What do you do with significant amounts of wood ash?

Submitted by peachboot828 t3_yxvqq7 in vermont

We decided to make the swap to heating our big old 1850s home with wood heat. We have a super-efficient stove (Hearthstone Green Mountain 80) that heats over 3000 sq. ft. with just 15 logs per day (yes, including overnight heating).

But even with such efficiency, there’s still a LOT of wood ash to deal with. I’m not new to using wood as the primary heat source for an old home but the last time I did it, I had a couple of acres to spread the ash around. Now we live on a small in-town lot, just under 1/4 acre. We fill a 20-gallon metal can with ash and charcoal every 7-10 days…much more than one person on a tiny lot can use for soil amendment, soap-making, etc, right?

So…any pro tips on WTF to do with all of this ash? Any help is much appreciated!

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Romanovs_Penguin t1_iwrn99t wrote

> We fill a 20-gallon metal can with ash and charcoal every 7-10 days

That's a remarkable amount of ash for 10 days! I might generate that much ash in an entire year, burning 4 cord. I can't imagine how you'd be generating so much.

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vtham t1_iwrttv3 wrote

Wet wood will do it.

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peachboot828 OP t1_iwwadc1 wrote

It’s seasoned but yep, it may still be a bit damp! Only been stacked properly for a month.

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vtham t1_iwwmmvz wrote

Unfortunately, July and August are when you get most of the drying done. A month at this time of year is minimally effective at best. You may have to buy some kiln dried wood, which will burn like a torch. Mix that with what you have and you should be okay. What you don’t want is to try to heat your house with wet wood when subzero temps arrive. The stove will never get hot enough.

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Dr_JackMeoff t1_iwt98gu wrote

Maybe he meant 2gallons? 20 gallons seems impossible, no? That's A LOT of ash.

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MuddyGrimes t1_iwtnh0g wrote

Its sounds high, but when you consider OP is using it as their primary heating, not just a Woodstove to supplement other heat it seems realistic to me.

Plus a 3000 sq ft 1850s house... probably burns a lot of wood.

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Dr_JackMeoff t1_iwudhiu wrote

Good point. It's hard to fathom when I look at my five gallon bucket haha. It's just so much ash.

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peachboot828 OP t1_iwwanrg wrote

I keep a “log book” (a record of how many logs we burn, hehe), and we’ve averaged 12-15 22” long logs per day on days when the temperature stays below 40. It’s a hungry house, heat-wise. But it still seems like a helluvah lot of ash/charcoal!

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Romanovs_Penguin t1_iwwdhc6 wrote

> we’ve averaged 12-15 22” long logs per day

How many cord to you burn in a year? How many cord do you have stacked?

What varieties of wood are you burning? If you're burning spruce or something like that ... that could be part of the problem.

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peachboot828 OP t1_iwwabf2 wrote

Well, it’s that much between ash and charcoal. Not sure of an efficient way to sift the charcoal out for further burning, so that combination adds up pretty quickly. And I did overestimate a bit, but not much…we fill that can every 14 days.

How are you generating so little ash?! Our stove is marketed as one of the most efficient ones on the market. Maybe we’re not burning our fires hot enough? I see that someone else said wet wood…the wood is seasoned but has only been stacked for a month, so it may still be a bit damp.

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Romanovs_Penguin t1_iwwc7j8 wrote

If you're generating that much, something is very wrong. And you certainly are not burning as efficiently as you think you are. I'm concerned that whatever you're doing is creating a lot of creosote buildup in your chimney. This is the cause of a lot of chimney fires.

95% of what you scoop out of your stove should be very fine ash dust. There should be very little charcoal.

Charcoal is simply wood that hasn't burned completely.

What is the moisture content of your wood? It should be below 20%. You can buy a moisture meter or you can borrow them from many local Vermont libraries.

Perhaps you're not burning hot enough. It's hard to know. I'd definitely find a knowledgeable friend or neighbor who can come to your place and see what you're doing in person.

20 gallons of ash and charcoal every 14 days is really concerning.

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MeanFluffyBunny t1_ix8jrel wrote

I have the same stove, just one step down size wise. I also generate tons of ash, and I have minimal creosote buildup. I mean, these stoves reburn all the smoke produced to the point there’s 0 smoke coming out the chimney.

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Haltmaw t1_iwrdnz5 wrote

Keep it in barrels and throw it on your driveway when it gets icy. Your neighbors may want it for the same reason.

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[deleted] t1_iwrmnaw wrote

[deleted]

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Haltmaw t1_iwrtceh wrote

I’ve never found it to be a problem.

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Mofo-Pro t1_iwv0yn4 wrote

Bingo. We've been using that to de-ice our driveway for decades

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peachboot828 OP t1_iwwaqe9 wrote

We’re definitely doing this! Hadn’t thought about the neighbors maybe wanting some as well, though. Good call!

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Haltmaw t1_iwzyx4n wrote

Excellent. Just curious, how long have you lived here?

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FeistyReference69 t1_iwrfk1o wrote

Put it in your compost, with some nitrogen amendments.

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mysticcoffeeroaster t1_iwrhhgg wrote

Are there any greenhouse/nurseries nearby? They might be able to use it. They probably can't pay much, if anything, but at least you might be able to get rid of it and it would be put to good use.

