Isle Royale ash question

Many owners with ash pans get tired of fooling with them and end up just shoveling it out of the box...less hassel.

I scoop out the firebox from the front doors and empty the ash pan all at once. I can normally get 3-4 days worth of burn time without having to empty it. However, the coals will eventually get too deep and my firebox becomes too small to get a decent burn time. The coals can also get as high as the primary air tubes in the rear. This can cause slow starts when you're reloading on a cold night.

I clean my IR every 6-9 days by just scooping it out of the front doors. The cleaning is usually done on a warmer day. I don't bother with the ash tray. Performance does degrade if the ash builds up but not that bad.

I use the ash pan on my IR, but I'll admit it could be a bit bigger. I always just use the shovel to push the ashes/coals around the firebox until most of the ash falls through the grate, remove, and dump. I don't find it to be as much of a hassle as a lot of people do, I guess. I consider scooping out the front a first class PITA.

I use a little of both. If the ash pan is empty, I'll use the rake to scrape the ashes into the pan for a couple of days. Then for a few days
after that, I shovel a couple of scoops through the front doors every day or so. About once per week, I empty the ash tray and scoop out
most of what's left of the ash in the firebox. I've also noticed that performance degrades if I go more than a week without emptying
ashes.

As to the ash pan itself, it's hard to guesstimate when it's full and when it overflows, it's a bit of mess