ashes from wood stove

has anyone found a way to remove the ashes from a wood burner without getting dust everywhere.ash box is on bottom,with a pullout drawer.

My wood stove is at the shop. Just put a large aluminum grain scoop under the door and pull out the drawer and scrape the rest into the scoop. Could probably use a snow shovel too but large grain scoop works best. Then dump it all in 55 gallon barrels outside saving it for the yard and garden later.

I just use a small, flat shovel, and try not to get too vigorous, and don't have too much trouble with "ashes all over". If you're trying to dump an ash drawer into a bucket, you'll get it everywhere- you have to shovel it gently, like an elderly person would. Being elderly myself, it comes easily to me.

When the fire is out and the ashes have cooled spray some water with a mister bottle,stir the ashes around gently and mist them..pretty much eliminates the dust

Never seen any dust when I"ve gotten my ashes hauled.

Smoke, maybe.

Been wondering that myself. We"ve been kicking around getting a woodburning insert. Had a few fires in the fireplace (just wood in a grate) and makes for nice atmosphere but really doesn"t do much unless you are 5 feet away. Most of it goes up in smoke.

Biggest concern with going to the woodburner is how much mess it"s going to create, especially when emptying the ash tray.

If that insert is in your living room you will have a mess. You will have wood bark and saw dust on the wood coming in. Then you will have the ashes and dust going out. Our house has a big fireplace in it. Twenty years ago we though that it would be nice/cheap to heat some with wood. We bought a "Buck" brand of insert. It made great heat but my wife spent more time cleaning than resting with it in the house. We notice dust even in the other rooms. It is still in the fireplace but I only light it for backup heat. Have not even used it for that the last few years. I installed a propane fueled backup generator.

My stove has pull out ash tray which I empty into a metal 5 gal pall with lid.I open lid of bucket just enough to let ashes side into bucket,closing lid once ashes are inside trapping dust in bucket.Works for me.

They use to make a vacuum type cleaner for just the thing. It was a metal bucket that you hooked to your shop vac. The bucket had 2 holes cut in the metal top, one with a fireproof type hose, the other had a metal filter,that hooked to your shop vac.When you used it the hot ashes were supposed to be caught in the metal can and no dust or mess outside of the shop vac. Been a while since I seen one,but I"m sure someone knows where they are. HTH.
Reguards,LOU

http://www.lovelessash.com/

Dont use a vacuum cleaner on hot wood ashes your vac will go up in smoke fast.

I have one of these... Pick them up in the BB stores from 30-50 bucks. Only thing I saw close on American sites was with a motor and not very good reviews. These are pretty slick. Just stick the hose of a shopvac etc in the hole in top and use the hose on it for a pickup. Mine came with a shopvac my wife got me and has made me real lazy. Could be simple to make from a 5gal bucket and stuff robbed from an old vacuum cleaner. I can post a couple pics of mine if someone would like. Would be glad to send ready made ones also but the postage could be 20 bucks or so (Domestic from NY for 8 pounds or so).

Dave

http://www.louistools.de/catalog/pr...mp;utm_medium=psm&utm_content=textanzeige

Hello 88-1175,
I use my shop vac. I leave it ouside the house, sneak in the hose through the closest window.
Home vac has the same hose so that makes the difference in lenght, and it reaches the fire box.
Guido.

I'm not sure whether you are talking a wood stove or a wood furnace.
Anyway, I bought a Soapstone stove for my living room 4 years ago. It has a door at the bottom from which a 3-sided ash drawer slides out.
I found that by keeping a very large cookie sheet under the stove and pulling it out with the drawer, I could catch any ashes that would otherwise fall on to the hearth. I gently walk the ash pan on the cookie sheet outside and dump it into a covered steel ash can. Very little dust that way. I will agree with the other comment about all the dirt brought in with the wood; that is the dirtiest part of burning wood with a stove inside the house.
BTW, my previous Vermont Castings stove had a swing out ash pan with a slide on handled cover that worked very well for containing the ashes.

I've heated with wood in many houses, in fireplaces, fireplace inserts, and freestanding stoves. Here are some of my observations:

If I remember to do it, I have a plastic or paper bag large enough to contain the ash box ready when I take it out of the stove. Close the bag around it and take it out where you can empty it without concern about spilling some ash. Moving slow and not creating air movement is important.

If I have to clean the ash box or fire box, I've found that a joint taping broadknife works better than a dustpan. I have an 8" one with a slightly offset handle so it's shaped something like a dustpan, and I use a smaller straight broadknife instead of a brush to push ash onto it. The rebound of the bristles of a brush kick up a bit of ash dust but the stiff blade of the taping knife doesn't.

Fly ash is fine enough to pass through any normal shop vac or residential vacuum cleaner filter, and it's not good for the motor. I don't know whether a HEPA filter will stop it.

Besides the other ways that wood burning is dirty, there is always a certain amount of smoke that escapes when you are trying to establish the draft of a new fire, and possibly some that escapes whenever you add more wood. If you smoke tobacco in the house, burn lots of candles, or burn a couple of meals a week in the kitchen, this won't matter. Otherwise, you will have to repaint more often to keep the walls and ceiling from looking grimy.

All the best, Stan

That's pretty much the nature of the beast. I once had a wood burning stove that was near a wall to which I adapted an "exhaust" fan. It helped tremendously with exhausting smoke and ash dust out to the outside. I built a "hood" that fit on the top of the wood box door with tubing going outside. If you burn wood, you're going to have smoke and ashes. Period.

Stan's comment on the drywall knife is similar to how I've done it, using an old piece of sheet metal to fill a metal dustpan. Another setup is shown below--basically it's a metal dustpan with a sliding cover. No first-hand experience or connection to the company (located in Syracuse, NY) but if nothing else it's a thought-starter. The better "shop-vac" setups will also handle ashes, including an occasional hot one, but are VERY expensive. Cheap vacuums will NOT handle ashes, and in a worst-case scenario can burn up or contribute to a house fire--hot ashes can stay hot for days or even weeks if buried in other ashes, which are an excellent insulator.
ash trapper

Drywall blade is also handy for cleaning up after the animals. Even on carpet.

Heres a link to what I was talking about.No hot ashes in your shop vac.Hope this helps

http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com/bad-ash-fireplace-cleaners.html

I got an air tight Yotul wood stove with an pull out ash drawer, i made a second one pan from sheet metal which i place halfway under the stove .when i pull the full pan one out, any spill will fall in the empty pan,with a scraper i can then pull spilled ashes from the bottom of the stove in the empty pan and place that pan back in stove.
Hardly no dust or ashes on the floor ever.

The full pan is left under the stove to cool off and later put outside in a barrel with lid.

We have a Wood Burning Furnace, and it is outside about 50 feet from the house; therefore we don't have to worry about getting dirt and ashes in the house (not even smoke). haha, we just pile the ashes up on the ground and eventually scoop them up with the skid loader and put around the base of our fruit trees.