Dust and Mess

How does every one keep the dust down to a minimum? My first year running coal in the house. I'm working on keeping the dust down.

I cut the dust quite a bit just by shaking only with the ash door SHUT ... then waiting a while before SLOWLY opening it to clear the flyash. I also keep the ash door shut while poking from the top - just doing those things cut down considerably on the amounts of ash found on the baffle & in the connector pipe at the end of a 5+ ton season. Also, gently handling/shoveling ash out of the stove helps as well.

Now if I had patience when loading, I could stop the puffbacks. One puffback will blow more flyash into the house than 4 months of shaking will. Ask me how I know that one ..

What are you burning? Are you burning Bit or Anthracite? You don't have your location filled out in profile but I'm guessing it's Wyoming. Just don't know if it's the state or in the state of PA\?

Wyoming and am using sub-bit. Don't have the problem with shaking. Just when transferring ash. I don't really want to be transferring the ash pan though the house so I put in a container by the stove leave it there till embers die and then carry it though the house. Just wondering what some have come up with.

My ash goes right upstairs, thru the house, & is dumped outside - no transfer at all indoors. It goes into the pan, then from the pan to the ground outside.

Trying to empty the pan indoors would cause LOTS of flyash clouds, I'd imagine ...

SMITTY wrote:My ash goes right upstairs, thru the house, & is dumped outside - no transfer at all indoors. It goes into the pan, then from the pan to the ground outside.

Trying to empty the pan indoors would cause LOTS of flyash clouds, I'd imagine ...

You imagined right.

I have a Hitzer insert and slide my ash pan into an ash tote, it holds several days worth before I must empty it, I make sure the fans are off and handle it real easy, the lid on the tote closes as I withdraw the pan.

On note, Hitzer ash pans are designed like a scoop with 3 sides and the back end is open, that way you don't have to turn it upside down to empty and it scoops up any ash that misses the pan when you put it back in the stove.

Bk

Moving ash....Therin lies the secret of clean or not clean. Never, ever, transfer ash from one container to the other in the house. Somehow, some way, the ash pan comes out of the stove, possibly gets a cover put on it, then taken outside before emptying.

All fans in the room off . Baro. damper covered with aluminum foil while shaking down. Manual damper full open while shaking down. Intake draft control closed while shaking down. Ash door open just enough to see when red coals fall. Do not transfer ash to other containers indoors.

For hopper stove operators: Leave settings as above while refilling hopper. A strong draft down the hopper helps keep dust and smoke moving down instead of up out of the hopper.

In reality I don't cover the Baro. damper for shakedown unless I am experiencing an exceptionaly weak draft at that time.

If you are concearned about carrying hot ash thru the house, empty your ashes before and not after shakedown times.

As everyone is saying, there are lots of things you can do to reduce the dust. Check out the archive in the upper right corner, too. You'll find something the works for you.

First keep the doors on the stove closed. Learn to use the stove front thermometers on the front of the stove to tell how it's burning. Only refill the stove with the blue ladies wildly dancing.

Second, as someone else said, never shake your stove with the either door open; find another way to determine if you've shaken the stove enough besides looking for the first coals to drop. I watch the level of the coal bed through the window - 2 or 3 inches and I'm good to go. Never poke your stove from the top with the ashdoor open.

Third, move slow when emptying the ashpan. If you don't have a lid for yours, get one made. It will be the best money you spent controlling the dust. I personally always have an dry vac with a drywall dust bag in it hovering nearby when I am emptying my ashpan. I don't get within 3 inches of the hot coals but it grabs any dust I disturbed.

4th, learn to control the puff backs, as someone else posted one good puff back will create more flyash then shaking the stove with the door open. If this is a problem for you, try introducing some over the air draft as and after you load.

Combine these things with what the others have said and you'll greatly reduce you ash issue.

Wy Coal Miner wrote: I don't really want to be transferring the ash pan though the house so I put in a container by the stove

DING DING DING! If you are transferring ash into a different container the is going to be a nice layer of flyash on everything in the house...period. If you aren't comfortable taking the hot ashes out through the house, fabricate a cover to fit over the pan...or order extra ash pans so you can let them cool next to the stove prior to moving.

I've found that if I let the shake down cool then empty it just before the next shake, I get less dust. obviously closing the primarys and opening all the dampers helps a bit too but it's unavoidable that you are going to get "some" fly ash. Just the nature of the beast. IMO, I feel like wood was messier when I was a tree butcher.

Has anyone tried one of these?
http://www.allegrovacuums.com/attachments/dirt/as ... as200.html

Buy a second ash pan for your stove, or have someone build a second one for you, there is a guy around these parts that builds some real nice pans for a price and can also fabricate a lid to fit right on top... Never transfer ash in the house... End of story, problem solved...

MURDOC1 wrote: Never transfer ash in the house... End of story, problem solved...

That's nice but, errr, the stove is in the house.