Monthly Stove Clean Out, What Do You Guys Use?

[EXCALIBER]

Well it was again time for the dreaded stove clean out. My ashes were clear up to the top of the firebricks and with a big storm blowing in I decided today was the day. My stove does have a nice ash pan that sits underneath it, but I find when I do clean out my stove once or so a month, the pan is way too small for this. It would work great if a guy cleaned a little out every time he filled it with wood, however I do not.

So some questions for you guys; What kind of stove do you have, cat, non cat, secondary burn, or pre-EPA? How often do you clean your stove out? How many inches of ashes do you accumulate before you clean the stove out? What do you use to clean out the stove? Those of you with an ash pan do you use it? How much ash do you get out of the stove on a cleaning? Do you clean the glass with anything? What other steps am I missing or that you use?

I have a Blaze King Ultra with cat and I clean it out about once (usually), maybe twice a month. I would say I get close to 8 or 9 inches deep of ashes. I get two buckets filled to the brim with ashes. I would say the bucket is 4 gallons at least so about 8 or 9 gallons of ash. I use the metal scoop that came with the bucket I bought at Menards to scoop the ashes out. Seems quicker then using the ash pan although messier. Sometimes I clean the glass with some soot remover since I have the stove cool anyway. Then I use the shop vac to clean up around the stove.

The problems I run into is I always have coals left that I have to sit and sort out of the ashes. This is kind of a pain in the butt, but on the other hand I do not have to use any paper to relight. I have been thinking about making a deep scoop with expanded quarter inch hole metal over the top of it thus letting the ash fall to the bottom, and leaving the coals on the top. Maybe a flat spatula would would better than a scoop? Anyway then you could just sweep the coals into the corner while you kept cleaning the stove. I take as much of the ashes out as I can, even thought they say leave some in the bottom of the stove. Does anyone leave a layer of ashes in the stove?

The reason I hate cleaning the stove is I have to make two trips outside with the bucket, it seems to take a while to clean it out maybe half hour or 45 mins, and I always have coals left. I probably should bring my old welding gloves home from the shop and use them when cleaning the stove out. The real downside is I usually have to time the cleaning with a nice warm day so the house does not get too cold, hard to do in the middle of winter.

So what works the best for you, any ideas you have not tried yet?

 

[ponyexpress976]

I have a Lopi Freedom and it burns terrible if the ashes get to deep. Im cleaning it out once a week if not more. Ashes get scooped into a metal container which spends most of its life outside. Sometimes Im actually scooping out coals...the reason for the ouside storage. My container is an old laundry tub...about 15 gallons. When its full I dump it onto some metal screen I have stapled to a frame that matches my wheelbarrow. Ashes go through, charcoal pieces go back inside to the stove. The wheelbarrow makes for easy transport to areas of the yard/garden/compost that are next to be dusted.

 

[Ayatollah]

If we are burning everyday. I clean the ashes out weekly. I use a small fireplace shovel and scoop them into a stainless steel milk bucket which is then allowed to cool until the next week. About once every six weeks I use the shop vac to get into all the cracks and crevasses too. The used ash gets distributed to several places, one being the dog poo-poo composter, two different holes where redwood leaves are composting, the banks of the canal we live on, and mixed in with some cement pourings to make various bricks. Anything left over goes into the trash can.

One discovery I happened upon was that during the scooping out, some particles inevitably end up in the cracks where the fan unit attaches to the insert, and the filter they put in there gets caked up and begins to restrict flow, and push ash dust all over the house. Unfortunately it's a little chore to clean, as it requires some disassembly to remove the fan unit, and then take apart the sleeve where the filter is.

 

[Chris-PA]

I rarely ever clean it out. I have a couple of cheap ash buckets and a fireplace-tool shovel. I take some ashes out regularly when it gets too high, but rarely ever clean it - ashes are your friend. Often I'll pull a few scopes of ashes out the front edge when I"m reloading.


The Magnolia has an ash pan but I've never figured out why anyone would want to dig through the ashes to open up that little hole and then push ashes through it. The H200 doesn't have one as I knew I'd never use it and so it was not a required feature.

 

[Whitespider]

Wow! I don't find it to be such a big deal... nor do I make a project of it...
Mine is old, steel and cast, no ash drawer. Three cast iron grates sit a few inches off the bottom, ashes fall through the grates. Once a week, usually on Sunday morning in my slippers, I...

1. pour cup of coffee
2. walk down steps to wood furnace
3. open flue damper and furnace door
4. push hot coals to rear
5. lift up grate nearest door
6. scoop ashes into steel bucket (while drinking coffee)
7. drop grate back in place
8. pull hot coals forward
9. toss splits on hot coals
10. Close door and set flue damper (last gulp from cup of coffee at this time)
11. carry bucket (and coffee cup) up steps and open back door
12. set bucket outside on concrete (next trip out with boots on it gets emptied into the woodlot)
13. pour another cup of coffee

The whole deal, including re-loading the firebox and pouring both cups of coffee, takes less than 10 minutes.

