When to empty ashes?

I use this small garbage can, to empty hot ash and coals.
Top seals tight, so that you can carry It out of the house safely.
The seal on mine smothers the hot coals .

http://www.lowes.com/pd_195272-6387...1&currentURL=?Ntt=matal+garbage+can&facetInfo=

My can seals, but the seal doesn't make the coals cool off very quickly. The can will stay hot for a long time, so be careful not to put the can on a wooden porch. Also, the smothered coals can give off carbon monoxide, so put the can outside.

ash is there to "insulate" the coals. My manual states 2", but with my small firebox that takes up room. Think of it this way. When you get up in the am to reload, you rake coals forward or stir them up whichever way you do, and the coals start to glow and get hot again. the ash was keeping the heat by the coals, and prevents them from burning, kinda smothering. When you stir them up, they get oxygen and start to burn, thus making enough heat for reload. If there was absolutely zero ash produced from burning wood, (impossible) those coals would burn out as soon as the fire did.

I was just wondering the same thing. I have a pretty deep ash pit. I probably empty about once a week into that metal can from Lowes. Yesterday I flipped the lid upside down, put the top layer of hot coals in that, emptied the burnt out ash into the container then put the hot coals back in. BE CAREFUL, THE COVER WAS EXTREMELY HOT. I USED HEAVY GLOVES TO DUMP IT BACK IN.

Hi fred,
If I were watching you do that, I would be covering my eyes,
with very heavy gloves.

My firebox is 3 inches deep so I usually wait until they are up to bottom of the door usually once a week but have been burning 24/7 since Sunday and been have gotten to mostly locust in the wood pile and I find it leaves more ash so letting the stove go cold today and removing them tomorrow. I find when the ash is hot and still some coals in it, it is almost impossible to remove the ash without fly ash going everywhere. When the stove is cold and ashes are cold I get absolutely no dust