Ash Bucket

[davo]

I just bought a 5 gallon ash bucket. It is made to hold hot ashes and cold ashes from my wood stove. I plan on leaving 1-2 inches of ash in the bottom of my wood stove. The rest of the ashes I want to clean out regularly and they may be hot or cold. The ash bucket has a lid which is right fitting to the bucket.

Is it safe to keep this on my hearth on the corner during the burning season? I have an insert and not a freestanding stove .There may be hot embers and ash from the wood stove in it.

Thank!

 

[BrotherBart]

There are discussions every year about this that swing both ways. I say get it out of the house because of CO generated by the hot embers. Others say "I leave it in the house and I ain't dead.".

Mine goes out the door right after I put the shovel down. But my Dad and his brothers grew up in a drafty old farm house with their Dad heating their bedroom every night with a bucket of coals from the fireplace. So it may not kill ya but it explained a lot about my uncles.

 

[Wisneaky]

I keep mine in the house until it's full.

 

[Haven]

Outside it goes and not on the deck or porch either....... I live with Firefighters.

 

[BrotherBart]

I was yelling at the radio the other day. A news reader was giving the usual "get the chimney cleaned" etc. advice. And said to sit the ash container at least ten feet from the house. With not a word about sitting it on a non-combustible surface. Lots of ten foot deep wooden decks in the world. One killed seven people when they sat the ash bucket on it here two years ago.

 

[davo]

Thank you for the responses. So most of the people on here keep them far away from the house outside? I bought a bigger bucket and though it'd be safe to keep it on the stone hearth away from combustibles. Like I said, it has a tight fitting cover and that way I am able to get out the ash daily instead of letting it accumulate for a week. It lets me fit more wood in the stove. Thanks for the responses.

 

[NoGoodAtScreenNames]

I'm probably more cautious. I don't like the idea of an ash bucket with hot embers at all. I use a big pvc jug that I fill with a few gallons of water. Ashes go into the water and any hot ones are extinguished right away. Even then I let it sit outside for a couple of hours on blacktop before pouring the sludge in the yard or into the compost.

I also find the water makes it a lot cleaner, the ash doesn't poof around in the air the same as putting it in a dry bucket.

 

[joem32543]

I bring my ash bucket outside and sprinkle the ashes on my driveway/sidewalk for traction.

 

[firefighterjake]

Ash goes into the covered metal ash pan and goes outside away from any combustibles (which of course includes covered porch, garage, deck, dry grass, etc.) After several days (well typically it takes a few weeks to fill up that ash pail) the ash is dumped in a pile out back or in the winter used to melt the snow and ice in the driveway.

Inside or outside with the ash pail? One thought: I have seen and heard of folks losing their garage or home with the ash pail being inside . . . I have yet to hear of anyone losing their home because they left the ash can outside, away from combustibles (although in fairness I have heard of folks catching a fire when they dumped out the hot ashes and coals . . . on to dry grass, leaves, etc. . . . hence the reason why I wait several days to weeks before dumping the ash can.)

 

[davo]

Ash goes into the covered metal ash pan and goes outside away from any combustibles (which of course includes covered porch, garage, deck, dry grass, etc.) After several days (well typically it takes a few weeks to fill up that ash pail) the ash is dumped in a pile out back or in the winter used to melt the snow and ice in the driveway.

Inside or outside with the ash pail? One thought: I have seen and heard of folks losing their garage or home with the ash pail being inside . . . I have yet to hear of anyone losing their home because they left the ash can outside, away from combustibles (although in fairness I have heard of folks catching a fire when they dumped out the hot ashes and coals . . . on to dry grass, leaves, etc. . . . hence the reason why I wait several days to weeks before dumping the ash can.)

Can it be possible that it can get something on fire with the metal ash bucket enclosed? It has a tight fitting lid. I am just curious because last year I had a small metal bucket with no lid and I had to take multiple trips out into the yard and dispose of the ashes once cool. This is a different bucket so I figured the bucket would be a little warm from the ash but that's about it.

Thanks for your replies!

 

[jatoxico]

Can it be possible that it can get something on fire with the metal ash bucket enclosed? It has a tight fitting lid. I am just curious because last year I had a small metal bucket with no lid and I had to take multiple trips out into the yard and dispose of the ashes once cool. This is a different bucket so I figured the bucket would be a little warm from the ash but that's about it.

Thanks for your replies!

When people reply and/or make a recommendation here they often have to account for all the different ways something can be used and possibly abused. Some folks will use as you might expect, shoveling out used ash with the possibility of a small amount of live coal being added. But there are people in the world with no common sense who will shovel out a bucket full of live coal and put it next to the newspapers waiting for recycle.

A small amount of live coal in a sealed container is probably safe from the stand point of not touching off a fire or creating excess CO. On the other hand why risk it?

