Two Annoying Issues With Stove-Got Ideas??

I have two annoying issues with my Channing 3 stove. None of them are deal breakers but I'm hoping to learn from other members.

1. Dumping the ash is the worst part of owning a coal stove. I have a metal garbage can outside and when I dump the ashes there is a large cloud of fine ash that goes everywhere. I try to stay up wind which is sometimes not possible and wear a paper mask. I tried wetting the ash but only the top layer gets wet and the ash still goes everywhere. Is there a solution to this problem? I also feel bad releasing these toxins into the air and my neighbors are probably going to complain, at some point.

2. I would say that every few days I find ash (not a lot) at the back of the stove. I'm thinking this has something to do with the air hole that is at the back of the stove and is used to suck in room air. Does anyone else have this problem and if so is there a solution?

traderfjp wrote: I also feel bad releasing these toxins into the air and my neighbors are probably going to complain, at some point.

I'm not a scientist nor do I have specific data to link to because I can't find any but the toxicity level to the best of my knowledge is a moot point. These are trace amounts comparable to what you expect to find in dirt, you may be interested in what Berlin had to say on the subject:

Coal Ashes in the Garden?

There's a few other posts on this but I'm too lazy to look for them at the moment.

As far as containing them, sorry I' don't have any suggestions for you.

As far as the ash goes at the back of the stove if you are referring to fly ash that is most likely going to happen in any stove unless you have a very minimal clearance between the pan and where the ash is dropping from. I know it accumulates in the back of our furnace.

Hello TraderJ.

The ash in the back of the stove is probably fly ash. Is it fine powder-like dust? Not the crusty ash like in the ash pan? Fly ash is a fact of life with a typicaly stoker stove, nothing can be done about it that I can think of.

You might try putting a large heavy garbage bag, over the ash pan, invert the pan inside the closed bag, let the dust settle then open the bag. You can get huge 'contractor' bags at home depot/lowes.

You could get creative and attach one of these big bags to the upper rim of your trash can, and use it like a duct or dust seal. Cut the bottom of the bag out and seal the bag around the top of the trash can. Then insert the ashpan into the bag, close the bag, then invert the pan, let the dust settle, then remove the pan.

There really is no easy, gracefull way to dump the ashes. I do a maneuver of: stand upwind, take a deep breath, tip the ash pan, as the ash starts to slide out of the pan I turn my face away, the walk away from the fresh pile of ash, walking upwind, this usually results in not getting ash on my clothes. But there is a lot of dust flying off downwind. But I don't have any close neighbors.

Just some ideas, maybe one will work for you.

Greg L

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I have an old shop vac that I keep by my metal garbage can for ashes. I turn it on and hold the nozzle at the top of the garbage can as I pour in the ashes, all the light weight dust is sucked up by the shop vac.

Works well for me.

BK

Switching to Oil will cure all mentioned problems,,,,,, course ya pay fer convenience

I get ash out of the air intake once and a while but you can eliminate most of it by shutting down the stove, removing the combustion fan and vacuuming out under the grate. The ash particles are the fines that fall through the grate and the combustion fan is blowing them around in there and some just come out the back of the fan. I believe the manual say to clean that out at least twice yearly or every month.

coalstoves wrote:Switching to Oil will cure all mentioned problems,,,,,, course ya pay fer convenience

lol I guess that is why every household switched to oil or gas back in the day. Once they got us hooked on convenience they raised the price.

I have an idea and will try this out soon. I'll take a metal can lined with a bag and use my saw to cut out an exact opening for my ash pan. I may have to weld a small handle on the other side of the ash pan so the pan doesn't fall through the hole. Then when I dump my ash pan it will seal to the outside of the can. I guess I could leave it there and let the ash settle and put back a second ash pan. The ash it not healthy to breathe in. I want to save money but I also want to live past retirement.

Anyone else have any ideas or comments?

