Ohhh the Dust!!!

New Hope Engineer · Post by **New Hope Engineer** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 9:38 am

lowfog01 wrote:I can definitely feel your pain! I have a Harman Mark II which has a ash pan without a cover and a 15 year old son who's job it is to empty it. That is often a bad combination! On top of that my fan doesn’t have a filter over the intake hole so any little bit of flyash in the air gets picked up and spread all over the house. The same thing can be said about the floor fans I use to move the heat to other parts of the house. This year I am going to pay more attention to when I have the stove open and try to reduce that. I am also going to wait 5 mins or 10 mins after I shake the grates and reload the stove before I have the ash pan emptied. I will also make sure the fans are off before openingthe stove. I also plan to construct a filter for my intake opening on the stove’s fan. I am going to use the same metal filtering material that my kitchen stove’s exhaust fan uses. I’m not sure how I will fasten it on yet. I’m open for suggestions. I can’t think of anything else I can do to reduce the amount of flyash in the air but I’m always open for suggestions. I guess I could probably dust more often but why start something new at this point in my live. Lisa

i let the ash cool down before I would remove the pan from the stove.if you remove the ashes right after shaking they are gonna go all over!

2nd shut down the blower on the stove and the rest of the fans that you have running.then remove the ash pan carefully and take outside to dump.
this is my first year with an air tight coal stove,but this seems to be working for me so far.

hope this helps a little.
mark

lowfog01 · Post by **lowfog01** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 10:16 am

Thanks for the reply I'm open to all most anything in order to control the dust. Lisa

WNY · Post by **WNY** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 1:01 pm

have your coal oiled or dampened, that helps keeping the dust down when loading.
Also, maybe fabricate a cover for the ash pan when you remove it, just put the cover on it, to keep any dust down..

rberq · Post by **rberq** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 4:35 pm

Wood'nCoal wrote:... take a piece of room air conditioner filter, remove the 2 screws that hold the intake guard on, place the filter on top of the guard and under the retainer ... I had to clean all the dirt and dog/cat fur out of the fan squirrel cage a few months after I got the stove.

Thanks for the tip. Is the AC filter tough enough so it doesn't get sucked in by the vacuum?

P.S. You cleaned after a few months? You must have wimpy dogs and cats.

I have to vacuum the intake guard at least every two days to remove the dog hair. And there's still enough hair in the rest of the house to construct a puppy a week.

VigIIPeaBurner · Post by **VigIIPeaBurner** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 4:48 pm

rberq wrote:P.S. You cleaned after a few months? You must have wimpy dogs and cats.

I can speak in John's defense here ... there is absolutely NOTHING wimpy what-so-ever about either of his pooches. Not even the hair. One likes toes and butts and the other will just consume you in one gulp and it doesn't matter where he starts to gulp from

009to090 · Post by **009to090** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 5:13 pm

VigIIPeaBurner wrote:
rberq wrote:P.S. You cleaned after a few months? You must have wimpy dogs and cats.
I can speak in John's defense here ... there is absolutely NOTHING wimpy what-so-ever about either of his pooches. Not even the hair. One likes toes and butts and the other will just consume you in one gulp and it doesn't matter where he starts to gulp from

My dog is a big Wimp. He's 9 years old, but thinks he is still a puppy. He might lick you to death, if you get with tongue range

. He sheds alot, but my wife vacuums every other day. The fans never get plugged with air.

Scottscoaled · Post by **Scottscoaled** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 9:19 pm

When I pull the #1 square pan out of the Boiler it makes a big cloud of gray dust. to prevent that I just hold the vacumn hose in one hand while slowly pulling the pan out. You can see the dust going in the vacumn. If some starts getting away, just move the hose over to the dust. After the pan hits the floor, one hand holds the hose while the other hand shovels the ash out into the pan. Works pretty good. Just have to make sure the hose doesn't slip and get into ther ash

CoalHeat · Post by **CoalHeat** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 10:00 pm

Thanks for defending the honor of my dogs, Dave.

