Ash can/bucket?

[Milton Findley]

How much carbon monoxide will 3 gallons of ash give off? They are mostly dead ashes when first taken out, except for a few clinkers - and those don't last long. Do dead ashes release CO? (Honest queastion - have a CO detector and it has never gone off). Also, my basement spot is close to the furnace, where the most fresh air flow is - air in thru a vent for outside combustion air and out thru the furnace firebox up the chimney - and secure. There will be no kids or animals knocking things over there - outside might be a different story.

None, and there is a thread around here that explored that very possibility, along with zinc fumes from hot galvanized buckets. The low temperatures and chemistry keep the CO at negligible levels, and hanging your CO detector over the bucket of hot ashes will prove that for you as it did for me.

 

[weatherguy]

I use a coal hod, got it at lowes on clearance. I think HD has them too. It has a little over 5 gallon capacity. I personally like having a cover. I leave it outside on my concrete stoop and its a windy wintry day, tha ashes stay put. i dont empty it until it is filled, so make sure it has some strong handles. I usually carry it just above the floor in case a handle snaps.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_291653-42783-614_?PL=1&productId=1179185

I got that same one at Lowes on clearance, its perfect for the job.

 

[begreen]

I've used a standard 10 gal galvanized can sitting on bricks out on the porch for about 15 yrs now. It works well and is small enough to bring into the house when cleaning out ash. The main thing to pay attention to is that the coals in the can can stay hot for many days. Don't set it down on any combustible surface for extended periods of time when it is being used in the winter.

 

[firefighterjake]

I dump the ashes and hot coals from the ash pan into a 5-gallon galvanized bucket with a tight fitting cover I bought from the local True Value Hardware store . . . this is done outside . . . bucket sits on a concrete pad or in the snow . . . once full and cool I dump the ash in the garden, yard or in a pile in the woods . . . sometimes I mix it with cement and make little statuettes of Dennis sitting on a milk crate splitting wood vertically.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Please bring one of those to the Woodstock open house.

 

[joecool85]

. . . sometimes I mix it with cement and make little statuettes of Dennis sitting on a milk crate splitting wood vertically.

Jake, you're a dork.

 

[woodchip]

Lid for sure! Tractor Supply has 'em

And the can will stay very warm for days, so be careful where you store it.

Last Spring, I often left the ash bucket on the concrete floor of our greenhouse and it kept the frost off our seedlings overnight.

That probably indicates how much heat ash gives off....a lot more than you would expect ;-)

 

[bpm44]

Ha! Statuettes of Dennis!! Funny Jake!

 

[begreen]

Lid for sure! Tractor Supply has 'em

And the can will stay very warm for days, so be careful where you store it.

Last Spring, I often left the ash bucket on the concrete floor of our greenhouse and it kept the frost off our seedlings overnight.

That probably indicates how much heat ash gives off....a lot more than you would expect ;-)

That's a good idea. I will have to try it this winter.

 

[GAMMA RAY]

. . . sometimes I mix it with cement and make little statuettes of Dennis sitting on a milk crate splitting wood vertically.

Jake, I better be gettin one of those dammit... ;-)
I will place it in the mancave....near the 30......
and I will position the "eyeball recessed light" on it.... :lol:

 

[begreen]

Here ya go Gamma. Your very own to hang up by the 30NC.

 

[pen]

How much carbon monoxide will 3 gallons of ash give off? They are mostly dead ashes when first taken out, except for a few clinkers - and those don't last long. Do dead ashes release CO? (Honest queastion - have a CO detector and it has never gone off). Also, my basement spot is close to the furnace, where the most fresh air flow is - air in thru a vent for outside combustion air and out thru the furnace firebox up the chimney - and secure. There will be no kids or animals knocking things over there - outside might be a different story.

None, and there is a thread around here that explored that very possibility, along with zinc fumes from hot galvanized buckets. The low temperatures and chemistry keep the CO at negligible levels, and hanging your CO detector over the bucket of hot ashes will prove that for you as it did for me.

Perhaps check out this thread on CO and hot coals https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/26124/

Now, I'm sure the average joe isn't doing as the fella in the thread I referenced did, but the fact still is that the combustion of carbon products can produce CO and also it is not safe to store hot coals in your home in anything other than the stove.

I say err on the side of caution and move them outside.

pen

 

[nate379]

I give it a week or two to make sure it's 100% cold and dump it in the dumpster at work. There is nails, staples, screws, etc in there, so no way I'd dumping it in my driveway or yard. Plus it make a big mess come spring time.

What do people want to do with a bunch of ashes?


-Speak

 

[MasterMech]

Lowes had a nice five gallon steel galvanized can with a very tight lid and a handle that clamps the lid closed. We keep it outside on the porch. Both stoves have ash pans, so ash transfer is done outside.

That's what we have but purchased it at the local farm store. Once the 5 gallon can is filled, contents are transferred to a 33 gallon galvanized garbage can with another tight fitting lid. Once or twice during the heating season the 33 gallon gets filled up and then I put an ad on Craig's List for "Ashes - Free" - there is always a taker.

Shari

OK - This surprises me. Which usually means there's an opportunity for me to learn something. What do people want to do with a bunch of ashes?


-Speak

Compost or till them into your garden in the spring!

 

[Wingman]

Galvanized pail to galvanized trash to yard in the spring.

 

[Milton Findley]

How much carbon monoxide will 3 gallons of ash give off? They are mostly dead ashes when first taken out, except for a few clinkers - and those don't last long. Do dead ashes release CO? (Honest queastion - have a CO detector and it has never gone off). Also, my basement spot is close to the furnace, where the most fresh air flow is - air in thru a vent for outside combustion air and out thru the furnace firebox up the chimney - and secure. There will be no kids or animals knocking things over there - outside might be a different story.

