Ash door ?

[Jeremy102579]

I have an old inefficient fireplace which next summer hope to replace with a wood stove. I am having it swept out next week. Over the years.....I've wondered what the little door is on the outside of my house is.....and how do ashes collect there ?

I've added 2 pictures, 1 of the rear view of my chimney and 1 of the exterior cleanout door ..........
Thanks

 

[CTYank]

Referred to as a cleanout door.

When you run brush inside the chimney, or as a result of proper burn cycles (hot fire-start, more casual subsequent burn), the flaky deposits inside the flue fall to the bottom. (Do not let shiny hard creosote deposits get started.)

Every so often, you shovel them out. What's a "wheelbarrel"?

 

[UpOnTheHill]

Yep it's a clean out. Used to clean out the chimney bottom as stuff collects or falls there

 

[svk]

Every so often, you shovel them out. What's a "wheelbarrel"?

My first house was a 30's era farmhouse that we restored. When we got it in 97' I took 15 gallons of junk out of the ash door.

 

[UpOnTheHill]

My first house had a masonry block chimney similar to the one shown. It didn't have a clean out and it was a PITA. I had to move the stove, disconnect the black pipe from the thimble and reach through the thimble with a little scooper to clean it out. The thimble was almost at the bottom of the chimney. Needless to say, it only got done a couple times since we lived there in 5 years.

 

[CTYank]

My first house was a 30's era farmhouse that we restored. When we got it in 97' I took 15 gallons of junk out of the ash door.

House I lived in for 10 yrs in E. Norwalk, built in the mid-20s, presented some probs. The mortar near the base of the exterior chimney needed major re-pointing and a cleanout door. So, I took out the bricks on one side at a time and re-set them, with a liberal coat of mortar inside the bottom. (A cubic foot or so of fluffy debris got removed first; likely from ancient coal furnace.) 15 gallons?

Once all the mortar set up, it was time for a masonry drill to open a hole for a cast-iron cleanout door.

I'd heard that if you routinely run a woodstove hot & hard at the start of each batch, you'd not get creosote deposits out of control. By looking inside the cleanout at the regular deposits from above, I was convinced.

 

[svk]

House I lived in for 10 yrs in E. Norwalk, built in the mid-20s, presented some probs. The mortar near the base of the exterior chimney needed major re-pointing and a cleanout door. So, I took out the bricks on one side at a time and re-set them, with a liberal coat of mortar inside the bottom. (A cubic foot or so of fluffy debris got removed first; likely from ancient coal furnace.) 15 gallons?

Once all the mortar set up, it was time for a masonry drill to open a hole for a cast-iron cleanout door.

I'd heard that if you routinely run a woodstove hot & hard at the start of each batch, you'd not get creosote deposits out of control. By looking inside the cleanout at the regular deposits from above, I was convinced.

After that I ran a ball of tire chains through the chimney and took another pail of crap out.