Actually, if Chuck Norris stops by your house all the ash problems will stop, as he just will look at the stove or boiler and the ash will stay in the pan, even when you take it outside and try to dump it out.

Chuck Norris can lead a horse to water AND make it drink.

Chuck Norris doesn’t wear a watch, HE decides what time it is.

Chuck Norris can slam a revolving door.

Is the AC filter tough enough so it doesn't get sucked in by the vacuum?

Yes.

009to090 · Post by **009to090** » Mon. Oct. 05, 2009 10:10 pm

Wood'nCoal wrote:
Is the AC filter tough enough so it doesn't get sucked in by the vacuum?
Yes.

Just buy the washable type of filter. Not the throw-aways.

VigIIPeaBurner · Post by **VigIIPeaBurner** » Tue. Oct. 06, 2009 5:25 am

A lot of good techniques posted on this thread.

(even if Chuck Norris isn't on this coast when you need him

).

Depending on where in the house your set up is located and if the tips in this thread don't do a complete enough job, a friend of mine uses a shop filter. He's used a Mark III for a long time and his wife is physically sensitive to dust from either wood or coal. His stove is in the finished basement and he has a ceiling mounted dust handler on one side of the room. If he turns it on just before he maintains the stove and keeps it on for a few minutes after, the dust is kept under control. I think he's installed a timer on it so it runs only as long as necessary. Although a powered filter sitting on the floor might not be as effective as one mounted higher, it's a second-best choice.

Cheetah · Post by **Cheetah** » Wed. Oct. 07, 2009 1:00 am

JKinPA wrote:What can we do to keep the dust down. My wife is at the point that she says after the stove starts she isn't going into the basement because of the mess.

When I shake the stove down I just leave the ashes till next time I tend the stove. Empty the ashes first, then shake down. When I open the ash door there is enough draft to draw the dust in. Still I lift the ash pans out slowly and cover them with old towels to carry outside. Since the ashes have been sitting 8 or more hours I don't have to worry about glowing coals in the pan. If the ash can out doors is big enough to lower the pan right into it before dumping it raises less dust outside than pouring it from above. I leave the towel right on the pan as I lower it into the can.

Rice Burner · Post by **Rice Burner** » Mon. Oct. 19, 2009 9:22 am

This is only my second season burning the rice in a auto feed hopper but I have had no dust problems like that. A little may sneak out when I pull the ash pan but thats it. You can't dump the ash inside of course.

coalrunner · Post by **coalrunner** » Fri. Feb. 26, 2010 12:23 pm

just reading over this older post and noticed onr thing said that I havr learned..LET YOUR ASHES COOL BEFORE DUMPING. I always shake mine down then don't dump for an hour or two. when you shake you have hot ash in your pan and what does heat do best? it rises and when it does it rises fly ash with it that you can hardly see untill its built up. I have cut down on ash dust big time just by letting the ashes cool before transporting to outside

BD1 · Post by **BD1** » Thu. Mar. 04, 2010 5:18 pm

U can also try an air purifier

coal berner · Post by **coal berner** » Thu. Mar. 04, 2010 5:43 pm

stokerscot wrote:When I pull the #1 square pan out of the Boiler it makes a big cloud of gray dust. to prevent that I just hold the vacumn hose in one hand while slowly pulling the pan out. You can see the dust going in the vacumn. If some starts getting away, just move the hose over to the dust. After the pan hits the floor, one hand holds the hose while the other hand shovels the ash out into the pan. Works pretty good. Just have to make sure the hose doesn't slip and get into ther ash

why do you leave it hit the floor pull the Handel on the tub until the tub is about 3/4 of the way out then lower it slow until the front end is on the floor then use the back Handel to hold it up so it does not hit the floor the ash ring will hold the back end up until you get your hand in on the Handel no dust when you hold both ash tub Handel to lift the tub up and out