Do you hate your Ash Pan + Poll

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How about that ash pan? Do you...


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Pallet Pete

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Well today I decided to just ignore my ash pan as it is the only flaw in my stove ! Lol don't get me wrong I love my stove very much and it is a real well built good quality stove but for heaven sake why is the ash pan such a pain ! So instead of having to cool the stove to empty it out and then having to use my ash rake to pull all the ash out of the compartment as well I have decided to completely ignore its existence and go back to scooping out the ash. Does any body else do this ? I am really just curious more than anything.

Pete
 
Why do you have to let the stove cool down?

I empty mine about every third day (when burning 24/7) first thing of a morning before I start a new load. I use an ash shovel to clean out the ash that didn't go in the pan; takes six to 10 seconds. The Oslo ash pan is one of my favorite features.
 
I use it on the Century as it is large enough to empty into twice. It seems like it's about half the size of the firebox. For the 30 it is a poorly designed waste of space and is ignored. In fact, I cut a firebrick to fit over the hole so I can rake and scoop without any issues.

Matt
 
4th season on the NC-30, and the stove as not seen ash, in the ash pan. Instead, I filled the void were the ash plug was with a fire brick and some furnace cement.

If it's shoulder season, and I don't need a full load of wood, I let the ash build up quite a bit. But, if it's time for the black beast to make some heat, I just use the ash rake, and push almost everything to the back 1/2 of the wood stove, then use the rake to pull what coals are in there to the front of the stove, then shovel however much of the ash I want to remove out from the back of the stove, reload, and carry on.

pen
 
I don't really have to but I also don't like pulling the hot ash from the bottom back of the ash compartment. I have to empty it every other day or so. Otherwise it gets to full to pull out without ash going all over. My previous stoves have been scooped for the most part and it was far less messy for me to do.

Pete
 
Yeah, this Buck 91 I'm installing at my MIL's has an "ash drop," a small hole with a lid in the bottom of the stove. I'm not too hopeful about its functionality. The grate with the ash pan below it like in the Keystone is the bee's knees, and beats the hell out of shoveling. ==c
 
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Since 2006 the only thing my ash pan has been used for is a food warmer. Never had an ash in it.
 
Wow I never new so many people ignored it ! Kind makes me wonder why they even put them on.

Pete
 
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I used mine once, when I was burning the paint in outside. I wanted the stove cooled off so I could push it back into the garage. I like the pan itself, as it has a hinged cover that keeps everything neatly inside, it's just a PITA to fill.
 
Since 2006 the only thing my ash pan has been used for is a food warmer. Never had an ash in it.
Hey that's a great idea! I never use mine and that would work awesome.. Have you actually done that?

Ray
 
Wow I never new so many people ignored it ! Kind makes me wonder why they even put them on.

Pete
The T-5 has a well designed easy to use ash pan but I never use it. Never emptied it on the CDW as the stove ran better with it full. Shoveling the T-5 is easy and I always leave at least an inch of ash in the bottom..

Ray
 
Hey that's a great idea! I never use mine and that would work awesome.. Have you actually done that?

Ray

I was thinking about removing the grate and having a thick steel plate cut to put in its place. This would allow me to use it as an oven. You think that would work ?

Pete
 
I miss a grate and ash clean out area.
 
I love mine and its the only way I've dealt with the ashes. The floor of my firebox is a grate and I just rake the ashes back and forth, they fall thru and every week or so, I empty the ash pan. The pan has a separate lid that I slide on as I slide the pan out of the stove, so no ash floats around.
 
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I was thinking about removing the grate and having a thick steel plate cut to put in its place. This would allow me to use it as an oven. You think that would work ?

Pete
I don't know but you could try wrapping something in foil to test it. An over thermometer may be of help too..

Ray
 
I'm not sure how the NC 30's are, but our furnace has a small loop to grab with a poker and a grate underneath it for the ash pan. The only reason why I like ours is it sifts out the ash from the coals. I did put a firebrick in it's place but chickened out and put it back in. I still have problems even after 3 seasons of sifting out coals from the ash. Our old furnace had shaker grates and it took about 2 seconds to remove ash, but was terribly inefficient. It's difficult when my wife mixes both ash and coals in a big pile.
 
My stove has an ash dump into a pan. It's a PITA, and you usually make more of a mess using it than if you just take a shovelful from each side of the stove every morning. The worst part is if you don't have the plug just right, The damper doesn't do diddly. It is the only time I have ever had this stove run away from me. I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't get damped down! After that incident, I don't bother using the pan.
 
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Ash pans, generally, are a marketing gimick. Not to be used in real life, but to check off on the box saying it has one. They also do double duty byuproviding heat shielding between the fire and the hearth. I have a bucket and a shovel that I use to empty the ashes. If a coal gets in there, big deal, but that bucket holds at least double the volume of the ash pan and is far more convenient.
 
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A grate on the NC30 might not be a good idea since the pan does not have a sealed door. I see a loss of burn control and overheating with a grate. Maybe you could try it will a few small splits before loading it up for the night.

Matt
 
I may use the pan once at the beginning of the heating season when I clean chimney /stove. Easy to sweep the last few bits down the plug hole. After that, plug goes back in for remainder of the season. Much easier to scoop out a shovelful than monkey with the plug / hook, and worse trying to fiddle with it to get it back on tight. Sliding the pan out and across the bottom of the pedestal also does a mean number on the paint. I let the top of the plug fill with ash on first burn and then forgret about it until next time I do a clean / inspection on cold stove.
 
Wow I never new so many people ignored it ! Kind makes me wonder why they even put them on.
That thread title is surely gonna draw the haters, particularly the vociferously vehement. ;lol
Lots of 30-NC folks jumping in so we can assume that system sucks, and maybe the Blaze King's isn't too good, either. Some people are just don't like ash pans. It seems to be deeply ingrained in their psyches. Some of the reasons given here don't make too much sense to me. As far as the Rangeley, if the ashes don't hit the pan, that's certainly a problem. I had virtually no ash outside the pan with the Keystone. I only had to empty it every three days or so. I might be able to wait that long with the FV but I have an ever-increasing pile of ash and coal robbing me of fire box space. Sure, I can burn down the coals but I would rather just knock a little ash through the grate, move the coals forward, and load and go when it gets cold out and I need heat production. But HollowHill...once a week?? The shovelers would have to find something else to do with all their spare time. ;lol
if you don't have the plug just right, The damper doesn't do diddly. It is the only time I have ever had this stove run away from me. I just couldn't figure out why I couldn't get damped down! After that incident, I don't bother using the pan.
Thanks for the heads-up. The Buck 91 has a gasket around the end of the pan but it doesn't lock into place like a door does. I'll have to keep an eye on that...
 
Of the six stoves I've owned, five had have ash pans. Only the Encore and Defiant are worth using, and even then I rarely use them as they aren't that convenient. The ash pan system is very much like the Woodstock ash pan and probably Jotul, where it is a grate that you sift the ashes through and then you remove the ash pan.

I can go several days without removing any ash in the Encore, and I can go two weeks on the Defiant. When I do remove the ash I will shovel and sift the ash out of the VC fireboxes and over the course of several weeks the ash pans become full. So, I do use the ash pans, but I only use them to minimize the amount of shoveling I need to do. They just aren't worth it as the only form of ash management.

The 30 also seems pretty good at managing ash build up. I have no plan on using the ash pan.

But, I agree with jotul8e2, no reason to wait for the stove to go cold to remove the ashes.
 
I consider it a useless appendage on the T6. They should offer is as an accessory and lower the base price.
 
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