 

[greendohn]

clean your glass with wet newspaper and ash from the stove, just dip the wet paper in ashes and rub on glass, smear it around a little and presto !! clean glass( well, ceramic, in most cases, not really glass). use an OWB for the house,,rake, shovel ashes as needed. use a little wood stove in the garage, with ash pan, love the ash pan on mine, slide it out and dump. I broadcast some ashes on the garden, and try to spread the whole yard with some ashes before winter is out, after snow has fallen, because I dont wanna track any ashes into the house I never spread any where people walk.

 

[SS396driver]

I have a pre -EPA Vigilant Coal/wood stove I just shake the grates till I get some embers in the ash pan. When the pan is full I have another and just swap them out . take the full one out and put it in a metal garbage can . All set for next weeks change out

 

[howard270]

I was thinking about starting this very thread. Installed an Osburn 2400 insert about a month ago. I am burning hedge and black locust mostly so I have been cleaning it out once a day due to all the coals that do not burn very quickly. I scoop out what I can, while leaving the larger still burning coals in to continue burning. If I burn pecan or oak, I can go a week without cleaning it out.

The hot coals and ash go into an old 5 gallon metal can with an almost airtight lid, which I sit in a room that was built onto the house, but is technichally not part of the house. This room has a doggy door and I let the dogs come in when cold out or raining and they sleep within a few feet of the can for warmth. The floor is tile, but I still put it up on concrete stepping stone so the dogs won't get right on it.

If it is warm and dogs are not in there, the can goes outside.

I dump the ashes on the lawn, around trees, in fields, in fire pit, or just about wherever I think they need to go. If icy, they go on driveway.

 

[Chris-PA]

Why would you take out coals?

 

[howard270]

Why would you take out coals?

I don't take out all of them, just the smaller ones (about marble size) that I don't feel are worth my time to seperate from the ash during this quick 2 to 3 minute daily clean-out. The larger coals (larger than marbles) are left to continue burning and quickly ignite the splits, logs, or whatever I have handy and keep the insert hot and the house warm.

I guess I should put that I use a metal scoop to clean it out and just get it done in a quick efficient manner.

 

[1project2many]

I have a small Englander reburner I clean weekly. Using 1/4" by 36" stainless steel rod, some left over stainless sheet, and 1/4" hole screen I made a sifting scoop. Cleanout procedure is shovel up ashes, coals and charcoal from RH side of stove, shake ashes out gently on right side, dump coals / charcoal on left side. 3-4 repeats then grab $2 yard sale ash shovel and transfer ashes into old porcelain covered metal refrigerator crisper drawer. Then shovel up coals/ charcoal/ ashes from left side, gently shake ashes out into pile on left side, dump coals / charcoal on RH side. Repeat 2-3 times then grab ash shovel and transfer remaining ashes into drawer.

Ash accumulation and subsequent removal quantity depends on time of year and mix of wood being burned. Generally 2" or so on bottom of stove equals about 5" in drawer. In shoulder season when burning lighter woods cleanout may occur at .75 week intervals. Ashes are dumped near brook so rainwater can carry them into stream once a month (ashes help counter the acid rain we get here) but primarily they're spread across the hilly portion of the driveway.

Drawer is kept out in barn so entire job probably takes 15-20 minutes from getting drawer to returning it. The only change I would make is that I made the sifting scoop about the same size as one of those tin dustpans you'll see in industrial places or in school, maybe 10" or so. Should have been narrower as it's bulky to use with that little stove.

 

[NCHornet]

I have a Hot Blast 1557, it has a large ash pan. I normally dump the pan every morning before adding new wood. The pan is aprox 8-10" wide by three foot or so. Ashes are dumped into a metallic trash can and dumped back in the woods when it get's full.

 

[CTYank]

Little Morso "Squirrel" has ash drawer below grate. Grate center section can be rotated from outside.

Clean-out (only coals & ash in firebox):
Shake grate to send down ash; wait half-hour for coals that dropped into drawer to burn.
Remove drawer and dump into metal container outside; cover same. Spread outside later.
Add drawer & small splits. Essentially no ash flying in the house.

Frequency: every other day or so in Jan-Feb, to once/week in shoulders.

Layer of ash in firebox recommended by Morso to keep nearby castings cool. Higher firebox temps help keep combustion efficiency up.

 

[ss~zoso~ss]

we clean our Osburn 1600 insert out 2 or so times a week.

