Fireplace advice, Part 2

[EddieWalker]

I've found that the ash pan is pretty much more work then it's worth. I don't like trying to get the ash into the hole that goes down into the pan, and then playing around with emptying it and cleaning up the mess that is left. It's just not very effective.

I tried scooping the ash out with a plastic dustpan and emptying it into a five gallon, plastic bucket. I have a lot of those buckets. The fist time it worked great. The second time, I had some hot coals in there and it melted my plastic dust pan. I call those "bald moments"

I went to Home Depot and found a shovel in the fireplace section that was about $8 I think, and a metal bucket that was $10. The shovel is perfect for reaching in there and scooping up the ash. It takes about two minutes and I'm done!!!!! Fast, easy and very little mess.

Eddie

 

[PILOON]

When I used a slow combustion, I found that the combustion was so complete that ash removal was minimal.
I cleaned up barely once a month!--and that the ash was but a very fine powder.
I kept the stove running 24/24 with usually 4 fills/day.

Gave up on wood and went to oil due to the excessive handling of wood as well as rising wood costs. I burned about 10 cords/ season ('face' cords).

Today a face cord runs $100.+ per for what they call semi dry. (semi= cut this year) and that is generally a mix of maple/birch/hickory and oops, some fir got in there by accident.

When I counted all the handling time and mess created I opted for the switch.

 

[MossRoad]

I've found that the ash pan is pretty much more work then it's worth. I don't like trying to get the ash into the hole that goes down into the pan, and then playing around with emptying it and cleaning up the mess that is left. It's just not very effective.

I tried scooping the ash out with a plastic dustpan and emptying it into a five gallon, plastic bucket. I have a lot of those buckets. The fist time it worked great. The second time, I had some hot coals in there and it melted my plastic dust pan. I call those "bald moments"

I went to Home Depot and found a shovel in the fireplace section that was about $8 I think, and a metal bucket that was $10. The shovel is perfect for reaching in there and scooping up the ash. It takes about two minutes and I'm done!!!!! Fast, easy and very little mess.

Eddie

Nice hats! :laughing:

I bought that exact same shovel last week at Lowes for 6. Then we went to Wallmart and it was 5. Later in the day, we were at Meijers and it was 4!

Anyhow, I plan to put some holes in it to make a sifter as mentioned earlier.
We have an ash bucket (made of steel ) but it usually just holds kindling wood.

I also have my father's fireplace set from when I was a kid. It is a shovel and a poker with a hook. I didn't want to drill that one. The poker is an invaluable tool. If you don't have one, get one for sure.

Tonight its 22 outside. Its 75 in here! :thumbsup:

 

[MossRoad]

Regarding plastic buckets... don't ever use a shop vac either! :laughing:

In all seriousness, every year we hear about people cleaning their stoves or fireplaces and putting the ash bucket outside... only they put it too near the side of their house and the coals flair up and start the siding on fire. That, and plastic buckets seem to be the most frequent cause of cleaning type fires.

 

[MossRoad]

When I used a slow combustion, I found that the combustion was so complete that ash removal was minimal.
I cleaned up barely once a month!--and that the ash was but a very fine powder.
I kept the stove running 24/24 with usually 4 fills/day.

Gave up on wood and went to oil due to the excessive handling of wood as well as rising wood costs. I burned about 10 cords/ season ('face' cords).

Today a face cord runs $100.+ per for what they call semi dry. (semi= cut this year) and that is generally a mix of maple/birch/hickory and oops, some fir got in there by accident.

When I counted all the handling time and mess created I opted for the switch.

I burned about 5-6 full cords each of the last two years. A full cord is 4' x 4' x 8', while a face cord is only 16" x 4' x 8'. A full cord here goes for about $125.00 delivered. I cut my own. We are fortunate to have wood on our property about 9 miles away. I try to handle it as few times as possible.

 

[dmccarty]

Eddie I have two of those ash shovels. :thumbsup: One I drilled to sift the coals but I made the holes to small. I do have the drill out so maybe I should redrill. :laughing: The sifter I made out of metal wire to keep out the hot coals was not worth the effort.

I put my hot ashes in a 5 gallon metal bucket with a lid. Looks like yours but hard to tell. I either empty the ashes into the garden or dump the ashes into a 5 gallon bucket until I can dump the ashes. Depends on the time of day, how much time I have, and if it is wet. The youngest ashes will have been in the metal bucket for at least 12-24 hours before getting put into the plastic bucket. So far no problems.

Shoveling the stove out is just easier and fast than using that ash pan and one can carefully, slowly dump the ashes, without making a mess. Most of the time.

We burn a variety of hardwood but mainly red oak, white oak, hickory and maybe some Ash. Sometimes we get very little ash but sometimes a lot. I cannot figure out which give more or less ash. But I empty the ashes about once a day.

Later,
Dan

 

[EddieWalker]

It's snowing today and I'm absolutely loving my wood stove!!!! Seeing the snow come down and having plenty of wood split just makes it all so worthwhile.

I finished splitting all my wood yesterday. I'm not even close to having a place to stack it, but for now, that's not a big deal. What is a big deal is having my home nice and warm, seeing the fire burning and knowing that I'm gonna keep warm if I lose power. It's a wonderful feeling.

Thank you to everyone who helped me out in doing this!!!!

Eddie

 

[westbrooklawn]

Eddie -

There is no warmth that can compare to a woodstove... your setup looks great. Thanks for the advice on the roof flashing you told me about a while ago. I got the same type flashing and finished installing an older "Fisher Mama Bear" stove in my shop. It is not as efficient as the newer stoves, but it still puts out an amazing amount of heat. The knowledge that you can still stay warm in a power outage is a comforting feeling.

 

[MossRoad]

Enjoy the warmth, Eddie!

We go two feet of snow yesterday. 39" total since Thursday. House is 74, dry and toasty! :thumbsup:

 

[dmccarty]

When the power goes out,
And you come in from a freezing outside,
To a warm and toasty house,
PRICELESS.

Makes all that work making firewood a non memory. :laughing:

Later,
Dan