Quick Fireview question

[Hardrockmaple]

How much hassle is it to deal with the ashes without having an ash pan? Having had an ash pan for 40+ years of burning I'm very very hesitant to go without.

Thanks

 

[begreen]

Lots of us here have stoves without ash pans. As long as the belly of the firebox is reasonably deep shoveling out ash is not a big deal. Our stove has an ashpan and it has been used once in 4 years.

 

[gmule]

For me it is not that big of a deal since the wood is burned to a very fine ash I don't have to clean it out that much

 

[Woody Stover]

I'm also a fan of ash pans if they are designed well. That said, it's not a big deal to shovel them out. If you have a good draft you should be able to contain most of the dust once you refine your technique. You need a shallow pan, adequately long, so that you can slide the ash off the shovel, minimizing dust. If you've positioned the pan below the open door and have decent draft, most of the floating ash will be drawn into the stove. I shoveled mine out every couple or three days. Looking forward to re-installing the Keystone this fall and having the ash pan back, however.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

How much hassle is it to deal with the ashes without having an ash pan? Having had an ash pan for 40+ years of burning I'm very very hesitant to go without.

Thanks

Hardrockmaple, I can relate to your concerns. We too burned wood for many years, just a tad longer than you have. We weren't sure we liked the idea of no ash pan. However, we did buy and when it came time to empty ashes the first time, we both (wife and I) liked this setup much better than the ashpan. I can say without a doubt that if we were to buy another stove in the future, it would no doubt be without an ash pan.

It is really easy to empty the ashes. What we do is, like when reloading, burn down to all coals and perhaps let it burn down just a little further than normal. We just use the poker and slide the coals to the rear. Take out a couple shovels of ash. Then slide the coals to the front and remove the rest of the ash, careful to leave a couple inches of ash in the bottom of the stove. It really is simple and easy.

No doubt where most folks have a problem and don't like it is when they handle the ashes. You do have to handle them with kid gloves, so to speak. Never, never just dump the ashes off the shovel. If you do, you are asking for a lot of dust. But if you very gently put the ash shovel in the bucket and then the trick is to not dump the ashes off the shovel but instead, gently slide the shovel out from under the ashes. It is easier to do than to explain. But if you do this you will get no ash dust.

The picture below is the ash pan we use. This works nicely for ashes because if you get careless, the lid will still save you from getting dust. With our stove, this thing fits nicely right under the firebox door so even if my wife (she usually does the ashes) is careless, which she is (sorry honey), any dust will stay in the stove or the ash pan or will get sucked back into the stove.