Ash Storage - Ideas?

[steve terplak]

So, yesterday we nearly had a disaster.
I use an Outdoor Wood Boiler. It is 75 feet from the house, 30 feet from the first barn.
I have had it for 10 years and have been perfecting my system of wood management, ash disposal etc...

I have a covered wagon (open sides) that stores a week's worth of wood. I load up at my woodpile, bring the wagon over, park it next to the OWB for easy loading. That way, I am only messing around with wood movement 1x per week, on a weekend when I have time.

I shovel out ashes from the bottom of the stove into a metal wheelbarrow and when wheelbarrow #1 gets full, I fill up #2 while #1 cools and then disposes of #1 into my ash pile which is in the midst of a dirt pile for final dispoasal in the spring/summer.

Yesterday was very windy and, to my best guess, I had a hot ash jump into my wood wagon and start a fire which burned the wood wagon completely, the nearby outhouse and melted the ETC on my OWB.
The ash had been cleaned last night and I believed it to be cool but I guess it was not. This has never been an issue before, so I need to refigure my system so it is never an issue again.
Luckily the fire department came pretty quickly (as did I, I was in-town and got a panicked call from my wife) and we did not lose any major buildings - I needed to re-inforce the wagon structure (or re-build), and was thinking about disposing of the outhouse anyway...though we will miss it...

So how do I take care of ashes?
Portability is important - we can get pretty snowed in, so something on wheels (a wheelbarrow) is ideal.

Is there a lid I can use or make for my wheelbarrow?

I was thinking about welding a small tube on the edge of the barrow to make a barrel style hinge with a pin, to put a metal screen-door like structure over the top...would this work? Would I need a solid door? Is there something better I can use?

Just looking for thoughts...

 

[544hydro]

we have a metal 55 gallon drum with lid next to the stove. Hot ashes in a week or two later dump them and repeat.

 

[Greg1959]

steve terplak- Just dump the ashes in the 'pit' left after the outhouse burned up.

 

[gmccool]

I put mine in a 55 gal steel drum that has a lid on it.

 

[showcrop]

Get a 55 gal drum and a drum dolly. They make dollies with pretty good sized wheels.

 

[Traditional Farmer]

I use a couple light weight about 30 gallon metal trash cans with lids,no danger of sparks getting out and light and easy to lift when I take the ashes to the garden or truck patch.

 

[Bob in SD]

Glad everybody's OK. I operate on a much smaller scale, but use a 4-5 gallon metal can with a lid for daily ashes. A couple of times a week I dump those (cool) ashes in a trash can with a lid. I used to use an old metal trashcan, but last few years I've used a plastic can with only one melting incident when they were transferred too soon. When that's full I dump it on the burn pile and shovel some snow on top so they don't blown aroun too much.

 

[Dachshund]

How often do you unload your ashes? I burn hardwood (Oak, Ash, Hickory), and a lot of Cottonwood. I probably get 4-5 wheelbarrow loads a YEAR (Oct-Apr), except for the "final" cleanout when it's done for the season.
I just store them in a wheelbarrow like you, then dump on a field drive. Never had a problem, but will have to look into it now. Thanks for the warning.

 

[Adirondack case guy]

I keep a 30gal galvanized garbage can with cover next to the boiler in my shop. I fill it about once a month, and take it up to the sugar bush and dump it in one of the many crevises in the bed rock.
Loren

 

[kcm.MN]

I don't know the model or age of your woodstove, but we had a Woodmaster about 15 years ago that was real good about letting sparks come up the pipe. As the load would burn, it would often collapse and sparks would briefly fly everywhere.

The problem could be from the wheelbarrow, but don't forget this possibility.

Maybe add some steel roofing over your trailer, or make a small cover to park it under - something like you see in Menards parking lots. (if you have them there)

 

[farmerwithmutt]

You couldn't by any chance find an old gravity box cut a hole in the side for easy shoveling scrap tin for a roof and in the spring simply pull it out to the field crack the door and scatter the ashes that way

 

[BOH]

I use 55 gal drums with lids filled to about half or so and put on the field in the spring after the last one has set for about a month. I only need about 3 drums with my Central Boiler.

 

[JD Seller]

I am with kcm.MN in that you can easily have had a spark/ember out the stack cause your issue. You need to have your wood under a steel cover of some sort. That can just be some roof tin laid across the top of your repaired wagon. Truthfully I do not think your ashes would have flown up into your wagon unless it was very windy. Ashes are usually very dense and not prone to blowing around unless your stirring them up.

 

[Janicholson]

Appliance recyclers have small chest freezers that fail. Strip out the plastic liner and put wheels on it. The hinges and magnetic seal will keep it tidy. Jim

 

[Russ from MN]

You could build a wood shed like this, leave both ends open and drive right through. I use a 15 gallon grease barrel with a tight lid, and haul it on a 2-wheeler, but I only get about 15 gal. a year.

 

[dr sportster]

Yes I looked out my window once and saw the fire department in my side yard putting out a fire . Thought about it ,an hour before dumped ashes . Stupid and embarrassed was what I was.

 

[D beatty]

I have my wood on tarped wagon outside back door of house and my wood burning stove is in basement. I clean it out about once a week and get a 6 gallon bucket of ash that I cover and set outside on driveway stone until it cools and then spread the ashes on yard.

 

[kcm.MN]

That's a nice shed Russ. I like the arched roof.

 

[PJH]

I clean the ashes out of the boiler about once a week - usually makes about a five gallon bucketful. I immediately spread them on the gravel drive. I have to walk over to the barn to do the chores anyhow - no trouble to pack along one bucket of ashes, spread them, then pack the empty bucket back when the chores are done.

My Amish neighbor somehow managed to burn his entire huge woodpile a few years ago. He would shovel ashes out of his wheelbarrow and fling them in the air to scatter them in his yard.

 

[steve terplak]

Our wood wagon has a metal roof and I wouldn't see an errant spark doing that out of the stack...
I'm thinking maybe the larger, lidded metal drum, but fashion some wheels for it - should work.

Question: Is there any kind of spark arrester that can be attached to the stack to prevent sparks or is this not something that exists?

 

[Zachary Hoyt]

I too use a 55 gallon drum with a lid. When it is full I put ashes in a smaller can for a couple of weeks, then empty the drum and start using it again.
Zach

 

[D beatty]

Yes they do and here are just a few they make many different styles of spark screens.

 

[farmerwithmutt]

Check out the old steam engines a lot of them had spark catchers on them. Not sure how effective but the railroads had them on to but there were stories of prairie fires

 

[kcm.MN]

It's difficult to gauge the size of those spark arrestor caps as there is nothing to compare, but they look more like ones made for normal chimneys. I think you can get a spark arrestor for a wood stove. Try calling the installer or the company that made yours. If you wanna go DIY, try getting some 1/4" hardware cloth about 2' high and wire on a heavy cap to the top - maybe 1/4" to 3/16". Then when blower is off, slide cap over the stack. The weight of the steel plate will hold it in place, while excess flame will be allowed to escape through the wire cloth. Making a double thickness with 1/4" of space between layers would work even better. Would certainly be less money than buying one from the manufacturer!

 

[37chief]

Just what I was thinking. Make a top with a lid. Stan

 

[caterpillar guy]

I just shovel them into the loader bucket then spread them on the field. With snow there is little issue with fire. Then I also do it when the fire is out on warm days. Only need to clean it out about twice per season then at the end. I don't clean mine till fall since I burn my papers and such in it all summer.
Not had a fire problem in 13 years and dad has not in 40 years.

 

[caterpillar guy]

How about a steel plate over the wheelbarrow with a block of wood on it. Or some other type of weight. When ready to dump just set plate off.

 

[steve terplak]

That is my temp solution. Probably will be permanent.

 

[kcm.MN]

I was thumbing through a recent issue of Family Handyman. At the back there are always short stories of silly (or other!) things folks have done. I think that issue was Nov 2016, but there was one guy who emptied the ashes from his wood stove - don't think it was outdoor, but... Anyway, the fire had been out for some time and ashes didn't seem hot. Some time later he checks the wheelbarrow only to find that the ashes melted through his PLASTIC wheelbarrow!!

Contender for the "Here's Your Sign" award?!? :lol:

 

[K Effective]

Back in college, the guys living in the apartment above us picked up a little hibachi grill and had a cookout on the porch one Friday night. A couple of hours later, the fire department came by to extinguish the raging dumpster fire we had in the parking lot. Hmmmm.

 

[Kirk-NJ]

I use a steel drum with lid. It's smaller than a 55 gal, maybe a 35 gal. You can see it on the right in the photo. I let the shove cook down then move the ash on top to one side and take the bottom ash and shovel it into the barrel. I use a couple/few 5 gal buckets of water and alternate ash and water and move/stir it around with a 4' piece of rebar. When full cover with lid and after a couple of days wheel it out with a handtruck and dump in the garden or field. Of course I don't do this on a windy day. I have used this system for the pasted 7 years with no worries. The drum now has a couple of small holes in it so I will need a new one in a year or two. When not using the drum for that I store it up close to the door and pile the wood on it that I will load in the stove that night. This saves me from bending down to get the wood and leaving the door open while I move the wood from the back of the shed to the door.
I would not use a galvanized garbage can as burning galvanize is no good for your lungs. The one you see in my photo is not used for hot ash.

Kirk

Kirk