What to do with all the ash

[LONDONDERRY]

So this is the first year I've started to burn wood. Its fun so-far, but I've been warned to wait until the snow hits. I do have a few questions to ask.

1. Every morning I remove all of the coals and ash, except 1 inch from my fireplace insert (Napolean 1402). I place them in a small can with a lid, when they cool they are hauled away as local task collection. Does anyone have any other suggestion on what I can do with this stuff beside but it in a land fill?

2. I'm noticed while cleaning the house, there is a fine layer of soot on the furniture, ceiling fan blades, ect. Any recommendation on how to preven this or is it just part of owning a stove?

3. Where is the best place to put a thermometer on the stove? Is it where the hot air blows out from the top mid section of the stove or somewhere else? I brought home from my job a handheld temperture device that has a couple of thermocouples and a data logger, but I can keep this forever.

4. We load the stove with wood 30 minutes before we go to be, then close the dampner all the way shut and turn the fan on high. When I wake up in the morning the stove is more or less cool. Should I place smaller pieces of wood around 2-3am to prevent the stove from cooling down and creosote forming? Or should I just allow it to cycle from hot to cold then hot again in the morning?

Frank

 

[Adios Pantalones]

1) I add some to my compost, spread it over the yard, use it to deice/for traction on the hill part of the driveway (don't want to be walking through it and tracking it in the house)- charcoal included in all of this. The ash in moderation acts to lime the yard a bit, which is good in our soil. Contains K as well.

2) Soot- as in black soot, or is it ash? I clean my stove maybe 1-2 times a week in burning season and don't have an ssue with it. maybe this is from stirred up ash from emptying often? Maybe your ash cleanout is leaky? Can't help, only speculate.

3) on the door if you have a blower through the top, or you're just looking at the air cooled temperature- not the hot stove temp.

4) Later in the fire, when it's coals and starts cooling, there's no danger of creosote forming. You need smoke and water for creosote- and neither is present in any real quantity during coal stage. If you can rescue a few coals, pull them up front, throw in a wood charge- it's a good way to start the fire up- but you don't need to keep it "hot" by adding to prevent creosote.

 

[begreen]

See this thread with the same title:

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/27181/