 

[davo]

When people reply and/or make a recommendation here they often have to account for all the different ways something can be used and possibly abused. Some folks will use as you might expect, shoveling out used ash with the possibility of a small amount of live coal being added. But there are people in the world with no common sense who will shovel out a bucket full of live coal and put it next to the newspapers waiting for recycle.

A small amount of live coal in a sealed container is probably safe from the stand point of not touching off a fire or creating excess CO. On the other hand why risk it?

Very true. Thanks!

 

[Zack R]

I clean out my stove when the coals are still warm so that the draft sucks up the ash dust. I then take the closed metal ash bucket outside and set it out in the driveway or away from the house on brick pavers until it cools, then fill with water and dispose (the next day).

Call me paranoid but it works for me. Long ago a coworker of mine has his house burn down due to improper disposal of ashes from a BBQ, so it can happen.

 

[jetsam]

Every year we have at least one story here about somebody who put an ash bucket on a wooden deck, or near their vinyl siding, and had some kind of a problem as a result.

My bucket goes outside on a concrete patio away from the house for several days, then it gets dumped out and refilled.

That bucket gets so hot that all the paint on the top of the lid has cooked off (but I burn 24/7 in cold weather, so I am always shoveling out a hot stove).

 

[Rickb]

Mines not 5 gallon but mine is like 2.5 - 3 gallon. And when I clean out my stove it about fills up the bucket. Then the bucket goes outside on my concrete patio about 3 - 4 foot from the house.

That said I only clean out my stove once the ash is pretty close to the door opening. Line every 3 weeksish.

 

[Woody Stover]

Can it be possible that it can get something on fire with the metal ash bucket enclosed?

You might not have a fire, but...

get it out of the house because of CO generated by the hot embers.

it may not kill ya but it explained a lot about my uncles.

Brain damage from CO?

 

[Smokepole]

Can it be possible that it can get something on fire with the metal ash bucket enclosed? It has a tight fitting lid. I am just curious because last year I had a small metal bucket with no lid and I had to take multiple trips out into the yard and dispose of the ashes once cool. This is a different bucket so I figured the bucket would be a little warm from the ash but that's about it.

Thanks for your replies!

I keep a steel 55 gallon drum with a steel lid up on cinder blocks beside my wood shed.

I also keep half a cinder block on top of the lid in case of wind. This is where my ashes

go even when cool. Around June they are put on the yard.

 

[Grizzerbear]

Mine go straight from stove to garden. Good fertilizer, plenty far from house, and nothing that can burn because I till it all up in fall so its bare soil.

 

[CincyBurner]

I empty and sift out any hot coals outside into a metal ash can, and store on covered front porch with concrete floor. It keeps any CO, and the dust outside. As ash can fills up I apply to lawn (rainy, calm evenings) and compost pile, and use as needed after shoveling the walk.

 

[Sawset]

My bucket goes outside on a concrete patio away from the house for several days, then it gets dumped out and refilled.

That bucket gets so hot that all the paint on the top of the lid has cooked off (but I burn 24/7 in cold weather, so I am always shoveling out a hot stove).

Outside on the concrete here also. At one point I was using an old stainless mixing bowl for clean out. Set it inside the stove, draft takes the fly ash up and out, then set it outside. After a few times the stainless became discolored - the heat from buried coals took the temper out of it. Good thing it was a rummage sale special and not off the mixmaster or I would have been the one chilling outdide.
Also at one point I was using metal pails to store ashes in outdide. I got hold of one pail, form fitting lid, perfect I thought - as the ashes cooled it created such a vacuum - bucket looked like a sucked in pretzel the next morning.

 

[Woody Stover]

This is where my ashes go even when cool.

Another plus of having a grated ash pan is that you don't have to take a lot of live embers out. You stir the ash down through the grate, then the box is empty enough to where you can burn for a couple days before taking that pan of ash out. With my particular stove, it feeds some air through a 1/4" hole in the ash pan housing, which I think burns down further any small coals that make it through the grate.

 

[Bushels20]

Ash goes into the covered metal ash pan and goes outside away from any combustibles (which of course includes covered porch, garage, deck, dry grass, etc.) After several days (well typically it takes a few weeks to fill up that ash pail) the ash is dumped in a pile out back or in the winter used to melt the snow and ice in the driveway.

Inside or outside with the ash pail? One thought: I have seen and heard of folks losing their garage or home with the ash pail being inside . . . I have yet to hear of anyone losing their home because they left the ash can outside, away from combustibles (although in fairness I have heard of folks catching a fire when they dumped out the hot ashes and coals . . . on to dry grass, leaves, etc. . . . hence the reason why I wait several days to weeks before dumping the ash can.)

I’m on the insurance side of things so I get to write the checks after you put the fires out.

+1 for emptying the stove, covering the ash pail, far away from the house out back and dumping it days later (for me that’s in to my outdoor burn pile).

Seen way to many house fires, garage fires and fires in general to do it any other way.