Ash Pans: Yea or Nay

[Light in the Dark]

Where do you all sit?

 

[Highbeam]

Depends on the ash pan design but the huge majority of ash pans are stupid and go unused in real life.

 

[fire_man]

I prefer the simplicity of no ash pan - it's one less gasket and one less thing to go wrong.

 

[Slow1]

The ash pan on the PH is very well designed in my opinion. I bought a second pan insert with lid so I can simply pull the full one out and swap it for the empty one which makes ash removal take less than a minute and absolutely no ash dust blowing around in the house. I then empty the full one outside in my ash can whenever it is convenient for me (anytime before next ash removal which is generally at least 4 days later).

Undersized pans or those that require you to remove plugs in the stove etc are a waste of time in my opinion. My first stove (VC Encore NC) had a pan that was undersized and as such I had to empty it far too often.

With all that said - not having one in the FV didn't really bother me all that much either. I just had to plan a little better so that I could shovel when stove was cool enough and I wasn't in a hurry - which is a rare occasion around my house. Haste makes dust when moving ash out of a stove with a shovel.

 

[BrowningBAR]

I'm firmly in the "meh" category.

If I were buying a stove it would not be a deciding factor in my purchase. If I were buying a Woodstock Progress I would buy it without the ash pan. That is my preference.

 

[fox9988]

I also have an extra ash pan w/ lid for my Keystone. Takes ~30 seconds to swap them out, with zero ash and dust in the house. Great design.

 

[charger4406]

On the Defiant = Yea
On the Cape Cod = Nay

 

[Blue Vomit]

I just started to NOT use the ash pan.
I get longer, better, consistent burns with a layer of ash in the Oslo.
So far, I find it easier to shovel ash every few days to get a more consistent burn. Using the ash pan, I found myself waiting a few days for a layer of ash to build up.
I did like the ash pan in my VC encore though. Cool handle that covered the pan to prevent spillage. Too bad the door on it rarely sealed correctly without manipulation and cursing.

 

[Jags]

Plug style - nay.
Grate style - yea.

I don't get the idea of trying to sweep ash down a little hole.
The ash pan on my Isle Royale works quite well and will almost double the time between clean outs.

 

[begreen]

Had both grate and plug. Found I rarely used the pan on the Castine after the first year and never use the pan on the T6.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

We've had several stoves and our present stove is the first we've owned without an ash pan. Now we wonder why any stove has an ash pan. We really like the stove without it.

 

[Todd 2]

Didn't have one on the over/under barrel or the PE Summit, dont want to order one for the Progress because I might wind up liking it as much as I like the stove
My Coalhod/ashbucket is like family

 

[Waulie]

I voted nay, but then again none of the 4 stoves I've owned had one. Conceptually, it seems like the plug/hole design is just stupid. My dad has the ash pan on his Progress and loves it. It does seem very well designed. I ordered without on purpose and haven't given it another thought since. In the grand scheme of things, it's probably shouldn't be a huge factor in considering stoves one way or the other.

 

[pen]

Plug is worthless on the stove's I've used. Those w/ grates and a sealed ash door may work better on aver but it's one more place for air to leak / another gasket to replace.

It's not like ash removal is that hard anyway.

 

[dougand3]

I use the ash pan on the Resolute Acclaim. Big pan under shaker grates, inside the main door - no extra gaskets. Quite nice. What is ridiculous is a rod to slide the grates and make ash fall into pan. Much easier to bop grates with ash pan.

 

[Halligan]

I have an Oslo which has the grate style ash pan and I like it. To me it's easier than shoveling but I'm also a freshman woodburner so what the heck do I know .

 

[Paulywalnut]

Had both. I like the ash pan. Less dust. Very neat to slide out empty and slide back.
One more gasket but nice tradeoff to me.

 

[firefighterjake]

I think a lot depends on the usefulness of the ash pan in terms of how it fills up (plugs are not well liked it seems vs. grates), how large it is and how easy it is to dump . . . and some of it may have to do with what folks are used to with other woodstoves.

Personally, I love the Oslo's ash pan . . . very functional and once you get the stir and separate action down pat you can preserve a healthy amount of coals and ash in the firebox and easily dump the ashes every few days.

 

[fossil]

Century in the shop came on a pedestal with a drawer in it, and a half-brick plug in the floor with a dumb-ass loop of steel sticking out of it to lift it out. Never used it, and the dumb-ass loop was just in the way. First solution was to flip the half-brick over, then the following year I replaced it with a new cut piece of firebrick. The Lopi in the house never had any sort of integral ash collection. I use a shovel & covered bucket whenever necessary, always leaving about 1"+ ash on the firebox floor, and I like doing it this way just fine. Don't need no stinkin' ash pan. Rick

 

[rijim]

Castine has grate style an it works for me, I find it has less dust than shoveling.

 

[brokenknee]

I love my ash pan in my old Norther Leader furnace (PRE EPA) Some of the newer stoves I have looked at the ash pan appears so small.

 

[brokenknee]

Before the safety police jump in and mention the paint in the background it is latex. I do not keep any flammables in the furnace room.

 

[Hearth Mistress]

Thanks for the idea to dehydrate meat, at least it will get some use. On my stove it is more of a hassle. The "trap release" is way under the stove and the hole for it to fall into is in the middle right part of the stove. So, even if you contort your hand to avoid burning yourself to release the door, you have to constantly empty the drawer or shimmy it to even out the ash so it doesn't pile under the hole. I bought a shovel and empty it when the ash is at the door. It burns better with a nice layer of ash anyway so I leave it

 

[FullCompliment]

No thanks. Mine has one and I let it fill up at the beginning of the season and dump it at the end--shovel in the middle. My stove burns better with a layer of ash. And, as some have mentioned, less gaskets to worry about.

 

[evilgriff]

Not so fond of the plug, but my Sirocco's pedestal base has a very large ash pan in relation to the size of the firebox. I too am leaving lots of ash in the stove, but when I have too much and need to take some away it is quick and clean this way.