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peachboot828 OP t1_iwwb7gx wrote

Great idea! There’s wayyyy too much for us to use on our own for soil amendment but we’d be happy to have someone cart it off if it’s useful to them!

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Right-Day t1_iwszfym wrote

We spread ours around our cedar trees in the spring.

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Go_Cart_Mozart t1_iwrs2et wrote

Dumps (or whatever they're called these days) will take it.

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woodstove7 t1_iwsw1jx wrote

Interesting… I have a few thoughts. Sounds like you have experience with wood heat- I would wonder what kind of stove you previously used. Modern stoves rely on dryer wood than we used to get away with. Strong suggestion to get on the 3 year plan. After that if you’re burning around the clock, at the tail end of the burn cycle see if you can toss in some pine (pallets work good) to “burn down the ash” sometimes there’s usable material left in there that otherwise gets scooped out.

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peachboot828 OP t1_iwwb45m wrote

Previously had an old Jotul wood stove, heating a smaller house, with more land to spread ash around.

Hearthstone specifically recommended seasoned wood and they were adamant about NOT using kiln-dried wood in this particular stove, for whatever reason.

What’s the “3 year plan”?

By “burn down the ash”, do you mean get a super-hot fire going to burn the charcoal and larger bits down into more compact ash?

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woodstove7 t1_iwwllrz wrote

Jotul makes an attractive stove for sure. A buddy has one and to me it looks like a piece of art compared to some stoves out there.

  • 3 year plan means you’ve got wood you’re burning this year, wood set away for next year, and wood stacked and ready for the following year. The idea is to be burning wood that’s been cut / split / stacked for 3 years so the moisture is low. I have a Woodstock stove- one with a catalyst. Certainly use caution but I use compressed wood bricks with the cordwood I have. I find it to burn clean and produce much less ash. Cost is a little higher but then wood usage is a bit lower. Kind of a personal preference thing. Last- the idea behind the couple pieces of pine is essentially that it gets a hot/fast fire going and burns down the coals / winds up creating less ash. Why? Honestly I don’t know, but the old timers were talking about it a few years ago so I gave it a whirl, and they were right. Good luck burning!
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MeanFluffyBunny t1_ix8jy6f wrote

Kiln dried wood will overfire your stove if you fill the firebox. I have the GM 60 and this thing gets HOT.

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FuckEtherion195 t1_iwyypgx wrote

You really need drier wood, or you will build up a layer of creosote inside your chimney that will eventually catch on fire, and either burn your house down or scare you shitless, depending on how quickly you can choke the air flow...

Your ash production is insanely high, and that almost certainly means wet wood.

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k19ate t1_ix5d2n1 wrote

Anyone with chickens would take it for their dust baths

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Ambitious_Ask_1569 t1_iwrnfdy wrote

Make soap. Throw on driveway for traction. Throw in woods. Its acidic so not great for gardens.

Edit: its basic....still not good in large quantities for anything. Also-Great stove made in Morrisville. I hope you never have to move it!😁

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shingalated t1_iwrv6d9 wrote

Alkaline actually (like lye), that's why you can make soap. It can actually be used like lime for gardens.

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Outrageous_Budget_57 t1_iwsjxx2 wrote

It's Potash not lime...great for gardening but you can over do it! Depending on your soil... 1/4 to 1/3 pound of potassium sulfate or potassium chloride per 100 square feet. 

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latinageologist t1_iws3q79 wrote

If it's acidic, my whole MS thesis is a sham lol. It provides critical nutrients to a soil profile that actually buffers acidity.

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-_Stove_- t1_iwumwjj wrote

Silly science, what did you ever do for us? /s

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Ambitious_Ask_1569 t1_iww8pic wrote

Its either acidic or base. My grandmother was french Canadian in Northern Maine and they would save their wood ashes and leech water through them and combine the liquid with tallow to make soap.

All I know is having helped her it is caustic.Burned the shit out of my hands. Fine in small quantities but if you live in New England and run 2 stoves all winter you really don't want all that ash in your garden. Better to use as ice melt.

But Im no expert-I bet in some cases it would work great. I used ashes in my raised beds and nothing would grow. Not even weeds, but I didn't write my ms thesis on the affect of wood ash in gardens. Was your minor interpretive dance?

Researched: you are right. 5-10 pounds is good for soil amendment. The hell with you do with the 4-5 hundred pounds that burning a few cords produce unless you have a farm. Anything over 5-10 lbs in a 100 square feet is not good and will kill what you are putting it on. I've got 2 Defiant stoves and burn 5-8 cords a winter living in Jeff's. That's a bit of ash.

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latinageologist t1_iwwmiis wrote

My minor was not interpretive dance (shocking I know). There are no minors in graduate education, but you probably wouldn’t know about that bud. You likely have enough information to find out who I am, just keyword my research above. Hope you learn a thing or two upon reading my work!

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latinageologist t1_iwwn151 wrote

P.s. it’s never acidic ;)

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Ambitious_Ask_1569 t1_iwy7evd wrote

I edited it. I just know it burned making soap with my great grandmother on the dairy farm they owned. You are definitely right though.

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