We turn up all the coal chunks and get em to the top in a pile and leave the door open, turn the fan off, and let them radiate out heat for a hour or so. Suckers sure put off a lot of heat, we then shovel them out and either let the bucket set outside or dump them in the snow away from the house.

Burning your stove in complete cycles really helps minimize the ash buildup, letting it burn nearly down to nothing then adding more wood. Unfortunately this is the least convenient way to fuel the stove..

 

[cheeves]

I have a Lopi Freedom and it burns terrible if the ashes get to deep. Im cleaning it out once a week if not more. Ashes get scooped into a metal container which spends most of its life outside. Sometimes Im actually scooping out coals...the reason for the ouside storage. My container is an old laundry tub...about 15 gallons. When its full I dump it onto some metal screen I have stapled to a frame that matches my wheelbarrow. Ashes go through, charcoal pieces go back inside to the stove. The wheelbarrow makes for easy transport to areas of the yard/garden/compost that are next to be dusted.

Amazing, I got the same old galvanized laundry tub. Nave a couple of old buckets but like the big tub.

Biggest pain with this Tempwood is cleanig out the ashes- by far! Use an old broken handle shovel, about 31/2 ft. long. Still have the bent shovel but haven't used it since the 70's! How often I clean out the ashes has to do with how cold it is and how much wood I burn. Have to time it so the fire burns down. Not easy to do when it's really cold. Have to be careful too with the wind blowing sparks. Live on a hill and sometimes really blows up here. Ocean's only 400 yrds away. Solve that by pouring some water over the ashes sometimes. This time of year have to let ashes sit outside in tub quite awhile. Don't need to burn the town down! :msp_smile:

 

[slowp]

I have a Warshington State certified stove. It has all those tubes in it. I grab a little shovel, that my dad gave to me because my Scandhoovian Cowboy/Blacksmith Grandpa made it, and shovel ash into a bucket--metal of course, and take it outside. This takes a couple minutes, and because I'm burning maple, it occurs two or three times a week. Our maple makes more ash than the normally burned softwoods.

My stove has one of those trap door things but I find it quicker just to shovel.

The shovel is very sturdy and should last another few generations.

 

[Sierra99]

Our stove burns about 18 hrs a day,

it's too hot to keep stokin' through the daytime. Jotul Oslo, love it. The glass is self-cleaning.

Come evening, the stove is cooled down. I use a regular wisk broom to brush ash through the grate. sometimes the coals will burn the bristles, but most brooms last several years, maybe 5 years.

Any coals left burning relights the kindling while I'm dumping the ash pan outside. I leave the ash door ajar while I dump ashes and fetch another days worth of splits. On return the coals are fired up and the kindling well started, I re-latch the ash door then load up the firebox. Total time: 5 minutes per day.

T daily cleanup is quick and easy and prevents ash from falling out onto the hearth. Also helps minimize ash dust inside the house.

I find if I let it go for several days the clean up is a lot more work, ash falls out the doors, overflows the ash pan, gets all over the hearth, generates more airborne dust, etc. The quick daily clean up is less work for me than letting it go.

To each his own way. If I'm out of town my wife lets the ash pile up, and ash gets all over the hearth, and piles up behind the ash pan so it won't go back in. when I return home, I have to spend a bit longer cleaning up the mess, but we have a good shop vac so no biggy.

Then again, firebox and ash pan size has a lot to do with it, and the Oslo has a medium box and small pan, so the daily cleanout works out well. Some friends of mine have stoves with huge fireboxes and large pans to go with it, and they clean out only twice per week.

 

[SPDRMNKY]

Vermont Castings Sequoia 455C...bolt together cast wood/coal beauty that doesn't have it's cat anymore

shaker grates and poker send ash down to the pan...gets full every 3rd day or so

pull it out and use a gucci fireplace shovel to transfer to metal bucket...also get excess in ash pan chamber

bucket sits on fireplace until it's daylight or cool...or both...then gets dumped into a metal garbage can on the porch

empty the can on non-blizzard days...about 3-4 times a year...compost pile or along ditch edge

then in July I make a day of chimney and stove cleaning...with a shop vac...that's when the glass gets cleaned

cheers!

 

[nandoz]

Depends on the wood...

I have a Drolet Myriad with the tubes in the top. I clean it out every other day or so, unless I am burning crap wood then it's every day. It has the ash drop in the bottom but it's easier with the shovel. I used to have an old Blaze King KTJ-502, that thing had a 8" flue and never needed cleaned. Every two hours it was empty, no wood, no coals, no nothing. Anyone ever try cleaning the ashes out of their air intake?

 

[sunfish]

Shovel out the ashes once or twice a week.

Burning wood make ashes, whats the big deal? :msp_confused: