Wednesday afternoon my son emptied the ash pan on our Jotul 600. He said it was pretty full and it needed it. He emptied into a steel 30 gallon can we have outside.... Saturday I was splitting some kindling, just restocking and pulling some old wood out of the shed, replenishing outside the front door. I decided to empty the 30 gallon steel can of its ashes. I notice it was getting pretty high. I transfer the ashes into a Home Depot lawn bag. One of those big ones for grass clippings. leaves and what not....I was surprised to feel the outside of the bag was warm....I didn't place it in our garbage tote as I normally do but just planted it in a good snow back and proceeded to bury it with lots of snow.............Much to my surprise I looked at it today and it was GONE!!!!!...The entire bag burned up and the snow I buried it with made a massive Ash Ice Ball...With a low of 2F last night no wonder....3 DAYS AND ASHES STILL HOT!! Glad I didn't put it in the tote..Haha
Sounds about right. Ash is one heck of an insulator. You think you let it sit long enough, but once you stir it up and the air hits the embers again, all bets are off. One can never be too careful with ashes. I’ve had ash stay hot for almost a full week one time in my outdoor pit. One night it even got rained on briefly.
About 5 years ago I burned branches, twigs, leaves, and walnuts in our outdoor pit. After three days I decided to clean the pit and carted the ashes off to a ditch, it was late in the day and a couple hours later I just happened to look out our back window and the woods were on fire, in a perfect semi-circle from where I dumped the ashes. Yikes! I tried putting the fire out myself to no avail, ended up calling the fire department. They were there pretty quick for being volunteer and 12 miles away. It was embarrassing.. I'm sure it had to be the walnuts that were smouldering. I also have a metal trash can for our wood stove ashes, it comes in handy to melt the snow or ice on the roadway to our little neighborhood.
Second this. Amazing insulation and I've found embers still hot after a bonfire before, I thought I was loosing my mind! Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
I keep 2 10–15-gallon metal cans. Fill first, then second and once ready to clean again (maybe 4 weeks after filling the first) I dump the first so I can refill it. Repeat as needed for the season.
I burn only in really cold weather, which means there's snow on the ground where I live. Ashes are always dumped in a snow bank. Sent from my Pixel 4a (5G) using Tapatalk
I have plastic barrels. First I clean the stove using this: This sets for 3-6 days before getting dumped in the barrel. In spring I move the barrel in the field and dump it then spread it. Poor man's fertilizer.
I found out the hard way a couple years back. Emptied the stove after it was out for a couple days and proceeded to bury the ashes in my compost area out back , a couple hours later I looked and saw smoke. It had started a sort of smouldering fire underground no visible flames but not far from it. They now go into a steel can with a lid and remain there for a week before I dump them.
Years back when dad burned he had this old galvanized tub he'd shovel the ashes into. It would get dumped into a compost area of mostly leaves. More than once a fire was started there...mostly smoke.
I caught our fence on fire last week with some 3 day old ashes I poured into a hole in the ground next to the fence. The wife couldnt put it out and had to call the fire department who showed up sirens blaring talk about embarrassing. After I got off work I bought a larger metal can with lid and transfer the ashes from the small can into that now so they should be 7+ days old before I dump them.
I rotate between two metal ash cans with lids , one cools in a safe area of the yard while the other one is being filled . this way many days go by before spreading the ash in the garden , lawn or chicken run. never had a fire and hope I never will. too many people burn down the house with poorly handled ashes.
I transfer ashes from the stove to a galvanized bucket. This is set in the middle of the garage until it rains when I dump the ashes in our woodsy outback area. Once the Wif dumped them after three days but the weather was dry. I came home and saw the empty bucket and immediately checked the outback. Smoke was rising from the debris pile where she had dumped the ashes. A hose and a half hour of soaking took care of things but I hate to think of what could have been! Words were spoken but we got over it.
15 or so years ago it was nearing the end of season so wasn't running 24/7 anymore, more so a evening fire occasionally but nothing during the day so ash wasn't building up very fast. One night had one of those spring 10 inch snows pop up. Went out in the morning to everything covered, except for my 55 gal drum with a snap lock lid ring. Had to think how long it had been sealed with no new oxygen getting in to keep embers going but it was still simmering away enough that it melted 10 inches of snow on the lid and water running down the sides, it had been at least 10 days since I had dumped ashes. Gave me a whole new appreciation for don't assume the ashes are out.
I have one of the 30-gallon metal trash cans. The ashes sit in there for about 2 weeks before dumping.
We use two large stainless steel feed bowls to move ashes. Move them to sit on the tiled deck in the screened in porch and alternate between bowls. So at the least, they are sitting for 10 days before either transferring to paper bag or sifting them in the yard, garden or chicken run.. got home one time to find a partially charred paper bag sitting on the WOODEN deck. Someone decided to change procedures without consultation.. same deal.. words were spoken. Fix in place.
Every year we hear news reports of people setting their deck, porch or trashcan on fire with hot ashes.
I also use a metal bucket. Ashes sit in there for a week or so, then I usually dump them into our fire pit. This winter I've dumped them onto our driveway for traction more then I have before.
