Best Way to Dump Ashes?

Wet the ashes. A glass of water should do the trick. Always works for me to keep the dust down.

Dust is part of burning coal. Stand away from the wind. Keep the can close to the ground or where ever you are dumping them. Don't dump hot ashes on the ground....can start a fire.

I have a metal lid made from a drum top that I slide onto my ash tub while it is still in my boiler. I then slide the ash tub out of the boiler onto a teflon coated fiberglass fabric covered fireproof silicone sponge rubber pad. This reduces the shock dust cloud when the ash tub drops an inch onto the pad so very little dust comes out from under the edge of the lid.

I then take the covered ash tub outside where I have 5 ash cans. Each ash can is drilled and cross wired with mechanics wire about a foot down from the top of the can. I then throw the tub into the ash can and run upwind. The wire stops the upside down tub from going all the way down the can.

System works well.

With the Crane 404,i open the ash door,put welding gloves on,pull the ash pan,carry it outside,dump it in a covered container,walk back into the house,install the ash pan & proceed to tend the stove........ With the EFM520,i open the ash door ,put leather gloves on,pull the ash pan ,set it on the floor,install the empty ash pan ,take the full one out side,flop it upside down on the ash pile,lift it from the bottom so the ashes remain on the pile,thump the pan so the dust flies,walk back into the truck box & set the ash pan on the floor. I do not get worried about a little dust,i grew up on a farm & worked in dust on a regular basis. Having to breathe others second hand stinkerette smoke has a far more devastating affect on me than a little bit of coal ash dust. Breathing a bit of dust helps bring a sneeze which in turn helps to clear the stale air from the lungs,which is a good thing. Helps to get rid of the second hand smoke that other folks seem to think we enjoy so much.

I just dump the ashes on my "ash mountain". I've found that standing sideways to the wind works the best.