What do you guys use to clean up around your stove? Ash, wood chips etc.

Sometimes if I load my stove from the front door I get some ashes on the ash lip. And of course there are always some wood chips that fall around the stove. I've been using my shop vac, and of course I always wait several hours before vacuuming any spilled ashes to make sure there are no embers, and I never vacuum unless I'm going to be home for several hours to keep an eye on it. But I get a lot of ash dust coming out of the vacuum, even when using a paper filter. I've seen some "Ash Vacuums" for sale, but they aren't cheap. Just looking for some suggestions.

Thanks!

I just sweep it up every few days and throw it in the stove. K.I.S.S. right?

I use this, keep it close by the stove. Try to keep things neat. Don't put too much ash into if I can help it but strong enough and convenient.

I use a shop vac to clean up around the stove after loading. Even had the thing on fire a few times! They go up quick and had to kick it out the door. Best thing is just replace the filter and it's good to go again! Those Craftsman vacs are built like a tank

Craig

My rainbow sits beside the stove all winter and every time I load wood I sweep up the wood chips, though I try not to put any ash into it.

You could try using your ShopVac with a Hepa Filter like this one for $30:

http://www.sears.com/craftsman-wet-...p-00917912000P?prdNo=3&blockNo=3&blockType=G3

I have had good luck using one of these with my Shop Vac.

Bill

Mine is in an unfinished basement. Sweep up every couple of days and after finishing each row of wood.

During use, I just use the broom that came with a fireplace utensil set. I'm basically just pushing it off to the side in a pile so it doesn't get sucked into the blower and looks a bit nicer. If I have some hot coals spill out, I just sweep those onto the shovel and put em back into the insert. I have a hepa filter on our house vacuum and will do a quick vacuum with the tool part of it to get the hearth nice and front of the stove nice and clean.

+1 here. I actually use the broom that came with my tool set as my hand broom. I normally wait until reloading or start up when the stove is cool and sweep the front lip and ledges of the stove off with a dust pan brush then just sweep it all up off the tile floor.

Same here. I use the broom from the set and the ash shovel to sweep everything up. If I know the ash can is cool, it goes in there. Otherwise, into the fire it goes, it is usually just bits of wood and sawdust anyway so it burns right up. We burn pallet wood sometimes to even out some of our not so good wood. Since nails and vacuums are not friends, we clean out the stove by hand too - small stove, it isn't so bad.

At home, hardwood floor, I just sweep up. At MIL's with the Buck 91, she's got carpet. Hard to sweep carpet. I also want to keep dust at an absolute minimum so I've been thinking about one of those hand vacs, probably a plug-in model. It can't be blowing out dust, though...

I keep a dust pan with a natural fiber brush close to the hearth and use it regularly. I just recently added the vac to my Makita 18v cordless collection though. I don't use it for the big stuff, but after sweeping it does a heck of a job keeping the dust at bay. It doesn't blow any dust out, that I've noticed. So far, I'm really liking it.

http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Tool-Mak...&qid=1356935120&sr=8-2&keywords=makita vacuum

Daily: On the hearth to take care of the sawdust, woodchips and other debris I use a small dust pan and broom that gets dumped into the firebox.

Weekly: I use an Ash Vac to take care of the mess on the ash lips and around the hearth to neaten things up a bit.

The one thing my wife dislikes most about burning wood is the mess . . . so I try to keep the area clean.

Does your unicorn get jealous?

I use the Powersmith ash vac and could not be happier.
It is strong yet small enough to hide behind the couch.

If you get a hot ember in there, no real worries.

More info here. One word of advise, for cleaning anything but ashes, use the plastic coated wand, then metal wand is for hot ash only and will mark up other things.

Fossil,

I have all sorts of good safety advice, do you need some more?

On a more serious note, the proximity of the exterior door and my stove is very close. Ever try to put a log in the stove that doesn't fit for one reason or another and have to take it out on fire? It's nice to have the door as close as possible there too, and that is no different than that vac filter catching on fire. I believe everyone has been in that situation at one time or another if you burn long enough. Some things aren't always perfect and stuff happens. The difference is you have to know what to do in the seconds you have to react! That's what will usually determine the outcome of a scary situation, level head, thinking, and no panicking.

Point I am trying to make here is stoves can be great, but they can also be dangerous if you don't always have a plan B for any problem that arises.

Craig

Tip for a happy marriage: never refer to your wife as "Plan B".

I usually let my wife do the cleaning....

A little whisk broom and dust pan does wonders. Occasionally the small hand vac comes in handy but mostly the dust pan and just throw the stuff in the stove.