Ash Bucket Preferences

[Detector$]

Guys & Gals,
This will be my first year burning in our new house & Jotul F600 woodstove.
I need to buy an ash bucket and am looking at the following:

The ASH-01 from Northline Express - 48 bucks...
(broken link removed to http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5MM-ASH-01)

The more traditional pebbled copper ash container from Northline Express - 73 bucks...
(broken link removed to http://www.northlineexpress.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=5IM-LT0164)

and the black steel ash bucket from Plow & Hearth - 40 bucks...
(broken link removed to http://www.plowhearth.com/product.asp?pcode=2238)

Do you folks have a preference? Lid type? Size? Material? etc?

Thanks for your help. You guys must have some experience and opinions...

 

[Highbeam]

I actually like the cheapest one the most. The 73$ one looks like a garbage can, the spout one isn't my style, but the cheap one looks good. Honestly though I have no use for a lid on an ash bucket as I don't store ashes in the house. I use my ash bucket for tools and gloves. When needed, I empty the tools and fill it with ash to be immediately dumped outside.

I just bought a standard galvanized bucket from HD for small money and painted it flat black. Maybe that's an option?

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We like this one:

Ash Holder


With the lid the way it is, it is easy to get the ashes in without letting dust fly all over. It is very solid too and should last a lifetime.

 

[stejus]

I have a two pail system. One smaller pail that I keep in the garage and use to remove ash every other day. When this fills I empty it in the larger pail that sits outside in a rock garden (crushed stone base). I don't have enough hearth space to store pails so this works for me. Last year I only had to empty the larger pail 3 times over the winter.

 

[Dix]

I have last years version of the P & H bucket. Mine is red. Works fine.

Don't put a load of hot coals in the bottom, how ever, make sure there is ash in the can before loading hot coals. It'll buckle alittle.

Holds alot of ashes, 1-2 weeks worth, I'd say. Withstood being outside in the snow & rain when I needed to put it there.

Lids pretty tight. I keep the bucket by the insert, tucked out of the way. It never fel over or got dumped by 2 rambunctious puppies last winter

I'd buy it again, considering my set up.

 

[Detector$]

Cool, thanks for the replies. I knew you would have some advice. Dixie, do you have horses on Long Island?
We've got 5, 2 Dutch Warmbloods, an Arabian, a Tennessee Walker, and a Hackney pony. Family also has a large horse pasture surrounded by trees poisonous to horses but good for the stove (Red Maple, Black Locust, Cherry etc...). Doing my best to convince them they need to come down.

 

[paulie]

They all work well enough. I would choose by your decor.....better yet, let the wife choose, if it don't fit into her scheme of things....it's not going to work to hold ashes niether !
Oh, and those are very nice horses....those trees better go !

 

[DBoon]

Wow! $50+ for an ash bucket. I think I paid $3 for a 2 gallon metal bucket with a metal top. Not stylish, but functional. Got it from a friend.

But, if $50 makes the wife happy to have the stove burning, then that is a good $50 to spend. Let her choose.

 

[YZF1R]

All three of those have one important thing that I learned from the good people here. It should have a double bottom if your going to leave it sit on anything other than cement or bare dirt, etc. Other than that, as DBoon said, keep the wife happy and let her choose.

Steve

 

[ChrisN]

Does the F-600 have an ash pan? My Oslo does, so I just take the ash pan out and dump it into a galvanized 30 gallon trash can that sits out back. When it's full I either scatter it around the yard/woods/garden, or just take it to the dump to empty.

 

[Dix]

Cool, thanks for the replies. I knew you would have some advice. Dixie, do you have horses on Long Island?
We've got 5, 2 Dutch Warmbloods, an Arabian, a Tennessee Walker, and a Hackney pony. Family also has a large horse pasture surrounded by trees poisonous to horses but good for the stove (Red Maple, Black Locust, Cherry etc...). Doing my best to convince them they need to come down.

Yep, 2 mares. An APHA mare (Dix), and a standardbred/gaited rescuemare. Issues galore.P

Put the 28 YO gelding down last December *sigh* adored that horse.

That cherry definately needs to come down, those leaves are super, super, toxic.

 

[firefighterjake]

I'm pretty cheap with some things and one of those things is an ash pail . . . since my Oslo has an ash pan I wait until that is full (about once a week) and dump the ashes into my covered metal ash pan that I have sitting outside . . . in the snow . . . on top of a concrete pad. It may not be stylish since I bought it at the local hardware store . . . but it was cheap and it does the job. Now, if I were to keep the ash pail inside (which I most definitely would not) I might opt for one of those fancy schmancy ash pans, but since my pail is outside in the rain and snow I figured the cheap metal pail works just fine.

 

[zzr7ky]

Hi -

I use an old galvanized wash tub that's about 5 galons. I also used a 5 gal steel deck stain can that had the top cut out of it. Never used a lid.

Do make sure not to dump hot embers where they can get you into trouble. Embers can smolder for a few days.

ATB,
Mike

 

[colebrookman]

Does the F-600 have an ash pan? My Oslo does, so I just take the ash pan out and dump it into a galvanized 30 gallon trash can that sits out back. When it's full I either scatter it around the yard/woods/garden, or just take it to the dump to empty.

Love the KISS principle. You can really keep the ash from flying around the house that way. Be safe.
Ed

 

[BrotherBart]

A pretty decent looking plain black ash bucket is $15 at Lowe's in the seasonal section.

 

[d.n.f.]

Went to local hardware/wood store and they gave me a metal bucket which used to hold acetone. About the size of a ten gallon paint pail.
Cleaned the crap out of it and it stores ashes. Has a lid and everything.

Total cost was soap and water. I store hot ashes outside so I am not looking at it anyways.