I do the same thing. Wear a mask and try to stay upwind. I also have the trash can lid ready to slam back on which contains alot of it. It's one unavoidable draw backs to coal use, lots of ash and the mess that goes with it. I'm willing to put up with it for the comfort and cost savings that coal offers. I find it much more uncomfortable to pay the oil man.

I was thinking about how some people spread the ash on their driveway, won't it get on the cars and corrode them quickly? I also don't believe that the ash is really that bad for you. My grandma burned coal all her life and emptied the ashes and shook down the stove and she lived to be in her 90's. I wouldn't eat the stuff.

hey Trader, I posted my ash disposing technique in another section not too long ago....my technique is all good because my neighbors arecool and I have lots of low spots in the lawn I need to fill in. If youcan dump it in the yard carrying the ash pan outand quickly inverting it on the ash pile will yield very little airborn ash when you lift the pan straight up. Maybe 20 heating seasons from now when all my low spots are filled in Iwill still dump it in a pile in the yard and after a spring rain when its wet shovel the ash into a can(or four) and off to the local dump it goes. I have another idea about cutting a hole in the bottom of the stove and welding in an ash chute that goes down into a waiting container in my otherwise useless basement. I haven't figured out ventilation or any of the particulars yet but maybe later after a couple of beers when my imagination is working Ill post my idea in its entirety. good luck trader Jim

I'm a fairly severe asthmatic, so if I'm still alive you have nothing to worry about!

My basement is so dirty I never noticed the fly ash accumulation until reading posts here. I see it on the top of the stove, plumbing, furnace etc. I get a face full of fly ash twice a day when I shake the stove. Most of it lands in the pan, but when I shovel out the sides where the pan doesn't reach, it goes everywhere.

I guess I'm lucky to have nobody living across the street from my house. I have a pile of ashes from a total of 6 tons of coal from the past season and this season! I just wing the pan & let 'em fly!

I used several buckets full to fill a soft spot by my mailbox. The mailman & paper guy were almost getting stuck there before. The ash built it up nice. I'll have to re-do the area once it thaws & gets muddy.

I wish they'd use this stuff instead of salt around here. Then in 5 years we wouldn't have just a seat, frame & engine to drive around!

Hi Smitty:

Sorry to see that the salt is doing a number on your vehicle. When I was a kid, we lived in an area of Brooklyn, NYC which was a mix of apartments and industrial buildings. Everything was filthy and greasy; the air, the buildings, the sidewalks and the roadways. My grandfather always drove a Chevy Impala and frequently travelled to his cabin in the Adirondack Mountains in upstate NY. Up there salt was used all winter long, and it is a long winter. Grandpa's cars never rusted out despite the salt exposure. His secret: he NEVER, EVER washed his car! His theory was that all of the dirt, grease and crud that encased the car from driving around Brooklyn acted like a natural rust inhibitor. Nothing could get through that gunk, not even salt. Give it a try.

JC

there used to be a guy that for $40 he'd spray your car's undercarriage with used motor oil mixed with diesel or something, I mean he'd load it on thick and you just drove down his gravel driveway a few times until it stopped dripping. His truck was like a 1972 and looked like a brand new one from Arizona underneath. The guy isn't around anymore, maybe the EPA did him in Here in upstate NY the average family budget includes $200 a year for new brake lines for the cars. They put down road salt and also a liquid ice melt solution that will eat a car very quickly. I buy my used cars from southern PA, they aren't as rusted.

As for ash removal...I don't know how big the ash-pan is? Try using a steel trash can big enough to hold the ashpan. Lay the can on it's side. Insert the ash pan...put the lid on..."roll the can"... Carry it outside remove the ash pan. Do you 'bag the ash' for disposal? Or just spread it in the backyard? If you 'bag it'..and..If this works for you buy two trash cans (let the dumped ash sit for a day)...then dump it into trash bags...
Don't know all the details of your situation...but hope this helps.

Smitty? Hate New England Rust? So do I...I hate rust removal...especially when it gets to this point: