Best and worse disposal idea for fireplace ash

[Ford850]

Ash is a good insulator. I’ve had buckets that still had coals for several days.

I learned that the hard way. 2 day old ash in the metal bucket, and I spread it along the edge of the yard close to the woods. I never do that anymore. It was a breezy day and there were still hot coals in the ash, and it lit up the dry leaves. I barely caught it in time to get it stomped out before it got out of control.

 

[shooterdon]

Ash is a good insulator. I致e had buckets that still had coals for several days.

Learned that last year. I use an ash bucket. Ashes had been in it for about 3 days. Dumped them in the dumpster. Go back a few day later and see there had been a small fire started. Luckily not much in the dumpster as it had been emptied a week or so earlier so it burned itself out quickly.

I will be using ashes for soil amendment and ice from now on.

 

[goeduck]

I leave the coals in the stove and remove the ashes. A while back Moss had a picture of his ash hole scoop. (Scoop with holes in it for the ashes to fall thru but not the coals).

 

[4570Man]

I leave the coals in the stove and remove the ashes. A while back Moss had a picture of his ash hole scoop. (Scoop with holes in it for the ashes to fall thru but not the coals).

I attempted that but it made so much dust trying to sift them that I abandoned the idea.

 

[Oaktree]

I attempted that but it made so much dust trying to sift them that I abandoned the idea.

Yeah, makes enough of a mess just cleaning out the ash without trying to sift.

As far as storage, I just have a galvanized trash can in the woodshed, dump ashes in there. I use enough on ice over the winter that it never gets full until the very end of the season.

 

[dragoneggs]

I sift and then use a dedicated small shop vac to suck the ashes from the bottom of the grill then deposit them where I see fit.

 

[goeduck]

I was prepping the wood stove for the winter last weekend and cleaning out the ash from the last burn (last spring). I got lazy and grabbed a house vac hose and plugged it into the wall receptacle to suck out some of the ash. About as I finished the wife was yelling that the house was on fire, the house was engulfed in smoke. As I rushed outside I realized that the ash was blowing right through the house vac and going straight outside. Looked like Mount St Helens blew up again.

I will have to check to see that the filter is in place. :shocked:

 

[Diggin It]

I'm not getting the ash on ice thing. Any wet ash I've ever seen is a slimey, gooey mess slicker'n snail snot.

 

[Jstpssng]

I'm not getting the ash on ice thing. Any wet ash I've ever seen is a slimey, gooey mess slicker'n snail snot.

When it's cold out you don't need to worry about that. IT does make a mess tracking into the house though, which is why I don't use it. Every year I bring in a pickup load of sand, and mix it with rock salt.

 

[wheelbuilder]

I guess I have 2 'worse' options. I always dump the woodstove ashes in the garden to offset its acid nature. The wife hates that, as our dog will sometimes track them back in the house.
She used to dump them into our compost pile, until she burned up that and our hedge row with a couple live embers left in the ashes.
I don't mention it, but my way didn't require a visit from the fire department. Make sure dead ashes are really dead.