Ash Dump Clean Out

i am using a Hitzer Insert for the first season...i had a hole cut into the bottom of my ash pan area (no pan) which allows me to let the ash go down into the basement (where there is a small clean out door). I thought this would be a great idea...but...this thing creates a lot of ash so it has become an issue. perhaps tracking a pan across my living room would have been better? any good ideas about getting the ash out of the ash dump located in the basement? I know there are not many options but it amazes me how many ideas can be had from others...currently I have draped plastic around it and "rake" it out of the door into a garbage can. quite a mess.

WOW, couldn't you have just put a sheet metal cover over the ash pan when you remove it from the stove, to keep the ash from flying around?

I suppose I could have, but remember this is my first season with the stove. I ran my idea past others in the business and they agreed. Ash dumps are fairly common (I think) with fireplaces.

George. Are you making an excessive amount of ash because you are letting too much air in thru the bottom of the stove? How big a hole did you cut in the bottom of your stove? I'd put a garbage can under the hole instead of raking Scott

the stove is an insert so the hole has no effect on the draft. I don't know that I am making too much ash or the right amount of ash? how would I know? Also, the clean out runs straight down from the fire box (of the fireplace) into the basement and 90's to the clean out door. that is why it is necessary to rake it out.

I have the 983 Hitzer insert in my carpeted family room. If you're just a little careful, you'll get no ash on your living room floor. When you shakedown, all the fly ash goes up the chimney (move manual pipe damper open fully). Pull out the ash pan and, before you walk across the floor, just be sure there is no ash hanging on the back edge of the ashpan that could fall off.

I know you haven't been using your ash pan, but you still have it, don't you? Why not start using it to see if it's workable for you. The biggest problem I can imagine with the setup as you've described it may be air flowing up and through the hole you've cut in the bottom of the stove. My draft is so "good" that that would make my fire uncontainable but, come to think of it, if you already have a load of ash in that ash dump, maybe there's ot too much air able to flow through it.

I'd be tempted to leave the existing ash exactly where it is. Shouldn't do any harm there, should it?

george6556 wrote:the stove is an insert so the hole has no effect on the draft. I don't know that I am making too much ash or the right amount of ash? how would I know? Also, the clean out runs straight down from the fire box (of the fireplace) into the basement and 90's to the clean out door. that is why it is necessary to rake it out.

Air will flow up through the chute from the ash dump and feed your fire--there's no reason it shouldn't be doing so unless, as noted above, you have alot of compressed ash already in the dump/chute that's restricting the airflow.

If you're burning 50 lbs of anthracite per day, you're making about 5 lbs of ash per day (figuring 10% ash content, by way of example). That is alot more ash than 50 lbs of wood would produce.

You'll know that you're making "the right amount of ash" if there is no unburned coal in your ashes

i never received the pan from Hitzer. they cut the hole for me upon construction.

the passageway has never been unobstructed so there is no draft through the opening. also, I have good control of the draft, just wish more output could be had... it's heating a large area but I feel larger fans would extract more heat.

thanks for the 10% information, certainly is more ash than wood.

george6556 wrote:i never received the pan from Hitzer. they cut the hole for me upon construction.

the passageway has never been unobstructed so there is no draft through the opening. also, I have good control of the draft, just wish more output could be had... it's heating a large area but I feel larger fans would extract more heat.

thanks for the 10% information, certainly is more ash than wood.

What model insert do you have--503 or 983? What are your stove temps? If they won't give you one, you can readily purchase an "extra" ash pan from Hitzer. If you have good control of your draft--which it sounds like you do--I'd just use the ash pan over the hole, at least for now, to see if you can walk your ash pan across the living room without making a mess. I bet you will be able to. Since you won't be raking/disturbing the ash as you walk it out, essentially none will be lost on your way.

503, I suppose I will need to call them about a pan tomorrow. other than this, and unfortunately I can't "overheat" the house with this unit... coal seems like a good choice. I never checked temps...need to find a good thermometer I suppose. what are recommended temps (don't recall it from the book)

This sounds like a real pain in the ash unless the basement is on the ground floor and has a direct walk-out, I think you made more work for yourself.

I think I generate a full 30 gallon garbage can per week of ashes and even that is a pain to haul away but well worth the heat I get and oil I don't.

I have to empty my ash pan twice a day, morning and evening and I find I must be very careful walking from the stove out the rear slider to the patio and the metal garbage can.

Gary

i agree Gary

Think of your stove as a water bucket.
It would hold water, for the most part, before you cut a hole in the bottom.
If the hole had a fairly airtight door on it this plan would work.
Think of a coal door on a dump body.
The hole got corked or you have a tight ash door and kept the air out of your stove.
Chimney draft creates a vacuum in the stove if there is a way to balance the vacuum the air will find a way in.
If this inflow is controlled as in the front ash door you will be happy and have a controlled fire.
The hole in the bottom is the potential problem, how do you control the air?
Is there a gap between the metal base of the insert and the hearth of the fireplace?
You will have to move the ash at some point.
You may have killed the draft if the ash pit hole is not sealed.

george6556 wrote:503, I suppose I will need to call them about a pan tomorrow. other than this, and unfortunately I can't "overheat" the house with this unit... coal seems like a good choice. I never checked temps...need to find a good thermometer I suppose. what are recommended temps (don't recall it from the book)

If by "book", you mean that little owner's manual that Hitzer delivers with their stoves--I agree, no proper stove temps are recommended. If you read this forum you'll find people consistently running stove temps of less than 300*, and others who run at 400-500*. I'm running my insert at about 480* tonight, where it's 18* outside now, "heating" 4000 sq ft (to inside temps of 65-72*). I really try to get close to, but not exceed, my self-imposed limit of 500* stove temp--but I'm not sure whether this couldn't go higher. I just don't want to chance it. More people here seem to measure flue temps than stove temps, which makes alot of sense, but those of us with inserts can't do that so easily.

Alot of people here are getting great results with thier 503's. Don't conclude you won't get more heat out of it until you know what temps you're running. (How many sq ft are you trying to heat?)

You might try this for a magnetic stove thermometer:

there is no gap under the stove

the hole has a custom made cover (although unsealed)

the dump area is sealed.

there is little, if any, air leakage into the unit due to the hole

the air is controlled through the front ash door as designed.