How do you manage the dust?????

I sit down with the dust and outline clear expectations. Then, I schedule quarterly reviews to discuss performance issues and to see where it stands on its goals.

Just to let you know, the dust has successfully met it's goal of coating everything on many occasions. I would fire the dust, but unfortunately my house is a union house and we lose at arbitration every time.....

GAMMA RAY said:

Yeah, I don't mind all the cob webs, it's when I walked into my dining room and slipped on the dusty hardwood floor and almost broke....perhaps a hip, nahh, too young for that. But could have broke somthing, I am not that coordinated.

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Oh, I'm definitely in favor of dealing with dust when it becomes life-threatening. Bad way to die, IMO.

"My idea of superwoman is someone who scrubs her own floors." Bette Midler


I can deal with the dust to a point, I cleaned the mantle before & after the holidays, and I plan on doing it this weekend. But that's pushing it

Remkel said:

I sit down with the dust and outline clear expectations. Then, I schedule quarterly reviews to discuss performance issues and to see where it stands on its goals.

Just to let you know, the dust has successfully met it's goal of coating everything on many occasions. I would fire the dust, but unfortunately my house is a union house and we lose at arbitration every time.....

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Now that gave me a good chuckle.. TY

Shawn

We get lots of dust but I am a clean freak. I vaccum our hardwood floors, kitchen and bath 2-3 times per week. I have a hard time keeping up with the house.

I just got an Ashdragon. Works as described, I can finally clean out the stove without getting flying dust everywhere. Its not without its drawbacks but its 99% cleaner than the old shovel and bucket method.

I use this to clean up my ash lip and hearth, 10 times better than using the shop vac! http://www.amazon.com/Shark-SV780-VX33-18-0-Cordless/dp/B0037HHFMO

gyrfalcon said:

liston said:

One day there were a bunch of us ladies chatting about housekeeping, and one asked, "We just got a woodstove, and now there's dust all over everything! What do y'all do?" The only other woodstove gal and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. "That's what spring cleaning is for!" I said.

Well, that dissatisfied lady got rid of her stove, just couldn't stand all the mess. To each her own.
casey

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Really. I somehow missed out on whatever the propagandizing or clump of genetic material or whatever it is that makes folks freak out about dust, wood debris, etc. I vacuum my floor every six months whether it needs it or not! (However, I have neither small children in the house nor allergies.)

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Yeah, man. For heaven's sake! A home with wood heat is a real home. People working together to make a life worth living.

GAMMA RAY said:

I knew it was that damn shop vac. Knowing my husband, there is no freaking filter in that thing......I have working like a dog cleaning all that damn dust. Wait till he gets up..................

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:lol:

I dust the house once 1-2 times a month and it never gets all that bad. Do have to sweep the floors a few times a week, but that is mainly cause of the dog.

Jutt77 said:

I just got an Ashdragon. Works as described, I can finally clean out the stove without getting flying dust everywhere. Its not without its drawbacks but its 99% cleaner than the old shovel and bucket method.

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Very interesting. I am looking at that thing and would appreciate hearing what the drawbacks are. PM sent. As an aside, I have seen a very low tech, low cost dust reduction system: simply purchase a box fan and attach a similar-sized furnace air filter on the back of it.

i have 2 St. Bernard's and 1 German Shepherd to collect my stove dust. just need to figure out how to collect their hair...

richg said:

Jutt77 said:

I just got an Ashdragon. Works as described, I can finally clean out the stove without getting flying dust everywhere. Its not without its drawbacks but its 99% cleaner than the old shovel and bucket method.

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Very interesting. I am looking at that thing and would appreciate hearing what the drawbacks are. PM sent. As an aside, I have seen a very low tech, low cost dust reduction system: simply purchase a box fan and attach a similar-sized furnace air filter on the back of it.

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i done that before when i had apt with no force air to move around the air in the apt i end up putting a furnace filter behind the box fan and it sure does works!!

GAMMA RAY said:

Well, I found the reason for the excess dust... We have been burning since October and I never noticed anything different...until about 2 weeks ago. The husband brought his shopvac in and has been using it once a day to clean up the stove area. It is old, the filter is old, and that is the culprit. I can deal with a moderate amount of dust but the last 2 weeks has been crazy. That freaking shopvac is the problem not the stove. He can shove that shopvac you know where...At least he was trying to help.

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Could be worse . . . your husband could attempt to clean out the stove at the end of the burning season with the Shop Vac and forget to put a dry wall filter in it and spray fine ash all over the living room . . . just saying . . . .

after burn season my wife puts the curtains through the wash and i clean the windows and sills. we have hardwood floors and use the broom and dustpan. i have a swiffer mop but i put a damp facecloth on it and go over the floors with it. the floors get done weekly. we have a couple small rugs i shake off outside and occasionaly wash. we have a cat and dog so the fur builds up fast. the basement is a whole different floor. its mostly carpet and has to be vacumed a couple times a week. i would love to someday get an outside vacum system where all the dust and filter are outside but in all reality ill probabaly never get that as im not hooked on electrical appliances. i do wipe down the stove occasionaly with a damp cloth if its just warm, never hot. at my place the dog plays with the small chunks that fall off the wood when i bring it in and that they hide whenever that strange vacum noise is heard. i think its worse in summer with the forced a/c on blowing almost 24/7. we have a washable filter and i clean it monthly. dare to say no to dust, pete

The easiest way to control dust disgust is to look at your thermostat and gas bill.

well, along with all the good points about wood-the steady heat, watching the fire, romantic evenings, reloading the stove, hauling the wood inside, hauling to "used wood" (ashes) outside, firing in the middle of the night (to those of you that have to...haha) being careful not to burn yourself with the stove, cleaning up the log rack area, being careful not to burn yourself again, throwing all the burnable scraps into the stove, looking for triple anti-biotic after you've burnt yourself a third time, well after all that, what is a little dust, right?

yooperdave said:

well, along with all the good points about wood-the steady heat, watching the fire, romantic evenings, reloading the stove, hauling the wood inside, hauling to "used wood" (ashes) outside, firing in the middle of the night (to those of you that have to...haha) being careful not to burn yourself with the stove, cleaning up the log rack area, being careful not to burn yourself again, throwing all the burnable scraps into the stove, looking for triple anti-biotic after you've burnt yourself a third time, well after all that, what is a little dust, right?

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Y'know, even dogs and cats know enough not to get burned more than once by the same thing. Just sayin'.

On the larger point, I agree with you entirely.

falcon-just my feeble attempt at humor.....there were no burns real or imagined in the fabrication of that story...

I don't have a dust issue, but I don't vacuum our ash.

yooperdave said:

falcon-just my feeble attempt at humor.....there were no burns real or imagined in the fabrication of that story...

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Oh, OK.

Never mind.

i have a cheetah ash vacuum. they're made for wood stoves. work great. i have an ash pan, so i do not have to vacuum too often. google it and buy it. i'm happy with mine. shop vacs don't cut it. the hepa filter will get clogged and forget about hot ashes. i can vacuum hot ashes and small burning embers no problem.

Carbon_Liberator said:

The dust is one reason I like let the circulation fan on our house furnace system run on low continuously, it is basically a big whole house filtration system. Also it helps circulate and moderate the temperature throughout the house.
Of course the key to this system is to make sure that you change the filters frequently and buy good quality filters...

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We also rely on our circ fan to catch most of the dust; a return vent is located not far from the stove.

Unfortunately, I sometimes forget to change it more often than I do, and the attached picture shows the result of waiting too long.

Despite the fan and filter, we still get a fair amount of sitting dust in the living area where the stove is located.