Woodstove Recommendations

[M.T. Pockets]

I would not use a shop vac unless the fire has been out a week. An old fashioned metal bucket (with a lid) works great. A metal scoop from any fireplace store will work fine to scoop up the ashes.

Ashes are absolutely fantastic fertilizer, if you have a garden you have a place to put them.

Disposal isn't hard, just don't set that bucket anyplace where you don't want a fire to start. Don't set it down anywhere - take it to the garden & spread them out. Watch the wind, an ember can reignite and take off a few feet. I've seen many fires start when people leave the "cold" ashes outside in a bucket too close to a wood strucutre and the structure catches on fire. Those embers can stay hot for days and when they're exposed to a good oxygen supply they'll take off.

[skeet]

What MT said..no shop vac..I use a coal scuttle for the ashes. Now the wood I use here has very little ash...except cottonwood....but the wood you wil use has quite a bit..good stove is necessary as is a good chimney. Be careful. Nothing like wood heat

[fabsroman]

Originally Posted by skeet

What MT said..no shop vac..I use a coal scuttle for the ashes. Now the wood I use here has very little ash...except cottonwood....but the wood you wil use has quite a bit..good stove is necessary as is a good chimney. Be careful. Nothing like wood heat

Yeah, figured I would dump the shop vac out immediately after sucking up the ash or at least pour a bunch of water in it. They both have a drain that would allow me to let the water, and most likely some of the ash, out later on. The plan is essentially to suck it up with the shop vac and then dump the stuff in a garden. Don't know if this is good, bad, or indifferent for the soil, so I will have to do some research on it. Otherwise, I'll just dig a pit to throw the crud in. Any other suggestions for getting rid of the ash other than the garden and/or a pit?

Yeah, I know I need to buy a good wood stove. That is why I started this thread. So far, I think I got one reply regarding what a good stove is and that was from Skinny. The title of the thread is "Wood Stove Recommendations". Next thread on this subject might be "What brand wood stove do you use and what are the pros/cons of that brand". I've got about a month until we are in the new house, maybe a little more since the bank/seller is dragging its feet on ratifying the counter-offer it made to us and that we agreed to in its entirety. If we don't get in there until mid February, I might be riding the rest of this winter out with the oil heat because I will be smack dab in the middle of tax season without much time to sleep, much less deal with buying a wood stove and getting wood for it. Decisions, decisions.

[Skinny Shooter]

Hey Fabs, if we have the opportunity to build a new home we are going to keep the pellet stove in the basement and buy a woodstove for the 1st floor.
The Harman Oakwood stove looks great but I'm leaning towards the TLC2000 instead which can also burn coal.
We'll add the grill kit to make burgers and steak and the optional blower.
I believe that all of the Harman woodstoves have a removable ash pan so you don't need the shop vac or coal bucket to empty the ashes.
Have been relaxing next to the pellet stove this evening and there is nothing quite like a wood fire to warm the bones.