How Do You Handle Dust?

titleist1 wrote:Two things that will always spread the dust around for me is leaving the blower on while using the flat shovel or tripping on a cat while carrying out the ash pan!

Excellent point.....You should never trip on the c............................just kidding!!

B4 shaking down, you should always turn off the blower fan first!

I recently had a sweep come to check out my chimney and he would not stop talking about flyash and that I am going to get it all over my house. I can't even remember all the words he used to say that when I remove the exhaust pipe from my fireplace chimney, there will be a big, terrible mess and all of this can be alleviated with the installation of a $2300 liner. He even went so far as to say that he couldn't understand why on earth anyone would want to burn coal.
Once I finally figure out how to install the stove, this will be my first winter burning coal. Is there a big dust problem that I should be aware of? I had dismissed the scary story from the chimney sweep since he didn't even know what the inside of a coal stove was supposed to look like. Furthermore, I thought that someone else would have told me how terrible it is to burn coal before I got the big pile in my yard.

there will be a big, terrible mess and all of this can be alleviated with the installation of a $2300 liner.

Was he also in the business of installing these liners? I don't feel that a chimney with the liner or without it will have any bearing on the amount of fly ash.

He even went so far as to say that he couldn't understand why on earth anyone would want to burn coal.

Being a chimney sweep and having cleaned chimneys connected to wood burning appliances I would think he would have said that about burning wood.

Sounds like a bunch of hogwash, or a sales pitch. I'd forget everything he said.

Pure BS... well mostly.. There can be a mess if you neglect periodic cleaning and wait till the stove is chock-full of flyash.. but if you make any attempt to keep the stove and it's exhaust pipe clear on a weekly basis, you won't have any problems..

I haven't burnt an alaska, the closest would be the LeisureLine Bottom vent I used some last year.. when I removed the ashpan, I had a shop vac with a 'plaster filter' nearby, and I vacuumed out the exhaust pipe each week.. there was never more than 1/2" of ash in the very bottom of the 6" exhaust pipe, and I was burning the stove at full capacity.

If you do your instal with cleaning in mind, you should not have ANY issues..

For most fireplaces or chimneys, you don't HAVE TO have a liner.. a liner is good for improving draft in a short, or very large cross-section chimney. A liner is NOT needed with every install..

Give us more specifics in a different topic, post your chimney height, size, room around the stove etc..

This thread/topic is about handling dust..

Greg L..

Yep, a little common sense and a shop vac is all you need.

I've been very busy lately and haven't kept the area around my Alaska tidy, not how I usually am. There is some ash on the floor around the stove, I let the ashpan overflow twice. It's in the cellar so it's not that much of a problem.

Flamingo26 wrote:I recently had a sweep come to check out my chimney and he would not stop talking about flyash and that I am going to get it all over my house.

I had dismissed the scary story from the chimney sweep since he didn't even know what the inside of a coal stove was supposed to look like.

He is hosing you. If you burn wood he will be cleaning your chimney, if you burn coal, he is out of a job. Flyash doesn't stick to the chimney walls like creosote, it simply falls to the bottom and you clean it with a drywall bagged vacuum from the cleanout. The only other thing that collects ash is the appliance and stovepipe. He also wants to sell you a liner you don't need.

The fact that he knows nothing about them shows you he isn't needed anymore with a coal appliance.

I am getting about 1/4 the amount of dust that I got from my wood stove. Not sure why. I am single and have to do my own housekeeping, but also can do it when I darn well please

When I had the wood stove in the dining room venting into the chimney where the Harman is now I was on the roof monthly cleaning the chimney. Emptying all the creosote out of the cleanout was a smelly mess.

Soon I will run the brush down the chimney for a fall cleaning, and that's it.

Hence the other advantage of coal--no creosote and no chimney fires (set it on fire 3 times when burning wood), and very little work for the chimney sweeps.

HI,

Have kept fire burning 5 days now. New to coal. Bought a hand fired Harmon TLC 1000 in order to stay warm. My dear husband went along with the request.

Now I have soot and ash issues. It is all over the house and I have nice furniture, lampshades and oriental rugs. I washed the hardwood and tile floors yesterday and they were gritty within two hours. I have dusted the wooden furniture with Pledge wipes and the dust returns within hours. How does a user live with this mess?

It is like black soot on everything. Fortunately I covered the upholstered furniture with sheets before lighting. I am getting ready to vacuum my lamp shades. They were white but now are covered with black soot. I have tried to be very careful and keep the ash pan door closed when shaking the unit down and waited several minutes to open the door. I am going to keep the door closed when loading nest time I fill the stove.

I have a wet towel that I clean the stove with after shaking down. I have sprayed the coal with a Windex bottle containing water, prior to loading and am getting ready to hook up a garden hose in the basement to spray down the coal bin. But the coal dust is not in the dining room as much because I shut it off to save heat, and it is the room directly over the coal bin. The most soot and dust is in the living room where I have fine antiques, oriental carpets, parquet floors, white wood work and Waterhouse wall paper. I cannot clean every two hours. The soot and dust are in all rooms that were open including bedrooms on the second floor. The kitchen tabler constantly gets a thin film of black as do the granite countertops. While coal is definitely cheaper than $700/ month natural gas house at 60 degrees, the cost of replacing, painting, cleaning could way exceed the savings on heat, No central vacuum option. 1870 Italianate three story brick with plaster walls/wood lath. Current heat is gas steam on first floor/ forced air gas on 2 & 3 floors.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

I tried to search for this issue with different phrases and could not find anything on this topic. Sorry for posting it here. I must be doing something wrong. It is impossible to be this dirty.

I see your repost Emily but did you read this thread?

Main tip I can give you is to do as much transferring of coal & ash OUTSIDE your house.

Devil505 wrote:I see your repost Emily but did you read this thread?

Main tip I can give you is to do as much transferring of coal & ash OUTSIDE your house.

Yes I read it and it was not helpful unless one installs a central vacuum. Otherwise I am being as careful as possible. I am in the process of removing all valuable furniture and carpets from the living room. I am washing the sheet covers and going to wash the high woodwork at 10'. I have even vacuumed the wallpaper. If this is an example of how dirty coal is I will not survive.

Jane

Your burning Anthracite right Jane?

cArNaGe wrote:Your burning Anthracite right Jane?

Hi,

I supposedly purchased Blaschek nut size coal from a dealer in Easton PA. So it is supposedly anthracite.

JLF53 wrote:I supposedly purchased Blaschek nut size coal from a dealer in Easton PA. So it is supposedly anthracite.

Is it Emily or Jane?

Devil505 wrote:

JLF53 wrote:I supposedly purchased Blaschek nut size coal from a dealer in Easton PA. So it is supposedly anthracite.

Is it Emily or Jane?

Hi Devil 505

It is Jane