WOOD STOVE ASH REMOVAL

Heating with wood does entail some hazards, but most of them do not involve flue fires. The most frequent fire hazard now comes from people taking out the ashes! An incredible number of people every year remove the ashes from the stove, put them into a cardboard box, then put the box on the back porch or steps.

Wood ashes are amazing in their insulating ability. In the old days -- pre match -- people used to save some coals in a tin box full of ashes -- the "tinder box." Coals would keep overnight, then were placed by tinder, a bellows blown at the coal, and the tinder would burst into flame. Small sticks would then be added, then larger pieces of wood, and soon a good fire was going. Before the fire died out some hot coals were placed back into the "tinder box" for use for the next day's fire. This system was not perfect, and neighbors shared coals at times, but it was way ahead of whatever was in second place.

But I digress. Now on the back porch, the coals heat up the cardboard, it starts burning, then the floor of the porch becomes involved, and 911 gets dialed. Bad news indeed.

Another problem comes from those who think shop vac's are the greatest thing since sliced bread. So they start to vacuum up the wood ashes -- just once! -- and find that the incredible draft generated by the shop vac would make a blacksmith's forge melt from sheer fright. Even minuscule embers become incredibly hot, creating an intense fire hazard that can quickly melt the plastic vent fitting and begin emitting hot flaming particles into the house. Marvelous.  Call 911 quickly.

Use a metal bucket with a bail handle (like a 5 gallon galvanized garbage can) and take it outside -- way outside -- and place it on bricks or concrete for a couple of days. Because the ash bucket can get rained on, punch a couple of nail holes through the side near the bottom to drain excess water. The ashes, when cold, may be placed on the garden, in the chicken coop to kill lice or mites, wherever.

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