Ash Drawer - Does Anyone Use These?

[stihly dan]

These little arguments make me like my furnace more and more. What may not seem like a big deal at the time, can look like one when you get an appliance that works so much better. My previous epa stove had an ash drawer and a small trap door. As people have mentioned after the 1st use I went to the shovel method, much easier and faster. This did not seem like a big deal. Then I got my furnace, brick floor with a 6X6 ash grate flush with the floor in the front. Intake air not coming from below but at floor level. Now upon reload, I take the coal scraper that comes with the furnace sweep it sideways 3 times, rake the coals forward, slide out the pan and dump it in a bucket outside. While dumping the ashes air is now coming from below the coals and in the 10 seconds it took me to dump the ashes the coals are now a blaze. Replace the ash drawer, load in wood and close the door, done. The whole process of cleaning the ashes and loading the unit takes about 30 seconds with zero mess. After using this unit, makes using the other stove a pain in the ass, even tho I did not realize it at the time.

 

[slowp]

The dust appears during the shovel to bucket part. There isn't much. My communist elitist feminist stove doesn't even fill up the bucket and there are only around a half dozen scoops with the antique shovel. When we elitists have properly insulated houses and live in cool climates--not cold, we let the fire go out every day or we'll have a sauna.

 

[sachsmo]

WHUT'S an 'elitist' stove?

 

[Chris-PA]

WHUT'S an 'elitist' stove?

Ask Oly. It appears to be a stove that has an EPA rating and then starts getting uppity and thinks it is better than simple steel boxes. He's working on a re-education program involving work camps to teach these fancy stoves that they are not any better than all the other stoves.

 

[sachsmo]

Is the Woodstock big boy an 'elitist' stove?

I hope not!

Seems that one has been in me sights for a spell?

 

[Wood Doctor]

Yeah... being able to empty the ashes, even with a full-blown fire blazin', is a big plus.
And keeping ashes separated from coals is another... to some extent, a grate does that for you automatically.

I empty the ash drawer of my furnace every two or three days... usually when I get home at night before takin' my boots off. I walk in and down the steps, load the box full first, then pull the drawer and dump it in the metal trash can. I empty the trash can every couple weeks or so.
On the other hand, I have to clean the ashes from my elitist stove, which is a pain... and an even bigger pain unless the fire is completely burned out. I really hate that stove.
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I also use my ash pan in my Fed Airtight 288 and empty it every two days. An empty ash pan in this stove allows me to start the fire much more easily because it increases the air flow from below through the bottom valve.

I can also empty it with the fire running full bore, but I seldom do this except when it's really cold outside.

 

[Chris-PA]

I can certainly see where ash would be a much bigger issue on a stove that fed air up from below.

 

[Whitespider]

I can certainly see where a stove feeding air down from above would be a huge issue... with, or without an ash drawer.
You can call it a technological advancement if'n ya' like... but in my mind it's a huge step backwards. Ever since man first built a fire on the ground he's been developing ways to get air under it. Now we're back to building fires on the ground?? Ridiculous‼ Stupid actually. A huge step backwards... there ain't no magic in it.
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[Ronaldo]

I use my flipper door on the Pacific Energy's firebox floor every couple days to put ashes down through and into the ash pan. The stove came with just a lid that sat down on the opening, but when I found that I could get the spring loaded flipper and install it, that is what I did. Ashes fly and float everywhere when I clean out through the loading door, but drop right down into the pan through the flipper with no mess. I would not even consider a stove without an ash pan and a clean way to drop ashes into it.

 

[Chris-PA]

Ever since man first built a fire on the ground he's been developing ways to get air under it. Now we're back to building fires on the ground?? Ridiculous‼ Stupid actually. A huge step backwards... there ain't no magic in it.

I see people burning fireplaces all the time who complain that they can't get any heat out of the things and all the heat goes right up the flue. Invariably they have one of those stupid grates that holds the wood up so the coals burn up fast and they get no heat. They don't know how a fireplace works - get rid of the grate and build your fire properly on the hearth and get a fire back and you will be surprised how well they work.

So yeah, you could be right - maybe people who's only heat was a fireplace and used them daily all their lives were too stupid to know how to use them. If only they hadn't been too stupid to figure out how to prop up a log......

 

[slowp]

It got clear and cold here last night. My communist elitist feminist stove worried me when I first got it because it is shielded on three sides. Not to worry, it throws out enough heat out the front and top to do the job. I'll be bringing in more Doug-fir to burn during cold snaps. It burns hotter than alder.

 

[Fred Wright]

Having combustion air come from above the fire seems backward, I concur. I believe this method is used to keep the door glass from sooting up.

It has drawbacks... an inch of ash at the door edge cuts down on the burn. Shovel the ash away from the front of the firebox and it burns much better. I don't know why this is, perhaps the accumulated ashes deflect intake air?

I kinda miss the old Riteway I had years ago. It was a combo wood/coal burner with grates at the bottom of the firebox and an ash pan beneath the grates. Air intake was below the grates. It was gawdawful ugly to look at but that stove would crank out the heat.