large coals off to one side and scooped out a few shovels of ash, then did the other side, then raked some ash forward from the back and repeated. It was easy and then I spread the coals out, the bed was reduced about 2 inches. I loaded on top of it and away we went. This is a good way to do it.

When I get that shovel with the ash sifting screen in it and add it to this method I think that will be the best way to get the ash out and into the can!

Best Regards to All.....

 

[Mandoo]

I rake small coals and ash letting it filter through the grates open the ash door and remove hot pan and replace with my extra pan that I purchased. After the pan cools I empty into the typical ash bucket with lid. I love this method it's so much cleaner than the old way.

One downside with stoves that have pans and ash doors. You must be very careful with your timing and the size of your coal bed. You can change your woodburner into a forge real quick!

 

[Heat Miser]

On my VC Defiant Catalytic I do the following each morning:

1) Open the damper.
2) Open the top load door
3) Take my shovel through the top load door and move the coals around back and forth so the ashes can drop through the grate into the ashpan.
4) Push all the hot coals into a pile near the front of the stove.
5) Check ash pan level to see if it is too high. If it is, I pull it out and dump it (probably every few days it needs this).
6) Replace ash pan/close door.
7) Reload with wood, damper open for a few minutes to get it hot again and damper down to activate Cat.
8) Repeat all season.

Doing the above I don't have to open the front doors which is a lot cleaner. I only need to dump ashes every few days. Sometimes I don't even bother with the above if I know the ashpan isn't near full and I will just rearrange the coals and load it with wood and get it going.

 

[Girl]

When it needs it about once a week maybe once every two weeks.
Once & a great while I will take out a couple shovel fulls in the week.
I don't get mountains of ashes.
My stove performs better with a small thin bed of ash for insulation anyway.

 

[Stihl025]

I'm in the process of perfecting my redneck version of that. I bought a $0.99 shovel at Lowes during their 50% off closeout and I'm in the process of drilling holes in it to sift the ash.
Eric

Wouldn't a metal kitty litter pooper scooper work as well? Just put on an extention. Maybe I'll try that.

 

[esh21167]

I'm not a wood burner yet, but am looking for an insert right now. Along these lines I haven't seen fireplace inserts with removable ash pans. Are there any out there?

 

[bruce]

ash pan here way to easy

 

[colsmith]

We have an ash pan/grate on our stove, but it is more annoying to slide the grate back and push the ashes around and through the slots and then try to get the grate closed again (what if small coals or lumps wedge in it?) than to just shovel it out every week to 10 days. We usually clean out ashes after we have visited a friend who lives almost 70 miles away. Takes at least an hour to drive each way, and we stay for a long time playing with her adorable 1 and 2 1/2 year old girls. So by the time we get home, the stove has not too many coals left. The ash layer keeps the coals hot a lot longer, so we don't empty it until they seem like they will spill out. Once in a great while I will just shovel some ash from the sides where they are cooled off, but mostly we wait until it is 'full.'

I imagine that it stirs up more ash into the air to push them all around regularly than to just shovel once a week, not sure if that is true. We use the ash shovel from our fireplace tool set that we got on freecycle, can't beat that price. We use a wide metal bushel basket sort of thing which a garbage can lid conveniently fits on, they were both things my mom left lying around the garage when she moved out.

 

[MarkG]

I just bought a ashvac, a metal container shop vac like thing with a metal hose, let stove cool a bit, vacume out, even if a few hot coals get in it dosnt matter to the vac...done, very little mess, time but is quite noisy, I use ear protection.

Mark

 

[velvetfoot]

To update this thread:

The koalkeeper never worked out too good for me-too much shaking.

On the other hand, I went back to the Ash Trap and I think it's great.