None, and there is a thread around here that explored that very possibility, along with zinc fumes from hot galvanized buckets. The low temperatures and chemistry keep the CO at negligible levels, and hanging your CO detector over the bucket of hot ashes will prove that for you as it did for me.

Perhaps check out this thread on CO and hot coals https://www.hearth.com/econtent/index.php/forums/viewthread/26124/

Now, I'm sure the average joe isn't doing as the fella in the thread I referenced did, but the fact still is that the combustion of carbon products can produce CO and also it is not safe to store hot coals in your home in anything other than the stove.

I say err on the side of caution and move them outside.

pen

Pen,

Charcoal of the suicide sort, (as referenced in your thread) is made of three or four substances, and molded into briquettes. The three substances are sawdust, dried and carbonized in an oven, powdered anthracite coal, limestone, and often a corn starch or similar binder. The carbonized sawdust keeps the anthracite burning, adds flavor to your steak, the anthracite provides the heat, and the limestone lets you know that it is on fire, by turning the briquettes white as they burn. It is the anthracite coal and the high heat (1000 degrees C and under the right conditions, more than twice that) and the lack of sufficient oxygen at the point of combustion in the briquettes that generates the carbon monoxide.

This is not in the same category as a bucket full of hot ashes with a few embers in it, although transferring the contents of your stove to your ash bucket while it is still actively com-busting seems to approach it given your reference, although apparently not enough to actually set off the alarm.

 

[pen]

I just don't understand what point you are trying to make here Milt. Do you think it's a wise idea to store the contents of your stove in a bucket inside a home?????

I'll reiterate the important point I was making, hot stuff should be kept in your stove or outside.

There is no way you can make a blanket statement that all stove contents transferred to a bucket are going to emit 0 CO. Why take any chance here? What is there to gain? Even if CO isn't the prevailing danger, this is a ridiculously stupid practice so why defend it?!?!

Again, as i mentioned before coals / ashes of any sort have no business in a home w/out a steel / stone shell called a stove and a dedicated blow hole out of the house, the system must meet all appropriate clearances.

pen

 

[robertmcw]

I only use oak in my insert. I put the coals in a pail like tfdchief does, BUT then I fill it with a water hose for an hour. Then I screen the lumps so the lumps can dry. Then I spread the lumps over some old screen wire so the lumps can dry and covered. Then after ten days or so, I put the lumps in a big bag for storage. Free oak charcoal.

I live in Houston, so we don’t deal with the snow or ice you guys do.


Robert

 

[pen]

I only use oak in my insert. I put the coals in a pail like tfdchief does, BUT then I fill it with a water hose for an hour. Then I screen the lumps so the lumps can dry. Then I spread the lumps over some old screen wire so the lumps can dry and covered. Then after ten days or so, I put the lumps in a big bag for storage. Free oak charcoal.

I live in Houston, so we don’t deal with the snow or ice you guys do.


Robert

Wow Robert! That's some dedication!

Definately impressed.

pen

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Here ya go Gamma. Your very own to hang up by the 30NC.

Great. Gamma's first hang-up picture.

 

[maple1]

I just don't understand what point you are trying to make here Milt. Do you think it's a wise idea to store the contents of your stove in a bucket inside a home?????

I'll reiterate the important point I was making, hot stuff should be kept in your stove or outside.

There is no way you can make a blanket statement that all stove contents transferred to a bucket are going to emit 0 CO. Why take any chance here? What is there to gain? Even if CO isn't the prevailing danger, this is a ridiculously stupid practice so why defend it?!?!

Again, as i mentioned before coals / ashes of any sort have no business in a home w/out a steel / stone shell called a stove and a dedicated blow hole out of the house, the system must meet all appropriate clearances.

pen

I also don't think a blanket statement can be made that stove contents transferred to a bucket will always emit CO. If people are cleaning out a stove or furnace while there is still a fire going, sure. I think the governing factor is, how secure is your storage place, whether outside or not. The only cases I have heard of here where ashes have caused damage is when they were outside, and were either put too close to something combustible to start with, or they got blown around or over, or they got knocked over and spread around - so putting a hot ash bucket outside is hardly risk free. I have never heard of an incident here with an ash bucket sitting inside, in a safe place (like on a concrete or mud basement floor with lots of space around it) - and everyone I can think of that I know off the top of my head does this. I do not consider it a rediculously stupid practice and take exception to that statement - I have seen more rediculously stupid things happen with hot ashes outside the house, actually. But I suspect there is likely some rediculously stupid things being done whether inside or out - it comes down to the doer. Some people are just stupid in everything they do no matter how they do it.

 

[joecool85]

Some people are just stupid in everything they do no matter how they do it.

Ain't that the truth!

 

[firefighterjake]

. . . sometimes I mix it with cement and make little statuettes of Dennis sitting on a milk crate splitting wood vertically.

Jake, you're a dork.

Hehheh . . . that's what my wife says to me as well!

 

[firefighterjake]

Oh yeah, besides the statuettes I also put the ash on to my ice covered driveway to help melt the ice and provide traction . . . honestly this is where most of the ash goes during the winter.

 

[SpeakEasy]

I also put the ash on to my ice covered driveway to help melt the ice and provide traction . . . honestly this is where most of the ash goes during the winter.

Is it the heat from the embers that melts the ice, or is a chemical process, like what salt does?

-Speak