unique way to remove ashes from a VF3000 boiler

I have been running my VF3000 for 3 months and looking for the easiest way to handle the ash.
i found that if you stretch a garbage bag over the top of the ash tub then turn the tub upside down, wait a few min for the dust to settle then pickup the tub and tie the bag closed.

That worked pretty good but then I thought what if I put the plastic bag in the tub then slide it into the VF3000.
I tried that and the bag melted on the side where the chimney outlet is.
so I added a piece of 1" thick fiberglass insulation between the tub and the chimney outlet side and it worked!
I have been doing this for a month now and it works pretty good.
I'll post pictures below.

I was only allowed 5 pictures..... here is the final one
ready to carry out to the trash can




The bags I bought at BJ's

Pretty slick.

I wouldn't put the bag in the stove, mine would melt with the high temps.

I do that all the time with the trash bags.

THEN, Sometimes, I cut the corner out of the bag and walk down the driveway ruts and fill them in and gives me traction too.

Maybe someone could talk the Reynold's wrap company into building a bag for our ashpans based on the oven bag design.

Jeff

I will definately have to give this a try. My ash pan is never hot, even when the boiler is cranking. Emptying the ash is by far my least favorite job.

I like the way you think!

I'm amazed that a plastic bag doesn't melt in your boiler. When I reach into my Koker to change the ash bucket, I wear welding gloves and long sleeves. It's hot in there! I then have to put the full ash bucket aside and let it cool (usually overnight) before I attempt to bag it.
I do the thing with putting the plastic bag over the ash bucket and slowly inverting it and even more slowly pull the bucket out. That does work well.

-Len

I like it!

I setup mine with a bag last night, let you know how it goes.

just wanted to update this post I did last year.
this plastic bag system worked great all last season.
I just started running coal for my second season and realized that when you start running coal in the VF3000 you will get some burning coal falling into the ash pan until the boiler gets selled down.
So don't use this plastic bag system until the boiler has been running on coal for a couple of hours.

I've been using the drum liners this year and I love it! Thank you for posting this unique method. I would never have thought that the plastic could stand up to that environment but it does. I've seen my trash man eye the bag up a couple of times but they take it. Dealing with the ash pan has always been my least favorite part of the whole process. I now just change the bag every other day. It's great! Thanks Sync.

coalkirk wrote: I've seen my trash man eye the bag up a couple of times but they take it. .

hey coalkirk,
I laughed when I read this because I had the same thing with my garbage man.
I saw him poking at the bag but he still took it, that same day I went out and bought black plastic bags.

since the 55 gal drum bags are really bigger than I need for the ash pan I found at home depot
45 gal 1.8mil black bags $13.00 for box of 50

Yeah, I may have to go with the non-see through bags too. Don't want to ruin a good thing. We've got a very picky trash man.

I sure would have thought the ash that first dropped into the bag would have been hot enough to melt it -- not simply the environment you placed it.

Great idea that worked

I wonder how this ash removal solution from back in 2009 might work in the AA and AHS boilers. Has anyone in the AA or AHS camp ever tried this?